*** Alive Again *** ECO-WORTHY 5kW(Maybe 6kw) Off-Grid Inverter + 48V 100Ah Wall-Mount Battery Combo $773 AC/$665 with Cashback

Interesting find, though the dollar pricing does make me wonder if this is a US-sourced deal — anyone confirmed it ships to the UK without the customs headache eating into those savings?

I had a look at ECO-WORTHY kit a while back when I was putting together my garden office setup. Ended up going Victron for the inverter side because I wanted the ecosystem and the community support, but I'll be honest — the price difference was painful. If ECO-WORTHY have tightened up their build quality in recent years, this combo starts to look genuinely tempting for someone just getting started.

The 48V wall-mount battery is the bit I'd want to scrutinise closely though. What chemistry? What BMS? At that price point there's a big difference between a battery that'll serve you five years and one that's a fire hazard in a warm cupboard. Fogstar and similar UK suppliers have spoiled me — I want to see proper cycle ratings and thermal specs before I trust anything bolted to my wall.

A few questions worth digging into:

• Is the inverter pure sine wave throughout, or does it wobble under load?
• What's the warranty situation if something goes wrong and the seller is stateside?
• Has anyone actually run this through a UK winter with real loads?

Would be good to hear from anyone who's actually got one running. Always prefer real-world data over spec sheets — spec sheets never mention what happens when you try to run a kettle and a space heater simultaneously on a grey January afternoon.

Hey @MarkGibson, good spot but yeah, the dollar pricing is a red flag for UK buyers. Even if it ships here directly, you're likely looking at 20% VAT on import plus Royal Mail/courier handling fees, which can easily add £80-150 on top depending on declared value. Check whether it's coming from a UK-based Amazon/eBay warehouse or direct from China — that makes a massive difference. ECO-WORTHY do have some UK stock listed on Amazon.co.uk occasionally, so worth checking there first before going down the import route. The cashback deal also likely won't apply through UK purchasing channels. Might still be worth it depending on final landed cost, but run the numbers properly before getting excited about that headline price!

@Dave1983 makes a fair point about customs. Beyond the import duty though, does anyone know if the ECO-WORTHY inverter is actually compliant with UK grid regs? Even for a pure off-grid setup I'd want to know it meets the relevant standards before dropping that kind of money.

I'm currently speccing out a system for my garden office and was tempted by cheaper Chinese inverters, but ended up looking more seriously at Victron for that reason. The price difference feels painful upfront but at least you're not guessing.

What's the actual watt-hour capacity on that wall-mount battery? The 100Ah/48V sounds like ~5kWh but these cheaper units sometimes have suspiciously optimistic specs — has anyone actually cycle-tested one?

@Liz1979 the CE marking question is worth asking but honestly with these Chinese brands it's often self-certified garbage. Had a similar situation with a unit on the narrowboat — looked fine on paper, failed an inspection.

The bigger issue nobody's mentioned: 5kW at 48V means you're pulling over 100A continuous from that 100Ah battery. That's a 1C discharge rate which will absolutely hammer the longevity of a budget LiFePO4. What's the actual BMS spec on that wall-mount battery?

At £773 equivalent (probably more once HMRC gets involved) you're not far off a proper Victron setup that'll actually last. Done the sums on my own setup and the "cheap" route rarely stays cheap.

@BurnWalker whilst I take your point about self-certification, I'd say ECO-WORTHY are actually one of the more established Chinese brands in this space — they've been around long enough to have a reasonable track record. I've seen a few of their solar panels in UK installations without major issues.

That said, for a 5-6kW inverter at this price point, I'd want to see independent test results rather than just taking the CE mark at face value. The real question for me is after-sales support — if something goes wrong 18 months in, are you dealing with a UK distributor or emailing a Chinese warehouse at 3am? Worth checking if they have a proper European operation before committing, regardless of how tempting that price looks.

Has anyone actually got one running here in the UK and can report back on real-world performance?