SolarEdge Home Battery Review: A Good Battery From a Big Solar Industry Name

7.1

SolarEdge Home Battery

Like

• Unlimited cycle warranty
• High efficiency
• High depth of discharge
• Fair price
• Can be installed without solar panels

Don't like

• Lower power output
• Lacking modular design
• Fewer options for customer support than other battery manufactures

SolarEdge is the big dog in the inverter space, best known for its DC power optimizers and inverters. The company is growing in the solar storage space too. 

As of 2023, SolarEdge ranks among the eight manufacturers with the highest market share for solar-plus-storage in the US. In the battery space, SolarEdge is mostly known for its DC-coupled architecture, a solar-plus-storage system that requires less equipment and is typically more efficient than other AC-coupled systems.

"It's fundamental to our architecture and just our raw personality as a company, I would say," Chris Thompson, vice president of product and technical marketing at SolarEdge, told CNET. 

We did not conduct any hands-on testing for this review. Batteries are part of a complex home energy system that varies from house to house. Instead, this review is based on publicly available information online from SolarEdge and an interview with Thompson. 

Here's what you should know about SolarEdge Home Battery. 

What do I get with the SolarEdge Home Battery?

The SolarEdge Home Battery is a decent-sized 9.7 kilowatt-hour battery that comes with good performance and efficiency specs, as well as an unlimited cycle warranty. It also packs some intricate battery management features, designed to assist you in your battle against time of use rates. We'll talk more about this below. 

The SolarEdge Home Battery is part of a DC-coupled ecosystem, meaning you won't need to buy a separate inverter for the battery and your energy is only converted once from storage to your house, instead of three times with an AC-coupled system. This makes your system more efficient. DC-coupled systems tend to be easier (and possibly cheaper) to install if you don't already have an existing solar panel system installed. If you don't plan on going solar and only want to use the battery as a standalone power source, you do that too.

"If you have an AC coupled battery, the power only goes to the battery once it's been converted to AC, that's an AC coupled architecture," Thompson said. "So on a DC-coupled architecture, you go directly from that PV to the battery." 

Here's a quick overview of some of the specs for the SolarEdge Home Battery.

System components

You won't have a bunch of boxes on the wall with a SolarEdge system. You'll just have three main components:

• SolarEdge Home Battery: The battery (or energy bank) stores your energy for later use.
• SolarEdge Home Inverter: The inverter converts the DC electricity generated by your solar panels into AC electricity that your home appliances can use. It also functions as the brain of the system, keeping track of solar and grid connections and tracking your home's energy production and consumption data.
• Home Backup Interface: The backup interface is the middleman between your house and the rest of the equipment. It also allows you to choose which loads you want to back up when the power goes out. 

Another great thing about the SolarEdge Home Battery is how it connects with other SolarEdge products. The system components are part of a sort of wireless communication ecosystem, using Google OpenThread, a wireless mesh networking protocol. 

"We get two things from going to Google OpenThread," Thompson said. "One is when people are running the communications wires from their inverter to their battery, sometimes they screw it up because you never know how far the battery is from the inverter usually. The second thing is it looks better because you don't need to have this communications line running from one spot to the other."

Having a wireless system can also make system updates easier, and Thompson said the wireless system SolarEdge has in place is faster than a wired communication solution. SolarEdge also has a complex time-of-use algorithm, specifically designed to help combat unpredictable electricity rates in California.  

"NEM 3.0 in California made things super complicated," Thompson said. "So we've got these very detailed time of use prices that change with the season, they change with the time of day, they change whether it's a weekend, and they're asymmetrical. So the rate for the power going in is different for the rate for the power going out."

As long as your battery system remains cloud-connected, SolarEdge's algorithm keeps up with your utility's fluctuating time of use rates and helps you save money by using energy from your battery when electricity rates are at the highest, and charging your battery when it's cheapest to do so. The best part is you don't have to do anything. The battery does it automatically.

"It runs all these algorithms in the cloud. It's pretty advanced," Thompson said. "But for the homeowner, it's 100% transparent. All that happens is the installer installs it, they put in the utility and all of it gets kind of automated in the cloud. But all of these calculations are run at night in our cloud. And it will come up with a prediction for the next day."

Capacity and modularity 

The SolarEdge Home Battery has a fairly standard usable capacity of 9.7 kWh. You can stack up to three battery units for a total of 29.1 kWh of energy storage capacity. 

SolarEdge's battery isn't modular, meaning you won't be able to upgrade your storage capacity on a singular battery unit. If you find yourself needing more than 9.7 kWh, you'll have to buy another large battery versus just adding a little extra capacity to your existing battery. Needless to say, this can get expensive.

If you don't care about modularity, if 9.7 kWh (or a multiple of it) is the right size for you, or don't anticipate any capacity upgrades in the future, the SolarEdge Home Battery should serve you well.

Performance and efficiency 

The SolarEdge Home Battery does pretty well in the performance and efficiency specs we look at. It has a higher-than-average round-trip efficiency rating of 94.5%. Round-trip efficiency is essentially a measure of how much of your energy makes it in and out of battery storage without getting lost. The SolarEdge Home Battery is a DC-coupled system. These systems typically have higher efficiency ratings because your energy is being converted between DC and AC one time instead of three. If you have solar panels, a DC-coupled system also eliminates the need for an additional inverter for your battery.

Since the SolarEdge Home Battery has a 100% depth of discharge, you'll be able to use all of its capacity and drain it down to zero without causing damage. Just because you can drain it all in one go, doesn't mean you should. Batteries wear down over time, and continuously letting your battery die could shorten its lifespan.

