[RE-wrenches] SI 5048 and replacement Lithium Ion battery bank

[Ray]

I recently contacted SMA about their requirement that if the LI+ battery 
isn't on their list, that we must use Lead acid.  I consider that to be 
a really poor answer;  just because they haven't tested it, we should 
not be forced to use a much worse alternative.  Yes, they would prefer 
to have all their tech communicate with the battery tech, but telling us 
to use lead acid, that has no communications available at all is the 
answer? Lead and Sulfuric acid that off gases deadly H2S, with no 
internal BMS at all, inefficient overall performance, and short life is 
preferred ??!

On top of that, SMA has no one that can even answer questions on the 
Sunny Island systems at all.  Tech support can't or won't answer any of 
our questions.  Repeated emails to Heiko Stieber (apparently the only 
one there that knows) have gone unanswered. We are in the middle of a 
large 4 system project, that would have used 15 Sunny Island inverters, 
but we had to switch to Schneider, because of the utter lack of 
technical support for battery based systems from SMA.  We were also 
considering the Tripower Storage 60, but it is only available in Europe, 
and once again, we can't get any support or info on that product either.

My decision process works like this: if you can't answer tech questions 
in the design phase, where are we going to be when we're trouble 
shooting this equipment in some remote location later?

Answer: SMA is not a viable option at this time.

Too bad, I've been installing their equipment for almost 20 years, they 
were our first choice too....

And back to Carl's question: most of the batteries on SMA's approved 
list aren't even available in the US......so no, we don't have 
experience with them.

Rant off,

Ray Walters
Remote Solar
303 505-8760

On 1/7/20 12:08 PM, Carl Adams wrote:
> Hello Wrenches,
> I have a SI 5048 system installed in 2012 with Concorde PVX-4050HT AGM 
> battery bank.  The system has shut down a couple of times with low 
> battery voltage and it seems the batteries may be on their way out.  
> There are some signs of seepage on a couple of these sealed 
> batteries.  A few pictures attached.
>
> System owner would like to consider a Lithium Ion replacement.  SMA 
> provided the attached list of compatible batteries.  Can any of you 
> provide your experience with these batteries or others which could 
> work for this application?
>
> With Kind Regards
> Carl Adams
> SunRock Solar
>
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