• Have you tried out dark mode?! Scroll to the bottom of any page to find a sun or moon icon to turn dark mode on or off!

diy solar

diy solar

12000XP 120V Problem

Will Prowse

Will Prowse

Forum Owner
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Sep 19, 2019
Messages
4,776
Location
36° N 115° W
Anyone else having this issue? What time of day are you having it happen? A viewer in the comment section says the same thing is happening to them:


Reminds me of the voltage on PV inputs with the voltronic and growatt inverters. Was around 120V if I remember correctly.

I am guessing that this only occurs when output is very low. But it should not be happening.

Any other thoughts?

@EG4TechSolutionsTeam
 
Sounds very familiar.

Granted these are drastically different units, but seems like a similar problem.

mountkay

Thread 'EG4 6500 - stuck low PV voltage'

Hello!

I have 2x inverters, (running split phase). 3 strings of 340W panels, 2x strings of 7 panels and one of 6 panels.

Inverter 1 is receiving a 7 panel input and 6 panel input. Inverter 2 just receives a 7 panel input.

Inverter 1 will almost always have panel voltage above 90v.
Inverter 2 will sometimes hover around 90v in low light, and like one of the graphs says, it appears to be only getting 50% power.
I can shut off the DC disconnect to inverter 2 and turn it back on - then the voltage immediately jumps up from 90v to about 200v and I’m receiving 2x as much power.

For example...

Seems like the fixes for these were to reapply the firmware or replace the unit.
 
9:38am his panels are shaded or running from ambient light.
103w/120v=0.86A
219w/375v=0.58A
MPPT algo might be defaulting to 120V PV voltage for some reason when solar power is low. 6000xp datasheet shows 120-385v MPPT range. He should show what's happening when panels are fully illuminated at solar noon.
 
Will Prowse said:
Anyone else having this issue?
Click to expand...
2 members in this thread.

Edit - 1 made the video you shared.

Joehaynie

Thread 'PV Voltage Being Limited by my new EG4 12000XP'

I’ve had my EG4 12000XP inverter installed for a couple of weeks, but I’ve noticed a troubling trend. The inverter itself seems to be limiting the voltage (and consequently the wattage) of both of my PV strings to 120V. The strings themselves (11 330W panels each) are actually generating over 400V. When the sun comes out every new day the voltage on my PV strings gets limited to 120V until I reset the PV switch at the inverter. Even then the voltage at the inverter is less than the voltage coming from the strings. By the next day it goes back to 120V and I have to reset it again. Here’s...
 
9:38 am near winter equinox, likely SCC startup limitation due to low illumination.

MPPT probably measures Voc then attempt to adjust loading until initial panel voltage is below expected Vmp, typically the initial target in 0.6 x measured Voc. If it achieves the 0.6 x Voc loading the MPPT search will creep up panel voltage looking to maximize V x I from array. If it is not able to achieve the 0.6 x Voc loading voltage it means they just collapsed panel voltage due to insufficient illumination generated panel current.

When this happens, SCC just regulates loading to achieve panel voltage of 120vdc and take whatever illumination current it gets based on amount of sun. 120vdc is the lowest panel voltage they can run the SCC boost converter at and stay stable, due to short switching duty cycle.

It should fix itself when sun illumination level gets stronger, generating more panel current. In the video when he reset the PV input he must have been near the edge of having enough illumination current to start up. Unit should initiate a new startup search when the PV current rises to some predetermined level, without requiring a manual restart, probably around 1-2 amps of array current.

The 439 vdc measured is unloaded Voc of array. Vmp will typically be about 0.81-0.85 x Voc (about 359 vdc) when there is full sun intensity.

In the morning as the sun rises, Voc will pop up as soon as illumination generated current exceeds panel leakage current. At this point the array cannot produce any useful power until illumination current gets significantly greater than panel leakage current.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like a buggy mppt tracking to me ( I'm a SME in this domain ) and yes sticking to the minimum array voltage is a strong tell . I would expect there would be a re-sweep ( time based ) option value, Solis has this option, but in 4 years never seen it get stuck, but I don't have complex shading either.
 
