We had our FoxESS EQ4800-L9 battery with a KH9.9 Inverter installed late December 2025 and i was just interested in whether others around Canberra may have done the same or similar, and also whether anyone would be interested in swapping installation experiences??
Here in Canberra in the last few months we have gone from +40c days to close to zero-C and likely to go minus very soon. Maybe there's a chance of swapping ideas to help us all in operating our systems during the large variations of our local climate.
FYI My experience so far with the Inverter/Battery combination and it's operation have been quite good, but my experience with the quality of the installation thru the supplier / installer / certifier chain have been less than what i would have expected, and i'm still in the process of trying to get things rectified. I will go into this in more detail if there is interest.
Sunny day here in Canberra this morning after a couple of days cloudy with rain, nice to see the sun again, battery got down to 13% overnight but looking outside should be heading for full again early afternoon.
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Yes that's my setup, KH9.9 Inverter with EQ4800-L9 Battery stack, these are being fed from my existing two previously installed solar panel sets totaling 11.6kw.
Yes, I've got one installed in Canberra, but it is KH10. I also have one in Brisbane, that is KH9.9.
Hi cjau, thx for the response. I guess I’m interested in how yours and others have been performing, interestingly mine has been running (I say this holding my breath) extremely well since we started on 5th January 2026. I’ve been a bit underwhelmed with our supplier/installer/certifier chain, trying to get someone back to fix a couple of installation fails, dodgy earth-wire connection and poorly secured battery-stack…… see pics attached… am I being too picky?….. just not the quality I would have expected. I’ll be making another contact attempt this coming week.
Anyway, how’s yours been going?… any pics you could share? I’m thinking about installing a hood of some sort to give a bit of extra protection. Any ideas you have would be much appreciated.
Anyway, how’s yours been going?… any pics you could share? I’m thinking about installing a hood of some sort to give a bit of extra protection. Any ideas you have would be much appreciated.
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That earthing wire join does look dodgy and probably not to code!
I think my installer seemed to do a pretty neat and careful job, but maybe I need to look more closely at all the connections! I'm not there at the moment, so don't have photos.
I guess the problem is that the battery companies contract electricians to do the installs, and some will be better than others. The first company I tried to buy battery from had difficulty finding an installer in Canberra, and then ended up going with a different company.
Currently my battery is exposed to sun on west, but hopefully will end up putting up a carport and it should be under cover.
Been very happy with performance so far. My main issue is with the original solar install from two years ago and not having export limiting setup. Also shading on panels in winter leads to low performance in winter especially. Trying to get some more panels in better location now that I have battery and extra string, and get everything moved over to my new FoxESS inverter. I didn't realize before how all the rules worked before otherwise would have pushed harder to get that done at time of battery install. For EVO Energy on single phase with battery allowed to have two inverters but only one inverter can have panels connected. Can have as many panels as inverter can handle.
Did you get a backup circuit installed? Original quote I got had it as included, but didn't realize until too late that it wasn't included in later quote, and was going to cost $800+ extra (can't remember exactly how much). In my Brisbane install the setup was too complex so I didn't get it done, as usually the included backup was just two circuits. I was recommended by my Brisbane installer to make sure I keep the connector for the inverter for backup setup, in case it was hard to source later.
I think my installer seemed to do a pretty neat and careful job, but maybe I need to look more closely at all the connections! I'm not there at the moment, so don't have photos.
I guess the problem is that the battery companies contract electricians to do the installs, and some will be better than others. The first company I tried to buy battery from had difficulty finding an installer in Canberra, and then ended up going with a different company.
Currently my battery is exposed to sun on west, but hopefully will end up putting up a carport and it should be under cover.
Been very happy with performance so far. My main issue is with the original solar install from two years ago and not having export limiting setup. Also shading on panels in winter leads to low performance in winter especially. Trying to get some more panels in better location now that I have battery and extra string, and get everything moved over to my new FoxESS inverter. I didn't realize before how all the rules worked before otherwise would have pushed harder to get that done at time of battery install. For EVO Energy on single phase with battery allowed to have two inverters but only one inverter can have panels connected. Can have as many panels as inverter can handle.
Did you get a backup circuit installed? Original quote I got had it as included, but didn't realize until too late that it wasn't included in later quote, and was going to cost $800+ extra (can't remember exactly how much). In my Brisbane install the setup was too complex so I didn't get it done, as usually the included backup was just two circuits. I was recommended by my Brisbane installer to make sure I keep the connector for the inverter for backup setup, in case it was hard to source later.
Yeah i've just tried calling the electrician again re the dodgy-earth connection, went to voicemail as usual so if i don't get a response by tomorrow i'll email his company (not too worried about this).
Anyway, yes if you have a westerly facing install it really should have some protection, i saw a piece recently of how a guy put a couple of large brackets on his wall and attached a large piece of shade-cloth over the top and down to just about ground-level so i guess that a good cheap way of getting some weather protection. My install is on an east-facing wall under the eaves with large hedging-trees about 2mtrs away so it gets some protection as-is but I'm still going to put up a hood or similar (i did this on my hot-water heat-pump just for some protection which is on a north-facing wall).
I was also unfamiliar with Evo's rules and have put my faith(?) in the electrician to do the right thing for my new installation. I also had 2 solar panel systems running, a 5kw system installed in 2013 and an additional 6.6kw system installed in 2018, both have run flawlessly over the years, and both were unrestricted in exporting notwithstanding visits by ActewAGL and their contractors installing and then replacing smart-meters. Over the years we exported an incredible amount of kWh's each quarter and no-one ever questioned it.
