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What are you? 12? I kindly hope you get banned. Sincerely.

Any chance you will test a baseline breaker that’s reputable? Like a MNEDC175 or the 250 A version? I think most people who go for those are those who want or need UL listed product but it would be good to see how they perform against cheaper alternatives. Do you have a calibrated high accuracy...

Did you try using the eg4 solar calculator on their website?

🥹 Tell us more.

Are you on the latest firmware? Did you see any improvements? Good points. Throttling power down at 70C, which is before the alleged 75C would be really dumb, as throttling would likely bring the temperature enough to stop the climb to 75C which is were the fans would kick in. If that's what...

You can read the temperature data through RS485/Modbus with a micro controller and drive a PWM curve to drive fans according to that temp. Swapping the fans on the FB is easy and doesn't require to cut any warranty void sticker, I've linked before the fans used by EG4, NMB makes the same model...

I should be getting the first of 3 fb21 this week or early next. System is still weeks away from install and plan on opening up the unit and study the cooling design. I’m a thermal engineer and some of the things I read online about this unit like the on/off control of the fans (if PV input >...

Shouldn’t the bus bar designed based on the max current you expect the inverter(s) to charge/discharge the batteries? On a system with a lot of batteries, you’re effectively reducing the current each battery will see in and out. Say you have 3 batteries capable of charging/discharging at 200A...

For sure they're heavy and I wouldn't trust them attached solely to a concrete wall or studs. Aside from the lifting, the best idea I came up with would be to use 24" deep pallet racks with 3 beams per row of batteries (1 beam for the upper mounting and 2 for the unit to rest on (with decking).

That’s fair as only recently EG4 confirmed the dc-dc board issue was a manufacturing issue and not heat related. The extra cooling will help with other aspects, particularly with avoiding the units to throttle and likely help with overall better efficiency and longevity (of the boards not...

Sorry. That sucks.

Thank you! Interesting choice on their part, I'll stick with using the spacer then.

Got my pwm fan controller prototype mostly working on a development board right now. Found some weird things on the modbus communication, but basically all (that I have tested so far) registers are shifted by one. Like Tinner which is supposed to be address 64, is actually address 65 and so on...

3x FB21's. At the end of the day OCP is provided by the FB's, so I could do 6x 250A and use them purely as disconnects which is the main reason I wanted to have inverter DC's in the combiner box. Or just skip that, and hard wire the 2 pairs of 4/0 to the inverters. Thoughts?

I forgot, did you say you talked to EG4's support? What did they say?

Had the same issue when the original solar install was made, so a disconnect was added between panel/meter and the tesla mid. Then when I added more panels two months the inspector asked why there was a disconnect as it’s not needed. So even within the various county inspectors there are and...

Smart Port are programmable with user conditions like time of day and state of charge. If they added (if not already there) a condition such as “grid online” which we could use to disable the smart port. If that’s not possible, just adding a condition on the state of charge of the batteries...

so it's no longer shipping today but in 2 weeks?

Hey, I will be installing additional panels soon and while the existing panels are installed flat (more like 2-3 degrees south following the drain slope of the roof) I am wondering if that’s the smartest thing to do. If installing panels at a stronger angle (33 degrees is my latitude, so...

What you say makes sense. My issue is that your case seems pretty "normal" and I would think a lot more people should experience the issue as you do.

Don’t most ac couple pv installs have export contracts with utilities? As for the GB it shouldn’t disconnect the acc smart port is grid is down and battery charged above a certain level.

Both of mine start with DJ. Bluetooth connection doesn’t work either. Edit: spoke with james at eg4 support and they will be shipping a replacement dongle.

Arguable. As long as the added fans on top are not spinning too slow, they will likely increase the overall airflow through the system. But yes, if the fans on top are off or even way below the max discharge of the 4 built-in fans alone (i.e. 280 ish cfm) they will somewhat restrict the overall...

