Markus_EG4
I am from Germany. Don't mean to come off rude
This sounds really weird I will have someone contact you soon
EG4 18kPV Q+A general thread
- Thread starter SignatureSolarJames
- Start date
ckenny
New Member
Hello,
Thanks for the reply. I'm running one battery. It is 560 amp hours. I am not using battery communications. The battery voltage during most of the middle of the day is between 49 and 50 volts. I have been having the battery charged from the grid during the night starting at 8:00pm and then discharged starting at 6:00am because I have free electricity at night. The battery is mostly discharged by about 11:00am and stays at a low state of charge until it is charged again at 8:00pm. I have limited charging at 170 amps. The mppts cycling through 0 to 8kw every 30 seconds does not seem to have any relation to a high or low battery voltage.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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Until he's identified in namesake, here.
He's just a random stranger on the internet.
Asking for private information.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Very interesting. I was leaning towards something with the battery, thinking the BMS was disconnecting causing the mppts to cycle.
So you aren't charging the battery from solar? It doesn't sound like it if the voltage is so low at mid day, I'm a bit confused and low on remaining brain power for the day.
It's really tough to troubleshoot without data... It would be super helpful if you could post some graphs of what's going on. I'd also contact SS, see comments above and let them help tomorrow.
I'm sure you'll get it resolved quickly.
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
Can you remove a panel or 2 from each string....maybe try 1 string at a time.
Also is PV1,PV2,PV3 setup in the menu.
Also is PV1,PV2,PV3 setup in the menu.
Tech707
New Member
Hello All
I apologize in advance if this has already discussed but I have two odd DC voltage issues with my 18Kpv and am curious if they are normal or if something is wrong with my inverter. The first is the data tab on the web interface under "PV side" it showing voltage spikes on Vpv1, Vpv2 and Vpv3 .1 with a peak of 2.1 despite not having anything connected to the PV input. The second is when I throw my utility breaker at the poll and simulate a grid outage I measure 75v to 90v DC on the L1 and L2 of the Grid input on the 18K so it appears to be backfeeding DC voltage to the grid input when the grid is down. L2 is positive and L1 is negative.
I apologize in advance if this has already discussed but I have two odd DC voltage issues with my 18Kpv and am curious if they are normal or if something is wrong with my inverter. The first is the data tab on the web interface under "PV side" it showing voltage spikes on Vpv1, Vpv2 and Vpv3 .1 with a peak of 2.1 despite not having anything connected to the PV input. The second is when I throw my utility breaker at the poll and simulate a grid outage I measure 75v to 90v DC on the L1 and L2 of the Grid input on the 18K so it appears to be backfeeding DC voltage to the grid input when the grid is down. L2 is positive and L1 is negative.
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@ckenny
Is it possible that you don't have enough insulation stripped off the pv wire that you might have wire insulation in the connection points? I had a similar experience with a PLC analog input displaying the same symptoms. One of the reasons I'm not excited about this connection style. It would make sense that it "works" and then don't. With one "fur" touching the input you would have voltage - until a load is requested and the voltage drops - and returns once the system tries again.
Everyone here wants to help - take one simple step at a time, document and share your results.
-thinking out loud
Is it possible that you don't have enough insulation stripped off the pv wire that you might have wire insulation in the connection points? I had a similar experience with a PLC analog input displaying the same symptoms. One of the reasons I'm not excited about this connection style. It would make sense that it "works" and then don't. With one "fur" touching the input you would have voltage - until a load is requested and the voltage drops - and returns once the system tries again.
Everyone here wants to help - take one simple step at a time, document and share your results.
-thinking out loud
I got my eg4 monitor app working today on my computer thanks to Brayden F. video on you tube. I'm not an IT guy at all and after a few hours of head scratching and a few Coors Lights, all the green lights went solid. Theirs plenty of info there to satisfy me. Hope fully china don't invade my computer now. It was close to the end of the day so tomorrow will be exciting to see some of the graphs of solar if it's sunny out. Have a charge verter on the way, hated to buy one but for now figured it was best to insure no feed back till all the great updates are proven.
Zapper77
Renaissance Man
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Eddie_LuxPowerTek
Solar Enthusiast
@GRV0423, his name is Gilbert, and he lives in Hawaii. Gilbert is part of our US team as a "Luxpert" for the US market.
As one of the "oldest" Luxpower users, I have found Gilbert to be very professional in operating our inverters, just like the experienced engineering folks in my company. He has provided us with valuable advice on product improvements, and his qualities make us believe that we can work together effectively.
