Have you ever wanted to stop buying power from the grid and make your own energy for use day and night?

Until now solar systems have been excellent at providing daytime power for your home. The excess energy was sold back to the grid for a small amount and then you needed to buy it back at 4 times the price to use at night. Not far for the consumer but a good deal for the power companies.

The solution is solar batteries.

Battery technology has been available for a long time but unfortunately it’s either been too bulky or too expensive. Fortunately, we have hit a time where the technology has improved to a point where the size of the battery is smaller and the price has significantly reduced.

The Solax Power Station solution does everything a standard solar hybrid system can do, and more, in a single cabinet.

LG CChem, a division of LG, the large Korean electrical manufacturer, have released a new series of batteries that are both high quality and cost effective. They have teamed with Solax, a large inverter manufacturer who are leaders in hybrid solar solutions. Together they have put together the “Power Station”, which includes the basics to run the average size house.

The Solax Power Station all-in-one solution is a modern, convenient, and easy to install solution for homeowners looking for an integrated and reliable system, with seamless communication between the battery and inverter.

Its now possible to store 13kwh of energy in a small cabinet the size of a fridge, that can be mounted either in a garage or in a shaded area outdoors. Inside the cabinet, above the batteries is a Solax 5kw the hybrid solar inverter, all the electricals to manage the battery and back up emergency power supply (EPS).

What makes the Solax Power Station unique is that it is the only system available today that is easily expandable, you can start off your battery storage journey with one 6.5kWh battery and add another later or opt for the full 13kWh at the start – not matter which option you choose you can be sure you are getting genuine quality system from some of the world’s largest manufacturers.

Solax System output

The system’s Solax inverter is rated at 4.6 kilowatts AC output under normal operation, but in a blackout is limited to 4 kilowatts.

This is enough for a typical family to run lights, refrigeration, TVs, computers, and a small air conditioner, but they’d have to avoid or be careful with the use of high draw appliances such as electric stoves, clothes dryers, and electric heaters.

In addition the expandability of the system it comes with EPS (Emergency Power Supply) functionality, which can supply power to your home in the event of a power outage. At installation we connect the EPS to the 2 main circuits used in the house. In most cases it’s the lighting and fridge, but we are also having a lot of requests for the Internet modem!!. Imagine a few hours in a blackout without he Internet!!:)

Monitoring and Analytics

A key part to this system is its detailed monitoring and analytics.

Monitoring the system is a breeze with the so lax Portal V2 or via the so lax app available for both iOs and Android. This will show you in detail the systems solar production, your households power consumption in real time, the amount of energy being charged and discharged from the battery, and amount of energy being consumed from or sold to the grid. With this knowledge you can take control of your homes power.

Size & Weight

At 75 cm across, 41 cm deep, and 155 cm high the So lax Power Station is two-thirds the total volume of a standard 350-liter fridge but is wider and not as deep.

The entire system comes to around 240 kg, after all components are installed. We receive the unit on pallet with separate boxes comprising of the cabinet, 2 batteries, inverter and battery management unit.

Installation Location:  The Solax Power Station system has an Ingress Protection rating of IP54, which means it can be installed outdoors.  It is protected against rain but it’s not a good idea to use a high-pressure hose to wash cobwebs off it. The most important factor is keeping the system cool. We will only install the Power Station in shaded areas away from direct sunlight. The most common location is under verandahs, in carports and garages.

The Batteries

The massive South Korean company LG CChem makes the batteries.  They are modular, rack-mounted, and the bigger system has two of them. Each battery is 6.5kw, and the cabinet allows 2 modules. For the average house we recommend using 2 batteries, enough to power the basics until the sun rises the next morning.

Battery Capacity:  When new, the 2 batteries can store 13 kilowatt-hours if 100% discharged.  But that’s not good for their health so the Solax power Station system is configured with a maximum depth of discharge of 95%.  If you want to go easy on your batteries and presumably extend their lifespan you can restrict that to 80% depth of discharge( DOD) .

The usable storage capacity at various depths of discharge is:

• 100% depth of discharge (Not permitted) — 13 kilowatt-hours
• 95% depth of discharge (maximum allowed) — 12.35 kilowatt-hours
• 93% depth of discharge (maximum recommended) — 12.1 kilowatt-hours
• 90% depth of discharge. 11.7 kilowatt-hours
• 80% depth of discharge — 10.4 kilowatt-hours

We recommend the between 80% and 90% DOD to maximise the life of the system.

Warranties

After sales service is a key part of the Solax success story. The Australian office is based in Melbourne and has experienced electrical engineers readily available to assist with any issues. The solar industry has had a lot of issues with after sales service and warranties, and that’s a key criteria why we have chosen to partner with Solax with their power station.

The different components have different warranties:

• Solax inverter and battery management unit — A 5-year warranty that can be extended to 10 years for $440.
• LG CChem batteries — 10 years or, for the larger version, until it provides 40,000 kilowatt-hours of storage.  You’ll need to draw under 10 kilowatt-hours per day, on average for it to last the full 10 years

Summary

Solax has for a long time been at the forefront of developing inverters for the growing battery industry and their third series of the X-Hybrid does not disappoint. The partnership with LG CChem is a successful strategic decision, which will give the consumer a cost effective, reliable and compact energy supply for both day and night.

If you are after a cost effective, reliable and serious battery solar grid connect system then the Solax LG Solar Power Station is the goods. Power retailers, who have made a lot of money buying power for very little and selling it to you for 24 cents per kwh, are going to hate this. It will reduce your usage from the grid by a very large percentage. If you manage your power consumption in line with the inverter and battery capacity, the need for the grid will be for back up only.

The clients we have installed the SolaX LG power stations for have been impressed by the data they can see on the portal, giving them power to reduce consumption from the power grid. They know how much their solar system is producing, how much battery power they use and are aware of their household consumption.

UV Power can highly recommend the So lax LG Power Station. We believe its one of the smarter battery systems available, because the compact cabinet, with no need for many different boxes mounted to your wall, no need to cables running everywhere and it works very well.

Feel free to call us on 1300 887 140 to discuss what solar options we can offer with your new Solax LG power Station.