2424lv-pip intermediately shuts off for a few sections then back on.

Has anyone experienced their MTTP 2424Lv-PIP controller/inverter turning off for around 30 to 60 seconds then auto restart while the outside air temps are in the ’90s (95 to 100 degrees)?

Any feedback or recommendations on what to look for are welcome!

Comment:
I removed all the background information to the post as there were no comments.

anyway, I still haven't solved my problem, it does seem to happen whenever the solar panels are closing down for the night due to heavy shading on them from a very tall pain in the butt tree.

So to keep things like the TV, computer and monitor, Router, and some other critical items to remain on when the 2424Lv shuts down for 30 seconds or so, I have connected a battery power backup unit from Walmart. Now, when the 2424lv shuts down, at least the critical electronics will stay on.

Although this fix solves losing power to things like the TV and or the computer, it still doesn't solve my problem on why my 2424LV controller is shutting down in the first place for 30 seconds and the auto restarts.

Have you by chance checked the data logging? Like via Watchpower or other... Maybe it can show error messages or event log? I haven't installed my LV6548s yet, so I haven't had a chance to toy with Watchpower yet, but just thought I'd throw it out there... It might be able to tell you what made it trigger shutdown, whether it be high-temp trigger or something like that.

Samsonite801 said:

Have you by chance checked the data logging? Like via Watchpower or other... Maybe it can show error messages or event log? I haven't installed my LV6548s yet, so I haven't had a chance to toy with Watchpower yet, but just thought I'd throw it out there... It might be able to tell you what made it trigger shutdown, whether it be high-temp trigger or something like that.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I have no access to any type of data logging or history. It sure would be nice though. But what I do every hour from sun up to sun down is track every data point in Excel. Tracking loads, battery info, Solar output info. Plus temperatures of the outside air, battery, and controller temp hourly. I have over 1000 data sets now logged.

I've gotten as close as 10 minutes to logging what the system is doing, but as yet to catch that actual shut down point. Also, reference all these data points with respect to different option settings.

I just made another option change to #16 to CSO. So will monitor for a few days what the system does from there.

I kind of suspect that my controller doesn't like a sudden check of input source from solar/battery to Utility in the evening when it is hot outside.

With the CSO setting, when the solar array start dropping off due to major tree shading, I still have 5 hours of battery life. And at dark dusk, I still have one hour of battery life to low voltage cutoff. At that point, the Utility begins to charge the battery. Hence it is not a big shock to the controller between full Solar power and Full battery.

But now that I have a battery backup unit for the TVs and computers, the controller can shut off and I can continue my investigation without flustration.

"Has anyone experienced their MTTP 2424Lv-PIP controller/inverter turning off for around 30 to 60 seconds then auto restart while the outside air temps are in the ’90s (95 to 100 degrees)?"
Which section of the unit auto restart? The charger section or the inverter section.

Bud Martin said:

"Has anyone experienced their MTTP 2424Lv-PIP controller/inverter turning off for around 30 to 60 seconds then auto restart while the outside air temps are in the ’90s (95 to 100 degrees)?"
Which section of the unit auto restart? The charger section or the inverter section.

Click to expand...

I do not know as it is back online before I can get out of the house to check it. I have changed option #16 setting and so far at 8:15 PM, all is working as advertised. - cross my fingers.

Update to my problem of 2424lv intermediately shutting off for 30 seconds.

Still haven't found my problem with my controller shutting off for a moment. I was thinking it was due to the heat as the temperature here in Livermore Ca has been hovering around 100 degrees.

But this morning around 7:00 am, it shut off and the temperature was only 69 degrees. I'm starting to think it is my controller that is going out to lunch.

I was suspecting the battery for a while, but haven't ruled it out. Only the loss of battery voltage will eminently turn off the controller. I can lose Utility power and Solar power and the controller will stay on as long as the battery is connected.

The battery has a high temp cut-off at 130 degrees, but where the battery is located, it hasn't reached over 95 degrees.

With respect to a loose wire in the controller, I just checked them and all contact screws in the controller are tight.

Man, I don't want to have to buy a new controller, the wife is already pissed at me for the power going out every day. I've had this controller for a year and it has worked flawlessly.

