{"id":99294,"date":"2026-05-11T07:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=99294"},"modified":"2026-05-11T08:31:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:01:57","slug":"cold-snap-hot-mess-fox-ess-in-an-australian-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/cold-snap-hot-mess-fox-ess-in-an-australian-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold Snap, Hot Mess: Fox ESS in an Australian Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Images of DIY winter coats for Fox batteries – shared on FB by Australian owners<\/p><\/div>\n

Fox ESS batteries recently became the most popular battery in Australia thanks to their nice stackable design and a price that undercuts most of the competition. When asked, my personal verdict on Fox has been: I don’t have enough real-world data to vouch for their quality in harsh Australian conditions, and I’ve consistently recommended waiting for a couple of summers before committing.<\/p>\n

Turns out it’s not the summers I should have been watching.<\/p>\n

It’s early May. Not even winter. Melbourne hit 8\u00b0C the other day – reasonably chilly for Melbourne, sure, but hardly Hobart in July – and Fox battery owners started posting. One reported their 10kW system throttling back to 3.8kW. Others chimed in with similar stories. The batteries aren’t broken. They’re just doing what lithium batteries do when they get cold: they get cautious, limit charge and discharge rates, and in some cases trigger forced charging to warm themselves up.<\/p>\n

This is a known issue with lithium batteries. The solution, in cold climates, is a battery heater, a small heating element built into the unit that keeps the cells above the threshold where chemistry gets sluggish.<\/p>\n

Fox, like many budget battery manufacturers, didn’t include heaters in some of their Australian models.<\/p>\n

I can only think of one reason to do that: cost. Specifically, the pressure to hit a low enough price per kilowatt-hour to get as close as possible to the dollar amount per kilowatt-hour of the battery rebate. It’s a rational commercial decision. It’s also a decision that seems to have been made by someone who has never spent a winter in Hobart, or apparently Melbourne.<\/p>\n

This is particularly bad news for owners of Fox’s larger battery systems without heaters. The big stackable configurations, some pushing 48kWh, were a huge part of Fox’s appeal. Buyers were transfixed by the idea of a massive battery at a price that would have seemed impossible two years ago. But a big battery creates a big problem in winter. Unless you have a solar array the size of a tennis court, the only realistic way to fill a 48kWh battery in winter is force charging from the grid during off-peak or free-energy windows. And when you’re doing that, you want to charge at full rate – you’ve got a limited window and a lot of kilowatt-hours to shift. If the cold is crippling your charge rate, you’re simply not going to fill the battery in time1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n

In every major Australian city except Brisbane and Darwin, winter energy demand for heating exceeds summer demand for cooling. If your battery can’t be reliably filled in winter, your return on investment takes a serious hit.<\/p>\n

What worries me more than the performance throttling is what some owners are doing about it. Enterprising Aussies, faced with a battery that won’t charge properly on a cold morning, are improvising. We’re talking rockwool wrapped in glad wrap. Insulating board strapped around the whole stack. Full DIY overcoats on a device that contains a significant amount of stored energy and needs specific clearances for cooling.<\/p>\n

Fox has actually published guidance on this for their UK customers<\/a>, who ran into the same problem. It specifies flame-retardant materials, minimum clearances from electrical components, what not to block. It also includes this note: improper insulation may lead to elevated internal temperatures, accelerated degradation, or even thermal runaway. You assume all associated risks.<\/p>\n

That scares the shit out of me. Because the Australian owners improvising with glad wrap may not have read it. What happens when a Melbourne winter turns into a Melbourne summer, or we have on of those freak warm winter days and someone forgets to remove the insulating board they strapped on? Nothing good.<\/p>\n

A few caveats worth stating clearly. Fox will not be the only battery on sale in Australia with this problem – they’re just the ones we’re hearing about, and that’s largely because they’ve become the best-selling battery in the country. When something goes wrong with the most popular product in a market, you hear about it first and loudest. Other brands may have the same cold-weather limitation and we simply don’t know yet because their sales volumes are lower.<\/p>\n

It’s also worth noting that before the Cheaper Home Battery Scheme and before batteries got cheap enough that 50kWh systems were suddenly within reach of ordinary households, almost nobody needed to charge their battery at full tilt in winter. Smaller batteries, slower charging, milder use cases – if the issue existed not many people would even notice. The rebate changed everything.<\/p>\n

