AC 5.0

Hello. Any news on availability of the AC 5.0 inverter please?

We are hoping for this model to launch early next year, unfortunately it has been pushed back.

Adam-Reynolds Any option for an upgrade path? Recycle plan for AC3's? ;-) I have a second battery on order to give me 17.7kw in total so an AC5 would be nice! I am space limited so can not have multiple AC3's.

I guess that’s the other thing with the AC5 in that you’ll need at least 2x 5.2kWh packs to have enough current to hit 5kW rates?
Even the single 9.5 would be strung out at 4kW /80A

Adam-Reynolds Thank you.
Are you able to confirm if the AC 5.0 could technically replace an AC 3.0 connected to two Giv-Bat 8.2 batteries please?
If not, I will wait for the 9.5 instead.

@THALL With a 5 year warranty, I am optimistic I would be able to sell the AC 3.0 to someone looking to upgrade to a multiple inverter system, but the option to upgrade through GivEnergy could be a bonus.

Well with the world big on recycling etc I would expect the AC3 has some breakdown/component value too. I expect some kind of upgrade program is no more than a pipe dream on my part. But it would be nice. I wouldn't upgrade if I thought the AC3 would go to waste. Plus as I can not join Intelligent Octopus (because I have an VW ID3) I can not fully charge a 8.2 + 9.5 battery on Go 5hr.

What are the peak charge and discharge AC rates for GivEnergy batteries?

If an AC 3.0 is connected to more than one battery, does it only charge/discharge one at a time, or is the peak 3 kW rate across more than one battery?

hoggy Is the 4kW / 80A limit you mention for the 9.5 the DC (hybrid inverter) rate or does that apply to AC inverters too?

LeiChat

My AC3 with 3 x 5.2 batteries tops out at 70A 3400W

LeiChat its the battery that would be the limiting factor this time.
Its down to the max current allowed to be drawn from the pack multiplied by the nominal voltage (51.2V*)
You can flick through the various battery datasheets but from memmory i think you end up with
9.5kWh - 80A - 4096W
8.2kWh - 85A - 4,352W
5.2kWh - 60A - 3072W
2.6kWh - 30A - 1536W**

**reported to actually be limited to 0.5C or 1250W

GE may be be able to up some of those limits on the bigger packs (the 9.5 being lower than the 8.2 does stand out a bit BUT it has its fancy new connector that might be the source of this imposed limit) through a firmware update or there may very well be a need to be a minimum of 2 packs per inverter.
I guess there is also the 3rd option in that GE bring out a monster pack!

*this figure floats up and down depending on SOC so sometimes you get a bit more, sometimes less.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Does the following sound accurate?

Two AC 3.0 inverters, each with their own 8.2 battery would peak around 6kW, limited by the inverter max current.

An AC 5.0 with two 8.2 batteries would peak around 4,352W, as it would be limited by battery max current, despite there being two.

Two AC 5.0 inverters, each with their own 8.2 battery, might potentially peak at 8.7kW, not 10kW because of the battery max current.

No, An AC 5.0 with two 8.2 batteries would peak at 5kW because the 4,352 limit is per 8.2 battery.

The other two cases are correct.

If the hybrid 3.6 inverter can be software upgraded to a 5.0 what's stopping the AC version being able to do the same with an update?

94jdh It's only the PV side of the Hybrid that you can do that to, you don't gain anything on the battery charge or discharge rates - your still stuck with 2.6kW max on that side.
I would imagine there are some serious hardware changes required to make a 5kW AC coupled inverter not least the fact that the surface area of the heatsink would need to be improved (they are physically more compact than the Hybrids) as they already run quite hot at full bore.

Given the amount of pain they are going through trying to get multiple / plant AC systems to play nice with one another to allow >3kW of discharge I suspect if it were that easy to simply push the existing one up to 4 or 5kW and release it they would have done so already! Would save them a lot of headaches and disgruntled customers.