{"id":63506,"date":"2022-08-08T11:56:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T01:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=63506"},"modified":"2022-08-08T12:50:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T02:20:06","slug":"battery-testing-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/","title":{"rendered":"Canberra Battery Test Centre Phase 3 Results: Zero Batteries Problem Free"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-64152 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/final-battery-test-report.jpg\" alt=\"Canberra Battery Test Centre final report\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/final-battery-test-report.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/final-battery-test-report-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/final-battery-test-report-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/final-battery-test-report-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>The Canberra Battery Test Centre&#8217;s third phase of testing is complete.\u00a0 In fact, all their testing is now finished.\u00a0 They have shut up shop and published their final report.<!--more-->\u00a0 But to help you benefit from their work, I&#8217;m going to go over the results of the last eight batteries they put through their paces. Next week, I&#8217;ll provide an overview of all 26 tested and offer advice on how to avoid buying a bad one.\u00a0 But for now, I&#8217;ll compress that advice into just two words&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p><strong>Be careful!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>Over the past six years, the Canberra Battery Test Centre has found poor reliability in systems tested.\u00a0 To minimize your odds of having home battery buyer remorse, here is my advice in three compressed bullet points:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Make sure the battery is from a reliable manufacturer that is likely to still be around if and when you need to make a warranty claim.<\/li>\r\n<li>Buy from a good installer who is happy to return as many times as it takes to fix any problems that occur.<\/li>\r\n<li>Make sure you know how to use the monitoring to determine how much the battery capacity has degraded over time.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>This won&#8217;t guarantee you&#8217;ll have a problem-free installation, but at least any problems that do occur should be reasonably rapidly rectified.\u00a0 Note that none of the points above are likely to apply if you buy the cheapest battery available.<\/p>\r\n<p>This article will concentrate on how well the latest eight batteries from the Test Centre&#8217;s third round of testing performed.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll give details, but I can compress it all into one word right now, and that&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p><strong>Awful!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>Not one was problem-free.\u00a0 The only good thing I can say is the average results are a little better than for the 18 batteries tested in earlier phases.\u00a0 But nothing has performed as well as the Sony Fortelion, which was among the very first tested and was still going strong at the end of testing after the equivalent of 10 years of daily cycling.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Test Centre Reports<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Phase 3 battery results are included in the Canberra Battery Test Centre&#8217;s final report:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arena.gov.au\/assets\/2018\/05\/lithium-ion-battery-testing-public-report-12.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Report 12 (Final Report)<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>But if you want the full story, you&#8217;re also going to have to go through reports <a href=\"https:\/\/arena.gov.au\/assets\/2018\/05\/lithium-ion-battery-testing-public-report-10-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">11<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/arena.gov.au\/assets\/2018\/05\/lithium-ion-battery-testing-public-report-10.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/arena.gov.au\/assets\/2020\/10\/lithium-ion-battery-testing-public-report-9.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">9<\/a>.\u00a0 But that&#8217;s all.\u00a0 If you go back any further in time, it will result in Phase 3 battery testing not yet existing.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>Phase 3 Batteries<\/h2>\r\n<p>Phase 3 testing began in January 2020 and continued until March this year, giving a total testing period of 2 years and 3 months.\u00a0 The eight batteries tested were&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>BYD HVM 11.0<\/li>\r\n<li>DCS PV 10.0W<\/li>\r\n<li>Fimer React 2<\/li>\r\n<li>FZ SoNick<\/li>\r\n<li>PowerPlus Energy LiFe Premium<\/li>\r\n<li>SolaX Triple Power<\/li>\r\n<li>SonnenBatterie<\/li>\r\n<li>Zenaji Aeon<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>The table below is from the final report and shows some of the problems the batteries experienced:<\/p>\r\n<p data-wp-editing=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63608 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_phase3.jpg\" alt=\"Canberra battery test centre - problem summary\" width=\"1000\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_phase3.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_phase3-300x99.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_phase3-768x254.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<h2>Accelerated Testing<\/h2>\r\n<p>Two and a quarter years of testing isn&#8217;t long, given most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/\">home batteries<\/a> are warranties are for 10 years and &#8212; fingers crossed &#8212; they&#8217;ll hopefully last 15+ years in practice.\u00a0 To get a more realistic picture of how they will perform long term, the Canberra Battery Test Centre used accelerated testing.\u00a0 This involved charging and discharging the batteries roughly three times more often than in normal household use.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The majority were fully charged and then discharged of all their usable energy three times per day.