Random power outage EG4 6500 split phase

[TonyBN]

I do know that I am not the only one having this issue, I also know that this happens mostly on low consumption. Right now as I write this my consumption is 434 watts, and that is higher than normal at night. So far today I have not had issues, today was a very cloudy day and the batteries only got up to 55% hoping tomorrow will be a better day. All my voltage and wiring are correct and I had the system up and running for 15 months prior to these inverters with growatts in parallel. I only have one, that I know of 1 NG bond in one of my panels which is where my inverters combine before going to my main panel. I did some testing for neutral bond that Filterguy asked me to do and the consensus was that no NG bond on the previous inverters haven't tested with these, I bring this up because maybe if at some point there is a bond then that would create a NG loop maybe that could be causing the issues I have idk.
Edit.
Another thing is that the previous inverters would do the outage multiple times daily before and after the firmware update. I'm not sure if I mentioned before, on the previous units I had the same issues most where having with "61" however on mine it wasn't just a fault shown it would completely shut down the inverters (power off). When the outage issue I have the inverters do not turn off they stay on like nothing happened and the output just shuts off for 3 to 5 sec and comes right back no warnings or faults.

I am having the exact identical stuff you been going threw this week. Only ran this stuff for a week total since this fall. Firmware updates all that stuff done also, Watch power app does not communicate with all the time in app. power out for seconds and then back on. Finally got a code f80 tonight.

 

[Desertdwllr]

So people are connecting things up but not following the full directions in the manual and then are surprised when it doesn't work properly.
High voltage, high current, DIY and not reading the manual seem to be a very poor combination.

Do you know if it's normal to read about 1.5 volts at the rs232 communication ports? From what I found I don't think it's normal. I was going to run it a bit longer then remove some of my temp grounding jumpers to see if the issue comes back.

 

[TonyBN]

Do you know if it's normal to read about 1.5 volts at the rs232 communication ports? From what I found I don't think it's normal. I was going to run it a bit longer then remove some of my temp grounding jumpers to see if the issue comes back.

So its been working since you did the jumper ground thing? And your battery's are connected together with the ground screws also?

 

[Desertdwllr]

So its been working since you did the jumper ground thing? And your battery's are connected together with the ground screws also?

Yes, I have been running for about a week using EG4 mode with no interruptions. All batteries are grounded and I used small jumpers on the com ports to ground. I should have grounded my batteries when I installed them however I am thinking the com port might be causing the problem. Purely a guess on my part, I'm just playing with things when I have time. I don't see the harm in grounding the port, it would be great if someone else could verify a standing voltage then ground them to see if it affects their system. I'll draw something up in a bit for a visual and post it.

 

[TonyBN]

Sounds good. I grounded by the com port and checked voltage to the battery grounds I had 19. something volts That is crazy So where is the leak in the inverter. my batteries are isolated by themselves. How can there be power between the inverter housing and the negative on the batteries. I'm not talking about the small grounding screws on the battery housings. Tomarrow I am going to mess around some more. My inverters have the bond screw out of both inverters and are bonded in my main panel and then goes out to the throw switch.. I might try to disconnect the neutral on the pole also from the throw switch. since my switch only disconnects the hots , not the N .

 

[Desertdwllr]

Sounds good. I grounded by the com port and checked voltage to the battery grounds I had 19. something volts That is crazy So where is the leak in the inverter. my batteries are isolated by themselves. How can there be power between the inverter housing and the negative on the batteries. I'm not talking about the small grounding screws on the battery housings. Tomarrow I am going to mess around some more. My inverters have the bond screw out of both inverters and are bonded in my main panel and then goes out to the throw switch.. I might try to disconnect the neutral on the pole also from the throw switch. since my switch only disconnects the hots , not the N .

I've been referring to case ground only, I would not ground the DC system (+) (-). I think the manual for the EG4 batteries says not to as well. I wouldn't say your inverters are leaking, it's just a difference of potential between an ungrounded piece of metal (battery enclosure) and a ground tied to earth. My concern is the com from the battery is electrically connected to the inverters and I was thinking this might be causing things to happen as the ungrounded equipment voltage floats. Please be careful and maintain a N/G bond, it's easy to miss and easy to get electrocuted.

 

[TonyBN]

I've been referring to case ground only, I would not ground the DC system (+) (-). I think the manual for the EG4 batteries says not to as well. I wouldn't say your inverters are leaking, it's just a difference of potential between an ungrounded piece of metal (battery enclosure) and a ground tied to earth. My concern is the com from the battery is electrically connected to the inverters and I was thinking this might be causing things to happen as the ungrounded equipment voltage floats. Please be careful and maintain a N/G bond, it's easy to miss and easy to get electrocuted.

I understand what you are saying. I am going to connect the inverter to the eg4battery cases with a jumper.

 

[Desertdwllr]

I understand what you are saying. I am going to connect the inverter to the eg4battery cases with a jumper.

I would venture to assume that the signal ground would be at the same same ground potential as the shield, mine was not.


Flexing my MS paint skills here, I tried to capture the DB9 connector terminal, I was able to read around 1.5VAC to ground at the RS232 DB9 connector.





This is specifically drawn to show case grounding only, the conduits that I have between my inverters, cable gutter and battery rack and sub panel are all PVC/ PVC flex. The inverters have their #6 THHN wiring to ground that I am not showing on purpose. Curious what others are measuring on their DB9 connectors and if jumpering them to ground stops the power cycling. This might have nothing to do with anything, just ruling things out at this point.

