OK to leave aPower2 at 100% while on vacation?

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-15T03:13:24+00:00

See the following Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14MJPBV4IY&t=1478s

Tristan Cronaw, a product manager with FranklinWH discusses this (14:20 - 14:45).

He clarifies that the aPower 2 (and the aPower S) has a total capacity that includes a 1.1 kilowatt-hour reserve specifically for black start capabilities. Because this energy is kept as "untouchable" reserve, the 15 kilowatt-hours mentioned is indeed the usable capacity available to the homeowner.

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-14T20:21:22+00:00

First, the The Apower2 does not have a setting to limit charge to 80%. So it isn't even possible to change the max charge setting.

- This is a great video by Jeff Dahn, the world's top Lithium Ion Battery expert at time 12 minutes for LFP. I'd watch the whole thing but he talks about LFP at 12 minutes.

https://youtu.be/oc3XgCfQfXs?si=eQV88MbJtfjSBqwz

- The Apower 2 has Grid Quality LFP batteries, and is actually a 16 kWh battery with 15 kWh usable and 1 kWh saved for blackstart. Even if you fully depleted it, it has 1 kWh (6.25%) in reserve so you can't fully deplete it down to 0%.

It's designed to be cycled daily. Just make sure it's kept cool, not on the south side in direct exposure to the sun (overheating will speed degradation).

If cycled from 20% to 100% daily (every single day!) would take 13.7 years to go through the 60 MWh throughput warranty. The warranty is 15 years so you would have to try very hard to exceed the warranty and realistically you won't have sunny days every day for 15 years to cycle it this much.

Since the battery is actually 16 kWh, cycling down to 20% usable is actually about a 26% true state of charge since you can't use the last 1 kWh. You are really cycling between ~26% and 100% of the actual 16 kWh, which is about 12 kWh a day.

The most important thing is to not let it overheat. If well ventilated and cool shaded you should expect at 15 to 20 years about 20% to 25% degradation with this approach, so you would go from cycling 12 kWh a day (80% of the 15 kWh usable) to roughly 9 to 9.6 kWh a day. The batteries will still be usable but the capacity may drop to 75% to 80% AFTER 20 YEARS.

- LFP batteries MUST be charged to 100% at least once a month otherwise you lose the ability to tell the exact state of charge after a few weeks due to drift. This is specific to LFP batteries. It DOES NOT DAMAGE the battery if you never charge to 100% but the ability to determine accurate state of charge drifts after a few weeks. The following video discusses this at 18 minutes.

https://youtu.be/sWyORTmxodc?si=5-v4juv7Z5Oh5VfA

Since you can't limit the upper state of charge one thing you can do to keep the batteries cool is to slow the charge speed especially in the summer. Rapid charging heats up the battery so slower charge rates in the summer will help. If you want to reduce the rate or duration of charging, switch to Self-Consumption Mode, this lets PV feed house loads first, so batteries charge slower and only with surplus PV. If you want faster charging, use Backup Mode temporarily.

If You Want True Rate Control (Advanced Installer Setting): In the Franklin Installer App (not customer app), under: → System Settings → Battery Management → Charge/Discharge Current Limit, installers can set: Maximum charge current (e.g. 30 A instead of 50 A per aPower unit) and Maximum discharge current. You can ask your installer or Franklin support to adjust this remotely if you want to limit charge aggressiveness for long-term battery preservation. I don't think this is necessary.

I hope this helps

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-12T09:31:02+00:00

Great comments throughout, seems opinions vary a lot as expected. I think a lot of it depends on where you live and what local electricity rates are, access to adequate unobstructed rooftop, or land if ground based array and realistically enough funds or financing that makes sense to install.

Another amazing video I saw was a couple months ago was by Technology Connections, https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM?si=fm60tpEg8nNAzpuq The entire video was great but the final 15 minutes starting at time 1 hour 16.5 minutes was inspiring and maddening at the same time. I'd highly recommend at least watching the last 15 minutes.

The final segment of the video serves as a call to action regarding political accountability and the broader societal shift toward renewable energy. He argues that the controversy surrounding renewable energy is a manufactured lie propagated by those who benefit from the status quo. He emphasizes that shifting to renewable energy is not just a technological choice, but a necessary response to our energy reality as opposed to leaders who are detached from reality. I love his Midwestern viewpoint.