\u00a0 Each repetition is called a &#8220;full cycle&#8221; or just &#8220;cycle&#8221; for short.\u00a0 Home batteries are normally cycled an average of less than once per day, but special circumstances or joining a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) can increase this.\u00a0 For convenience, it&#8217;s generally assumed a home battery will be fully cycled an average of once per day.\u00a0 This means one will be cycled 3,652 times by the end of a 10 year warranty.<\/p>\r\n<p>This testing isn&#8217;t identical to daily cycling as the batteries are charged and discharged faster than they would be in actual use, and this may increase battery capacity loss.\u00a0 But it is the best way to get rapid results on reliability and capacity loss.\u00a0 In the time available for phase-three testing, it would have been technically possible for batteries to have received the equivalent of 4.8 years of daily cycling but, because of various problems, only one managed this much testing.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Sample Size Of 1<\/h2>\r\n<p>Only one of each battery was tested.\u00a0 Because of this small sample size, we can&#8217;t reach any solid conclusions on how reliable individual batteries are.\u00a0 To be confident, multiple systems would have to be tested.\u00a0 The test results are evidence of the batteries&#8217; reliability but not conclusive evidence. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>Good Communication Is Key<\/h2>\r\n<p>Home battery systems normally have at least one battery module.\u00a0 For lithium batteries, these are rectangular metal boxes containing lithium cells.\u00a0 For other chemistries, there can be other weird stuff in there.\u00a0 For example, a car battery is stuffed full of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vsRR7Y6MawQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">lead<\/a> and acid.<\/p>\r\n<p>Modern home battery modules have electronics in them that function as the Battery Management System (BMS).\u00a0 Most home battery systems have a communications link from this to the inverter.\u00a0 This allows the BMS to control the charging and discharging of the module &#8211; overriding the battery inverter to protect the battery cells when necessary.\u00a0 Because the BMS is made for the specific module, it can optimize its performance<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/#en-63506-1' id='enref-63506-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(63506)'>1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0But there are also home battery systems that don&#8217;t have a link, which means the inverter controls the battery without any feedback from the BMS<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/#en-63506-2' id='enref-63506-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(63506)'>2<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 This is a simpler design, but without a communications link, the inverter can&#8217;t fine-tune charging and discharging as effectively.\u00a0 While this setup can work well, in testing it has often resulted in batteries being unable to supply the amount of usable energy manufacturers claim they are capable of.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Because of frequent problems, I suspect battery systems without communication links will be replaced in the market by those with them.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Different Kinds Of Faults<\/h2>\r\n<p>I&#8217;ve divided issues that arose in battery testing into five categories:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><strong>Stealth problems:<\/strong>\u00a0 These are problems the Battery Test Centre noticed, but a typical homeowner could easily overlook for an extended time &#8212; until they become more serious.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Major Problems:<\/strong> Major problems are anything that prevents the battery from functioning at or close to the level it should.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Replacement parts:<\/strong> How many times were components replaced?<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Replacement batteries:<\/strong>\u00a0 How many times was the entire battery replaced?<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Capacity retention:<\/strong>\u00a0 An estimate of remaining battery capacity at the end of testing.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Note a stealth problem can become a major problem if it requires repairs or a replacement battery.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there will be many owners whose systems are suffering from stealth problems right now.\u00a0 Almost all modern battery systems are monitored online, which makes the number of times the Canberra Battery Test Centre was the first to discover a problem a concern.\u00a0 It makes online battery monitoring seem a bit bloody useless for consumers.<\/p>\r\n<h2>BYD HVM 11.0<\/h2>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/reviews\/byd-review.html\">BYD<\/a> is a giant Chinese battery manufacturer.\u00a0 Testing began on an older model of home battery. But in June 2020, after several months of testing, BYD &#8212; quite sensibly &#8212; replaced it with a newer model as the old one was discontinued.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Despite coming from a company with plenty of experience producing battery systems, the BYD HMV 11.0 suffered two major breakdowns.\u00a0 In the month after it was installed, the battery refused to turn back on after a power outage.\u00a0 This was a serious problem because blackouts can happen to households at any time.\u00a0 BYD was able to help the Test Centre get it working again, but for a home battery, this fault would have required the installer to return to the premises.<\/p>\r\n<p>The month after that, the battery developed a software fault and stopped working.\u00a0 BYD, again, helped get it going, but this problem took over two months to fix.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The capacity retention of the BYD B-Box HVM appears perfect, with no measurable decline in output after around 1,180 cycles, which represents around 3.2 years of daily cycling.