You have already decided you want a LiFePO4 battery, and that is the right call: our complete buyer’s guide to LiFePO4 home batteries explains why it is the safest and longest-lived chemistry for a home that cycles through daily outages. This guide is the companion to that one. It does not repeat the chemistry or the specification definitions; it walks the decision itself, the part the spec sheets are designed to make hard. Choosing well comes down to five steps: working out what your own home actually needs, matching capacity and form factor to your situation, verifying the manufacturer in writing, spotting the red flags that mark a weak or fake product, and planning an installation that survives a Ukrainian winter. Genixgreen has manufactured LiFePO4 storage systems in its own factory since 2011 and supplies distributors in 100+ countries, and the aim here is a guide a dealer can hand straight to a customer.
The short answer
Choosing a home battery is a five-step decision, not a specification-memorising exercise. First, list the loads you must keep running and the longest outage you realistically face, and size from those. Second, match capacity and form factor to your home and to whether you plan to expand later. Third, verify the manufacturer in writing: certified specifications with real test conditions, IEC 62619:2022, UN 38.3, and CE with a signed Declaration of Conformity. Fourth, walk away from no-name brands, self-declared certificates, and cycle-life claims quoted with no test conditions. Fifth, plan a heated indoor location for winter, because a LiFePO4 battery must not be charged below 0 °C, and book a qualified electrician for any hardwired work.
Step 1: Start with your home, not the catalogue
The most common buying mistake is to start from a product, fall for a headline number, and work backwards. Start from your own home instead. Four questions answered before you look at any product decide almost everything that follows.
List only the loads you must keep running
Make two columns. The first is what must stay on during an outage; the second is what can wait until the power returns. The first column is usually shorter than people expect: a refrigerator, lighting in a couple of rooms, the router and the ONT that keep you online, phone and laptop charging, and on a gas-heated home the boiler’s circulation pump, which is what actually keeps the heating working when the grid is down. Air conditioning, an electric kettle, an oven, and a washing machine almost always belong in the second column for a battery sized to ride out blackouts.
Add up the first column only. A typical apartment lands around 3 to 5 kWh of critical energy a day; a house with gas heating around 5 to 10 kWh. You do not need exact figures yet, just an honest list, because sizing to the whole house instead of the critical loads is how buyers end up paying for capacity they will never use.
Measure your longest realistic outage, not the average
Size for your worst regular window, not a typical one. Outage schedules in Ukraine vary by region and by season, and the hardest winter days run longer than the autumn norm, so the figure that matters is the longest stretch you expect to face on a bad day. Check your own oblast’s published outage schedule and ask your supplier what autonomy they plan around. That window, multiplied by your critical load, is the energy your battery has to store between recharges.
Decide now whether you will expand later
This decision looks minor and quietly sets your form factor, so make it before you buy rather than after. If there is any chance you will add capacity later, perhaps because you plan to add solar, move to a larger home’s needs, or simply want more margin once you live with the system, then you need a form factor that grows without being replaced. If your needs are fixed and modest, a sealed single unit is simpler and cheaper. Buying a form factor that cannot grow and then needing more is the most expensive way to discover this question.
Check your space, and whether it stays warm in winter
Where the battery will physically live decides both the form factor and whether you need cold-weather features. A heated utility room, hallway, or warm basement is the easy case. An unheated garage, a balcony, or an outdoor enclosure that drops below freezing is the hard case, and as Step 5 explains, it changes which product you can safely buy. Measure the wall or floor space, note whether the location is heated, and note whether the wall can bear a mounted unit’s weight.
Step 2: Match capacity and form factor to your home
With those four answers in hand, you can match a product to your home. The pillar guide defines the six specifications in full (usable capacity, depth of discharge, cycle life, C-rate, the 48 V standard, and round-trip efficiency); here we use them only to make the decision, and link back rather than repeat them.
Sizing, in one rule of thumb
Size from your load, not from a box rating. Take your average critical load, multiply by your longest outage in hours, then divide by 0.80 for usable depth of discharge and by 0.95 for round-trip efficiency, and add a 20 to 30 percent margin for cold derating and for loads you forgot. As a practical rule of thumb, an apartment with gas heating facing eight-hour outages needs roughly 10 kWh, and a house with gas heating needs 15 to 20 kWh. The worked method, with the appliance table, is in the pillar guide.
| Your home | Critical load | Longest outage | Battery to aim for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bed apartment | 300 to 500 W | 4 to 6 h | 5 to 8 kWh |
| 2-bed apartment, gas heat | 500 to 800 W | 6 to 8 h | 8 to 12 kWh |
| Small house, gas heat | 600 W to 1 kW | 8 to 12 h | 10 to 15 kWh |
| Medium house, gas heat | 1 to 1.5 kW | 8 to 12 h | 15 to 20 kWh |
Nominal versus usable: the number that misleads first
Before you compare two products on capacity, confirm you are comparing the same thing. A “10 kWh” battery does not give you 10 kWh: usable energy is the nameplate figure multiplied by the depth of discharge, and a LiFePO4 unit running at 80 to 95 percent depth of discharge genuinely delivers roughly 8 to 9.5 kWh, as Battery University (BU-808) sets out. Always ask a seller whether a quoted capacity is nominal or usable. A product that looks cheaper per kWh on nominal capacity can be the more expensive one on usable capacity, which is the number you actually live with.
