From pv magazine USA
pv magazine recently met with Discover Battery at Intersolar North America in Long Beach, California, to view the unveiling of Helios ESS, a lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) battery with use cases in off-grid solar, tiny homes, and RVs. The battery comes in 24V or 48V designs, with 60Ah and 30Ah-rated capacities, respectively. It has a nominal energy rating of 1.54 kWh.
Up to 20 Helios batteries can be linked in series and controlled by Discover’s Lynk II Gateway, a battery management system (BMS) that can dynamically manage charges and perform remote troubleshooting when connected with the internet. The Lynk II can be integrated with major inverters from Schneider, Victron, Sol-Ark, SMA, Studer, and more. The BMS is located in a cabin at the top of the battery unit for ease of access. When charged in a closed-loop managed by proprietary BMS, the batteries can be charged 25% faster, said Discover Battery.
Discover Battery said the battery case is designed in house, making the devices stable, especially when used in mobile applications. In remote, cold climates, the Helios battery employs its integrated self-heating layer for optimal performance. The battery also has an on/off switch for flexibility and energy conservation. It is now available globally, with shipments starting in February.
LFP batteries have a significantly lower risk of thermal runway compared to their conventional lithium counterparts, as they remove the key culprit, cobalt, from the battery chemistry. Helios is UL 1971 certified.
Discover Battery has been making batteries since 1949, and primarily works in the lead-acid space. The team brings 100+ years of combined solar industry experience, using that expertise to create a product that is sensitive to the needs of solar installers and service teams. Remote management via BMS means less truck rolls, and a removable BMS that does not require moving cells prevents the need for shipping lithium when repairs are needed.
Coming down the line for Discover this summer is its Element battery, a 5 kW LFP battery that can also be placed in a series of 20 and managed by Lynk II. This device joins Discover Battery’s workhorse, the AES battery, a 3.0kWh and 7.4kWh, 48V unit.
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Why would a person hook 20 of these batteries in series?
More battery=capacity
It’s actually Parallel not in Series.
I was also curious why in series and checked the manufacturers website.
So how much will these new batteries cost?, for example a 3 bedroomed semi detached family home.
In the u.k a lot of people are and have had solar p.v pannels fitted to our roofs, i have just had 1w pannels fitted but when i tried to find out about the so called feed in tarrif i was told by the installer not to bother as its now been stopped and so i looked into a power wall and when i was told an average price would be 8 to ten thousand pounds..i nearly fell off my chair!, so ill repezt my question how much will these batteries cost to install enough batteries to run a family home such as ours?.
So many variables, when you say “run a 3 bedroom house” Do you have central heating? Is your water heater electric? Are your children high-end gamers? You’d need to look at your past year’s power bills, to get an idea of what size storage bank would suit your needs, and then consider how many days of sun your panels receive, and what output you can expect from them, averaged out over a month.
Lets just say it`s an average size home with gas cooking and gas instant hot water, microwave oven use heating the evening meal for one person and wood heating in winter, with very minimal air conditioner use in summer. Have 4.1 kw of solar panels on the roof, what would be the cost of a battery?