\u00a0 After a firmware update<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/#en-63506-3' id='enref-63506-3' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(63506)'>3<\/a><\/sup> in October 2021, the amount of usable battery capacity increased:<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63613 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_byd.png\" alt=\"BYD HVM 11.0 battery capacity testing results\" width=\"970\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_byd.png 970w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_byd-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_byd-768x443.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>Note that even after the update, at just under 10 kilowatt-hours, it&#8217;s supplying less than the 11 kilowatt-hours usable energy storage the battery can provide according to its <a href=\"https:\/\/bydbatterybox.com\/uploads\/downloads\/BYD%20Battery-Box%20Premium_Datasheet_HV-AU%20V1.2%20EN-5eec6422498ad.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">datasheet<\/a>.\u00a0 So while it shows no sign of capacity deterioration, it may be occurring behind the scenes, and will only become apparent once it has progressed far enough.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>I&#8217;m tempted to include only providing 90% of the usable energy it should as a major problem, but the performance of home batteries overall has been so poor this is actually a good result on average, so I&#8217;ll grade on a curve and let it pass.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Major Problems: 2<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 0\u00a0 (It was replaced with a newer model, but not because of a fault.)<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention:\u00a0 No sign of capacity loss after the equivalent of 3.2 years of daily cycling.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>DCS PV 10.0W<\/h2>\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/reviews\/dcs-review.html\">DCS<\/a> PV 10.0W<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/#en-63506-4' id='enref-63506-4' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(63506)'>4<\/a><\/sup> battery system is made by Deep Cycle Systems in Queensland with imported batteries.\u00a0 It was installed with an SMA Sunny Island Inverter and doesn&#8217;t have a communication link from the Battery Management System to the inverter.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Unfortunately, this was one of the many cases where this arrangement didn&#8217;t work well and on average the battery supplied much less energy than <a href=\"https:\/\/deepcyclesystems.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/DCS-PV-Series_web.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DCS said it would<\/a>.\u00a0 The Test Centre was able to improve this by cycling it over 8 hours, rather than the 6 used for the other lithium batteries, but energy output still averaged under 75% of what it should have been.<\/p>\r\n<p>The battery has suffered a large decline in capacity.\u00a0 It was estimated to be at 57% of its original capacity after around 1,100 cycles or the equivalent of three years of daily cycling.\u00a0 At that rate, I suspect it wouldn&#8217;t have been long before the battery became unusable.\u00a0 DCS requested it be returned to them so they can examine it.<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63727 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_dcs.png\" alt=\"DCS PV 10.0W battery capacity testing results\" width=\"980\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_dcs.png 980w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_dcs-300x174.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_dcs-768x444.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Major Problems: 2<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention:\u00a0 Atrocious at only 57% of original capacity after the equivalent of 3 years of daily cycling.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Fimer React 2<\/h2>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/reviews\/abb-(fimer)-review.html\">Fimer<\/a> is a European company with headquarters in Milano.\u00a0 This is Italy&#8217;s 2nd largest city, and its population of 1.3 million would make it Europe&#8217;s Adelaide, except the coffee isn&#8217;t as good.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Fimer took over the ABB inverter company, so their battery is sometimes referred to as an ABB Fimer battery.\u00a0 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fimer.com\/sites\/default\/files\/FIMER_REACT2-PV-STORAGE-3.6-5.0-TL_EN_Rev_D.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fimer React 2<\/a> is a lithium energy storage system with its own inverter that can be AC or DC coupled.\u00a0 The one tested was DC coupled and had two 4 kilowatt-hour battery modules with a total of 7.6 kilowatt-hours of usable storage.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The battery had no problems until just prior to the end of testing when the Test Centre discovered one of the two battery modules had developed a fault, but at that point it didn&#8217;t stop it functioning.\u00a0 Fimer has said they are investigating the cause of the problem.\u00a0 This was a stealth fault, as no normal household would have noticed the problem unless it became a lot worse.<\/p>\r\n<p>After around 1,740 cycles &#8212; the equivalent of 4.8 years of daily cycling &#8212; the batteries were estimated to have 86% of their original capacity.\u00a0 At this rate, they will have around 71% of their original capacity after 10 years of daily cycling.\u00a0 This is well above the minimum of 60% it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/PVP_INVERTERS_Warranty_-01032020_AU-Version-FIMER-R1-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warranted<\/a> for.<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63661 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fimer.png\" alt=\"Fimer React 2 battery capacity testing results\" width=\"978\" height=\"618\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fimer.png 978w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fimer-300x190.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fimer-768x485.