Form factor, decided by space and expansion
Your space and your expansion answer from Step 1 point straight at a form factor. The three form factors and their definitions are covered in the pillar guide; the decision is simpler than the definitions.
| Your situation | Form factor that fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment, fixed needs, 5 to 15 kWh, heated room | Wall-mount | Saves floor space, clean install, pairs with all major hybrid inverter brands |
| House, expects to grow to 20 to 30 kWh | Rack-mount | Add modules over time without replacing the system |
| Renter or minimal-install building, simplicity first | All-in-one | Plug-and-play, no inverter-matching, user-installable |
The trade is straightforward. Wall-mount is the common apartment choice but has a low ceiling on how far it parallels. Rack-mount has effectively no ceiling and suits a house that will grow, at the cost of floor space and a higher up-front infrastructure cost. All-in-one is the fastest to set up and the only form factor a typical user can install without an electrician, but it ties you to one ecosystem. Pick the form factor that matches the expansion answer you already gave yourself, not the one with the most impressive single-unit headline.
Step 3: Verify the maker before you trust the spec sheet
This is the step where good money is lost, because a spec sheet is a marketing document until it is backed by evidence. A reputable supplier answers every one of the following in writing, without hesitation and without changing the subject. Treat reluctance as an answer in itself.
Demand the certifications, and the reports behind them
Three certifications matter for a home battery sold in Ukraine, and each one means nothing without the document behind it.
| Certification | What it proves | What to demand |
|---|---|---|
| IEC 62619:2022 | System-level safety: overcharge, over-discharge, short circuit, thermal abuse, and thermal-runaway propagation | The 2022 edition specifically, which added mandatory thermal-propagation testing, plus the test report, not just a certificate image (IEC 62619:2022) |
| UN 38.3 | Transport safety testing for lithium batteries | The report; mandatory for international shipping, and its absence points to uncertified cells (UNECE) |
| CE with Declaration of Conformity | EU electrical safety and EMC | The signed Declaration of Conformity; a self-applied CE sticker with no DoC on request is meaningless |
If a seller offers IEC 62619 in the 2017 edition only, that predates the mandatory thermal-propagation test, so ask specifically for the 2022 edition and the report.
See through the two specifications sellers inflate most
Two numbers are inflated more often than any others, and both are easy to check once you know the trick.
The first is capacity, covered above: nominal quoted as if it were usable. The second is cycle life. Cycle life is the number of charge-and-discharge cycles before capacity falls to 80 percent of the original rating, and the honest figure depends entirely on the test conditions. A headline of several thousand cycles measured at a shallow depth of discharge, a very low charge rate, or a comfortable 25 °C looks impressive but does not describe daily Ukrainian use, as Battery University (BU-808) explains. Ask for the test conditions in writing: the depth of discharge, the charge rate, and the temperature. A supplier who states them is selling you an honest number; a supplier who cannot is selling you a marketing headline.
Confirm the BMS talks to your inverter
The battery management system is the safety brain of the battery, and one detail decides whether it will work cleanly with your setup. Confirm that the BMS supports closed-loop communication over CAN or RS485 and that the protocol is compatible with your inverter, so the inverter can adjust charge and discharge to the battery’s real-time state. Confirm too that the BMS hard-cuts charging below 0 °C, the cold-charge protection that Step 5 depends on. A battery that cannot talk to your inverter, or that lacks a cold-charge cutoff, is the wrong battery regardless of its headline capacity.
Step 4: The red flags that should stop a purchase
Some findings are not negotiating points; they are reasons to walk away. If you see any of these, stop and look elsewhere, because each one signals that the product cuts corners exactly where safety and honesty live.
- No identifiable manufacturer, or unbranded cells with no traceable origin.
- A self-declared certificate with no test report, or a CE mark with no signed Declaration of Conformity on request.
- An impressive cycle-life headline with no stated test conditions.
- IEC 62619 quoted in the 2017 edition only, with no 2022 thermal-propagation test.
- No UN 38.3 report.
- A seller who cannot, or will not, say whether a quoted capacity is nominal or usable.
None of these is about price. A cheaper battery from an honest maker who shows you the reports is a far better purchase than a dearer one that fails this list. The point of the checklist is to make the corners visible before the money moves, not after the first cold night.
Step 5: Plan the installation for a Ukrainian winter
The last step is the one most specific to Ukraine, and getting it wrong can permanently damage an otherwise good battery on its first cold night.
Keep it in a heated indoor space
The hard rule is that a standard LiFePO4 battery must not be charged below 0 °C. Below freezing, lithium ions cannot insert properly into the anode and instead plate as metallic lithium on its surface, which permanently cuts capacity, accumulates with every cold-charge event, and in severe cases forms dendrites that can short a cell internally, as Battery University (BU-410) explains. Discharge is far less restricted: most LiFePO4 batteries discharge down to around minus 20 °C with reduced capacity, so the battery will keep your home running on a freezing night. Only charging has to wait until the cells are above 0 °C.
