FranklinWH is a more recent firm within the U.S. house power storage market, nevertheless it may quickly be a family identify. The corporate at the moment affords a single power storage system mannequin it calls Franklin House Energy system, or FHP for brief, and it’s been turning heads within the business and {the marketplace}.
FranklinWH says the FHP can do whole-home backup (the WH within the firm’s identify stands for “Complete House”). They declare it would hook up with any current photo voltaic inverter, begin air conditioners as much as 4 tons in measurement, and cost from photo voltaic, the grid, or a backup generator.
In case you’ve been in search of a house battery storage system, you is perhaps very impressed with the talents described above. Not many batteries available on the market can match what FranklinWH claims its FHP system can do.
Does the FHP reside as much as these claims? Learn on to seek out out!
Key takeaways
- The FranklinWH House Energy system (FHP) consists of a battery unit, sensible power administration unit, and a smartphone app.
- The FHP can present whole-home backup and fees from any photo voltaic inverter, AC generator, and the grid.
- The battery, known as the aPower, accommodates 13.6 kWh of lithium iron phosphate battery cells and its personal inverter to alter the DC energy from the batteries to AC energy for the house’s use.
- The aGate handles sensible power administration, mechanically controlling battery charging and discharging and directing the move of energy to circuits within the house.
- The FranklinWH prices greater than another batteries available on the market at about $17,500, nevertheless it affords extra performance than different choices, together with whole-home backup and generator charging.
The parts of the FranklinWH Energy System
The FHP consists of three parts:
- A 13.6-kilowatt-hour (kWh) lithium iron phosphate battery unit known as the aPower
- A wise power administration unit known as the aGate
- The FranklinWH smartphone app, which controls the sensible circuits and permits customers to customise their FHP system to their wants.
aPower batteries
The aPower battery comes with its personal inverter in a really nice-looking field, with a glossy design and a grouping of LEDs on the entrance that point out the state of cost. Having the inverter included means the aGate is an AC coupled battery, which connects to your home’s wiring only after the stored DC energy has been converted for use in your home.
One aPower battery unit weighs in at 408 lbs and measures 45.3” x 29.5” x 11.4”. It can be mounted on the wall or on the ground. The battery unit holds 13.6 kWh of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells. The unit can output 5,000 watts of continuous power and surge to 10,000 watts for 10 seconds. This is enough to start a 4-ton air conditioner.
Each additional aPower unit adds battery capacity and power output. For example, two units can output 10,000 watts continuously and surge to 20,000 watts, and three units can output 15,000 continuous watts and surge up to 30,000 watts. As many as 15 aPower battery units can be wired in parallel to a single aGate.
aGate smart energy management system
The aGate unit is where the battery meets the rest of the home. It has connections for the grid, the aPower battery, solar input, backup and non-backup loads panels, smart circuits, and a generator. The aGate can control all of your home’s appliances up to 160A, and can additionally manage the smart circuits to shut down certain loads when necessary.
There are two smart circuits inside the aGate, one 50A and one 80A. These can be connected to power-intensive appliances, EV chargers, or noncritical loads sub-panels and be set to automatically shut down if battery power is low in a grid outage situation through the app. You can also set schedules or manually control these smart circuits with the app.
The aGate controls battery charging and power flow in the home. It can be set to charge the batteries from solar, the grid, and even an AC backup generator. FranklinWH says the FHP can work with any existing solar inverter and accepts up to 80A of 240V output, which works out to about 19.2 kW. The wall-mounted aGate unit weighs 50 lbs and measures 31.5” x 21.7” x 6.3”.
A schematic showing the inner workings of the FranklinWH aGate. Image source: FranklinWH
One ultimate promoting level for the aGate is the power to do “photo voltaic black begin.” Which means the FHP can function utterly unbiased of the grid utilizing photo voltaic power.
Basically, the system will shut down if the battery will get too low throughout an influence outage and there isn’t a backup generator out there. The following morning because the solar comes up, the aGate will ship a pulse sign to your photo voltaic inverter to examine if it may possibly produce sufficient energy to start out charging the battery. The aGate sends this pulse sign as soon as per hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. When it receives a constructive response, the inverter will begin up, the battery will begin charging, and your private home shall be powered by your photo voltaic system.
The corporate says future “vehicle-to-home” performance is on its product roadmap, which might enable owners with electrical automobiles to energy their houses with their vehicles. It’s unclear whether or not the present aGate {hardware} can deal with the performance and the change shall be software-only, or whether or not there shall be a redesign or add-on for the aGate to make this performance work.
The FranklinWH app
Utilizing the FranklinWH app, homeowners can management how the battery fees and discharges. The battery might be set for self-consumption, backup standby, or load shifting, which suggests utilizing backup energy throughout peak utilization occasions to economize underneath a Time of Use charge plan.
As talked about above, the app additionally permits computerized scheduling of sensible masses like EV chargers and different power-hungry home equipment, together with handbook management of those circuits throughout an influence outage. Throughout a grid outage, the aGate acts as its personal wi-fi hotspot so you may nonetheless hook up with the app and management the battery.
Lastly, the app gives a real-time and historic show of power era, consumption, and battery use based mostly on information from the aGate.
