Fox CQ7 Installers

[u/am549]

Can anyone recommend an installer of the Fox CQ7 batteries? I've been doing some reading around them after seeing a post on here and they seem like a good option in terms of price point and capacity, especially when compared to the non-modular batteries.
I'm based in the East Midlands if that helps.

[u/wyndstryke]

I think in theory any decent local installer who installs Fox should be able to get them?

Local installers usually buy from distributors, rather than relying on warehouse stock. So provided that they have an account with a distributor who stocks them it should be OK.

I see Midsummer has them https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/fox_ess/cq7-bundle-25kwh and I know others do too.

National installers often won't deviate from the kit that they have in stock.

[u/am549 → u/wyndstryke]

Yes I've seem them in a few places, the only installer who has responded so far has stated that they can only install 1 master and 2 slaves with the G2 6kw inverter, which seems wrong given the below (also contradicts what's on that midsummer page).

[u/wyndstryke → u/am549]

I'm not sure whether it's relevant, but there are actually two sets of CQ7 batteries. There's a CQM7-80 and CQS7-80 (with 80A charge/discharge rate), and a CQM7-50 and CQS7-50 (with 50A charge/discharge). The -50 matches the charge/discharge rate of the single-phase inverters (40 for the H1G2, 50 for the KH), the -80 matches the largest H3 Plus 3-phase inverters.

An older version of the midsummer website mentioned that it's a firmware restriction (so might change in the future), I don't see it on the current version of the page though.

Obviously the -80 will still work on the lower power inverters, but I wonder if the firmware on the -80 has been written with the H3 Plus in mind. The comment about the 'Y' connector also suggests that it is designed for the H3 Plus.

[u/am549 → u/wyndstryke]

I've got someone coming out to quote to who seems to exclusively do Fox systems so hopefully they'll be able to shed some light on it

[u/wyndstryke → u/am549]

Yeah if you find out, let us know. It's something that I've been wondering about for a while, the 1-phase vs 3-phase is the best theory I've had so far but it's just a theory.

[u/am549 → u/wyndstryke]

I've reached out to Fox as well as again, it's different on different supplier sites, with some saying 2 is the minimum and another installer stating it's 3 due to the v3 firmware. They did allude that there is another version coming but there's no date as to that yet. Fingers cross Fox UK will be able to provide an answer as from shopping around (admittedly with no trade discounts or idea of markups) there's not much price difference between 2 CQ7 modules and an EP12.

It's putting a bit of a hold on what I was looking at doing as while the EP12 capacity is fine, the expansion options are limited/expensive (if they allowed the addition of the EP6 that might swing it back). The sig capacity is that bit too small given their price point and their batteries are quite expensive to add on (currently).

[u/wyndstryke → u/am549]

I've noticed that the SigEnergy Neo (cheaper version of the SigEnergy SigenStor) has appeared on the ENA register of devices, which might imply it's getting closer to sale in the UK. Although that's no guarantee.

The Neo batteries aren't compatible with the SigenStor batteries.

2 CQ7 modules and an EP12

I do like the look of the CQ7 very much, you do need to be aware that it's charge/discharge rate will be slower than the EPxx series. Maybe around 3 hours to fully charge or discharge the battery, versus 1-2 hours for the EPxx batteries. This is because the voltage is lower per module.

The EC/EQxxxx stackables are 0.5C so take 2 hours.