Need help! System is down

[EG4_Ty]

42 is dis on both

I was not able to get a definitive answer when trying to figure out if your generator is neutral ground bonded. If it is and your inverters setting 42 is set to dis then you potentially have 2 bonds in the system. Something to try next time you use your generator as an AC input is either turning setting 42 to enable or removing the bond in your generator.

 

[Hedges]

5.41 per Kw of panels

Ouch.

California utilities proposed $12/month, CPUC approved $8/month, but for some reason this didn't get implemented.
Governor Newsom spoke against the plan, and a revised plan without photon tax was adopted.

Guide to Alabama incentives & tax credits in 2024

See how much you can save on home solar panels through rebates & tax credits in Alabama. Here’s the full list of federal, state and utility incentives that apply where you live:

www.solarreviews.com

"The fee, which critics call the ‘solar tax’, is billed monthly to power company Alabama Power’s customers who install solar panels to generate their own electricity. With the solar tax now coming in at $5.41 per kilowatt (kW) of rooftop solar installed, it’s now almost impossible to get a good return on a solar investment in Alabama."

You indicated utility power would have to be extended to supply the property (or the building?)
Does the photon tax apply if you aren't a "customer"?

Maybe panels can be installed out of site, without their knowledge. Maybe you can get an RV/trailer, put panels on it and have it supply the building.

 

[THERED117]

Ouch.

California utilities proposed $12/month, CPUC approved $8/month, but for some reason this didn't get implemented.
Governor Newsom spoke against the plan, and a revised plan without photon tax was adopted.

Guide to Alabama incentives & tax credits in 2024

See how much you can save on home solar panels through rebates & tax credits in Alabama. Here’s the full list of federal, state and utility incentives that apply where you live:

www.solarreviews.com

"The fee, which critics call the ‘solar tax’, is billed monthly to power company Alabama Power’s customers who install solar panels to generate their own electricity. With the solar tax now coming in at $5.41 per kilowatt (kW) of rooftop solar installed, it’s now almost impossible to get a good return on a solar investment in Alabama."

You indicated utility power would have to be extended to supply the property (or the building?)
Does the photon tax apply if you aren't a "customer"?

Maybe panels can be installed out of site, without their knowledge. Maybe you can get a

Not sure if it can help you, but you mentioned before you had almost ZERO resistance between POS and NEG.

Warning: always perform resistance/continuity tests with a fully de-energized & disconnected inverter (PV, Battery, AC) !!!

When you do that kind of test, always make sure you test POS to NEG and then NEG to POS (swap your test leads around).

The multimeter applies a voltage (I think up to 9VDC) to the resistance to be tested / continuity test.

If a Diode part of the Power Stack (H-bridge, phase leg, ...) starts conducting because you are measuring with the "wrong" test polarity, that could explain your low reading. I would assume your zero ohm measurement is indication of that, rather than a blown up inverter.

If your inverter was blown up, I don't think you could simply disconnect the battery and keep operating ...

I was back running split phase 240 on sunday. I left a post describing the " how to" for everyone.

 

[THERED117]

Update: Inverters are still going. The old ones were shipped out earlier. Still cant can't charge with the gen. SS is going over pics and reading I sent them.

So more pain....... At approx. 3am we lost power. Looked like dead batteries. BTW never happened before Over 80% at bed. The last few days I could not connect to BMS system. (I can now...Yellow Cable). with SS we checked all batteries. 1 and 4 was less then 20%. 2 and 3 was plus 95%. They had me separate full ones and only charge dead ones. The said it was an imbalance. Did that till 96%. put it all back and tested the cables with my Fluke i410 attachment on a Fluke 1587FC meter. 12amps on 1, 0 on 3\4, and 14amps on 4. They had me set up everything in USE with proper setting. NO Change. I re addressed my batteries and got all of them in a page. Clear to see that 2 and 3 are not working. ON hold with SS now.

 

[THERED117]

SS said I could look inside. ?
.....Bad news looks like two fried control boards. ?

 

[timselectric]

Well, at least you know what the problem is.
Time for replacements.

 

[THERED117]

Well, at least you know what the problem is.
Time for replacements.

Hope they get the boards on a truck in the am.

