GSL/Deye hybrid inverter - question re: charging from a Gen source

Happy New Year all ? I purchased a GSL system from China back in 2021 and it's been working well at our off grid cabin.

We have the GSL-H-5.0K-US inverter and the GSL 10kW powerwall. I believe its a Deye inverter under the hood as the inverter UI is nearly identical.

I have an AC generator hooked up to the inverter which I have successfully used before to charge the Powerwall in the Spring & Summer seasons. This time when running the generator the AC light goes on (green) on the Invertor display so it recognizes the generator power but the generator icon/display does not show on the inverter screen so it does not charge the battery.

The battery is currently at a 6% SOC because it's winter in Vancouver, Canada with rain dominating the weather and very minimal sun/solar.

Is the potential issue that the battery has gone into shutdown mode because it's only at 6% state of charge?

Do you have any suggestions on how to fix or workaround the issue? I want to be able to charge the battery with the generator connected to the inverter in the winter when solar power is almost non-existent.

Thanks in advance for the advise!

Most common issue with a synchronous generator is rpm governor stability holding constant rpm speed or generator out of frequency capture range because generator is off rpm to produce correct frequency.

Inverter phase locking is very slow and tight. If generator frequency wobbles a little bit it is like threading a needle as the needle is moving around. If you find an inverter spec for frequency stability it usually requires less then 0.3 Hz / sec of frequency wobble. If you hear a sound variance, like a 'wha-wha' pitch variance it is wobbling too much. Must be smooth and constant engine sound.

Inverter-generator are pretty accurate and constant frequency, but they can clip-dip sinewave voltage peaks when subjected to a surge AC load when in ECO rpm reduction mode until engine rpm speeds up to meet new load demand.

bobrock said:

I have an AC generator hooked up to the inverter which I have successfully used before to charge the Powerwall in the Spring & Summer seasons. This time when running the generator the AC light goes on (green) on the Invertor display so it recognizes the generator power but the generator icon/display does not show on the inverter screen so it does not charge the battery.

Click to expand...

Not sure but I thought the gen light comes on only when you configure your outlet port for generator and feed you generator in the that port.
Also you have to use time of use and set the percentage for that time higher than your battery capacity and allow gen charge or how you have connected grid charge

RCinFLA said:

Most common issue with a synchronous generator is rpm governor stability holding constant rpm speed or generator out of frequency capture range because generator is off rpm to produce correct frequency.

Inverter phase locking is very slow and tight. If generator frequency wobbles a little bit it is like threading a needle as the needle is moving around. If you find an inverter spec for frequency stability it usually requires less then 0.3 Hz / sec of frequency wobble. If you hear a sound variance, like a 'wha-wha' pitch variance it is wobbling too much. Must be smooth and constant engine sound.

Inverter-generator are pretty accurate and constant frequency, but they can clip-dip sinewave voltage peaks when subjected to a surge AC load when in ECO rpm reduction mode until engine rpm speeds up to meet new load demand.

Click to expand...

thanks for the response RCinFLA!

Back in the summer, I've gotten the wha-wha pitch from this genny before when it was under too much load from the inverter to charge the battery. Dialing back the Battery Setting on the GSL inverter interface to 17A for this genny helped and got it running smoothly with the reduction in load and it would happily charge the battery.

I don't recall getting the wha-wha sound from this genny when it wouldn't charge the battery this winter but it is an older 2000W champion generator so perhaps it's the source of the issue if it's not producing the correct frequency.

I'll bring up my newer 2200W Craftsman generator to the cabin next time to try charging with it to rule out an issue with the Champion generator.

BTW, I was successfully able to charge with either generator in the past in the spring/summer months.

Aside from trying out my other generator, do you have any other suggestions?

PS I've running this step-up transformer between the genny and the inverter because the generators that I owe are 110V and the GSL inverter only accepts a 220V gen input: https://voltageconverters.ca/produc...-up-step-down-110v-220-240v-voltage-converter

ty!

XO4001 said:

Not sure but I thought the gen light comes on only when you configure your outlet port for generator and feed you generator in the that port.
Also you have to use time of use and set the percentage for that time higher than your battery capacity and allow gen charge or how you have connected grid charge

Click to expand...

thanks for getting back to me XO4001!
I should have mentioned that although this is a hybrid inverter, it is not grid-tied as it's for an off-grid cabin application so I've disabled all the grid settings including time of use settings...

here's how I've configured the GSL interface on the inverter with respect to Gen & Grid under the Battery Settings UI which used to work just fine this past Summer but now no longer works in the winter with the battery SOC at 6%

bobrock said:

I should have mentioned that although this is a hybrid inverter, it is not grid-tied as it's for an off-grid cabin application so I've disabled all the grid settings including time of use settings...

Click to expand...

My experience is that even not connected to the grid, I use time of use to let the inverter know to charge from the generator
whenever I have a grid power cut I raise the percentage in time of use to 100% and after a minute or so the gene light on the inverter comes on and start ramping up the charge.
works every time when we have a power cut.
I have this info from Deye support because I had also problems with charging from generator.
edit: I use normally as a grid connected without feed back.

XO4001 said:

My experience is that even not connected to the grid, I use time of use to let the inverter know to charge from the generatorView attachment 129160View attachment 129161
whenever I have a grid power cut I raise the percentage in time of use to 100% and after a minute or so the gene light on the inverter comes on and start ramping up the charge.
works every time when we have a power cut.
I have this info from Deye support because I had also problems with charging from generator.
edit: I use normally as a grid connected without feed back.

Click to expand...

thanks so much XO4001! This information is super useful =) Will give it a try on my next visit to the cabin.