Advice for Signature Solar

[Hedges]

Thanks for the info. Appreciate it much. I will do some more learning on this. But we still made the proper adjustments after the auto trigger function to dial it in we just never messed with the other functions you brought up in previous conversation. We were able to find the glitches before by not doing this. I am understanding there is better information I can get from the scope and I will look into it for sure. Thank you very much for the clarification.

Sign up for Teledyne LeCroy's Oscilloscope webinars.
They go over many features of scopes of probes, applicable for other brands as well as their own.

Triggering, track/trend (e.g. create a signal for Vrms of a waveform, then trigger off it), use of probes to measure high-side driver gate voltage, etc.

2022 Oscilloscope Coffee Break Webinar Series | Teledyne LeCroy

Join Teledyne LeCroy for this 30-minute Oscilloscope Coffee Break Series to remind us how to get the most test and debug capability from our oscilloscopes.

go.teledynelecroy.com

They also offer free download of "Maui Studio", which puts waveform processing on your PC same as in their scopes. Presumably could transfer a captured waveform from your scope and study it off-line, but I haven't tried using it yet.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

You all need to get off your low horse and buy a Solark LOL

I've looked hard as Solark and it's definitely a solid option. My end game (at this point) is to have two 12k units. I have to say I don't have any complaints with the LV6548s at all, including flickering lights, except for the dang 250v limit on PV. Well, that and the fact they're not quite big enough to meet my eventual goals. Obviously MPP figured out that 250v was inadequate and the new models are something like 390v.

I'm trying to be patient and see how the EG4 18kv performs. Since it's a rebranded Luxpower I'm inclined to have more confidence but we'll see. If I'm going to go with two units the EG4 could save me $4k but that's irrelevant if it doesn't measure up.

 

[Zwy]

I actually have some flickering light issues with a solark 12K but I suspect mainly due to builder grade cheap and nasty LEDs. I am running my sp6548 like you want to as my solark is doing all of the charging.
In your situation you need to crunch the numbers on running extra wires and splitting down your panels so that the lv6548 can handle them over the purchase cost of a high voltage mppt.

I had the LV6548's and decided to mount the array in a different location. To minimize voltage drop with the longer distance, it would require 8AWG wire and a total of 9 wires. It would have been $2600.

Instead I purchased two LV6548's which allowed me to run 10AWG and 5 wires for a cost of $600.

I'm not pulling more wire, I'll purchase different SCC's if necessary.

I have a third option, purchase the LV6549 higher VOC rated AIO's, however my VOC with 8S is 397.2V and it gets cold here, -30F.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

I had the LV6548's and decided to mount the array in a different location. To minimize voltage drop with the longer distance, it would require 8AWG wire and a total of 9 wires. It would have been $2600.

Instead I purchased two LV6548's which allowed me to run 10AWG and 5 wires for a cost of $600.

I'm not pulling more wire, I'll purchase different SCC's if necessary.

I have a third option, purchase the LV6549 higher VOC rated AIO's, however my VOC with 8S is 397.2V and it gets cold here, -30F.

Fourth option. Move a little farther south!

-30F ... man, that's just crazy. I wouldn't even come there in the summer just on the off chance I might get stranded there into winter.

 

[mvonw]

Fourth option. Move a little farther south!

-30F ... man, that's just crazy. I wouldn't even come there in the summer just on the off chance I might get stranded there into winter.

View attachment 150160

The ONE time I was it Texas, it snowed. So there's that..

 

[Zwy]

Fourth option. Move a little farther south!

-30F ... man, that's just crazy. I wouldn't even come there in the summer just on the off chance I might get stranded there into winter.

View attachment 150160

90F here yesterday with humidity creeping up, was a little sticky.

45F this morning, quite unusual to see swings over 25F for the day.

Wife didn't like the air conditioning cranked down to 65F. I thought it felt great after pouring a small concrete pad for my min split.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

Fourth option. Move a little farther south!

-30F ... man, that's just crazy. I wouldn't even come there in the summer just on the off chance I might get stranded there into winter.

View attachment 150160

My boundaries are 35 to the West, 10 to the south, and the red river North and East. It's got to be an emergency for me to want to travel outside of that. I'm acclimated to this weather and don't plan to roll the dice with anything too cold or too arid.

 

[Hedges]

I've looked hard as Solark and it's definitely a solid option. My end game (at this point) is to have two 12k units.

Consider Sunny Island + Sunny Boy. 2x SI for 11.5kW from battery and 3x ~ 4x SB for 24kW from PV, or double that.
The AC capability of both are available daytime with enough sun on the panels. 3 second surge to 2x rating from battery inverters.

