Victron or Lux

[Stinsy]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply, I did not really want to duplicate my question on the other forum, I know people hate that & understandably, It just seemed mine was a bit off topic & tried to simplify here.

I have found some good videos on the Lux's so hope I can dig deeper as not quite sure why rebranded when from the same company pretty much on the same www page.

Thanks again.

The company involved has re-branded imported products before, and is part of a group of companies that are all essentially similar in what they re-sell. I had dealings with them many years ago when they were selling a "thermodynamic" hot water system, essentially a heat pump with the evaporator being a flat panel that they marketed as a solar panel. IIRC they got into trouble for calling it a solar panel, when in reality it was just a radiator-type heat exchanger that didn't need the sun to work at all. I'm pretty sure that they have tie ups with a few Chinese manufacturers and import and sometimes re-brand products from there. Pity, as when I got a price from them for a Lux ACS3600 a couple of years ago the price was very high, much higher than the things used to sell for before they became the exclusive UK importer.

The Lux was my preferred inverter/charger but the crazy price I was quoted for one put me off. Pity, as they used to be priced more reasonably. I ended up with a Sofar ME3000SP, mainly because it was available at a very much better price (less than half the price that Infinity/Bunsen/"Whatever they are calling themselves this week" quoted for a Lux).

When I got my Lux the price was a big feature. It was £600 which compared very favourably with Solax, Sofar, Solis, et al. They now seem to have doubled the price...

[Oldgreybeard]

When I got my Lux the price was a big feature. It was £600 which compared very favourably with Solax, Sofar, Solis, et al. They now seem to have doubled the price...

I met the chap that took over the exclusive UK sales of Lux products at the self-build show in Swindon about three or four years ago. My impression of him was not favourable, and when I contacted him a couple of years ago for the price of the ACS3600 I nearly fell off my chair when he gave me the price.

It's actually a lot cheaper to buy one from Europe and pay the additional tax and duty than it is to buy from the UK dealer, which is a shame. I'd be disinclined to buy one now on a point of principle, as I strongly object to this sort of rampant profiteering.

[Stinsy]

The Lux inverter really is very good, however it is badly let down by the sole UK importer. Actually buying one is exceptionally difficult and aftersales support is nonexistent unless you contact Lux directly.

[Swwils]

They definitely don't just have a sole importer if you know where to look.

[Oldgreybeard]

They definitely don't just have a sole importer if you know where to look.

Any chance of a link, please?

I spent ages trying to buy a Lux inverter a couple of years ago, and was told that they had an exclusive tie up with just one importer in the UK. That importer quoted a high price (just checked the quote, it was £1,550, inc VAT) so I bought a Sofar ME3000SP instead, that cost £850 inc VAT.

Edited to add:

Just been digging back through old emails, and found some dating back to 2019 when I was first looking at getting batteries. The price I was quoted back then for the Lux LXP 3600 ACS was £714, inc VAT! When I looked again in 2020 I contacted that supplier and they told me that they were no longer able to sell Lux products, but they did give me the contact details for the company that gave me that outrageous quote for £1,550 inc VAT.

[Tinkering]

Trying to work out the difference between the Lux ACS3600 & the SQPOD 3600 which most/all on here talk about

I have a Solis 3.6kw std grid tied inverter & 4kw Solar PV. Installed June. Now want battery storage

Little confused by spec.
Appreciate I need an A/C inverter but some seems battery charge only & not solar, I think?

I want it to charge off grid at night (is economy 7 but Not Octopus)
but day time etc. top up with the solar.
Also EPS (UPS) & quite a few seem to have this built in (I know a separate circuit with one or more socket or even a mini circuit)

I think 3kw'ish discharge & 4.8kw battery is plenty for me at the moment.

I think availability is the issue so does not have to be Lux but does have UPS out of the box but don't want to compromise but also end up waiting till after winter before it gets installed.

I suspect any brand is going to be hard to source.

It there a clear difference between the Lux ACS3600 & the SQPOD 3600?

Thanks I/A

The Difference between the 2 types is that the SQPOD is Parallel ready.

I have 2 of these and find the Lux units very easy to set charge/discharge times etc.
i had one of the original Lux ACS3600 units which i replaced with 2 of the SQLPOD'S to give a higher output and allow me to connect more Pylontech's.

I have recently installed 5kw of panels and one of the Lux Hybrid units for one of my Sons who is also happy with the system.(well he will be happier once the Batteries have arrived)

I have always dealt with Jake from Infinity who has always given really good service.
As an early adopter Lux and Jake used my system to develop the Agile Integration with Octopus which works perfectly.

I Added 2 new consumer units and have the UPS set up so that the whole house (minus the Oven and Induction Hob) which works seamlessly, in Fact sometimes the only way i notice a power cut is either the neighbours alarm going off or walking into the kitchen and seeing the oven clocks off.
I was lucky to find an earth rod right outside where the Meter cupboard is so when the Power is down its all earthed still.

One final point regarding Jake at Infinity, i Gave my original lux unit to my other son who already had panels and inverter installed and just wanted to add battery's and this worked fine but one evening just Died.

I phoned Jake and a replacement unit was sent out the next day and the faulty unit collected at the same time. which i was pretty impressed with.

Sorry if this sounds like an advert for Infinity but i have seen several posts with people finding them a problem, this has not been my experience.

Happy to help if i can if you have any other questions.

Nigel

[Oldgreybeard]

My only concern is over the massive price hike, TBH.

I was quoted £595 plus VAT and delivery for an LXP 3600 ACS in October 2019. I put off buying a system through that winter, and when I asked for an updated price in 2020 I was told to contact the new importer. That new importer quoted me a price of £1250 plus VAT and delivery for the exact same unit.

At that point I decided that the price was way too high, although when I mentioned this I was told that Lux was using "newer and more advanced technology", which smacked to me of BS. Rather than pay the OTT price for the Lux I bought a Sofar ME3000SP for close to half the much higher new price of the Lux, despite this being slagged off by the Lux importer as being inferior.