Hi, and welcome to week number 36 2025. Week in review; - We try and resurrect a 5 year battery old system - Installed another tesla power wall 3 - Installed an iStore battery

Ambrion 5 years of battery life (Preston) We noted the car charger is too close to the system and the ventilation holes to underneath the floor of the house were not coverted over to prevent fire entering the home if the battery were to do its worst. Thankfully for this battery it shutdown with damaged cells and below recoverable voltage as to prevent re-energizing and potential thermal runaway. Unfortunately for the customer this no longer appears to be a supported product outside of the retailer that did the installation, therefore limited access to any support and recovery. Key takeaways When looking for a battery, make sure you have access to the manufacturer's details for warranty and repair, and it isn't solely owned and distributed by the retailer selling you the product, as they are notorious for closing the business after they make their money, and leaving you in the dark, literally.

Second possible issue this battery was on low charge and left switched on when the power was removed when the property was sold. While it was off-grid it discharged and shut down to protect its cells, if left off for multiple months, this can reach an unrecoverable low state of charge that voids the warranty.

Telsa Powerwall 3 (Wallan) We started our week with the usual tesla power wall 3 installation, went reasonably well given the weather over this wet winter, working in the garage helped. Key takeaways from this installation is the fact the powerwall 3 has a built-in solar inverter with DC cables entering the enclosure, this poses an interesting problem with AS/NZS 4777 as there is no internal separation between the DC input and the remainder of the enclosure. So to overcome this issue we simply glanded all the entry points off to make it completely waterproof, preventing any open conduit entering, this enables compliance and peace of mind for our clients (built to last).

> It's how something is done that makes the difference.

Istore Battery (Lalor) We went back to an old solar job from a few years ago to add a battery to the hybrid inverter so the customer can continue saving money as the export to grid has dropped to $0.03 per kWh if not part of a Virtual Power Plant. iStore batteries require 2 x 5kWh cells to reach 5kW of output as each cell only puts out 2.5kw each. So always install 10kWh as a minimum and if you need backup capability 15kWh as a minimum to allow for power backup reserve of atleast 20%. **Key Takeaways ** Always make sure the output of the battery is equal to the output of the inverter to maximise output and savings.