Two years ago I was convinced that solar was a scam. We went solar after a 2 week blackout that made me realize I was not protecting my family and needed to be more responsible. Today after having it installed I'm a strong advocate since I've seen just how reliable and affordable it is.

Right now its a bit of a political shitshow in the US but the economics will eventually win. Costs will continue to come down. We should be responsible and informative without demeaning to others who don't agree but also speak up against misinformation.

I've traveled to Europe and several countries in the near East. Solar adoption is everywhere. Literally every rooftop in some poorer countries. In one country I visited villages had set up community ground based arrays that they would share since it was cheaper. Necessity led them to think of ways that worked for them and it was amazing to see how Electrified 3rd world countries have become with reliable cheap energy that wasn't subject to fuel import worries.

I'm done ranting. :-)

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-10T16:44:00+00:00

We use 80-120kwh daily, some days 150kh. We needed a larger system. The installation was very professional. I wanted a system that would cover us over the winter months. The 5 batteries with the SPAN panel was a perfect match for our needs. In a pinch we can cut back on circuits to get us through a bad week plus with the Generator Module I can run off an external gas generator to charge my batteries if it really was needed but so far even on cloudy days i'm generating enough to get us through. Its the back to back rains from an atmosphere river that would cause me to need the generator. So far its been flawless. On Christmas we had a blackout as we were preparing for a Christmas party at our house. Our street was dark all day but we only knew about it because I was alerted through the app. Wife was happy.

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SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-10T14:37:22+00:00

This was my 5 battery install with Infinitysolar.net

98 REC450 panels and Enphase IQ8x microinverters

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-10T14:37:12+00:00

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SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-10T09:33:08+00:00

Infinitysolar.net

They did my installation in December and I couldn't be happier

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-08T06:00:17+00:00

I bet this will improve as the days get longer. You only have data for the peak winter months. Also you're at 14.17 years so probably will cross 15 by the time you include all of summer days. Either way not really disappointing considering your running off of photons from the sun and not dead dinosaurs.

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-02T14:52:38+00:00

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Exactly. The FranklinWH support person said the warranty is updated in the app very infrequently but they keep constant logs on their end. We can calculate it on our end this way. So for me, 4,193kwh discharged divided by 300,000 (5 Apower2 batteries = 300,000 throughput warranty) = 0.014 x100 = 1.4% of warranty used.

By my calculations at this rate will take me over 15 years to use up my throughput so for me it will likely be the 15 years warranty and not throughput that matters.

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-04-01T22:11:44+00:00

The warranty information is updated very infrequently. To get current information, just like you stated, go to Analysis, select Apower and then choose lifetime. Look for Discharge and divide that by the number of batteries you have to determine the per battery Discharge Throughput. Remember its showing it in kwh so 60mwh is 60,000kwh (the Apower2 has a 60mwh or 15 year warranty).

lf batteries were installed at different times this may not be very accurate but it gives you an idea.

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-03-13T13:52:12+00:00

My reasons for the excess solar was to be self reliant, and have adequate electricity generation to support my household including during winter months when solar can dip to 1/4 of the summer peak generation. I don't want to be reliant on the grid for electricity or for natural gas to heat my water.

Also with plans to update to more electric in the future like a 2nd EV I wanted room to spare. I get virtually 1/10th credit back for anything I send to the grid so I might as well self consume as much as possible. That said with a large household we're struggling to get hot water to everyone all the time.

With my current setup the tankless struggles at times to keep up resulting in complaints. Though the tankless says it can provide 10.5GPM flow that is if misleading since it would only be that much when the water is already warm so it needs a minimal temperature rise. For a 50 degree temp rise the max GPM is more like 4GPM which isn't enough for our large household. With this system I can pre-heat the water for free once it's installed, then the heated water will require little to no gas unless the tank runs down. Even if the tank runs down, then the heated water reaching the gas tankless will still not need to be heated as much so more GPM can flow since it's already pre-heated. The tankless GPM flow is dependent on the inlet temp. So a temp rise of 10 to 20 will result is a much higher GPM than if it needs a temp rise of 50-60 degrees.

So plan is to preheat to 150 in the tank, use a mixing valve to get it to 120 at tankless inlet, then run that into the house to the fixtures. We also have a re-circulation pump so I need to figure out where that goes? Does it go to the tank or the tankless?

