Sungrow review

Sungrow - Battery Reviews

4.9

Based on 156 ratings

Finn's Sungrow Batteries Review & Verdict

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

I love Sungrow batteries so much that I bought 12.8 kWh of them myself. They are that rare combination of relatively low price and high-quality hardware with excellent tech support. If you want a battery and buy it at the same time as your solar panels, a Sungrow battery system sharing a hybrid inverter with your panels is very cost-effective. Their 10 kW inverter allows 20 kW of panels with a battery, which is a smart design.

I'm not as keen on Sungrow's software. Their app does everything you need it to do but has a lousy interface and is hard to navigate.

Sungrow Batteries: Pros & Cons

  • Well supported by onshore technical staff
  • Great value
  • High voltage units mean the battery doesn't have to be right by the inverter, which helps with with meeting Australia's strict battery location requirements.
  • Great connectivity between compatible inverters to build bigger systems
  • The new UI on the app looks better
  • Great deal of detail available on the app for electrical nerds & problem diagnosis
  • Easily stackable batteries in robust alloy housings to incrementally increase storage to a whopping 102 kWh
  • Occasionally tech support is snowed under and/or diverts to an answering machine in Japanese

About Sungrow

Sungrow is a giant Chinese company and the world's largest inverter manufacturer. They also make home batteries that are a popular choice here thanks to a combination of affordability and reliability.

Sungrow was founded in 1997 by RenXian Cao, a professor at Hefei University of Technology. He has degrees in electrical engineering and automation, so the boss clearly knows his stuff. Since then, the company has grown enormously but sustainably. Not only do they make products required for the world to switch to renewables, but they've also maintained financial sustainability. In 2022 BloombergNEF gave the company a 100% bankability rating. This means Sungrow is considered financially secure and likely to be around long term.

If a giant utility-scale battery is what you're after, Sungrow can get you one. But what Australian homes and small businesses will be most interested in is the Sungrow SBR HV home battery.

Sungrow SBR HV

Sungrow's current residential battery is the SBR HV. This has stackable battery modules with 3.2 kWh of usable storage each. There's a 3 module minimum and that amount gives 9.6 kWh of usable storage, which will be enough for many households. If you want more, up to 8 modules can be stacked on top of each other for 25.6 kWh. Few households will need that much, but if you want even more, up to four stacks can be connected in parallel for over 100 kWh of usable storage.

If you've bought a Sungrow battery stack and want to add more modules, it's relatively easy -- provided you have less than eight. Of course, it's still a good idea to get the amount right at the start so you won't have to pay to have additional modules installed.

Safety

Sungrow uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO) battery cells. This is the safest type of lithium battery. But to actually be safe, they need to be part of a well-designed battery system. Fortunately, the Sungrow SBR HV does appear to be safe, as many have been installed in Australia without issue.

In the past, Sungrow sold the now discontinued PowCube home battery. Despite its alarming name, I'm not aware of any ever going "Pow!" and exploding.

Provided the work was done by a reputable installer, I would have no problem having a Sungrow battery installed on my own home. I'd also be fine with one on my parents' home or my brother's. But I'm not sure my sister deserves one.

Cost

A major reason the Sungrow SBR HV is a popular choice is its competitive price. It's a lower-cost battery but reliable enough for us to recommend. You can check out how its cost compares by going to our Battery Comparison Table and scrolling down to "Cost Per Warranted KWh: One Cycle Per Day".

Sungrow Inverter Required

Under normal circumstances, Sungrow batteries will be installed with Sungrow hybrid inverters. While hybrid inverters cost more than standard ones, Sungrow's are reasonably priced. They also come with a 10 year warranty, which is better than a number of other inverters on the market. We haven't heard much in the way of complaints and so consider them reliable.

Both single-phase and three-phase hybrid inverters are available and Sungrow is one of the few companies supplying hybrid inverters that can provide full three-phase backup.

Because they require a hybrid inverter, a Sungrow battery is often a good choice for homes without existing solar. Alternatively, if there's enough room on the roof, a second solar system with a Sungrow battery can be installed. Another option is to simply replace an old solar system with a new large one with a battery.

If you have an existing solar system, replacing its inverter with a Sungrow hybrid is also an option. Here's a video of it being done. (Ignore how Finn pronounces "garage" like a New Zealander.) This can require wiring upgrades, so it won't necessarily be a simple task to do.

Fill Your Roof

When a solar system is installed without a battery, the solar panel capacity can normally be no more than one-third larger than the inverter capacity. But when a solar system is installed with a battery this limit can be exceeded.

When a new solar system is installed with a Sungrow battery the panel capacity can be around twice the capacity of Sungrow single-phase hybrid inverters and around 50% more for the three-phase ones. This can be useful for installing large solar systems and I recommend filling your roof with as much solar as you reasonably can.

Flexible Installation

Sungrow batteries are high voltage. This gives installers some flexibility with their location and this helps with meeting Australia's strict fire safety standards.

While they're suitable for outdoor installation, they should be positioned out of direct rain and sunshine.

Backup & Off-Grid Capable

Sungrow battery systems can provide backup power. The switchover is almost instantaneous, so there's no temporary power loss. The batteries can also charge from rooftop solar during the day when the grid is down.

Sungrow batteries are also suitable for off-grid use.

