Fogstar Seplos Mason Kits

[bpabpa]

Hi

So far I have used Pylontech batteries.

I have a new installation in mind and the price of the Seplos Mason kit is very tempting. It will be used with Solis hybrid inverter.

The kits offer several different makes of cells. The price differential is not great.

Anyone any thoughts as to the best cell to buy? None of the names mean anything to me.

Ian

[Stinsy]

Firstly the Fogstar kits are 16s whereas Pylontech are 15s, so they don't mix and match very well. Maybe you can configure the Fogstar as 15s?

I wouldn't tie yourself in knots worrying too much about LF280l vs MB31 or whatever. They're all much of a muchness. How much does it really matter if your stack has 80% of it's capacity left after 6000 or 8000 cycles?

And don't forget our friend Colin!

[Kommando]

These longer declared cycle times for the recently released cells is deceptive. They have moved from 80% of original capacity to 70%, apply that to the older cells and there is not much difference in life of the cells new to old.

[bpabpa]

Many thanks.

This system will be standalone with its own inverter so no problem with Pylontechs.

[Ronski]

I built my two batteries with EVE LF280 cells, the ones with the two threads on each terminal, these were all bought from Fogstar.

[wookey]

I've got the 314Ah EVE cells that Fogstar supply by default with the v4 box. They came quite closely matched and seem to work fine. Although all all I've done so far is charge them up (took several days in recent grey weather) and balance them. Hopefully switching on the inverter later today...
The main advantage of buying via Fogstar is that they can filter out the charlatans and dodgy suppliers/cells for you. Battery-buying direct from China is a tricky game. There are good suppliers on Aliexpress, and you can find them via forums like this one and DIYsolar.com, and save a bit of money, but you need to do your homework to avoid getting things which are not quite as advertised.

[Ronski]

Exactly the same reason as to why I purchased mine from Fogstar.

I never charged or top balanced them, just installed them, and used them. I do have the JK BMS with active balancer, but they've all been very close anyway.

[Swwils]

In a regular application the cell banding makes so little difference. Get the cheapest ones you can from somewhere that actually test them and enjoy the £/kWh benefit.

You might get EVE cells if you prefer the physical connection.

I had to replace 2 cells via fogstar it was an easy process though. (1 bad weld, 1 bad BMS calibration ).

[pudding]

I'm looking into these kits right now. If people had a choice, would they go for

A - V4 kit with Eve MB31 Grade A 314Ah cells (16.08kWh) for £1799, https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/s ... e-a-bundle

or

B - V4 kit with Envision Grade B 280Ah cells (14.34kWh) for £1399 ? https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/s ... e-b-bundle

I'll be buying 2, so overall its an £800 saving for the cheaper option, but slightly concerned at the lower grade B batteries there, but is it £800 worth of concern!?!?

[AGT]

As well as the price difference there is a cycle difference of 2000 between them too..