 

[THERED117]

I felt like I should give my opinion. SS has been doing a pretty good job trying to get me squared away. I have had only one tech that I felt like wasn't very knowledgeable. As a group they have tried very hard to get me running. My only true complaints are these. Each person's situation is different. A back woods hunting camp and an off grid family is different. There should be some kind of expedition process or flagging. I would have been open to paying for a redeye shipment My first week, 2 days was wasted just waiting on it to pass through departments. After that I'm sorry but I bugged the crap out of them. On the off hours and Sunday there is no support. That's where you outstanding gentleman come in.? A lot of people have really negative things to say about SS. I guess I am not one of them. Thanks for all the help and support through this Charlie Foxtrot.

 

[THERED117]

I felt like I should give my opinion. SS has been doing a pretty good job trying to get me squared away. I have had only one tech that I felt like wasn't very knowledgeable. As a group they have tried very hard to get me running. My only true complaints are these. Each person's situation is different. A back woods hunting camp and an off grid family is different. There should be some kind of expedition process or flagging. I would have been open to paying for a redeye shipment My first week, 2 days was wasted just waiting on it to pass through departments. After that I'm sorry but I bugged the crap out of them. On the off hours and Sunday there is no support. That's where you outstanding gentleman come in.? A lot of people have really negative things to say about SS. I guess I am not one of them. Thanks for all the help and support through this Charlie Foxtrot.

The tech sounded new. He had to ask is supervisor a bunch. He asked me if I had turned it on. ?‍. If he is new he gets a pass. Lol

 

[timselectric]

As a rule, most reviews will be negative. Because people are more likely to take the time to complain, than to praise.
It's easier to be motivated when you are upset.

 

[THERED117]

BMS boards will be here Saturday.

 

[THERED117]

Update: I have haven't been on the forum for a while. I got to the point of just being absolutely sick of the whole situation.
When I installed the inverters I called SS of odd noises coming from #1 during AC charging. I didn't get anywhere with them during that week span. Because of bad weather I had to charge on AC. I sat with it while charging. On Friday a week ago I was charging and I walked out to put my dog up for the night. Wife ran out and said something was wrong with the power. Before i could get back both were off and the batteries were faulted. . 2 dead inverters........ again?. So..... 9 days later here we are. ? picking up two new inverters and a chargeverter.

 

[sunsurfer]

Update: I have haven't been on the forum for a while. I got to the point of just being absolutely sick of the whole situation.
When I installed the inverters I called SS of odd noises coming from #1 during AC charging. I didn't get anywhere with them during that week span. Because of bad wether I had to charge on AC. I sat with it while charging. On Friday a week ago I was charging and I walked out to put my dog up for the night. Wife ran out and said something was wrong with the power. Before i could get back both were off and the batteries were faulted. . 2 dead inverters........ again?. So..... 9 days later here we are. ? picking up two new inverters and a chargeverter.

I'm off gird and am my own power company. I started at the bottom with a single 100w panel / PWM...etc.. so every improvement is like luxury living for us. We now have two large systems.

These big AIO are nice in that its more like grid power. Problem is that when they go down your pretty much 100% off-line. I have all separate components and tons of redundancy, I might not even know when something breaks if I am not looking. Down side is, my system is NOT as seamless for the user like the large AIO's are.

I would consider having a standby setup with a separate charge controller and simple single phase inverter that is what you need to run critical things like fridges, lights, water pump, etc...

That way, when things go bad you still have some options and you can have the best of both worlds.

 

[silverstone]

I'm off gird and am my own power company. I started at the bottom with a single 100w panel / PWM...etc.. so every improvement is like luxury living for us. We now have two large systems.

These big AIO are nice in that its more like grid power. Problem is that when they go down your pretty much 100% off-line. I have all separate components and tons of redundancy, I might not even know when something breaks if I am not looking. Down side is, my system is NOT as seamless for the user like the large AIO's are.

I would consider having a standby setup with a separate charge controller and simple single phase inverter that is what you need to run critical things like fridges, lights, water pump, etc...

That way, when things go bad you still have some options and you can have the best of both worlds.

I should have probably also done that. Separate MPPT charger and Inverter. Instead I got a few Deye 12kW all-in-one three phase inverters.

On the Inverter side, going "standalone" is probably not a big deal. Tons of options.