Will Prowse said:
Anyone else having this issue? What time of day are you having it happen? A viewer in the comment section says the same thing is happening to them:


Reminds me of the voltage on PV inputs with the voltronic and growatt inverters. Was around 120V if I remember correctly.

I am guessing that this only occurs when output is very low. But it should not be happening.

Any other thoughts?

@EG4TechSolutionsTeam
Click to expand...

We believe this issue is related to the firmware. We are currently testing this and will share a resolution as soon as it is available.
 
I think every imported product should be tested rigorously before being distributed.

This is a very basic function. It should have been discovered before they shipped out.

Considering the lifetime sales cycle, having faulty software from the beginning makes it look bad.

I have an old video on older ecoflow products. They would break themselves and nothing worked. People still judge the newest EcoFlow products because of these software issues of the past.

Very surprising that they couldn't take one out of the box and hook up a solar array and check it out first.

I would think these companies will learn based off of what I've posted in my videos.
 
Being off grid as I am, I bought the 18kpv soon after it came out being the only 12k at the time available, that got my attention. Now we have what I really wanted but learned from the past I did not order one yet. I will give it time for all the right updates just like the eg418k needed.
 
42OhmsPA said:
What testing was done before the firmware was released? Seems like this would be a pretty trivial "bug" to find in development.
Click to expand...
Reason #35467, all these "UL Certs" are slouching toward being essentially fake. It's a paid boondoggle at this point in history. UL the actual Lab itself has not evolved with Evolving technology. If we were to accost a UL Electric/electronic Engineer right now and tell him to test one of these inverter he/she would be lost. Essentially nobody at UL has the actual expertise to even know what to test with these sorts of equipment.

In addition they UL has "outsourced"(if it can even be called that) their testing to all sorts of entities that I assume just pay them a fee. These entities that require a fee to tell you that your equipment is UL tested for this is that function. Then you have other entities that don't even have to pay UL a fee, usually on foreign soil who claim to "Test to UL standards."

How rigorous or valid the testing is is inversely proportional to how unscrupulous this testing company is. As we all know money talks, it's a shame that we are seeing the deterioration right in front of our eyes.
 
UL is for safety, which is (as above) a whole nother rathole.

The problem is functional testing by the manufacturer. Back in the dawn of time when I worked for a manufacturer that actually built their own products, I worked in reliability engineering, where we tested the products to make sure that they met their physical specs. We had a whole entire department to do software QA, and they tested every feature under every circumstance and did regression testing. Both of our departments got to hold the developers feet to the fire and refuse to release product that did not meet specifications or function properly.

Apparently, those days are long gone. Yes, it is expensive to build walk-in environmental chambers and buy lab grade programmable power supplies and electronic loads and pay someone to do all the tests. It is also expensive and time-consuming to pay someone to do software QA.

But if you don’t do it, if you farm out your firmware development to Elbonia, if you never test your products, if you use your customer base as your beta testers (in some cases, alpha testers), then you end up in the situation we are in, where your product gets a bad reputation. That is really difficult to correct, but you did it to yourself.
 
Nobodybusiness said:
Sounds like Microsoft.

Let the customers beta test it.

My Brother Retired from them and he swears they did this with a lot of their releases.
Click to expand...
See

12000Vista is gonna be an epic AIO, get your pre order in now and take advantage of the trade in program.

Where’s that video of Steve Balmer jumping around the stage like a monkey?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

poefboef
NEP BDM 600 Refuses to go Online in NEP Viewer App
Replies
1
Views
197
Clint-L
Clint-L
juano_
EG4 12000XP BatMsgFail error
Replies
3
Views
92
TM48
T
S
120v Wiring Question - Shore power / Inverter / Breakers
Replies
0
Views
189
Shlink
S
N
Seeking Advice: Grid-separated EG4 12000XP using an interior load center
2
Replies
33
Views
1K
NuDiyr2Eg4
NuDiyr2Eg4
G
EG4 12000XP vs. EG4 18kPV for off-grid with grid backup?
Replies
9
Views
1K
atlsolar
A

diy solar

diy solar
Back
Top