diy solar

diy solar

EG4 3000 and 95% state of charge

U

uncle.driftwood

New Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2022
Messages
22
Hello all, having a curious issue with an EG4 3kW unit and two of their Lifepower4 batteries. I used to see the state of charge go to 100% every day that the sun allowed. Ran them down to about 30% when I could. Then after a few weeks it would stop at 99%, then 98%, 96% and now about a month later it stops charging at 95%. The coms are hooked up between batteries and the AIO.

Voltage is 56.4 when this happens. I've called signature solar and they didn't have any solution and haven't called back yet. Is there a setting I'm missing? Is this normal?
 
Zwy said:
Yep, then you can add Solar Assistant easily too.
Click to expand...
Victron smart shunt or is there another "affordable" option? I had a cheapie shunt on my lead acid system and I would just have to do the math in my head on what came in vs what came out to decide if it was worth topping off with the genny.
 
uncle.driftwood said:
Victron smart shunt or is there another "affordable" option? I had a cheapie shunt on my lead acid system and I would just have to do the math in my head on what came in vs what came out to decide if it was worth topping off with the genny.
Click to expand...
I own 3 of the cheap Amazon shunts. They work fine for the intended use, I use one for battery capacity testing and these are accurate.

The purpose of the Smart Shunt is if you decide to move to something such as Solar Assistant or other integration/monitoring. If you feel you will not need Solar Assistant or any integration/monitoring in electronic format, the cheap shunts will work fine.
 
Zwy said:
I own 3 of the cheap Amazon shunts. They work fine for the intended use, I use one for battery capacity testing and these are accurate.

The purpose of the Smart Shunt is if you decide to move to something such as Solar Assistant or other integration/monitoring. If you feel you will not need Solar Assistant or any integration/monitoring in electronic format, the cheap shunts will work fine.
Click to expand...
Is it safe to assume that when they're currently floating at 56.4 for several hours that they are fully charged? For sake of setting the 100%
 
uncle.driftwood said:
Is it safe to assume that when they're currently floating at 56.4 for several hours that they are fully charged? For sake of setting the 100%
Click to expand...
If you set your inverter to 56.4V, then yes, that would be 100%. The shunts I use will reset to 100% each time you hit the float. This corrects the small errors due to Peukert's effect on lithium that would add up over time.
 
Thank you. Sometimes I just wished things worked like they should! Granted I'm floating most of the day and rarely use more than 20% overnight, just wanted enough capacity for a few gray days in a row during winter
 
Ugh, I'll just add this to my list of buyers regret and things to worry about
 
Mine is doing the same thing. EG4 3K with two LP4 batteries. Since new the SOC at 56.4 volts has been slowly dropping. Now goes to about 81%, pretty annoying.

I don't actually know what this does to my low voltage cutoff. Have it set to shut down at 5%, will need to check what the voltage is at that point but suspect it might not actually be close to empty. Was hoping to avoid manually setting the parameters but might be necessary I guess.
 
I have a pair of MPP solar units. The firmware did not support using percentages when I bought these and I've not updated the firmware since purchased. I use 49 volts as a low since my cell imbalance becomes unacceptable below there and there is very little capacity below that.
 
Mdim said:
Mine is doing the same thing. EG4 3K with two LP4 batteries. Since new the SOC at 56.4 volts has been slowly dropping. Now goes to about 81%, pretty annoying.

I don't actually know what this does to my low voltage cutoff. Have it set to shut down at 5%, will need to check what the voltage is at that point but suspect it might not actually be close to empty. Was hoping to avoid manually setting the parameters but might be necessary I guess.
Click to expand...
I would recommend updating the two Lifepower4 batteries to the latest firmware. This brings more advanced SOC logic and should help correct the issues that you are seeing.

Link to Firmware: https://eg4electronics.com/categori...wer4-48v-100ah-lithium-iron-phosphate-battery
 
Mdim said:
Gotcha, I will give that a shot. Will need to figure out how to make it happen, can the firmware update be done from a Mac? I don't even own a PC laptop at this point.
Click to expand...
Yes, here is a video that may be helpful for using MAC with BMS Test to update the batteries.