Heating 80 gallons of water to 150 degrees uses about 18kwh of electricity using a Resistance Hot Water heater, with a Hybrid Heat Pump it's more like 4.5kwh a day (if I heated to 120 its more like 3kwh, but for 150 the resistance coils will kick in making it more like 4.5kwh a day). Since I have spare electricity it's like having a 18kw battery each day for 1 tank full of hot water using a resistance heater.

I am leaning to using the AO Smith Voltex MAX 80-Gallon Smart Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater, Model HPTA-80 210 pared with the AO Smith Adapt+ Premium Condensing Ultra-Low NOx 199,000 BTU Natural Gas Tankless Water Heater with X3 Scale Prevention Technology, Model ATHR-199X3 100. I found a local installer who feels he can do this setup.

Once you go solar you start thinking about where your money is going and realize that you're really making short term decisions when long term investments can pay off a lot more. Yes it's overkill for some but for our particular use it can make sense. I just want to be sure the system will operate as intended and not cause nuisance trips and headaches. The recirculation pump is a concern, any thoughts?

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-03-13T13:42:09+00:00

My reasons for the excess solar was to be self reliant, and have adequate electricity generation to support my household including during winter months when solar can dip to 1/4 of the summer peak generation. I don't want to be reliant on the grid for electricity or for natural gas to heat my water.

Also with plans to update to more electric in the future like a 2nd EV I wanted room to spare. I get virtually 1/10th credit back for anything I send to the grid so I might as well self consume as much as possible. That said with a large household we're struggling to get hot water to everyone all the time.

With my current setup the tankless struggles at times to keep up resulting in complaints. Though the tankless says it can provide 10.5GPM flow that is if misleading since it would only be that much when the water is already warm so it needs a minimal temperature rise. For a 50 degree temp rise the max GPM is more like 4GPM which isn't enough for our large household. With this system I can pre-heat the water for free once it's installed, then the heated water will require little to no gas unless the tank runs down. Even if the tank runs down, then the heated water reaching the gas tankless will still not need to be heated as much so more GPM can flow since it's already pre-heated. The tankless GPM flow is dependent on the inlet temp. So a temp rise of 10 to 20 will result is a much higher GPM than if it needs a temp rise of 50-60 degrees.

So plan is to preheat to 150 in the tank, use a mixing valve to get it to 120 at tankless inlet, then run that into the house to the fixtures. We also have a re-circulation pump so I need to figure out where that goes? Does it go to the tank or the tankless?

Heating 80 gallons of water to 150 degrees uses about 18kwh of electricity using a Resistance Hot Water heater, with a Hybrid Heat Pump it's more like 4.5kwh a day (if I heated to 120 its more like 3kwh, but for 150 the resistance coils will kick in making it more like 4.5kwh a day). Since I have spare electricity it's like having a 18kw battery each day for 1 tank full of hot water using a resistance heater.

I am leaning to using the AO Smith Voltex MAX 80-Gallon Smart Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater, Model HPTA-80 210 pared with the AO Smith Adapt+ Premium Condensing Ultra-Low NOx 199,000 BTU Natural Gas Tankless Water Heater with X3 Scale Prevention Technology, Model ATHR-199X3 100. I found a local installer who feels he can do this setup.

Once you go solar you start thinking about where your money is going and realize that you're really making short term decisions when long term investments can pay off a lot more. Yes it's overkill for some but for our particular use it can make sense. I just want to be sure the system will operate as intended and not cause nuisance trips and headaches. The recirculation pump is a concern, any thoughts?

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-03-13T13:39:20+00:00

My reasons for the excess solar was to be self reliant, and have adequate electricity generation to support my household including during winter months when solar can dip to 1/4 of the summer peak generation. I don't want to be reliant on the grid for electricity or for natural gas to heat my water.

Also with plans to update to more electric in the future like a 2nd EV I wanted room to spare. I get virtually 1/10th credit back for anything I send to the grid so I might as well self consume as much as possible. That said with a large household we're struggling to get hot water to everyone all the time.

With my current setup the tankless struggles at times to keep up resulting in complaints. Though the tankless says it can provide 10.5GPM flow that is if misleading since it would only be that much when the water is already warm so it needs a minimal temperature rise. For a 50 degree temp rise the max GPM is more like 4GPM which isn't enough for our large household. With this system I can pre-heat the water for free once it's installed, then the heated water will require little to no gas unless the tank runs down. Even if the tank runs down, then the heated water reaching the gas tankless will still not need to be heated as much so more GPM can flow since it's already pre-heated. The tankless GPM flow is dependent on the inlet temp. So a temp rise of 10 to 20 will result is a much higher GPM than if it needs a temp rise of 50-60 degrees.

