How to Choose a Home Solar Battery Plus Brand Recommendations

As you can imagine, dozens of solar battery storage are now available in Australia.

So, how do you choose which is right for you?

Well, at 1KOMMA5°, we have been installing solar batteries for longer than almost any other company, so we have learnt a lot about what works, what doesn't, and what may happen in a few years' time.

Firstly, today, we only install solar batteries where the battery manufacturer supplies the entire product. This means the battery system includes everything needed to work – the battery, the inverter, the meter, and the software.

Many solar batteries on the market require another company's inverter and software to run, which can create all sorts of problems.

The reason is this: solar battery storage and energy management are technically really complicated (think about the smarts needed to learn and predict your energy usage, let alone how to manage the chemistry of the solar battery storage), and the last thing you can afford is to have the two products trying to do two different things.  In the past, we installed many of these systems (that was all that was available back then). Unfortunately, they had too many problems – enough to scare us off until their technology was significantly better.

Secondly, we only choose products where the software is rare.

This narrows it down a lot. There's the Tesla Powerwall and Enphase IQ Battery.

All solar battery storage charges and discharges regularly, but their storage is the heart of your future energy management, so we want to make sure the software that controls it all is about enough to learn how you live and as your needs change. Thirdly (and this is pretty obvious but important), we choose and recommend products with excellent specifications. There are a lot of good quality solar batteries with one-rate technical specifications, which means they may have a large storage capacity, but they can only be released slowly, so they are not of much use.

Lastly, of course, is how much it costs. This is viewed in two ways: the total installation cost and how much per kWh.

The Best Solar Batteries in Australia

Considering all the above, two clear leaders are available in Australia: the Tesla Powerwall 2 and the Enphase IQ Battery.

That's to say, there aren't other good batteries out there. Some have great specs but are hugely expensive. Others are cheaper but not as good technically, and so on. And, as we said above, we don't recommend or install solar batteries where the inverter is from another company (the jargon for this is DC Coupled).

The Tesla Powerwall and the Enphase IQ Battery are very different – and are designed for various customers.

The Tesla Powerwall is 13kw, which is what most households would like to store and use regularly. If your energy consumption justifies it, you can install two or two more Powerwalls in larger households.

The Enphase IQ Battery starts at 5kWh of capacity, so it will suit many more households that can't justify the size of the Tesla Powerwall. We can install f om 1 to 4 Enphase batteries on a single residence, with 20kWh being the maximum system size.

The Enphase battery is compatible with S-series and IQ7 series micro-inverters, making it the best option for people looking for a fully compatible battery with an existing Enphase system.

Tesla Powerwall 2

Automated, compact, and stylish, Tesla Powerwall is far and away the market leader in Australia. It has the most advanced features, the highest technical specifications, fabulous design, and smart software the rest of the industry dreams of—all of this from the company that has transformed the car industry and is now doing the same to the solar industry.

Tesla Powerwall has a capacity of 13.5kWh, which is enough for many households to run almost entirely on solar power.

Tesla Powerwall is a beautifully functional storage solution that inherits Tesla’s proven automotive battery technology to power your home safely and economically. Completely automated, it requires little to no maintenance and is specifically designed for residential and small commercial installations.

Price Guide: $14,000 to $16,000 fully installed, including the Tesla Energy Management App.

Enphase IQ Battery 5P

Rarely do we see such a dramatic advancement in technology in the course of a few years, but this new generation of residential solar batteries is set to disrupt the current status quo, allowing homeowners to take back control of their electricity consumption.

The Enphase IQ Battery is an integrated energy storage solution that delivers high performance and superior reliability with the safest battery technology available. Its modular architecture can be tailored to fulfil a household’s energy needs now and in the future.

The Technical Specs

• Safe: Lithium iron phosphate

• Power of 3.84kVa per 5kWh battery

• You can install from 1 to 8 batteries – up to 40kWh

• Dimensions: 980 x 550 188 mm

• Weight: 78.9kg

• Mounting Options: Wall

• Installation Locations: IP55 outdoor rated. Suitable for both Indoor and Outdoor (conditions apply; talk to us for more info)

• Modular: Start small and add batteries as you need

• Market-leading 15-year warranty up to 6000 cycles

• Smart: Grid-forming capability for whole home or partial home backup for blackout protection

To dive deeper into the world of solar batteries and learn more about the benefits and pricing options available in your area, check out our complete guide. This guide dives deep into everything you need to know about solar batteries.

Our solar experts will help you find the right system for your home.

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