Perhaps you could call MPP Support and see if they can help troubleshoot and confirm if there is a controller board that might cause this behavior and see if possible to repair it? Or buy another inverter, install it and still see if you can repair the original one to have as a hot spare to help keep the WAF rating high... Those inverters are stackable aren't they?

Also on the battery, you're right, a lot of the all-in-ones get their main power to function off the battery, so if battery voltage cuts out for any reason then it will shut down the inverter.

Perhaps you could put something on to monitor the battery voltage in realtime? Awhile back I built a simple Raspberry Pi 4 with a ADC piggyback board on it so I could run a simple python script I made to monitor a DC voltage, and if that voltage dropped below a set value it would gmail me with a message like 'The power is down!' message, and when the voltage went back up, it would email me with a message like 'The power came back up!'... Some kind of means to keep an eye on a voltage. I can use a voltage divider on it to translate any real-world voltage range to a 0v-5v ADC monitor voltage.

They also make IP voltage monitor turn-key devices that could measure a voltage and monitor over IP. I don't know, maybe it's more trouble than you want to spend on it. Just some ideas is all...

Samsonite801 said:

Perhaps you could call MPP Support and see if they can help troubleshoot and confirm if there is a controller board that might cause this behavior and see if possible to repair it? Or buy another inverter, install it and still see if you can repair the original one to have as a hot spare to help keep the WAF rating high... Those inverters are stackable aren't they?

Also on the battery, you're right, a lot of the all-in-ones get their main power to function off the battery, so if battery voltage cuts out for any reason then it will shut down the inverter.

Perhaps you could put something on to monitor the battery voltage in realtime? Awhile back I built a simple Raspberry Pi 4 with a ADC piggyback board on it so I could run a simple python script I made to monitor a DC voltage, and if that voltage dropped below a set value it would gmail me with a message like 'The power is down!' message, and when the voltage went back up, it would email me with a message like 'The power came back up!'... Some kind of means to keep an eye on a voltage. I can use a voltage divider on it to translate any real-world voltage range to a 0v-5v ADC monitor voltage.

They also make IP voltage monitor turn-key devices that could measure a voltage and monitor over IP. I don't know, maybe it's more trouble than you want to spend on it. Just some ideas is all...

Click to expand...

A good suggestion is to contact MPP. I bought my controller from then versus getting a cheaper copycat. As for the controller, to my understanding from the manual, I can connect up to for of them in parallel.

I was thinking about buying the next size-up controller, but then I would still be in the same boat. - a single point failer.

I believe I have isolated my problem with the controller shutting down for a few seconds. One big problem is how my house was wired. The kitchen lights and living room lights are tied to the house's central heater. And the heater is also tied to the relay that turns on the outside air conditioner. So to have my 2424lv controller power the lights in those two rooms, I had to tie the heater to the controller too. - Note somehow the electricians that wired the house got around the electrical code because the heater is supposed to be on its own circuit breaker and it's not.

So he is what is happening. During the day up until 4:45 pm the Sun powers the house and the heater/air conditioner, runs with no problems. But at about 4:45 pm my panels start to get shaded by a big tree in the neighbor's yard and the power from the arrays drops off real fast.

When the solar arrays can no longer supply power to the load, the battery kicks in to help out. All is ok until the solar power drops to 150 watts and the battery is drawing 33 amps. What is supposed to happen is the Utility is to kick in and take over supplying power to the house and recharge the battery. That function is malfunctioning and the controller instantly shuts off.

Now here's the interesting part, after about 40 seconds of the controller totally off, it comes back on and the solar arrays are once again powering the house with about 800 watts with the heater fan (part of the air conditioning system). All is ok until the big tree really sheds the arrays and the cycle repeats.

It looks like the controller can not handle over 35 amps from the battery. Although I did see 55 amps one time.

So what I do now is every day around 4:35 pm I go outside and when the solar power drops to less than 200 watts, I manually via 3 switches (one for each solar branch) turn off the arrays. Then in the dark evening, I switch the arrays back on so they will be ready to power the house and recharge the battery in the morning. Why dark evening is because to have no spark in the switches when I turn them back on.

I could get an electrician to track down the heater wires and isolate the heater from the kitchen and living room lights so I can put the heater on the Utility side of my sub breaker box and bypass the controller like the outside air conditioner, washer, and dryer, all appliance in the house.

But it would be cheaper to buy a Growatts 5000 controller than what it would cost for an electrion.