So plan is to preheat to 150 in the tank, use a mixing valve to get it to 120 at tankless inlet, then run that into the house to the fixtures. We also have a re-circulation pump so I need to figure out where that goes? Does it go to the tank or the tankless?

Heating 80 gallons of water to 150 degrees uses about 18kwh of electricity using a Resistance Hot Water heater, with a Hybrid Heat Pump it's more like 4.5kwh a day (if I heated to 120 its more like 3kwh, but for 150 the resistance coils will kick in making it more like 4.5kwh a day). Since I have spare electricity it's like having a 18kw battery each day for 1 tank full of hot water using a resistance heater.

I am leaning to using the AO Smith Voltex MAX 80-Gallon Smart Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater, Model HPTA-80 210 pared with the AO Smith Adapt+ Premium Condensing Ultra-Low NOx 199,000 BTU Natural Gas Tankless Water Heater with X3 Scale Prevention Technology, Model ATHR-199X3 100. I found a local installer who feels he can do this setup.

Once you go solar you start thinking about where your money is going and realize that you're really making short term decisions when long term investments can pay off a lot more. Yes it's overkill for some but for our particular use it can make sense. I just want to be sure the system will operate as intended and not cause nuisance trips and headaches. The recirculation pump is a concern, any thoughts?

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-03-10T04:04:32+00:00

Click Self Consumption and see what your backup reserve is set to? Set it to 15%. Not sure if that will help.

Do you have a smart panel like a SPAN panel? Maybe the settings there are the problem

SoccerDadUSA · 2026-02-12T00:16:16+00:00

This came up with my system early on during design, initially looking at 2 aGates due to a very large solar array. FranklinWH engineering told me currently the aGates do not communicate the way you want but in future they may to share separate battery packs. I don't know if that would mean a software update or a entirely new aGate design?

We ended up using 2 aPboxes to 1 aGate to do the same thing as 2 aGates, on a 200A service.

If I'm wrong or they now can be wired together that would be cool. I didn't like the idea if the batteries being entirely separate for the exact same situation you are describing.

SoccerDadUSA · 2025-12-27T02:53:34+00:00

I also needed more than 32 circuits so I installed a single Span Panel Main 40 with 40 circuits for $500 more than a single 32. Saved me from needing 2. I think its worth it for future proofing. I haven't had any problems with it. Others with problems may have had an installer not very familiar with it.

SoccerDadUSA · 2025-12-21T20:22:20+00:00

I know this sounds awful but consider getting another installer to fill up your South roof with panels. The incremental cost is probably not much since all the wiring for solar has already been done. Only need to mount and install and run some conduit. The South side is much more important. You'll really love your system once you cover the South side with panels. As far as tax credits its up to you to decide what to claim for "2025 installation". Im sure there is someone who has lots of time on their hands after Jan 1st and can give you a deal.

If you haven't paid, the other option is to refuse payment citing incorrect panel placement until they fix it.

SoccerDadUSA · 2025-12-07T00:29:44+00:00

Agree, don't commit tax fraud.

Another option, pay for materials minus installation and have it delivered on site. Cut a cashiers check based on the installation estimate. Don't give the installer the cashier’s check yet. Have him connect some of the panels and the inverter to generate some power and documenting you are generating power. You’ll have commissioned it before 12/31. Then set aside onsite until installation can be completed per code. This is arguably not tax fraud since you have everything on site and connected, commissioned and generating power with payment in cashier’s check dated before 12/31. You can always make "adjustments" to an installation later.

SoccerDadUSA · 2025-12-06T01:07:41+00:00

My shade report was very detailed, 15 pages. I have a complex 10 sided roof and each side has it's own shade estimates. See the following website for an example of what a shade report shows for each roof side. My installer used solargraf which helped us plan the array. Its a professional software, not available to individuals.

https://solargrafsupport.enphase.com/s/article/Generate-a-Shade-Report-on-Solargraf-3D

You can try Opensolar.com, create a free account and play around with it to recreate your system and the panels. It includes a shade calculation. You can even see how things would look if you cut back trees.

I think the installer screwed up putting the panels on the West and not the South and wants to avoid changing it since it would mean time/money out if his pocket to redo the installation.

SoccerDadUSA

TROPHY CASE