The power output category isn't this battery's strongest area, but it does OK. It has two types of power output ratings: peak and continuous. Peak power is the amount of power that your battery can handle all at once without risking damage. This usually kicks in when starting power-hungry appliances, and your battery doesn't peak for very long. Continuous power output is the amount of power your battery can handle continuously at any given moment.

The SolarEdge Home Battery's power output ratings are fine, but they could be better. It has a peak power rating of 7.5 kW and a continuous power rating of 5 kW. These ratings are relatively equivalent to a Tesla Powerwall and were pretty typical to see a few years ago. Plenty of other batteries on today's market have continuous power ratings of 7 kW or higher.

Warranty 

The SolarEdge Home Battery has one of the best battery warranties we've seen simply because there's no cycle or throughput clause. This means there's no limit on how much you can use your battery during its standard 10-year warranty period. It's rare to see this on the battery market. 

The other major aspects of the warranty are industry-standard. Your battery is covered for 10 years and will be able to maintain at least 70% of its original capacity by the end of your warranty. The Home Backup Interface and SolarEdge Home Inverters also come with 12-year warranties.

Years covered: This is the length of time your battery is covered under warranty. 

Cycles/throughput covered: To make sure your battery makes it to its years-covered mark, manufacturers will usually put a limit on how many times you can drain and recharge your battery. If you hit your covered cycles/throughput amount before your years covered mark, then your warranty expires. SolarEdge is a rare exception to this rule, offering unlimited cycles and no energy throughput limit. 

End-of-warranty capacity guarantee: Batteries can have some trouble with capacity retention over time. An end-of-warranty capacity guarantee is the manufacturer's promise that your battery will be able to retain a certain amount of its original maximum capacity by the time your warranty is over. 

Customer support

If there's something fishy going on with your battery system, the best person to contact is your installer. Since your installer can physically visit the site of the installation and is most familiar with your specific battery system, they'll likely be the most helpful in solving the issue. If you can't contact your installer, it's nice to have other ways to reach out for assistance. That's where the manufacturer comes in.

If you need support from SolarEdge, you'll be able to get in contact with someone via phone or live chat. Most manufacturers don't offer a live chat option, so good on SolarEdge. The company also has a plethora of FAQs, documents and video resources as well.

The mySolarEdge app

Everything comes with an app nowadays, including your home battery. You can monitor and control your battery using the mySolarEdge app. The app will track your home's daily energy production and consumption, as well as historical data over time. You'll be able to select from various battery backup settings and take advantage of SolarEdge's time-of-use monitoring to help you save money when electricity is at its highest. 

How much does a SolarEdge Home Battery cost?

The SolarEdge Home Battery will likely cost you somewhere between $5,500 - $8,000, based on listings from online third-party retailers. This price isn't too bad for what you're getting, but keep in mind that this price range doesn't include the cost of other equipment. A general rule of thumb to go by with battery pricing is that you can usually expect to pay between $1,000 to $2,000 per kilowatt hour of storage, and between $2,000 and $3,000 for installation costs.

These are just estimates. To get the most accurate price possible for your home, you'll need to speak with a SolarEdge-certified installer in your area or reach out to a SolarEdge representative. They'll be able to direct you to the right place. 

Is the SolarEdge Home Battery my best choice?

Because household energy needs and home sizes differ so much, there's no such thing as the "best home battery." What you should look for is a battery that matches your energy goals and meets your household's energy needs. 

The SolarEdge Home Battery has a lot of good things going for it. It's got decent energy storage capacity, high efficiency and a rare unlimited-cycle warranty, plus it comes at a better price than other similar options. If you live in California, you'll likely benefit a lot from SolarEdge's time-of-use algorithm, specifically designed to help you battle NEM 3.0 and unpredictable electricity prices. If you're looking for a powerful battery or a battery that's capacity upgrade-friendly, this is probably not your best option.  

There are plenty of other batteries out there besides the SolarEdge Home Battery. Take some time to do your own research and check out what other battery installers in your area might have. Shopping around for multiple quotes can help you save a few thousand dollars too.

How we evaluated the best solar batteries 

First, let's be clear: Not every solar battery is right for every home. Solar is a very site-specific and personalized decision process, so it's a little tricky to pinpoint exactly which solar battery is the "best" battery for your home's energy needs without doing an on-site consultation. 

It should also be said that we didn't have any form of hands-on testing with any of the batteries we scored. This methodology also assumes you're purchasing a battery for the main purpose of using it for energy backup. If you mainly plan to use your battery for energy offset or to take part in a virtual power plant, there are likely better options than what we have featured in our reviews and rankings. We strongly encourage you to do your own research, as well as to speak with installers in your area. An installer will be able to get a better understanding of your home's energy use and what sort of system you might need. 

We used a few ways to evaluate and compare these batteries to find the stand-outs. Here's how we developed our list of top solar batteries.

First, we determined which categories would be used to evaluate each battery's performance, capacity and value. We also weighted each category. The weight of each category reflects the importance we felt was relevant to the average consumer: 

• Modularity: 20%
• Warranty: 20%
• Round-trip efficiency: 15%
• Power output: 15%
• Depth of discharge: 10%
• Price: 5%
• Price transparency: 5% 
• Customer support options: 10%

We looked at more than 15 of the most widely available batteries on the market and collected the data for each category to compare the numbers. Each category (for every battery) was given a rating (from 1 to 5) to evaluate which aspects of each battery were above average (among our list), just average or below average.

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