BLUEPOWER IP6048 - The New SunGoldPower 48V Hybrid Competitor to the MPPSolar LVX6048WP

[andrewgokart]

What's the idle consumption on this piece of junk?

Appears to be roughly 120 watts. I was getting about 2.1amps (according my clamp meter) at 53ish volts or so. I would say 120 is fairly accurate. If they would just tweak the damn firmware to not have the fans running at FULL BLAST 100% of the time, that would probably help! But apparently, that's just how these are.

 

[Lt.Dan]

What's the idle consumption on this piece of junk?

So much hostility.

 

[andrewgokart]

So much hostility.

lol. It is a piece of junk from what I've seen/read and lack of it being in the market for more than 2 years (3 years?). Faults, errors, etc. Not just mine, but there is a guy on youtube who had problems with his LVX6048WP. Same things. I think there is some shoddy engineering at the circuitry level. Great capabilities (and wish I had one to put in parallel to try it with my AC unit). But lordy, this thing just scares the hell out of me to leave for any extended time away from home.

 

[andrewgokart]

I wonder if @Will Prowse still has his IP6048 or if it was a vendor sample that he had to send back. Would love to have him hook that thing up again and get some additional feedback on it. My neighbor wants me to help him install solar on his house now that i've done it and my IP6048 is an extra inverter, but I feel guilty selling it to him if he has problems...

 

[Will Prowse]

I wonder if @Will Prowse still has his IP6048 or if it was a vendor sample that he had to send back. Would love to have him hook that thing up again and get some additional feedback on it. My neighbor wants me to help him install solar on his house now that i've done it and my IP6048 is an extra inverter, but I feel guilty selling it to him if he has problems...

Gave it away, hated it. I do know two people total that like it though.

 

[Will Prowse]

Perhaps there is new firmware to fix all the issues when I made my video. But I don't know

 

[Lt.Dan]

Perhaps there is new firmware to fix all the issues when I made my video. But I don't know

There isn't. That was the first thing I asked when I had problems with mine.

 

[andrewgokart]

Perhaps there is new firmware to fix all the issues when I made my video. But I don't know

I saw Projects with Everyday Dave still has his in his garage. Asked him yesterday if he still uses it with his new setup and he said no problems for over a year. He's also here in Ohio, so I told him if he wants to get rid of it, I'll do some testing or we can collab. ha. The software is buggy as hell on the display, so I use the SolarPower app on a computer via RS232 and it works great.

I also just reached out to SGP a couple days ago asking for a firmware update, citing the fans running at full speed, noting I was running 1.36 on the Main (U1) and 14.04 on the secondary (U2). They just said that (paraphrasing) "the firmware doesn't control the fan speeds". No actual note that this is or is not the latest firmware. Just that it wont change the fan speeds. ugh.

 

[andrewgokart]

There isn't. That was the first thing I asked when I had problems with mine.

I'm glad to hear you got a replacement. I've installed 3 main boards, 2 AC boards, and now 1 control board (this was the problem, apparently... Not even a board that handles any high-voltage!) That 10k looks like it has good specs. Just wish it had parallel capabilities and it would be awesome! I kinda wish I could get my 6048 replaced with one, but now it's working sooooooo not gonna happen at least now.

 

[Osmethne]

What's the idle consumption on this piece of junk?

It's complicated. This is just what I see staring at Solar Assistant while it runs.

At idle Solar Assistant claims it draws 55 watts.

But, if there's any solar power present then the idle goes up by maybe 150 watts. This is drawn from the battery if present. If a battery isn't present then I think it draws from the grid.

Additionally if there's a battery present then it seems like the logic needed to run that draws around 150 watts. Even if you're not using the battery to power the load then that draw is always there. I don't know how to make this 0 other than switching off the batteries.

For example, I currently have a bug where I'm seeing ~22 watts on mppt2 during the night. That means even if I tell it to not draw from the battery to power the house then it still draws around 300 watts an hour from the battery for nothing.