But on the MPPT Charger on the other hand, it's more complicated in my opinion. Most are limited to 150V which is more like 100V effectively (since you need to account for negative voltage temperature coefficient for say Winter temperatures of approx. -25°C).

You could of course get something like a Victron SmartSolar MPPT RS which goes up to 450V (more like 300-350V in Winter), but that's very expensive.

I guess you have many more options in the US. Here in Europe I didn't see some Charger that is Cheap and Rated something like 800-1000 V PV.

I have Strings of 16 Panels, so that's just around 650V in Summer and it just is "OK" for the Winter for the Inverter rated 800V. I would have to split these strings in 2 panels each basically (maybe 2x2 or 2x4 strings ?), put parallel diodes, thicker/bigger cables, etc. It *can* be done but it's quite a hassle on a roof that is not very accessible anyway. Plus of course the fact that I never have the same number of panels on each roof, sometimes odd, sometimes even number .

Or you could build your own buck converter with 1.7 kV SiC MOSFETs or something like that, then feed some of these lower voltage Chargers . Or build your own charger. I also thought about that, but to be honest, never had the time to get started ...

 

[THERED117]

I'm off gird and am my own power company. I started at the bottom with a single 100w panel / PWM...etc.. so every improvement is like luxury living for us. We now have two large systems.

These big AIO are nice in that its more like grid power. Problem is that when they go down your pretty much 100% off-line. I have all separate components and tons of redundancy, I might not even know when something breaks if I am not looking. Down side is, my system is NOT as seamless for the user like the large AIO's are.

I would consider having a standby setup with a separate charge controller and simple single phase inverter that is what you need to run critical things like fridges, lights, water pump, etc...

That way, when things go bad you still have some options and you can have the best of both worlds.

Soon I plan on adding 2 more 6.5s so I have 4 running the house. 2 in parallel on each phase. It will reduce the load by dividing it up. Having 4 gives me some redundancy if I were to lose one if not 2 I could still run the house.

 

[sunsurfer]

Soon I plan on adding 2 more 6.5s so I have 4 running the house. 2 in parallel on each phase. It will reduce the load by dividing it up. Having 4 gives me some redundancy if I were to lose one if not 2 I could still run the house.

It would be nice if you could make two isolated systems while maintaining a seamless user experience. And, have some easy to move breakers to bridge over if needed.

 

[THERED117]

It would be nice if you could make two isolated systems while maintaining a seamless user experience. And, have some easy to move breakers to bridge over if needed.

I can divide my house from my well and out buildings but that's about it. I've got 90' of wire running from my power house to my home. In the PH I have a pass through breaker that feeds my well and power house itself.

 

[THERED117]

As much as I hate to admit it I think I have found the root cause of my problems. After talking to the guys at SS yesterday (they where wondering if a frequency imbalance might have caused it. So I put a scope on each leg of the generator and I might have to agree. It is noisy and seem like the sine wave are capping a little. This is with me using my 4 ton AC as a load while checking it. It's supposed to be clean with in 3%. In the future I have a chargeveter to separate gen from inverter. Even if I get power ran to my place I think I will not connect AC to the inverters again. I don't want to take the risk. PV only!

 

[silverstone]

As much as I hate to admit it I think I have found the root cause of my problems. After talking to the guys at SS yesterday (they where wondering if a frequency imbalance might have caused it. So I put a scope on each leg of the generator and I might have to agree. It is noisy and seem like the sine wave are capping a little. This is with me using my 4 ton AC as a load while checking it. It's supposed to be clean with in 3%. In the future I have a chargeveter to separate gen from inverter. Even if I get power ran to my place I think I will not connect AC to the inverters again. I don't want to take the risk. PV only!

Well the thd of 3% is the THD_U meaning the voltage THD, probably for a fairly sinusoidal pure 50hz load.

Your source has a very low short circuit level.

So if you have a big load drawing lots of harmonic currents, it might degrade the voltage shape a lot.

Can you try with a pure resistor of the same power rating or similar?

My guess is you are pulling lots of harmonic currents, which causes a lot of voltage drop internally to the inverter, which in turn looks like **** if you look at the output voltage of the inverter.

 

[Crowz]

One thing to double check on is if the solar tax works if your not setting up to back feed. The more Ive read it appears that if you are not feeding to the grid then there isn't a tax.