Great value for whole home backup
We have a larger home, so I was a little concerned at first about whether this system could handle everything, especially during surges or heavier loads. So far, it’s been able to run our spa and hot tub without a problem, which was a big deal for us in case of a winter outage, we didn’t want to risk frozen or cracked pipes. We also have most of the rest of the house covered using a 20-breaker backup sub panel. I haven’t tested it with the air conditioner yet since it’s winter, but I think the system could handle more. If I did it over again, I’d probably include our electric dryer too. We’re sitting at around 30 kWh total capacity with the two F3800s and extra batteries. Of course, if you want to power high-demand appliances for long periods, you’ll need that extra capacity. The smart panel and app are supposed to help manage when the system charges and discharges, but in reality, I find it a bit difficult to dial it in the way I want. I wish it offered more flexibility or better manual settings (within safe parameters of course), especially when I want the batteries to stay at 100 percent or start discharging at specific times. We don’t have time-of-use billing in our area, but I was still able to get close by playing around with the hourly rate schedule. So far, the smart panel has only disconnected from my WiFi once, and it’s been stable ever since I reset it. Though it takes a few seconds to connect to the app to see the status of the system. Overall, I don’t have any complaints about the Anker equipment itself, but I wouldn’t recommend purchasing installation directly through their website. You don’t really get to choose who does the work, and I think it’s worth finding a highly rated, experienced electrician in your area, even if it costs a bit more, to ensure a clean and reliable installation.
