We just had a complete failure of a set of four Simpliphi 3.8 KWh
batteries, 48 v. It has completely changed my thoughts on Li+ for
off grid. This set lasted 5 years, which is about equal to bottom
of the barrel Golf Cart batteries. The RMA/ Warranty process has
not been smooth. It took almost a week to even get shipping info
from Simpliphi, and then another week to deal with Hazmat issues,
and get Fed Ex to accept used Li+ batteries for shipment. To
their credit, tech support has been knowledgeable, responsive, and
available by phone while on site.
Overall, the system worked fine for 5 years, but then a month
ago, after several days of cloudy weather, the system shut down
due to low voltage. (so far, fairly typical off grid winter
situation) When the customer started the generator and tried to
revive the system, he noticed one of the batteries didn't seem to
be taking a charge, so after consulting with Simpliphi, he charged
each battery separately with a small aux charger. I checked this
charger and it was quite stable at a max of 58 v. By the time I
arrived, all 4 batteries would not accept even milliamps of charge
current. The BMSs had all disconnected the batteries from the
buss, but strangely there was residual voltage (51vdc) on the
terminals. It was not usable however, and crashed to 18 v upon
connection to the inverter with no loads.
Simpliphi is claiming all the BMS units were fried due to a high
voltage event. Its winter, there was no lightning, and we had
both the Outback FM100 and the Schneider XW programmed according
to the Simpliphi integration guides. BTW, Simpliphi has no high
voltage recording, they just don't like the look of how their
electronics fried. Electronics failed = customer's fault. I think
it failed because of the voltage differential between the low
battery voltage and normal charge voltage. If the BMS can't
survive in a typical off grid environment, with proper programming
on industry standard equipment, its not suitable for off grid
applications. Plenty of manus have decided to quit recommending
their equipment for off grid; its a tough gig.
How many times have we all heard the old 'Manu S blaming Manu
X' snafu on this list? Simpliphi is saying that the XW can
have transient over voltage events. Well, that should be
mentioned in the integration guide, so we can make an informed
decision, and not use that inverter with their batteries.
So after paying about 5 times what a set of golf cart batteries
would have cost, my client is looking at having to buy a complete
new set. That's approx. $1.60/ kWh of use from the old set.
Simpliphi is saying they'll give us a discount on refurbished
units; that is still to be seen. The customer has been running on
an old generator for the past 3 weeks in sub zero weather at 9000
ft. Also, why would we want to reinstall more of these, without
any assurance that this won't happen again in a couple of years?
In 27 years in the off grid business, I have never dealt with
such a complete and sudden battery failure, or with such a rough
RMA process, or with such a poor warranty from a supposedly top
tier manu. I thought I was providing my customer with the best,
but now good old flooded lead acid batteries are all I'm
considering for up coming installs. It's 2024, but lead acid are
a known quantity, and with proper maintenance are quite robust and
predictable. Even when they fail, there are plenty of warning
signs beforehand. They also can handle below freezing weather,
and I am just not a fan of the whole 'battery heating do it
yourself off Ebay with pet heaters' BS either.
Li+ is just not ready for off grid. It seems to work fine
for folks that don't rely on it, like GTB.
At least if something like EG4 fails, its price point is not too
far off of lead acid. Simpliphi (now Briggs and Stratton) at
almost $800/ kWh? We were counting on you, we sold these batteries
to many clients under the guise that this was NOT a 'Fly by
night/ made in China' offering. Based on cycle life, this
should have lasted a lifetime. I hate being wrong. I can only
pray that more of these high price tag batteries don't start
failing on my watch.
I've been holding this rant back for a while, trying to give
Simpliphi a chance to make this right. However, this week I heard
their "diagnosis", and then I saw Jay's timely post? I knew it was
time. <rant off>
Sincerely,
Ray Walters
Remote Solar
On 2/7/2024 9:19 AM, jay via
RE-wrenches wrote:
One of the things that I’m just now learning is about BMS
failure/warranty/fix/replacement.
Some can be field installed some need to go back to
the OEM.
I guess its something else we need to check on.
Jay
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