MAC Tutorial:
 
EG4_Jared said:
Yes, here is a video that may be helpful for using MAC with BMS Test to update the batteries.

MAC Tutorial:
Click to expand...
Gave it a shot, not having any luck.

Can get the port open, set the pack number and start sequence. Adds the address ok (does all this whether the battery is connected or not BTW as long as the adapter is connected). But never actually populates any data off the battery. Any ideas?
 
You also need to make sure you have the correct cable.
The EG4 LifePower4 batteries have two RJ45 jacks that are wired in parallel. Pins 1&2 are one RS485 bus normally connected to the Inverter and Pins 7&8 are a second RS485 bus used by the "Master/Host address 0" battery to communicate with all batteries in the stack.
You would need to temporarily disconnect the cable to the inverter in order for your computer to communicate with the battery stack as you cannot have two "masters" on the same RS485 (pins 1&2) bus.
The only way to support Solar Assistant or your computer using Pins 1&2 and allowing BMS communications to the Inverter at the same time is to use an EG4 Communications Hub. The Hub is the "Master" which pulls data from the batteries on Pins 7&8 (no battery would have address 0 set as the hub is address 0). The Inverter plugs into the "Inverter" jack on the hub which frees up the pins 1&2 RS485 bus on the batteries for use by your computer or Solar Assistant.

You can also make up the communications cable using an RS485 to USB Converter and an ethernet cable. I am using two converters on 175 feet of ethernet cable to monitor batteries and Inverter (same cable using two different wire pairs). The BMS_Test software connects just fine and allows me to monitor all six batteries. I am also using an EG4 Communications Hub.

In addition, pins 1&2 are running at 9600 baud and pins 7&8 are running at 9600 or 19200 depending on the firmware version of the batteries.
 
marionw said:
You also need to make sure you have the correct cable.
The EG4 LifePower4 batteries have two RJ45 jacks that are wired in parallel. Pins 1&2 are one RS485 bus normally connected to the Inverter and Pins 7&8 are a second RS485 bus used by the "Master/Host address 0" battery to communicate with all batteries in the stack.
You would need to temporarily disconnect the cable to the inverter in order for your computer to communicate with the battery stack as you cannot have two "masters" on the same RS485 (pins 1&2) bus.
The only way to support Solar Assistant or your computer using Pins 1&2 and allowing BMS communications to the Inverter at the same time is to use an EG4 Communications Hub. The Hub is the "Master" which pulls data from the batteries on Pins 7&8 (no battery would have address 0 set as the hub is address 0). The Inverter plugs into the "Inverter" jack on the hub which frees up the pins 1&2 RS485 bus on the batteries for use by your computer or Solar Assistant.

You can also make up the communications cable using an RS485 to USB Converter and an ethernet cable. I am using two converters on 175 feet of ethernet cable to monitor batteries and Inverter (same cable using two different wire pairs). The BMS_Test software connects just fine and allows me to monitor all six batteries. I am also using an EG4 Communications Hub.

In addition, pins 1&2 are running at 9600 baud and pins 7&8 are running at 9600 or 19200 depending on the firmware version of the batteries.
Click to expand...
I'm using this cable (open to suggestions), along with the Prolific drivers. I did disconnect the battery from the inverter as well. No luck.

 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
EG4 6000XP / EG4 LLs state of charge
Replies
9
Views
477
akitawpo
A
S
Battery charging at 50% not 20% EG4 3000
Replies
6
Views
414
sjordan0228
S
Sennen
Communications between Sol-Ark 15k and EG4 Communications Panel
Replies
18
Views
944
jarred125
jarred125
snack
EG4 3k not charging when AC voltage goes over 120v
Replies
5
Views
225
EG4_Jared
EG4_Jared
Oranges
Adding EG4 battery to my system doesn't work
Replies
13
Views
711
wildbillpdx
wildbillpdx
Back
Top