Value and guarantee
As of late 2022, the common wholesale price of the Franklin House Energy system is $15,000. Add about $2,500 to that quantity for set up prices, and also you’re at $17,500 all in. For that worth, you get one aPower and one aGate. Further aPower models might be bought for $11,500 wholesale, with in all probability $1,000 for set up, relying in your location and installer.
That mentioned, FranklinWH is providing its installer companions totally different pricing and bonuses for promoting a sure variety of models, so chances are you’ll discover a higher deal than the costs listed above. Additionally, your ultimate price is more likely to be decrease, contemplating the FranklinkWH battery qualifies for the federal clear power tax credit score.
On your cash, you get all of the performance described above with a 12-year warranty, which covers defects in supplies and workmanship in addition to power throughput. Particularly, FranklinWH says the aPower will retain at the very least 70% of its preliminary 13.6-kWh capability by the top of the 12-year guarantee or a minimal of 43 megawatt-hours (MWh) of throughput.
To place that into perspective, which means the aPower might be absolutely discharged and recharged 3,160 occasions earlier than hitting its minimal throughput guarantee. So as to get the total 12 years of protection (4,383 days), you might discharge the battery a median of 9.8 kWh per day for the complete guarantee interval.
If the system suffers a defect inside the guarantee interval, FranklinWH will restore the faulty tools or substitute it with a brand new or refurbished battery.
How the FranklinWH power storage resolution matches up
In comparison with different lithium-ion house batteries available on the market, the FHP system affords extra options and is dearer from a dollars-per-kWh perspective. On the whole, true whole-home backup could be very costly, and solely the FranklinWH FHP is designed to do it out of the field.
Despite all this talk of whole-home backup, it’s important to note that none of the batteries described above are being marketed by their manufacturers for off-grid use, nor are they designed to provide backup to life-supporting systems or other medical equipment.
Here is a table with some comparisons between the FHP system and these other popular batteries:
| Battery model | FranklinWH FHP | Generac PWRcell | Tesla Powerwall+ |
| Average installed cost | $17,500 with 1 aPower battery unit; $11,000 for each additional | $11,500 for 9 kWh min. size; $18,500 for whole-home backup capability | $11,500 for one Powerwall+; $7,000 for each additional |
| Power connection | AC | DC or AC | AC |
| Capacity | 13.6 kWh | 9 – 18 kWh | 13.5 kWh |
| Max. continuous output | 5 kW | 4.5 – 9 kWh | 5.8 – 9.6 kW* |
| Peak power output | 10 kW | 6 – 12 kW | 10 – 22 kW* |
| Round-trip efficiency | 89% | 96.50%/90%** | 90% |
| Warranty | 70% after 12 years or 3.16 MWh of throughput per kWh of storage | 10 years or 2.52 MWh of throughput per kWh of storage | 70% after 10 years, unlimited cycles*** |
| Generator integration | Yes | Yes | No |
| Solar black start | Yes | Yes | No |
* Tesla Powerwall+ output depends on weather, solar system size, and whether the grid is up or down.
** PWRcell offers 96.5% round-trip efficiency when DC coupled, 90% when AC coupled.
*** Tesla’s Powerwall+ warranty terms vary depending on how the battery is used.
Exploring the numbers
As you can see from the numbers above, the FranklinWH FHP excels in some areas, like peak power output and warranty term. It’s also quite a bit more expensive on a dollars-per-kWh basis. But for people who need whole-home backup with generator integration, its ability to meet those needs without a lot of complicated and expensive electrical work is intriguing. Whether it’s worth it for you will depend on your specific needs and your tolerance for taking a risk on a relatively new company.
Unfortunately a simple comparison between batteries based on numbers alone isn’t possible. For example, the continuous and peak power output of the FHP increase by 5 and 10 kW, respectively, for each extra aPower unit added, up to 15 units. Similarly, each additional Powerwall+ added to a home increases the batteries’ ability to output power. The best way to determine which of these solutions is right for you is to work with a solar installer to make sure the system they offer will meet your needs.
About FranklinWH
FranklinWH Energy Storage, Inc. is a newcomer to the United States residential battery market. The company was founded in 2019 and is currently headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Before the FHP system, the company was mostly involved in creating power electronics for the utility-scale market. As of mid-2022, the company had about 150 R&D and product employees in Shenzen, China, and a team of 15 (and growing) in the United States, according to a solar industry webinar.
The corporate has obtained funding from enterprise capital corporations like Sequoia Capital and is now in what you may name aggressive development mode. The FHP has lately been approved for sale using Mosaic and Goodleap financing and is eligible for Hawaii’s Battery Bonus and California’s SGIP packages.
Backside line: Do you have to think about the FranklinWH battery in your house?
In case you’ve been available in the market for an entire house backup resolution, you’ve in all probability observed there are only a few selections that don’t contain an entire lot of wiring and tens of hundreds of {dollars}. In case you take a look at the FranklinWH FHP system that manner, it appears positively elegant and inexpensive.
The performance right here is second to none in its worth class, the tech is strong, and the corporate is doing the appropriate issues with certifications and getting the battery into the arms of installers. The priority right here is it’s a comparatively new product from a comparatively new firm, so that you’ll need to belief that they’ll succeed and be round to help that 12-year guarantee.
If that feels like one thing you may reside with, the FranklinWH battery will get our advice.
