Sigenergy SigenStor inverter and battery review - Updated October 2024
Sigenergy's new solar and battery products.
There's some pretty impressive stuff to unpack here.
If you prefer to watch, not read, here's a summary in a 5 minute video.
You'll see a lot of blue links below. Most go to specific Youtube videos made by Sigenergy.
Clean Energy Council approval
It was quite a long wait but now all the Sigenergy inverter and battery combinations are CEC approved except the 8kW and 10kW single phase models.
These combo models are branded 'Sigenstor'. More details below.
This is not a 'cheap' or 'basic' system, it's overflowing with features, but the prices ARE competitive.
Sigenstor - Combination of inverter and battery
5kW, 6kW, 8kW and 10kW Sigenstor single phase inverters with various battery combinations.
5kW, 10kW, 15kW and 25kW Sigenstor three phase inverters with various battery combinations.
PV MAX
3kW, 4kW, 5kW, 6kW single phase 'solar only' inverters.
Important to note that the PV MAX models can never connect a Sigenergy battery.
Hybrid Inverters
3kW, 3.6kW, 4kW, 4.6kW 5kW and 6kW single phase hybrid inverters already CEC approved.
5kW, 10kW, 15kW and 25kW three phase inverters.
3kW, 4kW, 5kW and 6kW single phase inverters.
These do not come with a battery and can connect a Sigenergy battery later via an unlock code.
Note: This is subject to Western Power approval.
The smarts of same-sizing
No-one has thought of this before. It's genius.
It addresses the huge elephant in the solar room perfectly.
Sigenergy have made their inverters and batteries all the same size.
A 5kW single phase model is the same size as a 25kW three phase model.
Underneath them sits a same sized battery.
The 5kWh battery is the same size as the 8kWh battery.
If they later bring out a new battery, it will be the same size too.
Mix and match, add new batteries to old.
Avoiding future obsolescence required another stroke of genius.
Most people know that adding new batteries to old isn't good.
The new batteries are usually dragged down to the level of the old.
Not so with Sigenergy batteries.
Each battery has an optimiser inside it and is connected in parallel.
This means each battery is a law completely unto itself.
The battery charges and discharges, cell balances, independently of the others.
Now you can add a future, same-sized battery, years down the track to your existing system.
It's all very well thought through.
I suspect Fronius, Huawei, Sungrow etc will be thinking hard about what Sigenergy have achieved.
Battery features.
Cell Chemistry Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), very much the safest for home use.
Battery optimiser to allow independent charge/discharge/cell balancing.
In-built temperature sensors and fire extinguisher in each battery module.
Parallel connection not the usual series stack.
5kWh and 8kWh battery options, mix into a variety of combinations.
6 x batteries per inverter = up to 40kWh per stack, unlimited stacks.
All batteries now and in the future, designed the same size.
Backup Gateway features
Provides power from the battery/solar/generator during a blackout.
It's a genuine UPS with 0 millisecond switch over from grid loss to power.
Includes a consumption meter
Includes a 'bypass' (manual changeover) switch.
Provides a choice of 'whole home' or partial 'essential loads' backup.
'Smart ports' are included for generator connection or controllable loads.
Ideally this lockable and elegant box should be installed next to the switchboard.
It doesn't have to go there, but it makes the installation so much easier and therefore cheaper.
Pictured inside a single phase Sigenergy Gateway with the in built consumption meter clamps highlighted.
EV Charging..AC or DC
Sigenergy have 7kW single phase and 11 and 22kW three phase EV chargers.
Think of a Zappi charger but integrated into the system.
The charger is controlled by the Sigenergy inverter and whatever settings you chose.
Draw from solar only, battery and solar, battery, solar and grid, at what time.
Plenty of settings beyond those few just mentioned.
3 year warranties for the AC EV Chargers which seems pretty industry standard.
Sigenergy also have a DC charger
Up to 25kW of power going straight from the panels and batteries into your car.
The DC charger takes up the space in the stack of one battery.
It costs about the same as one battery too.
It is also bi-directional (V2X) so you can run your home from your EV battery.
Or at least that's the theory. EV manufacturer warranties might say differently.
I see the DC charger being a popular feature for commercial installations more than home.
Big solar install, big three phase install with the DC charger for staff in the car park.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
The MySigen app you will use with Sigenergy has ChatGPT in-built.
VPP (Virtual Power Plant) ready? Yes
Impressed? Yes, I was as well.
I saw this product at the All Energy solar expo last year in Melbourne.
I assumed it was yet another cheap Chinese solar + battery combo and walked on.
Then I started hearing about it from other trusted sources.
The grapevine was working hard.
So who are Sigenergy?
Yes, Chinese, and the founder and CEO is ex-Huawei and Ascend AI, one of the largest AI companies in the World.
Reportedly he started up Huawei's solar division in 2011 and drove it to becoming World No 1 before leaving in 2020.
There's a lot of 'Huawei-like' things I recognise in the Sigenergy products.
Battery optimisers, fire extinguishers, even the identical AC plug and very similar appearance.
It seems that Tony Xu and his Sigenergy team have taken things a lot further than Huawei have done.
It's not hard to search Youtube for plenty of Sigenergy videos. Makes for interesting viewing.
Sigenergy have already had a lot of success and some very interesting installations in Europe.
If you are interested in some really large solar installs; Commercial, Industrial then Sigenergy scales up.
Inverters are paralleled together, as are stacks of batteries. On-grid or Off-grid.
Here's a quick video of a recent off-grid Australian install with 70kW of inverters and over 336kWh of battery storage.
That's 7 stacks of 6 x 8kWh Sigenergy batteries, with backup and a big generator connected on standby.
Can't wait for us to get to install some of these. They look so interesting.
The installation process seems very simple, and the finished job, very neat with all the cables hidden.
Sigenergy inverter (which can be wall mounted on it's own without batteries).
Inverter with 2 batteries. Can't say what size inverter or batteries as they all look the same.
Sigenergy datasheet/brochures.
Sigenergy brochure
Sigenergy inverter datasheet.
Sigenergy battery datasheet
Sigenergy 1 phase backup Gateway datasheet.
Sigenergy 3 phase backup Gateway datasheet.
Sigenergy 1ph/3ph consumption / smart meters (included in backup box)
Sigenergy AC EV chargers
Sigenergy DC Charger/V2H/V2G (EV) datasheet (provisional).
Sigenergy inverter warranty (Australia).
Sigenergy battery warranty.
Sigenergy AC EV charger warranty.
or email
This review was written by Andrew MacKeith, Solar4Ever service manager since 2011.
Solar4Ever is located in Morley (Perth), WA 6062
