SolaX is a very reputable solar PV inverter manufacturer which also produces high quality hybrid PV inverters/battery chargers and lithium-ion batteries, both for domestic and commercial applications.
The hybrid inverter technology is in our opinion the best for battery storage for new PV sytems or where the existing inverter needs replacing. The main reason for this is that the battery is DC-coupled which means there are fewer conversion losses along the system, leading to a higher yield. Hybrid inverter systems also use fewer components which reduces the installation cost and the number of possible points of failure.The SolaX X-Hybrid comes with an impressive 10 year warranty for piece of mind and integrated WiFi for superb monitoring of the solar generation, battery charge/discharge rate and state of charge and grid import/export.
The monitoring platform is online so it can be accessed not only at home but anywhere with an internet connection. The inverter comes as a single- or three-phase unit which means almost any PV array will be suitable. The single-phase version boasts a 97% average efficiency and can charge/discharge the battery at up to 2.5 kW which means the majority of standard household electric loads will be covered, even some electric cooking.
When it comes to the battery, there are a few choices:
At the high end is the LG Chem RESU lithium-ion battery, which comes with either 3.3 kWh, 6.5 kWh or 10 kWh of storage. It can be wall- or floor-mounted indoors or outdoors. We would recommend this battery for systems requiring more than 5 kWh of storage.
In the middle of the scale is SolaX’s own lithium-ion battery which is available in a single size of 4.8 kWh. It is a wall-mounted unit which can only be installed indoors and is rated to over 4,000 cycles (picture opposite). It is the best value-for money option at this size of battery.
Finally, at the low end is the Pylontech 2.4 kWh lithium-ion battery which comes in modular units mounted in a cabinet, much like a computer server system. Multiple modules can be combined in parallel to provide more power if required, but realistically most people would benefit more from either the LG Chem or SolaX battery.
Click here to view our summary page on residential solar storage.
