EG4 6000XP and flickering lights .

floridafraze said:

I have been quite delinquent in updating this post - sorry (busy doing 'solar & air conditioner stuff')

1. I grounded all three LL-S chassis directly to the grounding bus bar in the 6000XP. Flicker intermittently continues.
2. Grounded all solar panels of the ground arrays directly to ground rod adjacent to the panels and the combiner box. Flicker intermittently continues.
3. Flickering even occurs on INCANDESCENT bulbs, and makes one of my small UPS units 'unhappy', so it is not due to cheap LED bulbs.
4. Initially it seemed like the 'disturbance' occurred primarily only when the batteries reached near 100% charge, but later it seems to be happening randomly, regardless of SOC or significant solar charge activity, time of day, and independent of any active loads in the house (I'm only feeding 10 circuits into the house via Connecticut Electric generator transfer switch so I can easily turn them all off except for the kitchen lights, which are the most easily and frequently noticed display of flickering, and the problem persists.
5. I bought a cheap digital O-scope and recorded the waveform of the 6000XP AC output: (https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ua2JX6eWu5jN9tEw8)

As I've said, the problem occurs not all that often, not every day, or at any specific time of day, and seemingly not relevant to battery SOC or misc loads. The condition can go away on its own (after a seemingly random period of time) or ALWAYS goes away immediately if I power OFF/ON the 6000XP.

Intermittent problems are fun.

Does the waveform video bring any ideas to anyone? Thanks!

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floridafraze said:

2. Grounded all solar panels of the ground arrays directly to ground rod adjacent to the panels and the combiner box. Flicker intermittently continues.

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EG4_Jared said:

Could you post a few pictures of how everything is wired?

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floridafraze said:

1. Hi Jared - I have supplied extensive photos and dialog/descriptions to Jenna and and I never heard back. About two weeks later I subsequently called again and spoke to Austin. Austin said nothing had been done and he said the issue was being elevated to a higher level for solution ('walked it to the person's desk'). That was a couple more weeks ago. I have still heard nothing. Guess I will call again.

2. Hi wdwtx2.0 - no, there is no direct ground wire running from the PV panels to the main ground in my utility power breaker box. PV panel ground wire goes to an 8' grounding rod directly adjacent to the panels and my Combiner Box, which is also grounded to that rod.

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floridafraze said:

2. Hi wdwtx2.0 - no, there is no direct ground wire running from the PV panels to the main ground in my utility power breaker box. PV panel ground wire goes to an 8' grounding rod directly adjacent to the panels and my Combiner Box, which is also grounded to that rod.

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wdwtx2.0 said:

You may or may not know it, but a ground wire from the panels to the house main ground is required by the NEC.
Not trying to tell you your business, but it can keep bad things from happening to anyone who touches your PV panels in a fault condition.
It is possible for your inverter to back feed AC voltage to the PV panels, and anyone who touches the frames could get a nasty surprise.
The only way a breaker (or fuse) could trip and remove the fault is for there to be a ground wire from the breaker panel to ANY metal enclosure in the AC electrical system, PV panels included.
I don't know if it could have any bearing on your lighting problem, but SS would know.

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JAS said:

I know as far as NEC is concerned it doesn't matter... But, does the safety concern still exist if not using an AIO (ie: separate Inverter and Solar Charge Controllers... (I guess in theory AC could still backfeed through the Inverters DC connection to the busbar/batteries)

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wdwtx2.0 said:

or I am misunderstanding you

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wdwtx2.0 said:

Any equipment connected to AC power and the PV wires

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JAS said:

Yes, I meant that NEC doesn't care how things are connected (or not connected). Still need to run the ground appropriately.


That was my question about AIO vs separates... A separate Inverter/Charger does not have a connection to PV and vice versa a SCC does not have a connection to AC. Wouldn't that condition only exist with an AOI unit?

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