Question for more of the experts of the fb21. I received the first unit a couple days ago (model number ending in 00), grey unit. I’d like to get familiar with the unit, and likely upgrade the firmware. It will be working with a gridboss once everything is put together. I have a spare 51.2v...

dunno what panels these are, but whatever you do, get their specs and plug them into this calculator and make sure it actually works... you might be stretching things out. https://eg4electronics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/eg4-solar-panel-string-sizer/

But I'm motivated for two 💀😂

171.6 kWh 21.5kW - doubling that before year end So 8:1 for now, more like 4:1 soon.

that makes sense. thanks guys. I guess I'll have to use 3 awg to fit all those wires in the 2" conduit.

You’re going to need to test them roughly at the same ambient temperature.

what wouldn't people do for clicks.

I don't know why it's so difficult for a company to make a decently priced UL listed breaker. I've done a lot of research to find something suitable and all UL options are either difficult to implement in a clean way (midnight solar rebranded ones) or just plain too expensive.

Here's what I put together:

Thank you. So the other(s) FB's in parallel with the one unit failing, will still be able charge the battery and provide load (battery -> AC) when the sun goes down. So technically, as in, multiple FB's do provide redundancy toward this DC-DC board issue? Edit: does this redundancy exist...

turning off the ACC is the safe thing to do once your batteries are "charged enough". Adding load so that you don't have to shut down your entire ACC is nice in principal, how realistic is it to implement? If you want to do that right you'd want a variable load to match the excess, in practice...

keep in mind there is probably than more than 1 fan. if one fan is rated for 50 dB, and then double the number of fans (2) then you add 3 dB (log scale). if the unit has 4 fans then it's be around 56 and so on. where did you get the 50 db value from? the fan manufacturer or the EG4 spec sheet...

I'm using 10x10 troughs for batteries/inverters. So far, they're the perfect size for both EG4 outdoor battery and FB's. I bought an EG4 outdoor conduit enclosure to get the dimensions of the cutouts since the website didn't provide detailed measurements, and made a template to cut the bottom of...

12 batteries and 3 inverters. At $100 a pop on the breaker it’s quickly costly so I figured I’d make my own box as it will integrate better with the troughs I am working with. For cable management reasons it will be installed with breakers mounted vertically, which will waste some space due to...

Yeah that was it! Out of curiosity is the (brass?) standoff removable? If so, is the thread of the stud that’s press fit into its internal buss bar fully threaded?

I agree but that’s where the rack idea would be useful. The upper beam could be used to hoist the upper unit, installing the deck and lowering them. Those racks are rated for 10000 lbs and the lower units would still rest on the floor. And the rack would bolted down to the slab.

Still debating on that. I need to run 2 pairs of 4/0 per inverter. Having the ability to disconnect all within this box would be great, if I do 2x 250 A’s per inverter, they’ll never act as breakers since the inverters would trip before that.

Tried another dongle and no issues with it. What’s strange is the dongle that doesn’t work have a “firmware” update available for 3.02 (it’s on 2.06 I tried and it doesn’t update) and the other one does not (it’s on 2.07)

Nice that they shipped it. still waiting on mine to ship.

ouch.

Thank you for that, even though that’s really bad news. I haven’t seen this particular question posted yet. How does this failure mode behave if you have 2-3 fb21 in parallel? Does having multiple unit give any sort of redundancy? And do having multiple units reduce the risk of one unit failing?

Hey. Can you confirm if the third pin on the fans in the FB21 are RPM or LR signal?

Has there been any improvement on this? If I connect SA only to the 3x FB's how can I get monitoring data from the production of the AC Coupled panels connected to a smart port on the GB?

I’m still trying to find confirmation on the wiring of the ground between GB and FB’s (3). With 3 pairs of 2awg going from the 90A breakers in the GB to the 3 FB’s, all running in the same 2” EMT do I need to run 3 grounds or is a single one acceptable? And if so does it need to be sized up...

Thank you for that. If you guys are able to identify risk based on batch and serial numbers, I’m sure the majority of us will appreciate knowing it their units are at risk or not, even if a recall scenario is unfeasible. Thanks again

Chiming in, interested in the conversation. Can I ask you which batteries are these?

Thanks I’ll take a look

What would the timeframe for something like this?