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 978px) 100vw, 978px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Major Problems: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention:\u00a0 Acceptable and on track to be well above the 60% minimum capacity it&#8217;s warranty promises.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>FZ SoNick<\/h2>\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1s4fwmsG_RT1mji_wQDWNyZIM05Rp090J\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FZ SoNick battery<\/a> stands out for two reasons:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It&#8217;s really hard to pronounce<\/li>\r\n<li>It&#8217;s the only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/topics\/engineering\/sodium-nickel-chloride\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sodium nickel chloride battery<\/a> tested<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>This molten salt battery operates at around 250 degrees.\u00a0 But if you&#8217;re thinking about getting one and making it serve double duty as a barbecue hotplate, the bad news is the outer casing is only a couple of degrees above room temperature.\u00a0 Despite remaining safe during operation, this battery chemistry is normally not used in homes.\u00a0 The manufacturer says they&#8217;re for industrial use, and I don&#8217;t think they&#8217;ll ever be widely used for residential energy storage.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The FZ SoNick battery used a Victron inverter, and when first installed it did not have a communications link between the Battery Management System and the inverter.\u00a0 But with help from the Australian FZ SoNick supplier, the Test Centre was able to set one up.\u00a0 This was probably a good idea, as the other three batteries in this phase of testing without communication links suffered problems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>It had a fault where the Test Centre noticed it wasn&#8217;t fully charging and only reaching around 80%.\u00a0 It was a stealth problem as it&#8217;s not the sort of thing the average homeowner is likely to notice.\u00a0 After they alerted the manufacturer, it was fixed online.<\/p>\r\n<p>Because of its unique chemistry, it could not be cycled as rapidly as the lithium batteries and only racked up around 880 cycles.\u00a0 That&#8217;s the equivalent of 2.4 years of daily cycling, but because of its low power output, it&#8217;s unlikely to be fully cycled an average of once per day in most applications.\u00a0 At the end of testing, it had approximately 94% of its battery capacity remaining.\u00a0 If this rate of capacity loss was maintained, it would be on track to be at around 75% of its original capacity after 10 years.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63646 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fzsonick.png\" alt=\"FZ SoNick battery capacity testing results\" width=\"981\" height=\"573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fzsonick.png 981w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fzsonick-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_fzsonick-768x449.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 981px) 100vw, 981px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>I have listed the battery not fully charging as a Stealth Problem, as a typical household would be unlikely to notice it.\u00a0 Because I consider only charging 80% a major departure from normal operation, I&#8217;ve also included it as a major problem.\u00a0 On the bright side, it was resolved in a month, which is far better than some battery repair response times.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Major Problems:\u00a0 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention:\u00a0 Acceptable as it&#8217;s on track to be at 75% after 10 years of daily cycling.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>PowerPlus Energy LiFe Premium<\/h2>\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.powerplus-energy.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/V7.1-life_premium_p_series_specifications_powerplusenergy.web_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LiFe Premium<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/reviews\/powerplus-energy-review.html\">PowerPlus Energy<\/a> is another battery without a communications link between the Battery Management System and the SMA Sunny Island Inverter it was paired with.\u00a0 The battery&#8217;s warranty requires it not to be discharged by more than 80%, but in practice it was difficult to determine its actual state of charge.\u00a0 Three modules with a total storage capacity of 9.9 kilowatt-hours were used.\u00a0 With a maximum 80% depth of discharge, that technically gave 7.9 kilowatt-hours of usable storage &#8211; but it normally provided under 5 kilowatt-hours per cycle.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>After around 1,030 cycles, its capacity was estimated at 95%.\u00a0 If correct, that means it would be on track to be at around 82% after 10 years of daily cycling.<\/p>\r\n<p>But despite this capacity, in practice the battery inverter could only extract about 60% of the battery&#8217;s usable energy per cycle.<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63667 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_powerplus.png\" alt=\"PowerPlus Energy LiFe Premium battery capacity testing results\" width=\"973\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_powerplus.png 973w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_powerplus-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_powerplus-768x442.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 973px) 100vw, 973px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>While the battery supplied stored energy, it did not operate at close to the level it should have, so I count that as a major breakdown.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Major Breakdowns: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention:\u00a0 Acceptable in that it appears to have over the 60% minimum capacity it&#8217;s warranted for after 10 years of daily cycling, notwithstanding battery control issues.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>SolaX Triple Power<\/h2>\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/reviews\/solax-power-review.html\">SolaX<\/a> Triple Power battery system worked well for the first year of testing, but then its ability to charge and discharge began to decline.