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25A 48V charger only putting out low 14A 700-800 watts

signaturesolarrichard said:
I'm just jumping in on this right now, but will definitely be researching the issue as well as the interaction he had with our team. We want to make sure this is taken care of properly. I asked this user to PM me his info and if you were affected please PM me as well. Thanks!
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I'm not affected beyond my personal outrage that someone at your organization could spew such utter incompetent nonsense.

Re-train that person or terminate employment.
 
signaturesolarrichard said:
I'm just jumping in on this right now, but will definitely be researching the issue as well as the interaction he had with our team. We want to make sure this is taken care of properly. I asked this user to PM me his info and if you were affected please PM me as well. Thanks!
Click to expand...
PM sent

Thank you for looking into this problem.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
I'm not affected beyond my personal outrage that someone at your organization could spew such utter incompetent nonsense.

Re-train that person or terminate employment.
Click to expand...
I have experience with lithium batteries, BMS, and chargers, I couldn't believe the "splaining"

Probably, not a lot of peoples bought the charger, and had the LCD battery that shows the current, or had a DC AmpMeter to check the charger output.
I bought the 12KW Growatt, but I don't have the solar panels installed yet, and I don't have the space for too many panels, so in case of a long power outage I will have to use my generator, and my generator have only 120V output.
 
TEV said:
I have experience with lithium batteries, BMS, and chargers, I couldn't believe the "splaining"
Click to expand...

I would have come unglued.

TEV said:
Probably, not a lot of peoples bought the charger, and had the LCD battery that shows the current, or had a DC AmpMeter to check the charger output.
I bought the 12KW Growatt, but I don't have the solar panels installed yet, and I don't have the space for too many panels, so in case of a long power outage I will have to use my generator, and my generator have only 120V output.
Click to expand...

I see these likely explanations:
1) SS is selling a mis-labeled unit. Likely the fault of their supplier.
2) Unit has incorrect specifications. Max output might be throttled by 120VAC input.
3) Unit is malfunctioning.
4) Excessive voltage drop when using the supplied alligator clamps, N/A when using fabricated leads.
 
The ones on Amazon that look exactly the same are rated at 20 amps max.

Mine from SS has produced 17-18 amps maximum on a 50% battery with nothing else connected.
 
SS website does not even has a place to download the published spec or user manual, may that is how they can get away with it.
They also show if the output will have to derated vs the AC input Voltage or not.
I wonder what kind of testing and training they really do at SS.
May be it depends on which one they ship out that day, it can be anything between. Nominal: 5 ~ 25A.

1643246432796.png
 
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sunshine_eggo said:
I would have come unglued.



I see these likely explanations:
1) SS is selling a mis-labeled unit. Likely the fault of their supplier.
2) Unit has incorrect specifications. Max output might be throttled by 120VAC input.
3) Unit is malfunctioning.
4) Excessive voltage drop when using the supplied alligator clamps, N/A when using fabricated leads.
Click to expand...
1. More likely.
2. I tested it at 240V input too, but no changes in the output.
3. I doubt it.
4. I believe that someone posted about installing it with ring connectors with no improvement.

When charged with the charger that's incorporated in the 12KW Growatt inverter, with communication cable between Growatt and battery installed and working , it's charging at 30A (that's what I set it up) without the BMS requesting the charger to reduce the current.
 
TEV said:
I don't have the solar panels installed yet, I will have to use my generator, and my generator have only 120V output.
Click to expand...

I’m in the same boat. My Magnum will charge off a 120v generator also. But if I do that it turns on it’s transfer switch and I’m charging and running the house at the same time. The eu2000 don’t like that much.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
I would have come unglued.



I see these likely explanations:
1) SS is selling a mis-labeled unit. Likely the fault of their supplier.
2) Unit has incorrect specifications. Max output might be throttled by 120VAC input.
3) Unit is malfunctioning.
4) Excessive voltage drop when using the supplied alligator clamps, N/A when using fabricated leads.
Click to expand...
We are researching any of these possibilities and will make sure to take corrective action where needed.
 
TEV said:
This is what I posted in another thread "...
contacted the tech@signsturesolar.us, and they gave me the most amazing explanations of why the charger isn't charging with 25A.
It started with " The BMS of the battery is only requesting 16A from the battery", at my question of how the BMS is communicating with the charger " the BMS is talking with the charger by controlling the voltage of the battery" at this point I asked again for an explanation of how they're communicating without having any communication cable between them, and after conferring again with his "30 years of experience, electrician, working at the test bench " he was informed by the said " technician" that (and he blew my mind with this one) " the charger has a BMS also, and is communicating with the BMS of the battery ( communicating how? but what magical means?) and adjusting the amps accordingly ( why an 100A battery will have to reduce charging when is only charged 52%?). This had to be the first charger in the history that has a BMS in it...."
And the answer, on 1/20/22, was :

"video coming
@signaturesolarrichard"

Personally, I accepted the reality, and just ordered another one from them, it should be here tomorrow , together with more batteries.
Click to expand...
It is not even April 1st yet! LOL!
 
sunshine_eggo said:
I would have come unglued.



I see these likely explanations:
1) SS is selling a mis-labeled unit. Likely the fault of their supplier.
2) Unit has incorrect specifications. Max output might be throttled by 120VAC input.
3) Unit is malfunctioning.
4) Excessive voltage drop when using the supplied alligator clamps, N/A when using fabricated leads.
Click to expand...
I would think SS will have incoming QC to test these units randomly when receive them, may be I'm spoiled to have incoming QC where I worked.
 
