Automatic Transfer Switch (Moes) vs Inverter

[Bearsfatha]

I’ve taken the Moes ATS out of my setup for now. I’m considering a manual switch and will probably go with that. I may message Will and see if he want to check it out and do an episode on his Youtube channel.

 

[Danjo]

1. I don't know about most inverters but my 2000w 24v Giandel (and I would think your Giandel) have overload protection to prevent inverter damage. If so and it died then I presume yours has the same 18 month warranty as mine by which to get it replaced.
2. To understand what's going on with your inverter (short of a tech support call) you should have a "battery monitor" meter such as found on this page, installed between the batteries and the inverter. You may also need a "Kill-A-Watt" meter in order to understand what demands are actually being placed on your inverter by the 110v stuff plugged into it. Troubleshooting my system would have been quite difficult without either meter. (Also, the provided link shows a good, basic DIY 24v system and safeguards, and other DIY solar projects. You might compare the photos with your setup?)
3. Turning off the inverter will not cause the ATS to switch from battery to shore power if the batteries are still above the ATS "low-voltage switchover voltage." You have to turn off your ATS in order to force it to switch to shore power (or wait for battery voltage to drop sufficiently). The ATS cares only about what the batteries are telling it through its 12v monitoring connectors.
4. You say the ATS display indicated it was using battery power but that that power was really coming from shore power. As another commentator said, unless you have the "shore power" and "solar/generator power" connections backwards, and assuming the ATS isn't defective, this can't be. If the ATS indicates it's switched to battery then it's accepting power only from your inverter. I suppose it's possible your shore power is somehow hooked in between the 110v outlet on your inverter and the "inverter incoming" connectors on the ATS, though that sounds like a recipe for failure and equipment damage.
5. (My problem is similar to yours except that, now and then when I check it in the morning, I find the inverter has powered off. I think this is due to the fact the inverter, just sitting there, draws a certain amount of current. This means that, though my ATS has switched to shore power do to low-voltage from the batteries, the batteries, already at low voltage, continue to drain through the night until their protection circuitry kicks in and they power off, forcing the inverter to power off. VERY unfortunately, there is no way to set the Giandel to automatically turn back on when batteries charge to acceptable levels. Accordingly, when the batteries charge up sufficiently during daylight the ATS reaches its "high voltage turn on" voltage and switches back to "solar" -- but the inverter is still off, so my freezer and such don't run until I manually turn the inverter back on!"

I hope this helps, some.

I think your item 5 was the "aha!" I've been looking for. And, I agree, it's VERY unfortunate that there seems no way to make the Giandel automatically power on when batteries are sufficiently re-charged. That is the crux of my problem. I can increase the ATS LV switchover voltage to compensate but I have to set it so high that it largely defeats the whole purpose: to fully leverage the expensive LiFePO4 battery power. Anyway, thanks for the AHA moment.