For further specifications and estimated pricing, see Sungrow solar batteries listed on our comparison table.

Installer Recommended

In a vote of confidence for the SBR HV, Sungrow scored 2nd place in SolarQuotes' Installers' Choice Awards 2022 in the budget/best value home battery category. In the SQ 2023 awards for home batteries, Sungrow attained bronze in the best overall battery brand category, gold in the best value battery category, and silver in best after-sales support.

Sungrow is currently listed as an SQ recommended home battery brand.

Sungrow Battery Warranty

The Sungrow battery warranty is better than average. It lasts 10 years or until it has discharged 13,440 kWh per module. Whichever comes first. For most households, it's likely to last the full 10 years. But for households that use the battery at a high capacity factor it will end before then. With a high daily average discharge of 4.8kWh per module, which is 150% of its usable storage capacity when new, the warranty will end after 7 years and 8 months. 

The warranty states the battery will maintain a minimum of 60% of its original capacity. This means a module with 3.2 kWh of usable storage could drop down to only storing 1.95 kWh and that would be okay according to the warranty. While allowing this much capacity loss isn't good, it is common for lithium battery warranties.

Sydney Office

Their headquarters are in the Chinese city of Hefei, but Sungrow has had a local office in Sydney since 2012. This means they should - hopefully - be able to deal with any warranty issues locally and rapidly. Overall, I'd say Sungrow has good -- but not perfect -- customer support.

If you're an Australian Sungrow battery system owner, please feel free to share your views on how your system performs by submitting a rating and review.

Sungrow has 5 solar batteries in our database

Filter by:

Battery Type 
Usable Storage 
Power 
All-In-One unit 
Off-grid capable 
Product Name
Approx Price
Battery Type
Usable Storage Capacity
Power
All-In-One unit
Off-grid capable
SunGrow SBR HV 9.6 kWh
$7,550
9.6 kWh
5.76 kW
No
Yes
SunGrow SBR HV 12.8 kWh
$9,500
12.8 kWh
7.68 kW
No
Yes
SunGrow SBH200
$16,000
Lithium-ion (Lithium Iron Phosphate)
20 kWh
14.08 kW
No
Yes
SunGrow SBR HV 16 kWh
$11,500
16 kWh
9.6 kW
No
Yes
SunGrow SBR HV 19.2 kWh
$13,500
19.2 kWh
11.52 kW
No
Yes

 

Sungrow Reviews (156)

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Battery has been great, the inverter seems good however it developed a network/communications fault and needed a part replaced under warranty.

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This was an install of another 2 modules - around 6kWh to an existing 10kWh bank

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Lasts us all night. Rarely used it to 0%. Takes about 2.5 hours to charge to 100%.
We don't use A/C or heaters overnight but we use the oven, electric frypan or air frier after dark.
This is great when the grid stops which is regular here outside of Brisbane and we aren't in storm season yet. Besides short power interruptions we expect at least 2-5 days per year with no grid from storms.
Got $3,000 battery rebate from the QLD government. I think the payback for this whole system will be about 8 years.

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Overall very happy with my decision but will wait for a bit before getting ahead of myself, it is after all a rather expensive exercise…

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This battery means we rarely use any power from the grid and put lots back into the grid.
We have electric hot water and it is heated during the middle of the day so does not use the grid.

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Previously I had a different system installed which decided to give up. That particular system did not have a back up battery. I could not recommend my new Sungrow unit with battery more highly.

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Although modular. Remains to be seen how long battery will be continued to be manufactured for future upgrades. Also uncertain if degradation / balancing may have impacts if upgrades are done later in life cycle.

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Early days yet, no issues, am impressed with the modular system that will easily allow us to expand if needed in the future. Am so happy to not have high maintenance lead acid batteries anymore.

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Again a great product to suit my needs chosen by the installation company that allows for future growth whilst minimising the install cost

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Sungrow batteries have performed flawlessly over the last 12 months. We added another module to bring our total storage up to 12.8 KwH. We find that, even in Winter, this is enough to get us through the night with about 20-40% to spare. If we have visitors, it is depleted by morning with only 5% left and we are using grid power.

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An incentive was offered by Select Electrical and Solar Solutions Pty Ltd for this review. Learn more here.

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Working great at the moment. Like the idea that can be increased in increments relatively cheaply. I also had a data point installed so no longer have to deal with the iffy wi-fi connection with the inverter. Whilst I indicated that I only installed a battery, I also had to have a Hybrid inverter installed to make it all work.

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All, good, did a great job, cleaned up well after they finished, would recommend them to my friends

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Power goes in, power comes out. Can't complain.

I like that the unit is modular and looks good.

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So far on inspection early morning the battery appears to be supplying the house overnight and having some power left over

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I'm really happy with the battery bank, being able to add modules if required will be a simple process. Currently November in Perth overnight I'm using about 40 to 50% , so hopefully in winter the battery will last to sun up, if not just add another 3.2 kWh module.

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10KW was quoted I opted for an additional 2 modules. I can still be easily expanded with another three modules.

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The manner in which we use power means we generally deplete our batteries during the night. I am keen to upgrade the battery when I can.

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Battery performs well and 6 months down the track it still says it is at 99% efficiency.

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Very early days, but so far the battery has performed flawlessly.

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Rock solid performance so far

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