So depending on how it's configured and it's operating conditions the actual amount of power that it wastes could be around 500 or 600 watts, rough guess just looking at Solar Assistant.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Please don't go off of Solar Assistant for trying to calculate efficiency or idle consumption. Please read then notes at the bottom of your "Totals" Page on Solar Assistant:



You cannot rely on the cheap components of an Inverter to accurately report the values. Ive seen some Voltronic inverters report values not even CLOSE to what was actually happening. Even values reported from my Sol-Ark are not 100% accurate, and to all be taken with a grain of salt. If you want accurate information, then you are going to have to do it by hand with a clamp meter, DMM, and some time.

 

[Osmethne]

Yeah I've read that somewhere. Which is why I don't think the exact number SA reports is important. The importance is that it's there at all. I have used some meters to look at a few of these numbers. I have a clamp on DC amp meter. The constant battery draw for no reason is definitely real.

 

[Siamac]

I don't have my meter connected yet, but I did an experiment. I don't have battery or loads connected. Only solar and grid connected. Back feeding to grid.
I waited until solar production was just under 100W. It showed that the inverter was using power from the grid. However, when I turned off the grid, the inverter continued to work on solar only. The fans were running at the same speed for a while until the sun went down more.
So I think it's using under 100W. I guess I'll know for sure when I can get my meter running. In my opinion, anything over 50W is a lot. That's over 1kw per day at 50W already

 

[Lt.Dan]

I don't have my meter connected yet, but I did an experiment. I don't have battery or loads connected. Only solar and grid connected. Back feeding to grid.
I waited until solar production was just under 100W. It showed that the inverter was using power from the grid. However, when I turned off the grid, the inverter continued to work on solar only. The fans were running at the same speed for a while until the sun went down more.
So I think it's using under 100W. I guess I'll know for sure when I can get my meter running. In my opinion, anything over 50W is a lot. That's over 1kw per day at 50W already

I can guarantee the IP6048 has an idle draw of 100-120w, depending on where the power is coming from and/or battery voltage.

 

[Siamac]

I can guarantee the IP6048 has an idle draw of 100-120w, depending on where the power is coming from and/or battery voltage.

That's terrible. 2.5 kwhr per day

 

[Siamac]

Right now my inverter says solar production is 39 W. It was running full speed withoutout grid. It seems as though the inverter numbers are way off

 

[Lt.Dan]

Right now my inverter says solar production is 39 W. It was running full speed withoutout grid. It seems as though the inverter numbers are way off

Correct. All inverters on the market have a hard time displaying accurate values, especially when at or near 0 load.

 

[D71]

Crap …. I was looking at sgp 6048 sure glad didn’t buy it. They have been out of stock but was going for it when new stock came in. I liked the specs on it.
Thanks for the post.

Back to looking

 

[Siamac]

I measured the solar production with a clamp meter and the solar production displayed on the inverter seems accurate. According to the inverter, solar production exceeds the inverter usage at around 140W. But the unit is fully functional when solar production is even under 100W when grid is disconnected. So I'm thinking that either something is increasing the inverter usage when back feeding to grid, or maybe the display is already taking into account the inverter efficiency losses. If this is the case, then the fans are using somewhere between 35w to 75w, which comes out to around 1-2 kwhr wasted by the inverter per day. This would make sense considering what you would expect an inverter to use.

(no battery connected)

 

[jimmyb]

I purchased an Ip6048 in Dec of 22, to run my well
Due to some issues I didn't get it installed until Dec of this year. It ran for 2 weeks and failed no voltage out error code f32, shop solar, that's who I bought it from sent the main board for me.to replace it. Replaced the board and it right up and ran for 2 weeks and failed again. After working with them via email since March, I am sending it back to them to repair. Confidence that they will be able to resolve this is very low. Any recommendations for a quality inverter? Only loads are a 220v well pump and a 110v pump to pump to the house from the storage tank.