The practical answer for most buyers is simple. Install the battery in a heated indoor space, a utility room, hallway, or heated basement that stays above roughly 5 °C, and you need no extra cold-weather measures. LiFePO4 is safe indoors because it produces no hydrogen or toxic fumes in normal operation, as Battery University (BU-205) notes. If the only available location is an unheated garage, a balcony, or an outdoor enclosure that drops below 0 °C, then you must buy a battery with an integrated self-heating circuit, where the BMS warms the cells before allowing charge, or use a thermostat-controlled heating pad inside an insulated enclosure. This is a buying decision, not an afterthought: the location you chose in Step 1 decides whether self-heating is optional or mandatory.
Route hardwired work to a qualified electrician
Match the installation to who is allowed to do it. Any hardwired connection to your home’s mains wiring, which includes most wall-mount and rack-mount systems, must be installed by a qualified electrician, both for safety and to meet local electrical rules. A plug-in all-in-one unit is the exception: it is user-installable and needs no electrical work, which is part of why it suits renters and buildings that restrict wiring changes. Decide before you buy who will install the system, because that answer can rule a form factor in or out.
A one-page buying checklist for Ukraine
Take this to any supplier. A reputable one will not flinch at a single line.
- Needs: critical-load list made, longest expected outage estimated for your region, expansion decision made, install location and its winter temperature known.
- Sizing: capacity sized from load times outage hours, divided by 0.80 and 0.95, plus a 20 to 30 percent margin; capacity confirmed as usable, not nominal.
- Certifications: IEC 62619:2022 with the test report, UN 38.3 report, and CE with a signed Declaration of Conformity.
- Specifications: cycle-life test conditions stated in writing (depth of discharge, charge rate, temperature).
- BMS: closed-loop CAN or RS485 confirmed compatible with your inverter, with a cold-charge cutoff below 0 °C.
- Cold weather: heated indoor location confirmed, or self-heating specified if the location drops below 0 °C.
- Installation: a qualified electrician booked for any hardwired connection; plug-in units are user-installable.
- Supplier: warranty and service terms confirmed in writing, with service available inside Ukraine.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose the right size of home battery?
Size it from your own loads, not from a product’s headline. List the appliances that must run during an outage, estimate your longest realistic outage window for your region, multiply average critical load in kW by outage hours, then divide by 0.80 for depth of discharge and 0.95 for efficiency and add a 20 to 30 percent margin. As a rule of thumb, an apartment with gas heating facing eight-hour outages needs roughly 10 kWh, and a house with gas heating needs 15 to 20 kWh.
Which battery form factor should I buy: wall-mount, rack-mount, or all-in-one?
It depends on your space and whether you will expand. Wall-mount suits an apartment with fixed needs and a heated room. Rack-mount suits a house that expects to grow to 20 to 30 kWh, because you add modules over time. All-in-one suits a renter or a building that restricts wiring, because it is user-installable and needs no inverter matching. Decide your expansion plan first, because the form factor locks in your ceiling.
How can I tell if a battery’s specifications are honest?
Ask for two things in writing. First, whether a quoted capacity is nominal or usable, because usable is the number you live with. Second, the conditions under which cycle life was tested: the depth of discharge, the charge rate, and the temperature. A headline cycle-life number with no stated conditions is a marketing figure, not a usable one. An honest supplier provides both without hesitation.
Which certifications should a home battery have?
IEC 62619:2022, the 2022 edition that added mandatory thermal-propagation testing, with the test report rather than just a certificate image; UN 38.3 for transport safety; and CE with a signed Declaration of Conformity. A self-applied CE sticker with no Declaration, IEC 62619 in the 2017 edition only, or a missing UN 38.3 report are all reasons to keep looking.
Can I install a home battery in an unheated garage in Ukraine?
Only if it has self-heating. A standard LiFePO4 battery must not be charged below 0 °C, because charging below freezing causes permanent lithium plating. It will discharge in the cold, but charging has to happen above 0 °C. For an unheated location, buy a battery with an integrated heating circuit or use a thermostat-controlled heating pad in an insulated enclosure; otherwise keep the battery in a heated indoor room.
Do I need an electrician to install a home battery?
Any hardwired system connected to your home’s mains wiring, which includes most wall-mount and rack-mount installations, must be installed by a qualified electrician, both for safety and to meet local electrical rules. Plug-in all-in-one units are the exception: they are user-installable and need no electrical work.
The right next step
Choosing a home battery comes down to matching a certified LiFePO4 unit to your load, your space, and your winter, and then verifying it in writing before you pay. For the full specification definitions and the chemistry behind the choice, start with our complete LiFePO4 buyer’s guide. If you are weighing chemistries, see how LiFePO4 compares with lead-acid for backup power, and for the chemistry and the safety differences, see LiFePO4 versus ordinary lithium-ion. To see the range, including the systems we hold in our Odesa-region warehouse for fast local supply, visit our product range. If you are a dealer or installer serving customers in Ukraine, our partners page explains how to work with us.