It makes a nice backup or off-grid system. But I think I have hiccups in the on & off grid transition if drawing enough current to need the 2x parallel relays.

The ONE time I was it Texas, it snowed. So there's that..

The one time I was in Texas the windows fogged up. On the outside. I stayed inside the Dallas Airport.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Just use the LV6548's as inverters, just don't use them for charging. Similar to charging off grid and running the LV6548's as inverters.

The SCC's would put the power on the 48V DC bus and the inverters can pull off that.


I have found the LV6548's sine to be perfect, unlike the 6500EX.

I do know of a member that lived close to SS and had the 6500EX's replaced just last week (drove there) and the strobe is much worse. His LCD TV has now died too.

Weighing options here, have not heard from SS and they seem to be dragging their feet. I started a thread about the https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-solar-charge-controller-mppt-500voc-100a-mppt100-48hv/ but watched the video on Youtube for this SCC and in the comments a person commented without battery communication the unit would shut down often.

Looking at something like this instead. https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-SmartSolar-MPPT-RS-EN-.pdf

I'm in a similar situation with my TP6048... I keep telling myself I should order two of the 6548s from CC savings shack (I'll kick myself when they sell out). I could flip my loads to the 6548s and keep using the 6048 for the high voltage MPPT to support my 9S strings then add my ground mount array to the 6548s. I could also leave the well pump and air compressor on the 6048 and let the 6548s handle the dryer, stove, and all my 120v loads. I've also been contemplating buying one of these https://www.currentconnected.com/product/15-kva-step-down-480240-to-120-240-split-phase/ and importing a Deye... This really is an addiction ?
What I really need to do is find a good chunk of land (10 acres min), go completely off the grid and invest in the Schneider ecosystem.

I'd be incredibly irritated with the fact SS hasn't shipped replacements or gotten back to you, you have more patience than me.

 

[Zwy]

I'm in a similar situation with my TP6048... I keep telling myself I should order two of the 6548s from CC savings shack (I'll kick myself when they sell out). I could flip my loads to the 6548s and keep using the 6048 for the high voltage MPPT to support my 9S strings then add my ground mount array to the 6548s. I could also leave the well pump and air compressor on the 6048 and let the 6548s handle the dryer, stove, and all my 120v loads. I've also been contemplating buying one of these https://www.currentconnected.com/product/15-kva-step-down-480240-to-120-240-split-phase/ and importing a Deye... This really is an addiction ?
What I really need to do is find a good chunk of land (10 acres min), go completely off the grid and invest in the Schneider ecosystem.

My problem with running an inverter just as a SCC is the idle draw. Guess I never checked if the LV6548 or the 6500EX would charge with inverter off like the Growatt 3Kw I have on the truck camper.

One more thing to check and test.

I'd be incredibly irritated with the fact SS hasn't shipped replacements or gotten back to you, you have more patience than me.

Had to contact Ben this morning and get the ball rolling.

It was a test, the units didn't ship out "right away" like the email stated, so let's see how long this might take. Signature Solar received an F on the test.

Ben gets an A for his exam, he got right on it, units shipped today.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Guess I never checked if the LV6548 or the 6500EX would charge with inverter off like the Growatt 3Kw I have on the truck camper.

The 6500 will charge in standby mode.

 

[Zwy]

The 6500 will charge in standby mode.

Certainly gives me that option........

 

[Crowz]

I'm in a similar situation with my TP6048... I keep telling myself I should order two of the 6548s from CC savings shack (I'll kick myself when they sell out). I could flip my loads to the 6548s and keep using the 6048 for the high voltage MPPT to support my 9S strings then add my ground mount array to the 6548s. I could also leave the well pump and air compressor on the 6048 and let the 6548s handle the dryer, stove, and all my 120v loads. I've also been contemplating buying one of these https://www.currentconnected.com/product/15-kva-step-down-480240-to-120-240-split-phase/ and importing a Deye... This really is an addiction ?
What I really need to do is find a good chunk of land (10 acres min), go completely off the grid and invest in the Schneider ecosystem.

I'd be incredibly irritated with the fact SS hasn't shipped replacements or gotten back to you, you have more patience than me.

Im still trying to find a reason to want anything besides the 6048's myself. I figured ok I got this one for now and its doing what I need and I would read up on whats out there and go with something else. The problem is I cant find anything wrong with the 6048 or any reason to want anything else so far. If it isn't large enough I can just add more 6048's.