On my roof i have 20 panels facing due-north (5kw) and another 20 panels split facing east and west (6.6kw), little to no shading effects. As i understand it the electrician disconnected my original 5kw inverter and connected the panels into the new Fox 9.9 inverter, with the other 6.6kw system also connected to the new Fox 9.9 inverter, all seems to be running fine. I've checked the systems since the Fox install and it looks like i haven't lost power from the panels so I'm happy with that.
No Backup. Got shafted on this, was promised verbally that i would have 'backup' but on installation day Kamal, the 'owner' of the supplying company (Prime Solar Energy, ACT) said as it wasn't written in the quote then no-go (at this time and ever since the salesperson Ikhvan? could not be contacted), felt at the time like telling them to take their shit and go but as i did get it at a very reasonable price i figured it wasn't worth getting too heated about, maybe at a later date, but that's another thing i want to ask the electrician about if he ever gets back to me. It makes me feel a bit better if i tell myself we don't get many grid-power outages these days.
Just one question, i didn't quite understand, you mentioned 'export limiting setup' issue, what did you mean by that?
Anyway, yes if you have a westerly facing install it really should have some protection, i saw a piece recently of how a guy put a couple of large brackets on his wall and attached a large piece of shade-cloth over the top and down to just about ground-level so i guess that a good cheap way of getting some weather protection. My install is on an east-facing wall under the eaves with large hedging-trees about 2mtrs away so it gets some protection as-is but I'm still going to put up a hood or similar (i did this on my hot-water heat-pump just for some protection which is on a north-facing wall).
I was also unfamiliar with Evo's rules and have put my faith(?) in the electrician to do the right thing for my new installation. I also had 2 solar panel systems running, a 5kw system installed in 2013 and an additional 6.6kw system installed in 2018, both have run flawlessly over the years, and both were unrestricted in exporting notwithstanding visits by ActewAGL and their contractors installing and then replacing smart-meters. Over the years we exported an incredible amount of kWh's each quarter and no-one ever questioned it.
On my roof i have 20 panels facing due-north (5kw) and another 20 panels split facing east and west (6.6kw), little to no shading effects. As i understand it the electrician disconnected my original 5kw inverter and connected the panels into the new Fox 9.9 inverter, with the other 6.6kw system also connected to the new Fox 9.9 inverter, all seems to be running fine. I've checked the systems since the Fox install and it looks like i haven't lost power from the panels so I'm happy with that.
No Backup. Got shafted on this, was promised verbally that i would have 'backup' but on installation day Kamal, the 'owner' of the supplying company (Prime Solar Energy, ACT) said as it wasn't written in the quote then no-go (at this time and ever since the salesperson Ikhvan? could not be contacted), felt at the time like telling them to take their shit and go but as i did get it at a very reasonable price i figured it wasn't worth getting too heated about, maybe at a later date, but that's another thing i want to ask the electrician about if he ever gets back to me. It makes me feel a bit better if i tell myself we don't get many grid-power outages these days.
Just one question, i didn't quite understand, you mentioned 'export limiting setup' issue, what did you mean by that?
Sounds like when it is time for you to replace your panels you could get double the kW, since panels get more W per area now. If you can use the extra KWh. I got 30 panels for 13.3kW installed in 2023.TheRoseManCanberra wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:44 am I also had 2 solar panel systems running, a 5kw system installed in 2013 and an additional 6.6kw system installed in 2018... On my roof i have 20 panels facing due-north (5kw) and another 20 panels split facing east and west (6.6kw), little to no shading effects. As i understand it the electrician disconnected my original 5kw inverter and connected the panels into the new Fox 9.9 inverter, with the other 6.6kw system also connected to the new Fox 9.9 inverter, all seems to be running fine.
On good days, how many kWh do you get at peak summer compared to lowest winter?
Yes, I thought since we hardly ever have outages no backup is not that big a deal for now. But would have been nice...TheRoseManCanberra wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:44 am No Backup... but as i did get it at a very reasonable price i figured it wasn't worth getting too heated about, maybe at a later date, but that's another thing i want to ask the electrician about if he ever gets back to me. It makes me feel a bit better if i tell myself we don't get many grid-power outages these days.
I also had no export limits on original install. The required metering device was in the paperwork, but it's not there now. I don't know if it never got installed, or if it got lost somewhere along the way. My 2023 install was by Canberra Solar Shine who were pretty dodgy, not paying people, including my electrician who upgraded my meter box, even though they got money from Brighte loan. My new FOX battery and inverter was AC coupled so there was still no export limiting. I contacted EVO to find out what I was allowed to do in terms of extra panels and inverters (I was hoping I could add extra panels to my new inverter and leave my existing panels with old inverter), and they noticed I was often exporting more than 5kw and said I needed to fix it immediately or turn off until fixed. When I tried to do that I found out my old inverter was not capable of export limiting and so now need to move all my panels over to new inverter. In the interim I have had to cap all generation from my old inverter so that it doesn't end up exporting more than 5kW.TheRoseManCanberra wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 10:44 am .. both were unrestricted in exporting notwithstanding visits by ActewAGL and their contractors installing and then replacing smart-meters. Over the years we exported an incredible amount of kWh's each quarter and no-one ever questioned it...
Just one question, i didn't quite understand, you mentioned 'export limiting setup' issue, what did you mean by that?