Fronius GEN 24 and GEN 24 PLUS Compared | The Battery Ready Hybrid Solar Inverters

[@jordansage9655]

Mark is the Solar Shaman! Installer in America, and always respect his opinion.

[@justcruisin109]

I think this style of approach actually sends a different message. If the product comes with the feature but in an unactivated manner it shows that the the company is just rorting their customers. Companies do not make products that lose money - they go out of business when they do that so I can assume that the purchase price of the inverter still covers the cost of the unactived hardware. They then try to upsell those features which effectively cost them nothing (additional) to activate. If you said there were circuit boards that needed to be plugged, that would have been a different matter

[@Candisa]

Totally agree with this. Pay to unlock is just spitting in the face of the consumer. Like you say, they won't sell something at a loss, so basically they are saying "we sell you a complete product for a price that gives us enough profit margin without upselling you anything now or later, but we want more profit, so if you actually want to use it you have to pay extra". The fact that car manufacturers and other industries are doing this as well is no excuse, it's just as despicable for them to do it. Like you say, if they made the product modular and you actually had to buy and plug-in an extra module to use the optional functionality, it would be understandable that costs money. Even if there is no hardware change at all but you get an extra service that costs money to support like extra years of warranty, or some sort of online monitoring with cloud storage, or synchronisation with a constantly updated database of energy prices that helps the inverter decide when it's time to charge or use the battery storage to optimally reduce energy costs without any user input, or..., then I could still understand you give a discount to people who don't use that functionality and an upcharge for people who do, because it is actually worth something. Charging extra to use a bit of hardware and offline software that's already paid for is just jumping on the service-model for easy profit.

[@hamzaqazi3648]

I thought the same but For me this piece of information changed my perspective Gen24 plus came out first and after more than an year the standard gen24 came out. This is indicative that the need for gen24 standard was as a response to market feedback Reducing the price to incentivise hybrid inverter sales and then charging later if the customer wants batteries seems a better solution. Solar systems aren’t cheap and the capital cost of the battery system can be significant. Having to make a decision now if I want batteries later or not can be difficult especially for first time solar buyers this removes the need to make that decisions now.

[@alexk6745]

Thanks for this. I won't buy Fronius then. Will be looking for something else.

[@nelsongomez3322]

Love the dog smart Invertor looks like a game changer. My Jack russel will love it.

[@cookieboi4449]

Hi Mark, I like your product comparisons and installation tips, very informative. Can you do a comparison with The Growatt 5 kW $647 incl. gst and freight and The $4,000 Fronius 5 kW. It seems to me that the Growatt has more features, Wifi, Export limitations etc.

[@39tiro]

Hi, I was wondering if this inverter can make use of the 2022 Mitsubishi outlander 20kw battery? Probably using the CHADEMO bidirectional socket on the vehicle?

[@mcelectrical]

Hi 39tiro, No, Grid tied inverters are almost always coupled with specific batteries. Currently Gen24 can only be coupled with BYD.

[@JamesTsividis]

Thanks for the explanation. Do you have to get the Plus version to get the blackout feature where it still draws solar with the extra power point?

[@mcelectrical]

Hi James, No need for the plus version for PV point

[@peterfishman2481]

I wouldn't say the Snap inverters are a bit noisy in the middle of the day - through summer, ours screams from about 7am. Completely inappropriate for a domestic device. That said, they seem to know how to make good equipment - hopefully this sane-sized fan helps round out the package.

[@mdonau81]

my Symo 12.5 got much better with the last Updates, 2 years ago "out of the box" it went up and down like a siren, now it runs continuously at reasonable speed, the smaller models (8.2 an lower) are considerably less noisy than the 10kW and above.

[@newsmansuper2925]

what sort of losses are there in all the DC wiring from all the pannels to the inverter?

[@mirsphoto]

Hi Mark how much does it cost to upgrade to plus? I can't seem to find that information anywhere. Is that a fix price. I am looking for buying a Gen24 8kW

[@mcelectrical]

It’s about $800 more to upgrade

[@mirsphoto]

@@mcelectrical thank you so much for letting me know !

[@ausguy4385]

Can I add a second one and they work together? Have a BYD HMV with 4 units so 11kwh. Rainy day the 6kw your talking about with 9kw of panels puts out a shocking low 700w 😢.... So can I add a second inverter to cover usage more or even help charging?

[@mcelectrical]

You sure can!

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@chefgav1]

Didn't you release this last week?

