Howie, I don't have experience with HomeGrid, but I have a well respected friend (Jason Lerner) who loves them.
I have had awesome experiences with Fortress, and I have been looking for a chance to try HomeGrid as well. I think the stack idea is really cool!! I know that this is extremely nit-picky... The only thing I've seen so far that I don't like about HomeGrid is that they use 15 cells in series instead of the standard 16 cells. This just means that the voltages will be lower than what I'm used to, and amperage will be a little higher. It's not a big deal, everything will still work great, but I like the higher voltage of a 16 cell bank. I just have all the numbers memorized for a 16 cell battery bank, and while you should always double check the manufacturer's instructions, it's nice to know off the top of your head if the numbers are appoximately correct. When Fortress released their new inverterter that's essentially the same as the Solark (comes from the same factory), Solark got mad and they pushed out a new non-voluntary firmware update that broke the Modbus communication with Fortress. People didn't even know that the Firmware had changed. All they knew is that suddenly, their system wasn't working and it was shutting down randomly. It worked one day, didn't work the next. Fortress made a new firmware to communicate with Solark via canbus instead, so everything is working great again now. I don't know if Solark is finished with their vendeta against Fortress, but if Solark figures out a way to cause trouble again, then anyone with a Fortress-Solark combo could experience a coms disruption again... I really don't believe this was an accident on Solark's part. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that Solark isn't mad at HomeGrid right now, so that might be a better bet. I personally don't use Solark. I'm leary of a company who pushes out Firmware updates that break things. One question, does HomeGrid officially support combining new batteries with old batteries? Fortress does not, they say in their documentation that you shouldn't mix different ages of batteries together. I could be wrong, but my understanding is that it should actually be fine, but the SOC will be different on the different ages of batteries... particularly when the batteries are between 30% and 80%. They'll be more tight with eachother near the top and the bottom of their ranges, but they'll drift in the middle. So I think it's fine to mix them like that, but I'm wondering if HomeGrid specifically says it's okay or if they specifically say not to do it? Thanks, Kienan Green-Go Solar Distribution LLC Maxfield Solar LLC (installation and consulting company) maxfieldso...@hotmail.com<https://maxfieldso...@hotmail.com/> (801) 631-5584(Cell) distribution.solar ________________________________ From: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org> on behalf of Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> Sent: Friday, April 14, 2023 3:03 PM To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> Cc: Howie Michaelson <howie.michael...@gmail.com> Subject: [RE-wrenches] HomeGrid Battery Experience Hi All, I am looking to upgrade an offgrid client's battery bank from 2-volt Rolls KS17s to LiFePO4 batteries. I'm basically looking at one Fortress eVault Max cabinet vs. a HomeGrid 4 stack option. I have used the eVault Maxs before, and generally like them. The 2 options are relatively equivalent cost and size. The advantage of the eVault is that I've used them with good success several times, and they have a better listed warranty (6,000 cycles vs. 4,000, slightly more favorable end of life capacity retention). The reason I am considering the HomeGrid is because the promise of more incremental increases if that becomes a need (4.8 kWh blocks vs. 18.5 kWh) and the promised ease of adding up to another 4 blocks with apparently little or no effort compared to the need for a whole other large battery connection. These will be matched up to an existing Sol-Ark 12k inverter. If anyone has any experience with the HomeGrid (positive or negative), or experience with both brands, I'd love to hear any feedback. I hate installing equipment I haven't used before! 😕 Thanks, Howie Howie Michaelson Sun Catcher NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™ [https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1MQF8aTcFNnBR59ia5JAm1DsPHCxzNkPx&export=download] Solar Electric Systems Sales & Service 802-272-0004
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