10 kW Solar System with 20 kWh Battery
The top of the residential range: 9.9 kWp, 20.48 kWh and a 10 kW hybrid that can run a guesthouse, a restaurant or a small clinic as a microgrid.
- PV array
- 9.9 kWp
- 18 x 550 W
- Battery
- 20.48 kWh
- 18.43 kWh usable
- Inverter
- 10 kW
- 10 kW / 48 V hybrid inverter
- Daily output (South Africa)
- 40.8 kWh
- South Africa, 5.5 kWh/m2/day
This is the largest kit we sell as a standard package, and the first one that is normally specified as a microgrid rather than a backup system. At 9.9 kWp and 20.48 kWh, with a 10 kW hybrid that can form its own grid, the site can run indefinitely without the utility as long as the daily load stays under about 25 kWh.
It is the configuration for a six-room guesthouse, a restaurant with three air conditioners and a cold room, or a small clinic with a cold chain. All three have the same shape of demand: a sharp daytime peak that the array should carry directly, and an evening base that the battery should carry without drama. The 6S3P layout exists for the same reason — it keeps string current low enough to stay on 6 mm2 cable across the long roof runs these buildings have.
What's in the kit
The bill of materials below is what ships, not a wish list. Anything marked configurable is fixed at order confirmation against your grid, your generator and your load list.
| Item | Specification | Qty |
|---|---|---|
| PV modules | 550 W monocrystalline half-cell, 182 mm, 25-year performance warranty. Smaller DLXN-M10 50-230 W modules are available for outbuildings or a separate off-grid circuit. module range · DLXN-M10-230W | 18 x 550 W |
| Hybrid inverter Configurable | 10 kW / 48 V hybrid inverter, 3 x MPPT, 180 A charger. Configurable: 10 kW/48 V single-phase hybrid, or a 10 kW three-phase unit for premises on 380-400 V. Both accept a generator input and can run grid-forming (island) mode when the utility disappears. | 1 |
| Battery | DLXN-F5400 — 20.48 kWh LiFePO4, 51.2 V / 400 Ah, 6,000-8,000 cycles, built-in BMS. The DLXN-F5628 32.15 kWh is the same platform in a 628 Ah enclosure if you want to size for two-day autonomy without paralleling packs. DLXN-F5628 | 1 |
| Mounting | Mounting: 18 x rail sets, typically split across two roof planes or a carport structure. For a guesthouse we usually design the array over the parking canopy, which doubles as shade and avoids penetrating the guest-room roof. | 1 |
| DC side / AC side | Balance of system: 3 x DC combiner with 40 A breakers and Type 2 SPD, 6 mm2 PV cable, 24-way AC board with RCD, surge arrestor and a changeover for the generator, three CTs for per-phase export limiting, 4G gateway with Modbus TCP, and 2 m 120 mm2 battery leads with a 400 A DC breaker. | 1 |
| Monitoring | WiFi + 4G dongle, Modbus TCP for third-party EMS, 5-year data retention on the DLXN-IOT platform. | 1 |
How it connects
One array, one inverter, one battery bank, and three possible AC sources. The drawing below is the flow an installer works from; the numbered steps are the order the work actually happens in on site.
Arrows show power flow. The inverter decides every few milliseconds whether the array feeds the loads, charges the battery, exports, or blends all three.
- 1
Mount and earth the array
Rails first, then modules, then a continuous earth bond across every frame. 18 modules at 550 W is 9,900 Wp of DC; the frames must be bonded to the same earth bar as the inverter or the surge protection has nothing to divert into.
- 2
Wire the strings to the combiner
18 x 550 W monocrystalline half-cell, 6S3P across three MPPT inputs. Each string lands on its own fused or breaker-protected input in the DC combiner, with a Type 2 surge arrester on the DC bus. Check polarity with a meter before the first MC4 click — reversed strings are the most common cause of a dead MPPT on commissioning day.