\u00a0 SolaX attempted to fix it over the internet but concluded the battery needed to be replaced.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>It performed well after that, but the new battery was only tested for around 600 cycles before testing ended.\u00a0 It had around 98% of its original capacity at this point.\u00a0 If this was maintained, it would retain 88% of its original capacity after 10 years of daily cycling, but the testing period of the replacement battery was too short to be confident the low rate of capacity loss would be retained.<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63671 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_solax.png\" alt=\"Solax Triple Power battery capacity testing results\" width=\"977\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_solax.png 977w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_solax-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_solax-768x441.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 977px) 100vw, 977px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>Because a typical homeowner may not have noticed the problem that led to the SolaX Triple Power being replaced, I have called it a stealth problem.\u00a0 As it required the entire battery to be replaced, it&#8217;s also a major problem.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Major Problems: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention:\u00a0 Good for the 1.6 years of simulated daily cycling that was performed, but the testing period was too short for confidence.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>SonnenBatterie<\/h2>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/reviews\/sonnen-review.html\">Sonnen&#8217;s<\/a> SonnenBatteries are made in Europe using batteries produced in China.\u00a0 After some initial difficulties with its installation, the SonnenBatterie functioned well for 14 months of testing before developing a fault that caused its usable capacity to drop.\u00a0 The graph of its first 20 months of testing makes it clear when it happened:<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63673 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_sonnen1.png\" alt=\"Sonnen SonnenBatterie battery capacity testing results\" width=\"969\" height=\"566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_sonnen1.png 969w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_sonnen1-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_sonnen1-768x449.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>Sonnen attempted to fix it online and then replaced one of its four battery modules.\u00a0 Six months later, they replaced a second battery module because it wasn&#8217;t operating as well as it should have.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The battery showed no signs of capacity deterioration in the 800+ cycles before the fault occurred or in the 160 cycles after half its battery modules were replaced.\u00a0 As its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sonnensupportaustralia.com.au\/uploads\/2\/9\/8\/5\/29857561\/au_manufacturer_warranty_sonnenbatterie_may2022.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warranty<\/a> allows the battery to be cycled 10,000 times while still retaining 80% of its original capacity, I am not surprised there was no noticeable loss of capacity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Major problems: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Breakdowns: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 2<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention:\u00a0 Excellent over the limited number of testing cycles given.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Zenaji Aeon<\/h2>\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/reviews\/zenaji-review.html\">Zenaji<\/a> Aeon battery is another unit without a closed-loop communication link between the battery module&#8217;s Battery Management System and the SMA Sunny Island inverter controlling it.\u00a0 As with many other batteries, this has resulted in problems; in this case, they were pretty disastrous.\u00a0 From the start, the Battery Test Centre could not accurately measure the amount of charge stored and it only provided around one-third of the energy per cycle it should have.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Six months after the installation of the battery, Zenaji removed the SMA Sunny Island from its list of compatible inverters.\u00a0 In their 10th report, the Test Centre said testing would continue with the SMA Sunny Island inverter until Zenaji replaced it with a Victron inverter, but this never occurred and the SMA Sunny Island was used until the end of testing.\u00a0 No mention of a replacement Victron inverter was made in subsequent reports.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Because accurate measurements could not be taken, no estimate of battery capacity was possible.<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-63677 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_zenaji.png\" alt=\"Zenaji Aeon battery capacity testing results\" width=\"967\" height=\"565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_zenaji.png 967w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_zenaji-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/canberra_zenaji-768x449.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 967px) 100vw, 967px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>While it&#8217;s possible the battery may have worked acceptably with a different inverter, the poor performance that resulted from using an inverter Zenaji said was compatible was still definitely a major problem.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Stealth problems: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Major Problems: 1<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement parts: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Replacement batteries: 0<\/li>\r\n<li>Capacity retention: Unknowable under given testing conditions.