Thanks, that’s a good starting point. Does the 18kpv only have 2 radiator temperatures? I can only see 2 registers for Trad1 and Trad2.

There is a lot that could be done, but with warranty, code/inspection and stuff it makes things more complicated. I've located the waterproof fan connectors. They're chinese proprietary connectors widely available over there. The least invasive plan I came up with is disconnecting and removing...

Is the pwm output of this board modulating the 12V bus or a modulated signal for pin 4 of pwm fans?

“Future” as in?

I agree, had the stud been removable it would have been awesome, but nothing that can't be worked around.

Thank you Tim

What about the 24 VDVC? The manual says 1A but it doesn’t specify if it’s for the 12V or 24V? I’d think they both have 1A reserved? 1A at 24V is all I would need to swap the fans for the pwm counterpart of the NMB fans the FB21 is using. A low power mcu to pick up the modbus data (pv power...

Hey, Not 100% solar related but still somewhat relevant. I am working on a side project which involves recouping mechanical power (a spinning shaft that needs braking). I have the experimental setup working. Currently, I have a BLDC motor whose output feeds a rectifier, which in terms feeds a...

If I ignore Tbat, I count 3, Register 64, 65 and 66. Tradiator is not listed. Register 67 is Tbat, and Register 68 is blank. I Don't know how official or updated this doc is. https://www.dth.net/solar/luxpower/modbus/EG4-18KPV-12LV-Modbus-Protocol.pdf (Page 9/28)

in the same boat with SS for those screen kits. apparently it's a delay on the EG4 side of things.

out of curiosity, out of everybody who’s installed a set of exhaust fans on top of the units experience the issue?

MPPT 1 and 2 both have 2 strings. Eg4 doesn’t require both strings to have the same voltage. They require that each string doesn’t exceed 13A, so that the total for mppt 1 and 2 doesn’t exceed 26A each. If you’re going with strings of 4 because of shadding/angle or combination of both, then yes...

Thank you. I’m with you on the cleaning. Wouldn’t year round be more like 33 degrees? And winter optimized 10-12 degrees (and summer (50-55 degrees)?

thanks it would have taken me some time to figure that one out!

Same boat here. IP and subnet are correct. I can ping the dongle fine. But won’t connect to the cloud.

thank you. considering the EG4 280AH indoor has a built in bus bar capable of combining 3 batteries for a single Flexboss21 inverter, would it be reasonable to leverage this internal bus bar, come out of it with 2 pairs of 2/0 into a bus bar which then connect to the 3x FB21? the challenge...

Which fans? Original ones? or original ones + the external ones you've added? At what load (total, i.e. battery charging/discharging, PV, Grid)? For how long? The time it takes to reach steady state (i.e. temperature stabilizing, under stable ambient temperatures) is essentially a function of...

Very strange. Is there a way to connect to the dongle using a web browser? When in AP mode I tried to reach 10.10.10.1 and the web browser gives me an error. Tried firefox, edge and chrome.

Can you elaborate on the use of lcd screens? What kind of changes are (regularly?) making on the fb’s?

Thanks! I’ll take a look, I did a search and couldn’t find one so was about to make one instead. That’s great!

So, I received my fb21 today, and here my observations. First thing I noticed is the big bad warranty void sticker on the front of the unit. But did you guys notice you can open up the "fan compartment" without having to break any seals? I did remove that access door and found that all 4 fan...

I just received my replacement today. I specifically asked that question to eg4’s support and confirmed I couldn’t change it. So they sent a replacement dongle.

Correct me if I’m wrong but in the case someone with 2+ fb21, if one were to fail for a bad dc-dc board, shouldn’t in theory the system be able to continue to operate with any human intervention? (aside from load and capacity aspects) Is that the case now? If not, why is that? Is it because...

If EG4 doesn’t want to share the range of SN affected by the bad manufacturing batch, we could create a thread to compile or some sort of private group to figure out an approximate “range” ourselves.

that makes sense. I'll clarify that in my case, there is no seasonal pricing and although grid tied, so I should have clarified that I am asking this question from the point of view of weather and panel efficiency relative to its angle to the ground, excluding any other aspects like electricity...