[@PeterMann683]

@mcelectrical Just one more question, I had my switchboard upgraded and when the electrician was going to install the Fronius Smart Meter in the new switchboard he couldn't do it because the screw on one terminal kept turning like the thread was stripped so he refused to put it in. I asked in the Facebook group Australian Solar Power and Battery Storage Q&A about it and one of the sparkies said that that's an issue they've come across a few times with with the screw in these Smart Meters. "Sometimes only one chance to install and then they become loose." Have you heard of this?

[@mcelectrical]

That was an issue years ago. I don’t see this problem much anymore

[@PeterMann683]

Thanks @@mcelectrical

[@Zoltan1996]

You ll pay not even 2 the price of deye battery but also subscription for smartmeter to show you all the data!!!! 😂😂😂 Thief on long road are fronius😅😅

[@PeterMann683]

@@Zoltan1996 there's no subscription cost for data, you just buy the Smartmeter and get the data off the app. I'm very happy with it

[@PeterMann683]

@@Zoltan1996 there's no subscription cost for data, you just buy the Smartmeter and get the data off the app. I'm very happy with it

[@conmc2374]

Hi Mark what is the cost for the gen 24?

[@PeterMann683]

​ @mcelectrical do you have to pay extra to get the PV point?

[@mcelectrical]

Hi Peter, yes there is an additional cost for materials and labour to install the PV point. Depending on the location of the PV point, it costs between $200-$400 as a ballpark figure based on current indicative pricing.

[@petermann7445]

Thanks mate, appreciate it.

[@PeterMann683]

@mcelectrical I have a Gen24 Fronius Inverter but the quote was for a Gen24 Plus inverter, and now that I want to install a battery with a different company, they won't upgrade the software to update my Gen24 to a Gen24 Plus. They said that is the responsibility of the new company. My inverter doesn't have the update, thanks to your video I know these two inverters are pgysically the same, but I don't want to get stuck having to pay $800 for the upgrade. Is that right or are they taking advantage of me?

[@mcelectrical]

hmm, I agree. If your quote was for a plus, then they should be upgrading it.

[@PeterMann683]

@@mcelectrical Thanks mate, appeciate the reply and love your channel.

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@PeterMann683]

@@Zoltan1996 there's no subscription cost for data, you just buy the Smartmeter and get the data off the app. I'm very happy with it

[@rodolfocabellobilbao6887]

Hi Mark, thanks for the video, what about PV point?, is it still a feature only for the Plus Version?

[@mcelectrical]

Hi Rodolfo, Yes, PV point is in both versions!

[@PeterMann683]

​@@mcelectrical do you have to pay extra to get the PV point?

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@sebwarren7918]

Doesnt any inverter with batteries added become a backup power supply?

[@mcelectrical]

Yes, but i’m not sure what you are asking. It’s not a UPS or Uninterrupted power supply.

[@bogdanrosioru]

is this supporting unbalanced power loads? example: can this deliver 6kwh as follows: L1: 4kwh, L2: 1kwh, L3: 1kwh ?

[@mcelectrical]

Do you mean in of grid mode with a battery?Short answer is yes but you’d need to elaborate on the situation. And for ongrid, there is not really a need for it to run out of balance in Australia at least, because the utility meter will balance the billing.

[@bradlainson8051]

@@mcelectrical These aren't warranted for Off grid use, backup use in grid outage only. The unbalanced load question applies to running 3 phases to different single phase circuits running different loads, nothing to do with billing. Deye can run 50% of it's total load to a single phase and the remainder over the other 2 phases.

[@jordanzinger3066]

*solax X1-HYBRID G4 6kW vs fronius fen24?????* i heard that warranty and after sales support isn’t good with fronius and it comes with 5 + 5 compared to solax with 10 YEARS!!!! Please someone comment?*

[@simonljubic1947]

I am getting quotes at the moment for a solar system. Should I wait until this Gen 24 comes out? How much price difference is there if going for the gen 24 plus out at the moment?

[@bsd2000au2000]

If you expect to get what you pay for …. Fronius cannot deliver. Their data cloud service connection constantly fails 😡

[@PetrFaitl]

Hi Mark, What's the story on this model? There's very little info on the (non plus) model both on Fronius own website and elsewhere. Have they canned the idea? I'm looking into getting a system installed (NZ), but even the installers I've talked to have been unable to give more info or pricing. I'm pretty much hitting my head on the wall (of silence). Ta.

[@mcelectrical]

Thanks for the question. At the moment there won't be too much information out there. I can say that we are currently selling them here in Australia. However, we are Fronius Solutions Partners PLUS, which gave us early access to them.

