SolarQuotes is forever fielding questions from punters about quality of both hardware and installation, but recently we’ve seen a huge amount of interest in one fast-rising player.
So are Fox ESS batteries any good? I’ll give them a qualified yes and outline why in this article.
My first hand inspection of a Fox ESS install done by the quality team DQ Electrical is instructive. The hardware isn’t sleek glass but nor does it look unfinished. Without naming names, there are others out there that are obviously cheap by comparison.
This Fox installed by DQ Solar was well executed, despite the compromises you need to make when covering up all the holes left by a legacy system.
When I asked DQ founder Don Quattrocchi about Fox’s technical support, he said:
“Yeah, there’s a WhatsApp group and a phone number, but we haven’t needed it, they just work. In fact some of the boys say they commission easier than a Sungrow. We tried AlphaESS as a budget offering, but never again, way too many problems.”
Phil, the owner of this new Fox system, is a fairly savvy mechanical engineer, a bloke I know well enough to get an unvarnished opinion. He’s fairly new to solar but very pleased he didn’t get the Solax unit his Dad has ended up with. The people selling that solution were so cheap that they only used a 10kW 3-phase inverter. Sadly, that’s about 3.3kW of single-phase surge capacity, so it’s easily overwhelmed during an outage.
Whereas Phil likes his Fox because a competent retailer explained the limitations of a 15kW machine, and the Fox monitoring app offers a much better user interface.
So Lets Gather Some Thoughts
I’ve been keeping an ear out across the industry, and there are some interesting opinions.
On the plus side, I think these points augur well for the brand.
- Fox appears to be proactive and has been answering questions1
- They’re offering spare parts to improve compliance2
- They’ve partnered with Solar Juice, a very well-respected wholesaler
- They’re seeking to improve perception
- They’ve opened offices in Sydney and Melbourne
- Expanded installer training and resources are on offer
- Daily promotion of compliant installations on various communication platforms
- Recognition programs for reputable installers doing the right thing
- Joining associations like Solar Cutters and Solar Training Centre to support the industry and promote education
- Fox is white labelled by others who have obviously done some due diligence
- 1komma5 – big across Europe
- Energiser – hopefully better than the last line of junk they branded
This trade show item looks pretty foxxy.
However There’s Some Cause For Concern
The unavoidable fact, however, is that low-priced equipment attracts low-class installation.
Excess cable just strewn behind the battery. Split plastic sleeve wrapped in tape. Conduit cut short. “Labels” are poorly drawn with a texta pen. This is a disaster, but apparently, the extended shelf brackets are a customer request.
Nowhere is this more evident than when you speak to people from the Office of the Technical Regulator. A frank conversation with a qualified electrician turned government inspector explains a couple of things. Firstly, there’s enough poorly executed general electrical work to make an inspector quite jaded. Secondly, at least one expert says Fox is junk.
This installation looks ok until you notice it’s sitting on a house brick.
Speaking to a renewable specialist from the OTR, he was scathing about Fox. It’s an opinion I think carries some weight, but take it with a pinch of salt – the bloke in question couldn’t name a particular point of failure. So that could simply be an extension of the vicious circle, where poor-quality installs infer that nobody cares because the product is cheap.
Another mess. Basically, all of these stickers belong on the wall, not on the equipment. However the battery wiring is mislabelled as solar and isn’t appropriately protected either.
Fox Is A Classic Case
Latest sales claims say Fox has been very successful, and that is no doubt because they’re competitively priced. I don’t know if they will be overly happy with our review here, but there’s simply no escaping the fact that when you target a low price point, you’ll get what you’re aiming for.
Fox appears to be doing the right things, so if I were in the market for a budget inverter, then I’d probably give them a go.
I’ve had experience with more established companies pushing junk in the past, and seen some terrible warranty battles, but so far, Fox doesn’t seem to be that kind of rubbish.
In fact, when SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock called out Fox’s limited charging rates in cold weather, a Fox representative emailed me to explain that they now have a notification for it in their monitoring app. When the battery temperature is low, a snowflake icon appears. Tapping the icon triggers a pop‑up explanation outlining how low temperatures may temporarily affect charging performance.
This is honestly pretty transparent, it’s something that would save customers some angst, plus save me some time on the phone offering support to confused punters who think they have a warranty problem.
Friendly reminders in the app will save everyone a lot of hours writing support emails.
Going Under Cover
This looks like a nice, neat job, except for the battery cables, which have recently become a problem.
We’ve seen instances of Fox installs lacking mechanical protection (they aren’t alone in this, but as such a popular brand we do see a lot of examples).
Fox has again emailed us to explain that they’ve been taking action to rectify the issue and that they’ve been pretty responsive to other questions we’ve posed.
They advised us that for the EQ Series, cable covers began shipping via distributors in the second half of 2025 as separate packaged items, while for the CQ Series, cable covers are included by default inside the battery packaging.
All inverter models began shipping with mechanical covers to distributors in late 2025, in separate packages to the inverter itself.
Asked why there were so many examples of installs without appropriate covers, a representative of the company said:
“Because covers were initially shipped as separate packaged items, some installers may not have realised they were available or included. The shift to a 1:1 supply ratio is designed to eliminate this issue and ensure consistent use across all installations.”
This is just what you get when you pay the lowest price. That coil of cable isn’t just ugly, it’s not properly supported, nor mechanically protected, simply non-compliant.
A Very Young Fox
Like the superannuation adverts say, past performance is no indication of future performance, so knowing that SMA and QCells left Australia abruptly, I hope Fox are successful going forward. However we have to remember that as a company Fox is only 7 years old, they entered the Australian market 2 years ago, and they’re offering 10 year warranties.
Fox appears to offer some reasonable gear at reasonable prices, but a quick survey of various solar socials shows there’s no shortage of poor installations. If you have a Fox system installed, then please click here and leave a review, not just for the hardware, but for the salespeople as well.
I have to reiterate we aren’t targeting them for criticism (as the devotees in the comments section will insist) but when you claim #1 status, the success cuts both ways.
They seem genuine about improving the delivery of compliant equipment but we’ll have to see just how they can make sales companies care. Perhaps they need to incentivise customers to leave feedback for their installer?
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