Why would the 6548's your mentioning be an improvement? Idle consumption is the only drawback Ive ever seen but solar assistant claims 45w consumed by the 6048 and I haven't noticed anything to it but I don't have batteries on it yet.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Im still trying to find a reason to want anything besides the 6048's myself. I figured ok I got this one for now and its doing what I need and I would read up on whats out there and go with something else. The problem is I cant find anything wrong with the 6048 or any reason to want anything else so far. If it isn't large enough I can just add more 6048's.

Why would the 6548's your mentioning be an improvement?

Mainly for more capacity to allow me to take the dryer and stove off the grid connection / get my whole house on solar. I guess I could just add another 6048 but I've also read of issues paralleling them.
Having multiple MPPTs would also be nice as I plan to add more arrays in slightly different directions.

Idle consumption is the only drawback Ive ever seen but solar assistant claims 45w consumed by the 6048 and I haven't noticed anything to it but I don't have batteries on it yet.

I saw ~100 watts through my shunt when I first commissioned and had no AC hooked up, 2 6548s would likely be more than that... I've pretty much forgot about the idle consumption since the days have gotten longer.

 

[Hedges]

Having multiple MPPTs would also be nice as I plan to add more arrays in slightly different directions.

One MPPT fed by parallel strings of different orientations is not a bad thing, so long as one does not get a large percentage shading, which can impose similar loss on unshaded string.

Barring shading, Penalty vs. separate MPPT about 2%. Benefit is about 40% better utilization of MPPT SCC, a clear win at today's PV and SCC prices.

 

[Crowz]

Mainly for more capacity to allow me to take the dryer and stove off the grid connection / get my whole house on solar. I guess I could just add another 6048 but I've also read of issues paralleling them.
Having multiple MPPTs would also be nice as I plan to add more arrays in slightly different directions.

I saw ~100 watts through my shunt when I first commissioned and had no AC hooked up, 2 6548s would likely be more than that... I've pretty much forgot about the idle consumption since the days have gotten longer.

I plan on adding another 6048 at this point unless I ever see a really good reason not to but I won't be running it in parallel since I don't plan on using batteries on the 2nd one and just use batteries on the first 6048. I'm going to put the wash and dryer on it and do laundry during the day so it will be "free" thus not needing batteries.

 

[Subdood]

I have been browsing their site (Signature Solar) from time to time and for fun I'll put some items in the cart on their site just to see what it would cost to ship here (eastern KY). I would like to get some batteries from them but right now the funds just aren't available.

Anyways, up until last week I noticed that they didn't charge sales tax to non Texas customers, myself included when I ordered my EG4 6500 from them last year. Well to my surprise they now do charge sales tax. So I wonder what's up with that.

 

[JRH]

Most of us buy from Signature Solar because they are USA based and they tout "Real Texas Based Support". However, anyone that has sent messages to Signature Solar tech support knows that they don't respond. If you call Signature Solar support, you will be on hold for a long time. You can choose the option to get a call back, but that call back will be in several hours. The people that do answer the phones DO NOT know what they are doing. They only give you things to try which seem to come from the manual. Even Tier 2 support is lacking. Basically, the products are very good but only for those that are technically inclined and capable of self support.

I used to run technical support for one of the major banks of the northern hemisphere. I had way, way more clients to deal with than Signature Solar and my support team was relatively small. Based on my experience, I recommend that Signature Solar does the following;

1) Implement any CRM system. You can even do a simple spreadsheet if necessary. Use this to be certain to keep in contact with customers. Each open support ticket should receive contact daily, even if it is an automated text stating the resolution stage.
2) Split up the tier one and tier 2 tech support folks to have a specialty - One for batteries, one for EG4 Inverters, etc. Have a tech support "Person" answer the phone to determine which group to route the call to and/or take a number to call back.
3) Train all of the tech support folks. Have each person actually setup a complete system with a single inverter, then parallel, split phase, etc. Have them do this with all of the products they support.
4) Assign a Tier 2 support genius to each group of Tier ones. Have that person available to the Tier one during all business hours.
5) Setup a point person at each vendor (Schneider, Voltronic, Growatt, etc.) to deal with each Tier 2 genius. These companies will be more responsive if they have a single relationship support contact.
6) After the support ticket is closed, contact the customer to make certain that problem resolution was achieved and ask for satisfaction scores.
7) Reward your support team based on call answer time, problem resolution and customer satisfaction score.
8) Fire and hire until you have a good team.

You may think that it is expensive to have so many support folks. But once you have a good team it may not take as many as you think. Besides, how long can you run without good customer support?

