EG4 18kPV Q+A general thread

Luxpower_Gilbert · Jul 20, 2023

rs50pilot said:
Ok, I thought that's what you meant, but also thought there might be something else.

One more question, if the inverter is turned off, does it still allow the 200a bypass to work, meaning will it allow power to flow through it?

the question is if the inverter is OFF. the only way to power down the inverter is to disconnect the grid input, battery and solar. how do you pass through ac if the grid input is off. i believe if the inverter is in standby mode, fault and failed while in grid then yes it will pass through.

Quattrohead said:
Sol-Ark or EG4 bypass when inverter is faulty AND grid down

There are a bunch of threads around bypassing inverter either through manual or automatic switches when the inverter fails. In the bypass mode, the critical load panel gets power from the grid through the main panel. This works fine when the grid is up and the inverter fails. But what if the...

diysolarforum.com

James say's totally the opposite here....come on guys what is it ???

Luxpower_Gilbert · Jul 20, 2023

rmacgurn said:
Hey all I tried to see if Gilbert had any idea but he didn't so now I will throw it out there. last three days my system is not switching back to solar but staying on grid. it is producing the correct 400V or so but without any load and the inverters just says on grid it worked fine since June 28 now this. I have not changed any setting and the system just does seem to see the available power? ideas. as you can see there is sun and lots of supply voltage on solar. but system is stuck on grid. sad as it was running on a daily consumption from gird of 0-1.5kwh since the start now its consuming much more.View attachment 158371 View attachment 158372 View attachment 158374 View attachment 158375

I found out recently if the grid is not stable it will not turn on pv to produce power. When this happen again check grid voltage and frequency.

Quattrohead · Jul 20, 2023

Luxpower_Gilbert said:
I found out recently if the grid is not stable it will not turn on pv to produce power. When this happen again check grid voltage and frequency.

Surely this is what it is supposed to be protecting us from ?

rmacgurn · Jul 21, 2023

Luxpower_Gilbert said:
I found out recently if the grid is not stable it will not turn on pv to produce power. When this happen again check grid voltage and frequency.

well I checked the logs and that does not seem to be the reason as you can see from about 5:30 on voltage on both VP! and VP1 but no power until I forced a reset. the gird was between 234 and 237.7 V and 60hz +- .01 so that is as stable as it every gets in costa rica.
I turned off the PV arc to see if that might have been the reason as that is the only change made prior to the last 3 days when the solar did no take us off the gird as It had the entire month prior. attached is the data file from this morning so you can see your self. only reason PV power starts is I forced a restart at 7:10am.

rmacgurn · Jul 21, 2023

Gibert another strange thing is even though the SOC cut off on using the batteries has been 10% for weeks last 3 of 4 days it cut off at 13% so yesterday I changed the battery control to voltage not SOC and again it cut off at 13% (wondering if this is really being controlled by the BMS in the batteries not the inverter? today with it on voltage control again it went on grid with SOC at 13% so I lowered the cut off to 7%, this re-engaged the batteries and now solar is coming up. I am leaving on a trip for 6 days but I will try to watch it as I cannot restart the inverter remotely. so what I can say for sure is the PV arc setting made no difference on the battery, grid, solar interaction, but there still seems to be a bug in this firmware (11.11 and also in 10.11).

Mesquitemonkey · Jul 22, 2023

I'm having a hard time finding an electrician to look at my set up and the solar companies I talk to just want to sell me the whole system so I'll ask here. Here is my one-line diagram. My diagram has more detail than the electric co-op example. So does this look right. Also the only electric question I really have is about the ground-neutral bond. Right now, the bond is in my main panel, so can it stay there or do I need to move it to the fused disconnect?

fromport · Jul 22, 2023

Mesquitemonkey said:
I'm having a hard time finding an electrician to look at my set up and the solar companies I talk to just want to sell me the whole system so I'll ask here. Here is my one-line diagram. My diagram has more detail than the electric co-op example. So does this look right. Also the only electric question I really have is about the ground-neutral bond. Right now, the bond is in my main panel, so can it stay there or do I need to move it to the fused disconnect?

Is there a 200 amp fuse between the supply side tap and the input of the LP inverter ?
I think if you make the lockable disconnect a fused 200amp you are good on that side.

Shimmy · Jul 22, 2023

Mesquitemonkey said:
I'm having a hard time finding an electrician to look at my set up and the solar companies I talk to just want to sell me the whole system so I'll ask here. Here is my one-line diagram. My diagram has more detail than the electric co-op example. So does this look right. Also the only electric question I really have is about the ground-neutral bond. Right now, the bond is in my main panel, so can it stay there or do I need to move it to the fused disconnect?