- 3
Run DC to the inverter MPPT inputs
Three strings of 6 modules, one per MPPT: Voc about 300 V per string, Isc about 14 A. Three trackers rather than two keeps string current at 14 A instead of 28 A, which lets us use 6 mm2 cable and keeps voltage drop under 1.5% on a 40 m run. Keep the DC run as short as the building allows; every extra 10 m of 6 mm2 cable costs roughly 0.3% of yield.
- 4
Set the battery on its own breaker
The DLXN-F5400 (20.48 kWh, 51.2 V / 400 Ah) connects to the inverter DC bus through its own DC breaker and a pre-charge resistor. Neutral, earth and the battery negative are kept separate; the BMS CAN lead is landed on the inverter comms port and the protocol selected in the menu before the first charge.
- 5
Build the AC side
Inverter AC out feeds a distribution board with an RCD, one breaker per circuit, and a surge arrestor. Grid and generator each get their own input with a changeover, so the inverter can be told which source is present rather than guessing.
- 6
Configure, then load test
Set battery type to lithium, capacity to 20.48 kWh, charge current to the value in the commissioning sheet, and export limit to the site rule (zero-export for prepaid meters). Then apply a known load — a 2 kW kettle is the usual choice — and confirm the inverter holds frequency and voltage while the array is curtailed.
- 7
Hand over the labels and the diagram
Every breaker gets a label, the single-line diagram goes inside the DB door, and the monitoring account is transferred to the owner. This is what an inspector asks for, and it is what the next technician needs two years later.
How much it generates
Daily yield is calculated as 9.9 kWp x irradiance x 0.75 system efficiency. The efficiency factor is not a marketing number: it bundles inverter conversion, DC and AC cable losses, soiling, mismatch and temperature derating at roughly 35 degrees cell temperature.
| Market | Irradiance (kWh/m2/day) | Daily (kWh) | Monthly (kWh) | Yearly (kWh) | What that covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 5.5 | 40.8 | 1,224 | 14,892 | about 3.4 kWh/day of self-consumption, or roughly 61% of a 20 kWh/day household |
| Nigeria | 5 | 37.1 | 1,113 | 13,542 | about 3.1 kWh/day of self-consumption, or roughly 56% of a 20 kWh/day household |
| Philippines | 4.5 | 33.4 | 1,002 | 12,191 | about 2.8 kWh/day of self-consumption, or roughly 50% of a 20 kWh/day household |
Estimates, not guarantees. Real output moves with tilt, azimuth, shading, soiling and season; a site survey typically shifts these figures by 10-15% either way. Peak-sun-hours data is long-term average, so a good month can beat the table by 20% and a bad one can miss it by 25%.
Usable battery
18.43 kWh
at 90% depth of discharge
Night autonomy at 400 W
46.1 h
excluding air conditioning
Storage per kWp
2.1 kWh/kWp
about 2 kWh/kWp suits daily cycling
How to read the table
The three markets are the ones we ship to most, and the differences are real: Johannesburg gets about 5.5 peak sun hours a year-round, Lagos about 5.0 with a rainy-season dip in June, Manila about 4.5 with a pronounced wet season from June to October. A system sized on the annual average will under-perform in Manila in August and over-perform in March — that is normal, and it is why the battery is sized on the evening load rather than on the daily average.
What it solves
Three load profiles this kit actually gets ordered for. The numbers come from our own commissioning sheets, not from a catalogue.
A six-room guesthouse running as an island
Breakfast peak at 07:00 (kettles, toaster, geyser boost) is 4 kW for 90 minutes; midday base with cleaning and laundry is 3 kW; evening peak with air conditioners in three rooms is 4.5 kW for four hours. Daily consumption lands near 24 kWh, which the 9.9 kWp array produces by 16:00 in South Africa even in shoulder season.
A restaurant with a cold room
A 2.2 kW cold room compressor at 50% duty, three 1.5 kW air conditioners at 60%, and kitchen equipment at 1.5 kW is 5.7 kW in the lunch peak — inside the 10 kW continuous rating. The battery covers the 3-4 kW evening service for six hours, so the generator only runs if a full day is overcast.
