Enphase Energy - Battery Reviews

About Enphase Energy

Enphase is probably best known for its microinverters - it's the world leader in this regard - but it also manufactures (among other things) solar batteries.

Australian Office Contact Details

Address: 88 Market Street South Melbourne, VIC 3205
Phone: (General): 03 8669 1679
Phone: (Tech Support): 1800 006 374

Australian website

Company Info

Enphase was founded in California in 2006 and produced its first microinverters in 2008. The company expanded into energy storage, releasing its first home battery in 2016 - the Enphase AC Battery. This was tiny in terms of size, power and capacity. It had a usable capacity of just 1.2kWh and a power output of only 260W. However, as a modular system, extra units could be installed to beef up capacity and power. 

Since the AC Battery (which has been discontinued for some time), Enphase has released other home energy storage solutions and these are becoming a more important part of its business. In the second quarter of 2024, Enphase shipped 120.2 megawatt-hours of IQ batteries, compared to 75.5 megawatt-hours in Q1.

Current Enphase IQ Battery - 5P / 5P With Flexphase

Enphase batteries have come a long way since the original AC. Its third generation IQ product, the 5P, is an AC-coupled modular system with total usable capacity of 5 kWh and a continuous power rating of 3.84 kW (7.68 kW peak). As for expansion capabilities, up to 4 IQ 5P batteries can be connected together. 

While 3.84kW isn't a lot of grunt, loads with heavy startup requirements may be accommodated with double the surge capacity for three seconds and 160% surge capacity for 10 seconds. But for ongoing heavy draws, you'll probably need two batteries.

There are two versions of this battery; the original 5P and 5P with Flexphase. The original 5P is for single phase applications, whereas the FlexPhase version supports both single-phase and three-phase with variable power levels - 1.65 kW to 3.84 kW in single-phase configurations, and from 0.61 kW to 1.28 kW per phase in a three-phase setup.

The IQ Battery 5P includes six embedded IQ8D-BAT microinverters. With the addition of an IQ System Controller, the IQ 5P can be used for backup purposes. But the controller is a pricey bit of kit - around $2,000.

The IQ 5P uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP/LiFePO4) battery chemistry, known for better durability, thermal stability, and safety compared to other Li-ion chemistries such as NMC.

The 5P can be installed indoors or outdoors and has an operating temperature range of 0°C~45°C. So, in the hotter and colder parts of Australia, an indoor installation is the best bet.  The 5P measures 980 x 550 x 188 mm and weighs in at 78 kilograms. It comes with wall mount and floor mount options.

Accompanying the 5P is remote monitoring and control via the Enphase App; which is a little ordinary.

Further details of the 5P can be found on SolarQuotes’ solar battery comparison table.

Warranty Info

Enphase IQ Batteries are covered by a 15-year limited warranty up to 6,000 cycles. 15 years is pretty impressive for a battery, and the warranted capacity at the end of that time is 60%, which is common for batteries with 10 year warranties.  If something should go wrong, critical parts of the IQ Battery 5P can be replaced in the field, which should mean less downtime.

If you're an Australian owner of an Enphase battery system, we'd love to hear your views on how it's going - submit your rating and review.