FranklinWH review

FranklinWH - Battery Reviews

4.7

Based on 12 ratings

Finn's FranklinWH Batteries Review & Verdict

Finn Peacock has been a Chartered Electrical Engineer since 1998, and is ex-CSIRO

FranklinWH is a newish entrant in the Australian home battery market, with the first residential installation in 2023. So, it remains to be seen if their X-01-AU battery has what it takes to do consistently well down-under.

FranklinWH Batteries: Pros & Cons

  • New to Australia (first installation in 2023)

About FranklinWH

FranklinWH is a residential energy management and storage solutions firm headquartered in the USA's San Francisco Bay area.

Australian Contact Details

Address: Suite 4, Level 4, 4 Drake Ave, Macquarie Park NSW 2113
Phone: 1800 161 300
Email: mail: [email protected]
Website

Company Information

FranklinWH was founded in 2019 with funding from Sequoia Capital.  So, what's with the name?

It seems it was inspired by Benjamin Franklin, who first coined the word “battery”.  That explains the first part of the name (Franklin), but as for the WH - that initially stood for watt-hour, which is a unit of energy; but it then evolved to mean to "whole home". Naming a company after someone who fiddled with electricity has worked well for Tesla; but it's arguably a much snappier name.

While an American company, FranklinWH batteries are reportedly manufactured in China - although you won't find this mentioned on the company's website.

FranklinWH aPower X-01-AU Battery

The core Franklin Home Power components are the aPower battery, the aGate intelligent controller, and the FranklinWH App for monitoring and configuration. aPower product highlights include:

  • AC coupled system
  • Lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry
  • 13.6kWh usable capacity
  • 5kW continuous output / 10kW surge 10 S
  • You can increase continuous (20kW) and surge (40kW) output by stacking multiple aPowers.
  • Up to 15 aPowers can be deployed per aGate (204KWh)
  • Natural air cooling
  • IP67 (Battery and Inverter), IP56 (Wiring Compartment)
  • Operating temperature: -20C - 50C
  • Auto black start feature enabled
  • Generator compatible
  • Off grid capability

The aGate is a separate bit of kit allowing you to integrate solar, grid, generator and aPower batteries to support home loads.

Warranty Information

The FranklinWH aPower X-01-AU is accompanied by a 12 year product warranty. The firm also guarantees the aPower will have the rated energy capacity of 13.6 kWh from the outset, and capacity retention will be not less than 70% of the rated capacity when either the 12-year warranty period expires, or the aggregate energy throughput has reached 43MWh - whichever comes first. 

The communication module in the aGate carries a 5-year warranty.

FranklinWH has no solar batteries in our database

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FranklinWH Reviews (12)

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The installation process was exceptionally smooth and professional, with the team displaying remarkable expertise and meticulous attention to detail at every step. I’m extremely satisfied with Franklinwh's performance and reliability.
The Franklin WH is brilliant. Zero issues, really easy to use app , with generator back up capable it’s nearly off Grid
Cant be happier with the look and performance of the FranklinWH system.
The backup is smooth and reliable.
We have cruised through serval blackouts since the battery installation.
Very impressed with the whole system. Early days but all is going well. So impressed that I have recommend system to friends already
Beautifly designed Battery. App is excellent. Had four blackouts since install anf did not know i had one till i looked at the App notifacions
The battery provider has been helpful in assessing, identifying and alleviating any problems with our battery.
I had FranklinWH aGate and aPower (aka FHP) installed in late July 2024 and it has worked perfectly with no issues. The FHP system is not compact and uses a large amount of space as it not a modular unit. But the build quality and all cabling has been neatly hidden away by the installer.

Overall it is a solid premium product (not cheap) with flexibility ideal fit complex or simple retrofit on or off-grid usage.

Long feedback / review follows:

I purchased to store my excess solar PV generated during the day. Especially as feed-in tariffs are reducing significantly and TOU tariffs plus demand charges are becoming the default.

Installation by Aussie Hybrid Solar was straightforward and the on and off-grid modes tested (and the mobile app) was demonstrated to me. I was especially keen to have Solar PV operating during grid outages. This worked fine after got FranklinWH to tweak settings so the micro inverters happily powered up whilst off grid..

I elected for whole home backup (to simplify installation) and my existing Enphase micro inverters and 6.6kW solar system works well with it. My low home grid usage and high excess solar PV export afforded me this option.