Therefore, please don't be surprised if Gilbert reaches out to offer help. It is important to note that, similar to all other team members and our business partner EG4, Gilbert will only check or change settings if the user shares the serial number and agrees to accept remote assistance.
I must emphasize that this product is relatively new and not as straightforward as a TV or an air conditioner. We are continuously striving to improve and provide greater service support, both from our end and through our local distribution partners, to ensure that every user and installer has easily accessible technical assistance. SERVICE is the key to gaining respect in this market, and we really care about each and every user's experience with our product.
Keep sharing your experience, please. THX
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
I don't understand this. The grid connection is an AC tie point. If the inverter is on it should have AC on unless the breaker is off. I see a few volts on my unused MPPT lines as well from time to time. If the breaker is off, it's off. Check the battery in your meter? It probably has something to do with the way MPPT works with sliding voltage, it's trying to figure out if anything is there.
That's it.
Eddie_LuxPowerTek
Solar Enthusiast
For sure EG4 team will cover it, and I hope @ckenny can be happy with the performance in the end.
I will share a comment from my colleague Andy in the tech-support team. he started to support Luxpower users in the EU and Africa in 2018.
as below:
Regarding the tech support question from Colin, I can offer him my experience.
If there was a problem with 18kW MPPT, then it should be common among all machines. This is not the case, so it means we have to find the solution in the client Installation.
9 x 460w string in series = 4140w/string, which is well within the MPPT range.
The fact that the power increases then suddenly drops, to me indicates that the current carrying capacity of the cable connections (between Mc4 connectors and the bootlace ends going into the terminal block) is compromised somewhere.
The client might check the following:
Are all the Mc4 connections good, especially the terminations he made? It's important to bare the cable ends properly and make sure the metal part is pushed all the way up into the plastic housing.
Also check that the pv cable ends going into the terminal block is good.
Voltage (potential difference) can be measured on one strand of copper, but current cannot.
In other words, a weak connection will show voltage but will not be able to carry full current.
Thanks. @Markus_SignatureSolar
ckenny
New Member
I thank you all for your time and suggestions. I think the mc4 connections I made are good and would be surprised if the 10awg wire and connections weren't carrying 10 amps easily. I have put together a lot of wiring that carries many more amps than this and never had a problem. I will go back through them and might even replace the terminations since it is such a common theme brought up here. I can also check the resistance on the cables and see if there is any issue there. I also doubt this is the issue though because I have 2 separate strings on 2 separate controllers mirroring the same behavior at exactly the same time, which would be hard to attribute to a fault in one cable on one string. I really feel this is a fault in the inverter. Thanks again.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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None of that means anything to the members, here.
He is just a random stranger on the internet.
And actually breaking the rules of this forum.
His validity should not have to be explained continuously.
Tech707
New Member
Sorry I don't think I was clear about the issue, my solar. is AC coupled I do not have anything connected to any of the PV inputs on the 18K but the 18K data logs are showing these spikes.
Zapper77
Renaissance Man
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Wes was replying to ckenny.
It seems common for this style of equipment to have voltage readings. @Will Prowse and @Adam De Lay did a video a few months ago covering this topic and testing multiple brands. You could attempt to test current when grounded, I assume if grounded the voltage would drop to zero.
rmacgurn
New Member
arrows point towards Inverter on line from street to inverter ac input.
rmacgurn
New Member
yes I am sure that firmware 10.11has solved the self-consumption mode issues, as to generator cannot say as I don't have one,
rmacgurn
New Member
Hello all, my 18kpv has worked fine for many days now with the CT reverse unchecked. today at around 3am we saw some strange behavior with the inverter, as you can see from the graphs it shut down batteries at 3am (still showing 11%) then went to grid for power and also starting charging batteries from Grid with that feature turned off. it later shut down the charging of the batteries from grid 25min later, and continued to run house. at the time I got up panels were showing zero output but 400v on both strings. the inverter showed no green run light but no tripped breakers or fuses either. I did a manual restart and it went back to normal green light on run again. can you explain this? we had a small earthquake at 12 midnight but only 4.0. its the first restart since we were playing with the CT's. FYI no errors in fault or alarm log.
Last edited:
Zapper77
Renaissance Man
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Check the alarm screen for historical faults
rmacgurn
New Member
forgot to put in initial post but no faults or alarms since 7/1 during the CT issues.
Zapper77
Renaissance Man
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Check the HZ rate after the earthquake...maybe the power company command grid connected inverters to shutdown. (I don't understand HZ shifting well enough to explain it)
rmacgurn
New Member
that is the strange thing as the quake was at 11:59pm last night but all this started at 3am this morning. from midnight to 3 am was running fine on batteries.
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