 

[TonyBN]

I connected all the units together with ground. Inverters, main panel, and batteries. I did not tap into to the DB9 though. I'm sure it would be best to test when they are hooked up, not when one or the other is disconnected?
I just turned everything back on. I have no ground neutral bond in my inverters or in my main power box. I separated the ground neutral bond last night in my main power panel.
My double throw switch is only a two pole at the power pole. It is not a three pole switch. I also pulled the main breaker switch on the pole off. I do not know if that switch on the pole bypasses the neutral either. The box has an anti tamper ring on it. I could call an ask I guess. If I have issues yet. I am going to pull the neutral wire off coming from the main pole to eliminate that if that is the issue. If that's the issue than a need to switch the neutral or buy an expensive 3 pole double throw. If all of that don't work than I will tap into the DB9 cable to ground them like you did in the picture. I kinda want to try only 1 or 2 things at a time to truely isolate the issue, if those are issues. Thanks for them drawings also.

 

[TonyBN]

I was thinking, Its a good idea to not have anything hooked into the grid neutral anyway. Lighting, surge ,its a direct link to the inverters. If my main pole doesn't disconnect at the neutral, then I guess I need a new double throw switch.

 

[TonyBN]

I bonded inverter 2p2. THe only bond between 2p1, 2p2, and main panel. Main panel n and g separate. 2p1 noot bonded. Been working all day and no flickering to speak of.

 

[ig1628]

Hello Forum, so I'm still having outages 3 to 5 secs. I've been learning about Solar Assistant and found some interesting info on my slave inverter (pictures attached) I noticed that my inverter 2 show its output is 240V which clearly is not the case, I have checked voltage, and the inverter displays show correct voltage as well as the solar power app. Inverter 2 also has dips daily and several times a day, these dips when zoomed in shows the power going to zero or close to zero. I also noticed that one day inverter 2 output went to zero for about 4 hours and didn't even notice because the my power didn't go out. Clearly this has some bearing on the power outage I'm experiencing. I'm at a loss here don't understand why. I emailed SS with this information, we'll see what they do with it.
Edit: On the 3rd image the dip was on inverter 1 and this was a power outage.

 

[Desertdwllr]

Hello Forum, so I'm still having outages 3 to 5 secs. I've been learning about Solar Assistant and found some interesting info on my slave inverter (pictures attached) I noticed that my inverter 2 show its output is 240V which clearly is not the case, I have checked voltage, and the inverter displays show correct voltage as well as the solar power app. Inverter 2 also has dips daily and several times a day, these dips when zoomed in shows the power going to zero or close to zero. I also noticed that one day inverter 2 output went to zero for about 4 hours and didn't even notice because the my power didn't go out. Clearly this has some bearing on the power outage I'm experiencing. I'm at a loss here don't understand why. I emailed SS with this information, we'll see what they do with it.
Edit: On the 3rd image the dip was on inverter 1 and this was a power outage.

Do you have both inverters plugged into your pi?

 

[ig1628]

They are connected via parallel, only have main direct connect via 232- usb conversion cable, however I did plug inverter 2 to the pi and had the same 240V, I haven't used usb C to connect since I read many users had issues with the port being fragile. I'm wondering if I ca n have one on RJ45 and the other to usb haven't tried was planning on trying it today.

 

[Desertdwllr]

They are connected via parallel, only have main direct connect via 232- usb conversion cable, however I did plug inverter 2 to the pi and had the same 240V, I haven't used usb C to connect since I read many users had issues with the port being fragile. I'm wondering if I ca n have one on RJ45 and the other to usb haven't tried was planning on trying it today.

It seems you have 2 separate issues. The power outages and the solar assistant not communicating to one of your inverters correctly. What's your system build? I'm assuming 2 EG4 6500's. Are you using EG4 batteries? Is setting 5 EG4 or use. How is you N/G bonded?

 

[ig1628]

My system, Two EG4 6000EX in parallel, 4 EG4 LL VER.1, set on USE, I monitor batteries via SA, and only have 1 NG bond that I know of, Filterguy had me test for NG bond about a month back and the consensus was the the units I had didn't have a NG bond, however I got new units last month and have not checked them yet. See pics attached.

 

[Desertdwllr]

My system, Two EG4 6000EX in parallel, 4 EG4 LL VER.1, set on USE, I monitor batteries via SA, and only have 1 NG bond that I know of, Filterguy had me test for NG bond about a month back and the consensus was the the units I had didn't have a NG bond, however I got new units last month and have not checked them yet. See pics attached.

Great looking setup! My experience has been with the 6500's and I have not read up on the 6000's. I believe I did read somewhere that there is a newer firmware for the 6000's that was supposed to fix the power outages. Maybe someone else that has 6000 experience will chime in. I can't tell from your picture, I would make sure you have your batteries and battery rack grounded.

 

[ig1628]

Thank you, On the inverters that I returned to SS I had the update done on both and still had issues, I did check these and the firmware has been updated, I seen you post about the potential you had on batteries and the parallel cables, and from what I tested from earth ground to shield of the parallel cables I dont have any potential. I do not have the batteries grounded at the moment but will be doing so.

 

[Desertdwllr]

Thank you, On the inverters that I returned to SS I had the update done on both and still had issues, I did check these and the firmware has been updated, I seen you post about the potential you had on batteries and the parallel cables, and from what I tested from earth ground to shield of the parallel cables I dont have any potential. I do not have the batteries grounded at the moment but will be doing so.

That's good to know that yours doesn't have potential at the com port shield, makes me think I'm on to something with my system. Going on 2 weeks without a power outage using EG4! @TonyBN might be in the clear with his issues as well.

 

[ig1628]

That's great, if you don't mind to try something, you might not not like the reading you get, check readings from the positive or negative terminals on PV to earth ground and let me know if you have potential.