This is the new age thinking.. they mostly grew up with a phone for looking at or txting, not for talking on…Unless to there friends late at night..they don’t like talking as it requires real time thinking.. it is stressful.. it’s not fair .
this is all over the industry of most business.
when I spend a lot of money with some one , I dont want to wait on an email next week, I wanna know today what to do and how to do it… YEA, I’m a boomer jerk who wants to resolve stuff now if possible…
its just the way it has become except for certain companies … and if ya push for some real time support ,you get transferred to some office voicemail that isn’t there for the next two weeks… then you can start wading back in and try to figure out how to get to someone who will talk to ya…it is frustrating to say the least .Worst generation in history for answering the phone for a customer.

 

[SignatureSolarJames]

This is the new age thinking.. they mostly grew up with a phone for looking at or txting, not for talking on…Unless to there friends late at night..they don’t like talking as it requires real time thinking.. it is stressful.. it’s not fair .
this is all over the industry of most business.
when I spend a lot of money with some one , I dont want to wait on an email next week, I wanna know today what to do and how to do it… YEA, I’m a boomer jerk who wants to resolve stuff now if possible…
its just the way it has become except for certain companies … and if ya push for some real time support ,you get transferred to some office voicemail that isn’t there for the next two weeks… then you can start wading back in and try to figure out how to get to someone who will talk to ya…it is frustrating to say the least .Worst generation in history for answering the phone for a customer.

Our daily hold times are averaging under 3 minutes this month.

 

[JRH]

Our daily hold times are averaging under 3 minutes this month.

Perhaps I should have been more clear , I was NOT speaking of your company directly… i have never dealt with or contacted your company about anything…so I would not personally have anything to complain about.

I was speaking of a trend among many business’s today… a new standard of conduct that has widely infiltrated the business worlds mindset that was not as prevalent even 10 or 20 years ago… It has gotten much worse since the new “ work from home trend “ has evolved….

I was more reflecting my feelings about a general “ slackness” that seems acceptable today with so many companies ( but certainly not all) in customer service ,product knowledge, or even caring about being professional…
There are still many that do an excellent job , and I try to do as much business as I can with them when I find them…but nowdays ya have to look much harder for those quality's.

J.

 

[jcbarr23]

Anyways, up until last week I noticed that they didn't charge sales tax to non Texas customers, myself included when I ordered my EG4 6500 from them last year. Well to my surprise they now do charge sales tax. So I wonder what's up with that.

Because it is the law.

 

[Doug864]

I keep telling myself I should order two of the 6548s from CC savings shack (I'll kick myself when they sell out).

Why are these selling so cheap compared to the units with a warranty? New upgrades? New older units? Etc.

 

[Subdood]

Because it is the law.

So before last week they were breaking the law? Santan Solar doesn't charge tax, I ordered solar panels from them last year and they didn't charge me tax, just shipping. Sungoldpower doesn't charge sales tax either.

 

[mountkay]

Well to my surprise they now do charge sales tax. So I wonder what's up with that.

Tax laws change all the time and are subject to the state that the products are being purchased in. The tax law is a dense web of bureaucracy. Are you really up to date on all of the tax laws in Kentucky?

So before last week they were breaking the law? Santan Solar doesn't charge tax, I ordered solar panels from them last year and they didn't charge me tax, just shipping. Sungoldpower doesn't charge sales tax either.

Looks like Kentucky says you are supposed to pay sales tax on stuff bought over the internet. So when you ordered solar panels from Santan Solar, if they didnt charge you sales tax, then you are supposed to report it yourself, and if you didnt, then you sir, are the one breaking the law.

A six percent use tax may be due if you make out-of-state purchases for storage, use or other consumption in Kentucky and did not pay at least six percent state sales tax to the seller at the time of purchase.

Consumer Use Tax - Department of Revenue

revenue.ky.gov

non Texas customers

this has nothing to do with "non Texas" customers, it has to do with the state you live in that the products are being shipped to.


Edit: Its very possible and even probable that somewhere in Kentuckys Tax law, there is a clause that forces companies selling/shipping over a certain $ amount of products to their state must collect the taxes for Kentucky and send it to them. (because they know people like you arnt going to self report stuff and actually pay the taxes).

Edit Edit: Go to Amazon @Subdood and tell me if they charge you sales tax

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

I have been browsing their site (Signature Solar) from time to time and for fun I'll put some items in the cart on their site just to see what it would cost to ship here (eastern KY). I would like to get some batteries from them but right now the funds just aren't available.

Anyways, up until last week I noticed that they didn't charge sales tax to non Texas customers, myself included when I ordered my EG4 6500 from them last year. Well to my surprise they now do charge sales tax. So I wonder what's up with that.

By adding the sales tax, it protects our customer base from being non-compliant. The taxes have to be paid and it's a lot easier to do at the time of purchase than dealing with it on the backend. There are of course certain states that don't pays sales tax, but unfortunately, Kentucky is not one of those.