The residential battery market is becoming more and more uniform: the capacities are generally the same, we mainly work with lithium iron phosphate chemistry and everyone worth their salt has a cool app. So this week at the RE+ trade show I was looking for something that stood out and was more than just a sleek, gray box. I was happy that there were a few companies that stood out from the crowd.
Anchor Solix X1
Anker Solix started in the portable energy market and is now focusing more on standalone storage. Being largely a consumer brand, Anker has developed partnerships with solar and storage installers to establish itself in the sector. The nice thing about the company’s X1 energy storage system, besides the stackable 5 kWh battery modules and increased temperature resistance, is the attention to design. The system is only 15 cm thick and the control panel changes color depending on the mode in which it works. Off-grid mode lights up blue; on the grid showed white. It’s a small element, but it leaves an impression on system owners who want to visually see how their battery is performing at any given time.
FranklinWH aPower 2
Okay, it’s a white box, but FranklinWH’s updated aPower battery system contains some great technology. Instead of offering stackable battery modules of 3 or 5 kWh, the aPower 2 has a capacity of 15 kWh at once. This system was designed with installer input and the knockout plates in the enclosure have been relocated for easier installation. Two aPowers can be connected to FranklinWH’s aGate management system via a quad breaker, eliminating the need for a combiner box. The battery uses fanless convection, making it a quieter device. And FranklinWH now offers a 15-year warranty or 60 MWh throughput capacity – well above the industry standard of 10,000 cycles.
Briggs & Stratton SimpliPHI 6.6
Briggs & Stratton acquired energy storage system maker SimpliPhi Power in 2021, (thankfully) keeping the SimpliPhi name while improving the reliable LFP battery design. One of the original “stackable” systems, the updated SimpliPHI 6.6, retains that scalability while remaining inverter-agnostic. Installers can use whatever brand of inverter they trust and feel most comfortable with; Briggs & Stratton knows its strength is battery technology. The batteries themselves snap together, eliminating the need to manually connect wires or switches inside, allowing the SimpliPHI 6.6 system to be installed in less than 5 minutes. A real installer’s dream.
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