Bud Martin said:
I would think SS will have incoming QC to test these units randomly when receive them, may be I'm spoiled to have incoming QC where I worked.
Click to expand...
We definitely do, both at the factory and at our location in Sulphur springs. Once we determine what went wrong here (was it a specific unit, batch, pallet, etc) we will do our best to make changes so it doesn't happen again in the future.
 
signaturesolarrichard said:
We definitely do, both at the factory and at our location in Sulphur springs. Once we determine what went wrong here (was it a specific unit, batch, pallet, etc) we will do our best to make changes so it doesn't happen again in the future.
Click to expand...
OK, will wait for the result, same for the SPF-5000ES/US results.
 
Is anybody besides myself getting tired of all the smart-ass comments directed towards Signature Solar? Don't reply because technically this is off topic. Just hit the like button.
 
Bud Martin said:
OK, will wait for the result, same for the SPF-5000ES/US results.
Click to expand...
And i'm still waiting to hear how they will fix the issue of the lifepower batteries not starting my Schneider inverter. Been waiting over a month but that's another topic.

Concerning their chargers... when i received my lifepower batteries, the soc lights indicated they were between 25 and 50% charged. I hooked up the chargers with the expectation that my battery should be fully charged in about 3 hours if they were in fact putting out what they claim. Surprise, my batteries were fully charged within 3 hours. Unfortunately, i didn't get an exact soc on the bms prior to charging so it was a rough estimate based on soc lights. I did keep a very close eye on things while charging, checking the batteries every couple minutes. When the batteries soc light indicated a 50-75% charge, it took just over one hour more to get to the 75-100% soc light, indicating the charger was putting out very close to what it is rated for. I was satisfied that it was producing the 25amps it's rated for.

My other observation was that while the soc indicator on the eg4 battery turned to 75-100%, the charge indicator lights on the actual charger never changed from the <80% to the >80%. It just went directly from the red <80% to the green 100%. Never hit the yellow light indicating >80%. Weird but i can live with it.

FWIW i was using a predator 8750 inverter generator with two eg4 lifepower batteries being charged separately by two of the 25 amp chargers with the OE alligator clips. No other loads on generator. Also, both batteries were 100% charged within 5 minutes of each other. I charged four batteries this way with the same results every time. BMS confirmed they were all 100% after charging.

I've noticed several others were using much smaller generators or their inverters which may contribute to their issue.
 
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sunshine_eggo said:
I will give @signaturesolarrichard positive marks for being responsive and not getting defensive. I'm willing to suspend disbelief that SS is run by a bunch of goobers for the time being.

:)
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Agreed. I appreciate that he's here. His tone and lack of ego are the best thing SS have going in their cs department. I don't expect him to have all the answers but it's obvious he is making a real effort to help people.
 
Koldsimer said:
And i'm still waiting to hear how they will fix the issue of the lifepower batteries not starting my Schneider inverter. Been waiting over a month but that's another topic.

Concerning their chargers... when i received my lifepower batteries, the soc lights indicated they were between 25 and 50% charged. I hooked up the chargers with the expectation that my battery should be fully charged in about 3 hours if they were in fact putting out what they claim. Surprise, my batteries were fully charged within 3 hours. Unfortunately, i didn't get an exact soc on the bms prior to charging so it was a rough estimate based on soc lights. I did keep a very close eye on things while charging, checking the batteries every couple minutes. When the batteries soc light indicated a 50-75% charge, it took just over one hour more to get to the 75-100% soc light, indicating the charger was putting out very close to what it is rated for. I was satisfied that it was producing the 25amps it's rated for.

My other observation was that while the soc indicator on the eg4 battery turned to 75-100%, the charge indicator lights on the actual charger never changed from the <80% to the >80%. It just went directly from the red <80% to the green 100%. Never hit the yellow light indicating >80%. Weird but i can live with it.

FWIW i was using a predator 8750 inverter generator with two eg4 lifepower batteries being charged separately by two of the 25 amp chargers with the OE alligator clips. No other loads on generator. Also, both batteries were 100% charged within 5 minutes of each other. I charged four batteries this way with the same results every time. BMS confirmed they were all 100% after charging.

I've noticed several others were using much smaller generators or their inverters which may contribute to their issue.
Click to expand...
We have this on our docket and actually purchased a number of third party inverters for testing. It has been delayed due to the safety issues that were brought up and we will be working on this issue again shortly.
 
Just got my shipment, only the batteries, the charger was missing.
I won't be able to test the second charger as promised, and I am left with only 900W of charging power if we get a power outage :( .
It will probably take a very long time to get a resolution on both of the issues (low charger output, and missing charger from my shipment)
I guess that we can blame this on the pandemic too.
 
TEV said:
Just got my shipment, only the batteries, the charger was missing.
I won't be able to test the second charger as promised, and I am left with only 900W of charging power if we get a power outage :( .
It will probably take a very long time to get a resolution on both of the issues (low charger output, and missing charger from my shipment)
I guess that we can blame this on the pandemic too.
Click to expand...
Send me your order number. The missing product will be easy to fix likely. Still working on the complicated one!
 
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