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Phase 3 Results &#8212; Best To Worst<\/h2>\r\n<p>Here is a sarcastic list of all the Phase 3 batteries that operated without a problem from their first day until the end of testing:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<li>\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<li>\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>No, I haven&#8217;t accidentally left out the problem-free battery systems.\u00a0 There weren&#8217;t any.\u00a0 The one that came closest was the Fimer React 2, which didn&#8217;t develop a fault until just before the end of testing.\u00a0 It also had an acceptable capacity loss.\u00a0 While worse than two other Phase 3 batteries, it was on track to be at around 71% of its original capacity after the equivalent of 10 years of daily cycling, which is well above the minimum of 60% allowed by its warranty.<\/p>\r\n<p>Below I&#8217;ve ranked the eight Phase 3 batteries from best to worse, in my opinion.\u00a0 This is only based on how well they performed in testing and does not mean one higher on the list is definitely better than one below it.\u00a0 It&#8217;s also subjective.\u00a0 In my opinion, a battery system that underperforms for years is worse than one that breaks down but is soon repaired or replaced.\u00a0 Of course, you may disagree.\u00a0 In this case, please feel to cut your screen up with scissors and rearrange the list as you see fit<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/#en-63506-5' id='enref-63506-5' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(63506)'>5<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n<p>From best to worse &#8212; in testing &#8212; the battery systems were:<\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li><strong>Fimer React 2<\/strong> &#8212; One fault towards the end of testing.\u00a0 Acceptable capacity loss.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>FZ SoNick<\/strong> &#8212; 1 major problem was fixed in around one month, but it was a stealth problem typical owners may not have noticed for some time.\u00a0 Acceptable capacity loss.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>BYD HVM 11.0<\/strong> &#8212; The battery broke down twice.\u00a0 No measured capacity loss during the period tested.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>SonnenBatterie<\/strong> &#8212; 2 out of 4 battery modules had to be replaced.\u00a0 No measured capacity loss.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>SolaX Triple Power<\/strong> &#8212; It broke down, and the entire battery had to be replaced.\u00a0 Capacity loss appeared minor, but not enough testing was done to be confident.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>PowerPlus Energy LiFe Premium<\/strong> &#8212; Only provided around 60% as much usable energy as claimed.\u00a0 Capacity loss appeared acceptable.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Zenaji Aeon<\/strong> &#8212; Only provided around one-third as much energy per cycle as it should have.\u00a0 Capacity loss could not be determined.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>DCS PV 10.0W<\/strong> &#8212; Usable energy was, at best, around 75% what it should have been.\u00a0 Severe capacity loss.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>The bottom three on the list were the only units without communication links between the Battery Management Systems and inverters.\u00a0 This result, as well as the results of previous phases of battery testing, makes me think communication links will become standard.<\/p>\r\n<h2>A Conclusion<\/h2>\r\n<p>While there is only so much that can be concluded from testing one system, it is possible to conclude the majority of home batteries installed two and a half years ago had major reliability issues. \u00a0Next week I will give an overview of the Canberra Battery Test Centre&#8217;s entire six years of operation, along with some basic advice on how to avoid buying a bad battery.<\/p>\r\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Canberra Battery Test Centre&#8217;s third phase of testing is complete.\u00a0 In fact, all their testing is now finished.\u00a0 They have shut up shop and published their final report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":64152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battery-storage","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Battery Reliability Torture Testing: Final Report Is Grim Reading<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A little lab in Canberra has tried to evaluate the long-term reliability of home batteries for years. They&#039;ve found lots of problems.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canberra Battery Test Centre Phase 3 Results: Zero Batteries Problem Free\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A little lab in Canberra has tried to evaluate the long-term reliability of home batteries for years. They&#039;ve found lots of problems.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/battery-testing-results\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-08T01:26:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-08T02:20:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/final-battery-test-report.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ronald Brakels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BrakelsRonald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\"},\"headline\":\"Canberra Battery Test Centre Phase 3 Results: Zero Batteries Problem Free\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-08T01:26:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-08T02:20:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3660,\"commentCount\":41,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/final-battery-test-report.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Battery Storage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/\",\"name\":\"Battery Reliability Torture Testing: Final Report Is Grim Reading\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/battery-testing-results\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/final-battery-test-report.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-08T01:26:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-08T02:20:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"A little lab in Canberra has tried to evaluate the long-term reliability of home batteries for years. 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