It could also pure voltage control but that limits how low the rpm can spin. On axial dc fans, the start up voltage can be anywhere from 5 to 9v usually around 7. Modulating the 12v by applying the external duty cycle has been done but it’s usually avoided as modulating the electronics built...

Hi, I’m finalizing preparation for the GB/FB/outdoor batteries. The EG4 battery manual calls for ensuring all batteries are the same voltage prior to connecting them all together. In my case, all 12 of those batteries will be connected to a bus bar. Batteries will be here in a couple weeks...

I could be wrong but when I looked it was only lines and ground.

Yes but make sure you check the draw with a meter first. Those 4 fans are also likely to pull more amps than spec when the fb21 fans do kick in as it will likely push the rpm of your 4 exhaust fans past nominal draw. As counter intuitive as it may be, fans do pull more current has the pressure...

Hi guys, I'll likely be using this breaker, as it's one of new UL listed unit that is somewhat acceptable price wise. I've ordered one unit to take some dimensions to finish the design of my bus bar/battery combiner box, but I could really use some good pictures in the meantime. Does anybody...

Ouch. Do the LVDC and AC conversion load the same or different heatsink? It looks the (FB21) has 3 heatsinks, 2 relatively small ones on either side of the large extruded aluminum heatsink.

if you can't find them let me know, I just finished a few more cuts this morning, I can take the dimensions for you.

Has EG4 ever commented on what the temperature labels represent? What is T-inner? Air sensor somewhere inside? T radiators are probes measuring heatsink temperatures? If the heatsink gets to 70+ the mosfet or whatever it’s cooling is a bit higher than that. Are there not sensors directly...

Yes, has anyone experienced the issue even though they’ve installed fans? In other words does the extra cooling seem to always prevent the issue?

Hi I'm considering installing some EG4 280AH indoor batteries. The manual says even though they are designed to be wall mounted they also need to rest on the ground to share the load of the weight of the units. I've seen pictures online of units strictly wall mounted but I'm wondering if that...

thank you guys!

thank you!

awesome, thanks I didn't even think of checking digikey!

@EG4 Callie what's the process to test the beta FB21 firmware with the new fan profile? who should I contact? And if not available, how long are we looking at before you release it to the public?

But at 10-12k you’re well past the 6k (or 4k) threshold. Anything (eg4 said any load: battery, load, solar, grid) above that 6k will get full fan speed. They even said if any rad temp reaches 75c or more the fans should go full speed; which if that’s the case should have always prevented failure...

How long after you applied the load did it take for the eg4 fans to kick in?

I’m interested in an answer/confirmation on this as well. The manual says (see attachment) The statement isn’t super clear to me. As if “the grid is not present” does it still charge the batteries?

what panels are you using? commercial or residential? I used the EG4 solar calculator and after inputting all the specs for the panel, it recommended to run strings of 14. These were 44x69" panels (residentials) I'd be interested to see what the calculator recommends for you, and see if that...

The right way to do it is have current protection on your load (which granted is typically handled by the inverter nowadays). Whatever that current value is, that is where you want things to trip. It doesn't matter what you have on the side of the bus bar, as your batteries should be protected...

Not sure what you mean, by power based. They use logic (more likely firmware based) to control a switch/relay/fet to turn on/off power to the 4 fans. Maybe they have the capabilities of modulating (or adjusting) the voltage to the fans, but they are not making use of it, at least yet. Either...

Pretty much in the same boat here, only difference is the house I bought had an existing solar install with an enphase system and 2 pw2’s. My utility isn’t expensive by any means (compared to other socal areas) and I have an approved 5kw export. Scaling up that system for work purposes...

Does it support batteries with no communication to the fb?

No kidding. Here we are with a complex inverter design with loads ranging from 0 to 20+ kW which on paper is better than anything out there, and the whole thing gets tainted because by basically the most basic temperature control type ever (i.e. thermostat) with the most binary on-off control...

:( sorry man. what's your model number (last few digits)