[@bsd2000au2000]

This is what you can expect dealing with fronius especially when issues arise

[@PetrFaitl]

@@bsd2000au2000 And yet the GEN24 literarily saved my bacon, during the cyclone Gabrielle. We had a powercut for a day and I've been able to use the emergency outlet to power our fridges, freezers and charge phones. Whether you can get the disabled or non-disabled option, the gen24 is worth the extra spend. It's quiet, runs pretty cool even during the sunniest days, and so far I've had no complaints.

[@mirsphoto]

@@PetrFaitl how much extra did you pay for the upgrade

[@jordanzinger3066]

*solax X1-HYBRID G4 6kW vs fronius fen24?????* i heard that warranty and after sales support isn’t good with fronius and it comes with 5 + 5 compared to solax with 10 YEARS!!!! Please someone comment?*

[@toolate6971]

How does this compare with the Sol-Ark?

[@mcelectrical]

This video explains why we went 100% Fronius over other inverters like Sol-Ark: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIu7mYysdsSZias

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@ausguy4385]

One thing to note switch over when grids down is a shocking 90secs.... when gowin is 10 milliseconds...

[@mcelectrical]

Yeh, I believe that will get faster with firmware update. However it seems when standards are clarified, all inverters will need to have a changeover time of several seconds - it’s a safety requirement that it seems many inverter manufacturers are ignoring. Fronius always takes the conservative approach

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@tonyrogers8313]

Gday Mark Can you parallel fronius inverters of different sizes say a 6 KW and a 3 KW Tony

[@mcelectrical]

Hi Tony, yes you can have multiple Fronius inverters on one site, but the panels can't be interconnected.

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@AUBigwozza]

With the heat and the fan noise, why hasn't the industry followed the PC CPU cooling path and gone with water cooling ? Could you even use this excess heat for hot water systems ? Wouldn't be enough on its own, but as a pre-heat !!

[@mcelectrical]

Interesting. I guess the idea is simplicity is better, and it’s a cost analysis. All other inverters don’t even use external fans (the fans are internal) because they are concerned about keeping the cost low and having fan failures.

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@MdRasel-nc2sz]

Fine

[@JohnSmith-qt4pv]

Who deleted my comment? Fess up

[@Heshhion]

Pfft, its now $1000 for the upgrade. Not a couple of hundred. Disappointing.

[@Zoltan1996]

Buy deye for onky 1/3 price, youtubers are payed to promote that sgit of fronius, you even pay them subscription for smart meter to shhow you data!!!

[@bsd2000au2000]

These are possibly good inverters but…. The data reporting is exported to Microsoft azure cloud servers and it fails constantly! They drop their connection to the cloud service and it appears as though wifi networking has ceased. This is a junk system. I have complained many times to fronius and all they can do is blame azure!! 🤨 This is your thing fronius. You decided to go with MS. How about you try Amazon or someone else. So stupid. Great hardware wasted on MS junk. Pick your game up I spent a lot of money on 2 of these inverters and have not got what I specifically paid for !

[@mcelectrical]

Agree there are issues with Solar.web data from time to time. Most inverters are in the same boat.

[@bsd2000au2000]

@@mcelectrical no wait! I haven’t had to reboot the inverters to get them to reconnect to azure for a month now!! Maybe the issue is resolved 🤓

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye is answear, half the price on battery and you dont pay for extra subscription to show you data on smartmeter😂😂😂

[@soimhossen3023]

View

[@crnkin2]

Wow. Now reconsidering spending my money elsewhere. What a bum move fronius. Gutted.

[@mdonau81]

Kostal did this from the start with their Plenticore Plus series, you only pay for what you use, much better than getting an AC battery with lower efficiency 🤷

[@stevemcmechan6444]

@@markcavanagh only problem I see with this is the heatsink and fan design. I can tell you right now those heatsink fins will get clogged with dirt / dust buildup quite quickly (easily within 2 years of running outside on the exterior wall of a house) and once they get clogged up your airflow will be down to half (or less) which will in turn ramp up the fan making it loud and noisy + make cooling poor. Iv seen a very similar design used for a cooling heatsink + fan system to this years ago and it failed miserably for this same exact reason. Hence why most inverter manufacturers use the rear vertical fin option as that’s known to work well for years without clogging full of dust then developing cooling issues. Poor that fronius missed this obvious design flaw.

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

[@Zoltan1996]

Deye is offering same shit and battery for only 1/3 price of fronius!!!! Dont buy fronius use you money wisely!!

[@mcelectrical]

Same? I don’t think so.

[@bradlainson8051]

@@mcelectrical True, not the same....Deye has a better factory warranty, lots of managed battery options, way more features, also warranted for off grid, dedicated adaptable gen port, for way less money.