I’m updating my verdict on Fox ESS batteries. It used to be: wait and see how they handle a couple of Australian summers. I’m adding to it: we also need to see how they manage a couple of Australian winters. Early May in Melbourne shouldn’t be breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fox ESS batteries recently became the most popular battery in Australia thanks to their nice stackable design and a price that undercuts most of the competition. When asked, my personal verdict on Fox has been: I don’t have enough real-world data to vouch for their quality in harsh Australian conditions, and I’ve consistently recommended waiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99297,"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-99294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battery-storage","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCold Snap, Hot Mess: Fox ESS in an Australian Winter - SolarQuotes Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fox ESS became Australia's best-selling battery on price and stackability. 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I started SolarQuotes in 2009 and the SolarQuotes blog in 2013 with the belief that it\u2019s more important to be truthful and objective than popular. My last \"real job\" was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009, I\u2019ve helped over 800,000 Aussies get quotes for solar from installers I trust. Read my full bio.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/","https:\/\/x.com\/FinnPeacock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/diy-fox-covers-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2FF2s-pPw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96022,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/all-energy-2025-review-mb3314\/","url_meta":{"origin":99294,"position":0},"title":"All Energy Australia 2025: The Good, Bad And Niche-y","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"November 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/FJ70pYw_Hdk?si=B5XHhoLcW-oUOV6x All-Energy Australia 2025 may be done and dusted, but the southern hemisphere's largest clean energy event certainly hasn't been forgotten. SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock highlights some of the many products showcased, from connectors to home batteries. Sungrow AC EV Charger Long promised, Sungrow's EV charger is finally available in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Innovations"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Innovations","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-innovations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"All Energy Australia 2025 review","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/all-energy-review.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/all-energy-review.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/all-energy-review.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/all-energy-review.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/all-energy-review.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":98768,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/australias-battery-boom-has-a-wiring-problem\/","url_meta":{"origin":99294,"position":1},"title":"Australia\u2019s Battery Boom Has a Wiring Problem","author":"Finn Peacock","date":"April 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've got a high-voltage stackable battery system and the DC cables between the battery and inverter don't have mechanical protection, you're not compliant with Australian standards and your systems could be classed as unsafe - and shut down. This column explains why, and what the standard requires. A Quick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Battery Storage"","block_context":{"text":"Battery Storage","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Battery wires left exposed","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/battery-wiring-exposed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/battery-wiring-exposed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/battery-wiring-exposed.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/battery-wiring-exposed.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/battery-wiring-exposed.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/battery-wiring-exposed.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33803,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/alpha-ess-adelaide-vpp-mb1228\/","url_meta":{"origin":99294,"position":2},"title":"Alpha-ESS Opens New SA Battery Assembly Facility, Partners On VPP","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"September 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Solar battery manufacturer Alpha-ESS is pumping up production at a new assembly plant in Adelaide's south and also partnering in a new virtual power plant (VPP). The new facility is in Lonsdale, which is primarily an industrial suburb situated approximately 26 kilometres south of Adelaide's CBD. A South Australian Government\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alpha-ESS solar batteries","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/alpha-ess-battery.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/alpha-ess-battery.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/alpha-ess-battery.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/alpha-ess-battery.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/alpha-ess-battery.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73300,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/alpha-ess-battery-review-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":99294,"position":3},"title":"Alpha ESS Battery Review: An Unforgettable Installation Experience","author":"Anthony Bennett","date":"July 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Alpha ESS battery: hailed by many, criticised by others. Established in China in 2012, Alpha's surge in popularity across the Australian market has many of us asking if these batteries are a fantastic bargain or asking for trouble. Through my journey of installing various models, including the SMILE5 series,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Battery Storage"","block_context":{"text":"Battery Storage","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/alpha-ess-review.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/alpha-ess-review.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/alpha-ess-review.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/alpha-ess-review.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/alpha-ess-review.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25783,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/alpha-ess-battery-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":99294,"position":4},"title":"Alpha ESS Battery Review: Everything You Need To Know About The Storion-SMILE","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"December 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Update: SQ's in-house installer, Anthony, has more recently written about the Alpha ESS SMILE5 battery here. Alpha ESS is a Chinese manufacturer of home battery systems.\u00a0 Because they have promised to do some assembly in Adelaide they are now the second company eligible to receive South Australia's substantial home battery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Battery Storage"","block_context":{"text":"Battery Storage","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alpha ESS Review","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alpha-ESS-review.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alpha-ESS-review.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alpha-ESS-review.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alpha-ESS-review.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alpha-ESS-review.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":71683,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-battery-mail-mb2840\/","url_meta":{"origin":99294,"position":5},"title":"“Snail Mail” Home Battery Offers: Be Wary","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If something seems too good to be true - well, you know how the rest of the saying goes. And this wisdom certainly applies to home batteries. Solar batteries have become increasingly attractive due to skyrocketing electricity rates and feed-in tariffs less generous than they once were. Self-consumption is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Home battery offers - unsolicited letter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/battery-junk-mail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/battery-junk-mail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/battery-junk-mail.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/battery-junk-mail.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/battery-junk-mail.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99294"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99308,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99294\/revisions\/99308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}