 

[Will Prowse]

I purchased an Ip6048 in Dec of 22, to run my well
Due to some issues I didn't get it installed until Dec of this year. It ran for 2 weeks and failed no voltage out error code f32, shop solar, that's who I bought it from sent the main board for me.to replace it. Replaced the board and it right up and ran for 2 weeks and failed again. After working with them via email since March, I am sending it back to them to repair. Confidence that they will be able to resolve this is very low. Any recommendations for a quality inverter? Only loads are a 220v well pump and a 110v pump to pump to the house from the storage tank.

That's awful. Thank you for update. Will remember this

 

[Crowz]

While the ip6048 seems to have all kinds of problems from what I have read the tp6048 rocks and being low frequency will run well pumps just fine.

 

[dielectric]

My sgp ip6048 just died.
Purchased in Dec 2022 finally deployed Dec 2023.
Ran most of the house from batteries and solar.
About a month ago screen went dark, but inverter was working, charging batteries and running loads. All from just solar with grid breaker off.

Then something happened (maybe overload) amd it turned off. Was able to restart.
Yesterday similar thing happened:
car was charging about 1.25kw (5a)
+
Microwave about 1.5kw
+
Cooktop - god knows.
+
Lights and computers about 750w

So likely an overload.

But doesn't start anymore.
I can restart, enable AC out, can measure 240v.
But as soon as there is load it clicks off.

I have a second unit, bought 2 for redundancy.
Probably should have enabled parallel, was going to, but just didn't get around to it.
Now the second unit is running ok, with full fans for no reason.

But I'm kind of stuck, other models will not parallel with this. And PV is built with 600Voc.
Most inverters have 500Voc limit.

EG4 18kw hybrid looks good, but close to $5k

 

[D71]

My sgp ip6048 just died.
Purchased in Dec 2022 finally deployed Dec 2023.
Ran most of the house from batteries and solar.
About a month ago screen went dark, but inverter was working, charging batteries and running loads. All from just solar with grid breaker off.

Then something happened (maybe overload) amd it turned off. Was able to restart.
Yesterday similar thing happened:
car was charging about 1.25kw (5a)
+
Microwave about 1.5kw
+
Cooktop - god knows.
+
Lights and computers about 750w

So likely an overload.

But doesn't start anymore.
I can restart, enable AC out, can measure 240v.
But as soon as there is load it clicks off.

I have a second unit, bought 2 for redundancy.
Probably should have enabled parallel, was going to, but just didn't get around to it.
Now the second unit is running ok, with full fans for no reason.

But I'm kind of stuck, other models will not parallel with this. And PV is built with 600Voc.
Most inverters have 500Voc limit.

EG4 18kw hybrid looks good, but close to $5k

How long is the warranty? Several SGP advertise 3 year warranty. Think you have some left if 3 year?

I think ppl are over loading inverters and killing them. Manufacturers should probably reduce the advertised loads but think it is a marketing thing so not going to happen. Electric air compressors use to claim 5hp 120volt 20 amp breaker. The only way they were broke from false advertising was a law suit.

Most gas generators are really only rated at 1/2 output. The instructions often tell ppl that. Most get raggy on upper end - dirty power and dependability drops if run at higher rating plus they get hotter and fuel consumption goes way up. Ppl buy undersize generators and have same problems. Then they cuss the generator when it is the advertising marketing ppl at fault.

I think we are maybe seeing some of that with these inverters and maybe for longevity the loads should be significantly reduced. Despite the advertising. I would have had them in parallel if it were me if you wanted more. We all want more. The problem then becomes we will add more load.

I would contact SGP and inquire about warranty - look at your paper work.

 

[Osmethne]

I have found an odd quirk with this particular unit.

There seems to be a limit to how much solar power it can send to the load. If the load goes about something like 4800 watts then it'll limit whatever amount of solar power is coming in to about 1600 watts and draw the rest from the battery.

Not sure if this is a bug with the firmware or some kind of hardware limitation.