A clinic with a vaccine cold chain
Two vaccine fridges (350 W), a steriliser (1.2 kW intermittent), 12 LED fixtures, a records server and 2 air conditioners total about 2.8 kW in the day and 600 W at night. The 20.48 kWh bank gives 30 hours of night cover, and the 10 kW unit can carry the steriliser surge without dipping the lights in the treatment room.
Where this kit is installed
South African installations at this size are almost always three-phase, and the inverter is set to zero-export until the municipal meter is reprogrammed — we supply the CTs and the settings sheet. In Nigeria it is usually a hybrid microgrid with a 15 kVA generator as the third source; in the Philippines it is a typhoon-rated frame over a carport, with the battery in a ventilated outdoor cabinet.
Indicative EXW cost
Ex-works Shenzhen, USD, per kit. The inverter is quoted separately because it is the one line that changes with your grid and generator; everything else below is fixed hardware.
| Item | Specification | Indicative range |
|---|---|---|
| 9,900 Wp of PV modules | 18 x 550 W mono half-cell | USD 1,683 - 2,277 |
| Battery, 20.48 kWh | DLXN-F5400, LiFePO4, 51.2 V / 400 Ah | USD 1,946 - 2,662 |
| Mounting, cabling, combiners, AC board | Rails, clamps, DC/AC cable, SPD, DB | USD 280 - 380 |
| Hybrid inverter | 10 kW / 48 V hybrid inverter, 3 x MPPT, 180 A charger | Quoted separately — specification depends on grid and generator |
| Kit total, EXW, excluding inverter | Panels + battery + balance of system | USD 3,909 - 5,319 |
Indicative EXW only — final installed price is quoted by your local installer after freight, duty, labour and commissioning. Module pricing is based on USD 0.17-0.23/Wp and battery on USD 95-130/kWh at the time of writing; both move with cell and wafer prices, so confirm before you budget.
Upgrade path
Upgrade path: a second F5400 takes the bank to 40.96 kWh; an F5628 alone gives 32.15 kWh in one enclosure. Beyond 10 kW of inverter you are into the C&I product line — the GC100/120 cabinet and three-phase 50 kW class inverters — which is a different design conversation.
Hardware in this kit
Every line above maps to a catalogue page with a datasheet:
Frequently asked questions
How much does a 10 kW system with 20 kWh of battery cost?
Indicative EXW: USD 1,683-2,277 for 9.9 kWp of modules, USD 1,946-2,662 for the 20.48 kWh LFP battery, and USD 280-380 for mounting, three combiners and cabling — USD 3,909-5,319 excluding the inverter, quoted separately. For a guesthouse this is typically 45-55% of the installed project cost; the rest is freight, duty, labour, racking steel and electrical compliance.
How many kWh does a 10 kW system produce per day?
About 40.8 kWh/day in South Africa, 37.1 in Nigeria and 33.4 in the Philippines at 0.75 efficiency. Monthly: 1,224 / 1,113 / 1,002 kWh; annual: roughly 14,900 / 13,500 / 12,200 kWh. These are estimates based on long-term average irradiance — a specific site can sit 10% either side of them.
Can it run a three-phase site?
With the three-phase variant, yes — the inverter feeds all three phases and balances load across them, provided no single-phase load exceeds about 3.3 kW. Sites with a large single-phase load (a 5 kW welder, for instance) need either a phase converter or a rethink of the distribution board, which is why we ask for a DB schedule before quoting.
What happens when the battery is full and the load is small?
The inverter curtails the array — it moves the operating point away from maximum power so generation matches consumption plus charging. Nothing is damaged and nothing is exported if export limiting is on. If your utility allows export and pays for it, we enable export instead and the surplus becomes revenue rather than curtailment.
Ask about this configuration
Send us your load list, the port you ship to and whether a generator stays on site. We reply with a configuration, a drawing and an EXW quotation — usually within one business day.
- ✉ dlxn@dlxnsolar.com
- Contact details and offices
- Factory: Shenzhen, China · Ports: Shenzhen / Ningbo / Shanghai
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