You don't need to move the N-G bond. Does your coop allow bi-directional metering on the DG meter? That would bea surprise to me.

Mesquitemonkey · Jul 22, 2023

Shimmy said:
Does your coop allow bi-directional metering on the DG meter? That would bea surprise to me.

They require a DG output meter and on the 18k and solark bi directional is the only option. They use a smart meter as a remote disconnect so they can kill outgoing power if their lines start getting too much power.

Does anyone else have to put a DG meter on their 18k or solark15?

Quattrohead · Jul 22, 2023

Has anyone else had weirdness with timers? I was using one that would charge from grid between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. and it was working fine, and then I did a firmware upgrade to the latest available in the app and now although the inverter is showing the correct time, the timers seem to be running 2 hours behind i.e my 4:00 a.m. charge timer didn't start until 6:00 a.m.

Luxpower_Gilbert · Jul 22, 2023

Quattrohead said:
Has anyone else had weirdness with timers? I was using one that would charge from grid between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. and it was working fine, and then I did a firmware upgrade to the latest available in the app and now although the inverter is showing the correct time, the timers seem to be running 2 hours behind i.e my 4:00 a.m. charge timer didn't start until 6:00 a.m.

is the time on the inverter, correct? when you did the registration, did you put the right GMT time? daylight saving too is important? DM me your GMT time And Inverter SN to have look on your setting...

timselectric · Jul 22, 2023

This seems to be the standard operating procedure for these units.
The benefits of a diy system is that you have the independence and freedom. If I were to have a problem. I would rather have support help ME fix it. So that I now have more knowledge about my system.
If I had to have someone else fix it for me. I wouldn't call it diy friendly.

fromport · Jul 22, 2023

timselectric said:
This seems to be the standard operating procedure for these units.
The benefits of a diy system is that you have the independence and freedom. If I were to have a problem. I would rather have support help ME fix it. So that I now have more knowledge about my system.
If I had to have someone else fix it for me. I wouldn't call it diy friendly.

I think it is called customer service.
I think it takes less time to remotely check those settings then to type how the customer should check it.

Wes975 · Jul 22, 2023

timselectric said:
This seems to be the standard operating procedure for these units.
The benefits of a diy system is that you have the independence and freedom. If I were to have a problem. I would rather have support help ME fix it. So that I now have more knowledge about my system.
If I had to have someone else fix it for me. I wouldn't call it diy friendly.

Agreed.

I’m all for a knowledge base. Share that knowledge with the community, communities will turn around and share it with others. Ultimately making the original support structure responsible for bigger and better problems. And to top it off - the original support structure builds a solid and supported brand - with a community that supports them - resulting in a perfected system that’s DIY friendly.

Pipe dream - probably. Goal? - it should be.

timselectric · Jul 22, 2023

fromport said:
I think it is called customer service.
I think it takes less time to remotely check those settings then to type how the customer should check it.

I think that it's calling the customer stupid.
"Get out of the way and I'll just fix it. I don't have the time or desire to explain it to you ".

timselectric · Jul 22, 2023

I'm not saying that the ability to remote in and fix things is a bad thing. Just that it shouldn't be the go to response for a diy customer.

Luxpower_Gilbert · Jul 22, 2023

The reason why I asked people to see their settings because I don’t guess what to tell them i have to compare their settings then i tell them why isn’t working, either i asked permission to correct it or i can tell them how to correct it. Then this is up to the person if he want to share here how the problem solve… I’ve encountered users putting the wrong GMT time during registrations thats why timers don’t react with the inverter settings.

Also I already typed down what mostly need to check. This is up to the user if they still want my help.

timselectric · Jul 22, 2023

Luxpower_Gilbert said:
DM me your GMT time And Inverter SN to have look on your setting...

Then maybe you shoud preface this with, "if you still can't figure it out, you can....... "

For me personally, giving someone else access to my equipment would be the last resort.

Luxpower_Gilbert · Jul 22, 2023

timselectric said:
Then maybe you shoud preface this with, "if you still can't figure it out, you can....... "

For me personally, giving someone else access to my equipment would be the last resort.

like I said this is up to the person if they want my help, im not asking their log in or personal info.

timselectric · Jul 22, 2023

Luxpower_Gilbert said:
like I said this is up to the person if they want my help, im not asking their log in or personal info.

Did I miss read this?

Luxpower_Gilbert said:
is the time on the inverter, correct? when you did the registration, did you put the right GMT time? daylight saving too is important? DM me your GMT time And Inverter SN to have look on your setting...

I'm just saying that it comes off as demanding.

EG4 18kPV Q+A general thread

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