I like that 4G comms is included and installed within the aGate (no dongles hanglng out the side) an initial (4 year) prepaid data plan included as a backup for internet connectivity. No need to worry about NBN outages, etc. as it auto switches back and forth - as required. There is Ethernet port for LAN connectivity as well 2.4 GHz wifi

I purchased the Smart Circuits module and it was installed for future load shedding during outages and the optional scheduling during on-grid periods.

I hope to install a EV(SE) charge lt and my high wattage kitchen or laundry appliances to these - to limit off-grid usage and limit peak kW utilisation. Not that the grid goes down much - or for long.

The FranklinWH (FHP) mobile app has improved significantly since I started using it. It allows export and import from the grid plus optional scheduling of TOU rates to optimised self/consumption and minimal grid charges.

The FHP app now has very similar functionality that other leading batteries have.

For a few users like myself, the lack of local Web browser admin or user access or local API for integration into Home Assistant or similar local smart home software is a limitation.

I do use an unofficial Home Assistant FranklinWH Cloud API based to pull metrics , control the Smart Circuits and it has no operating mode control. Lack of full control and being able to control the aGate PV or Grid relays are on or off it on grid modes made adequate.

Likewise customers keen on Amber Electric only have access to the so-called wholesale rates via Evergen. The lack of automation via Ambers SmartShift or being able write your own local integration limits the benefits of Amber. Unless you can be bothered to switch operating modes manually via the FHP app (cumbersome and tedious) when prices require you to optimise your solar PV exports and/or aPower battery grid import/export usage.

FranklinWH and Amber hopefully will resolve the lack of SmartShift support. However, Amber doesn’t support Enphase micro inverters either - sigh. :(

In the time I have owned the FranklinWH battery - I have tested almost all the features of the AU/NZ model (excluding generator module which did not get) - excluding the auto or manual black start function. This where the battery fully discharge uses the 1kW reserve to schedule a restart automatically when sufficient solar is available.

I particularly like build quality of the FranklinWH system as some brands have plastic covers or feature semi or fully exposed cabling that do not look good nor particularly safe.Kikewise they may not last well under the harsh Australian sun.

The FHP 12 year warranty and 43 MWh battery throughput warranty is pretty good.

There is a helpful local sales/support office plus the local / global support team always respond pretty promptly and are very helpful in my experience.
I'm so grateful that my installer suggested I spend a little bit extra to get a FranklinWH system installed with whole home backup. Since it was installed 6 months ago, our town has lost power countless times and our FranklinWH battery system hasn't missed a beat. Not only does it look fantastic, it gives us compete peace of mind. Highly recommended.
We've had the FranklinWh on our home for a couple of years now and it was installed pre-NSW and federal rebate. It was a strong winner over the Tesla PW2 for our home at the time and we're actually looking to expand with another one soon.
We were originally small energy users before solar and battery, but since adding both over time and two EV's we have massively increased our consumption habits knowing it's all there free to use. We have also benefited greatly from having our excess power stored for later use and are considering a VPP soon which I'm let to believe is easily compatible with companies like Amber.
The Franklin app has been so good that we stopped using our sun grow monitoring system entirely and have maintained power through two blackouts and one planned power outage. Absolutely seamless.
It also serves as a cool blue nightlight in our garage (that can be turned off, too). We knew that batteries would eventually get cheaper and other incentives would come down the line - which, they have...but overall we are saving close to $9,000 per year with the entire setup and have used less than 5% of our power from the grid.
We had our Franklin Battery installed last year and have really noticed the drop in our power bills. With the solar panels and battery, our power bills are about 1/4 of what they used to be.

We have 3 phase power at our house and battery and system was able to be installed and integrated into house no problem.

The app on the phone lets us monitor power usage and also make adjustments to how and when we use the battery power vs grid power. Very impressed with the simplicity of the app and the savings we are getting.

Definitely worth pairing up the Franklin battery with our solar panels and the installation is very neat and professional.
After the battery fully discharged after a few days of rain while my son was in the house with no internet and no way of knowing the battery status Kevin was the most helpful and accommodating contact we had with FranklinWH. Saturdays, Sundays, after hours. Nothing was a problem to get things up and running again. Above and beyond is all I can say about his service to us
Early days but very impress with the whole system including the app to control the FranklinWh batteries.
Solid build and the team did a great job with the installation. Would happily use the installers again in the future
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