Jblack
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2021
- Messages
- 11
My problem does not appear to be straight forward, I have been scratching my head and researching for well over a month, I am an engineer myself and beyond frustrated with not only my inability to solve the problem but also my inability to accurately and comprehensively characterize the problem!
My current system is:
BigBattery 48V GRILA 6kWh
EG4 6000XP
Generac 7.5kW PowerPact propane generator
Qty 6 Trinasolar 330W panels wired in series
I am off grid in Montana at 4800 ft elevation.
From 2021 until Oct 2023, I was running:
BigBattery 48V GRILA 6kWh
MPP Solar LVX6048
Westinghouse Wgen9500df (without high elevation kit, primarily on gasoline but occasionally propane)
Qty 6 Trinasolar 330W panels wired in series
During the summers, I have adequate power both in collection and storage, running my gennie only rarely if we have consecutive cloudy days. In winter, I count on my gennie every day to top off my battery.
In Dec 2022, we experienced temperatures just shy of -40F for a couple of days. At that time, my Westinghouse suffered irrecoverable damage to the throttle control which destabilized the output frequency. After that time, the only way I could get the gennie to pair with the battery charger was to stand at the gennie and manually manipulate the choke until I could get the idle low enough to get to 60hz without killing the engine while the load was applied (sounds like fun in negative zero temps huh? haha). I limped along in this fashion until summer of 2023 when I borrowed money to purchase a new gennie.
I bought the Generac 7.5kW knowing it was slightly underpowered and also not warrantied for off grid use, yet it was what I could afford and it seemed to me, since I have a 6kW inverter and run at an average of 10% of load, I would be fine. It also allowed me to automate the start/stop of the gennie so that I could leave my house in the winter and tend to the power from afar. I added a 2-wire start to the Generac and an aftermarket wi-fi dry contact switch, and life was grand for about a month when everything worked exactly as I had planned. Then we experienced another cold snap and starting on the day it was -32 degrees the wheels fell off my cart and I have been trying to root cause the issue ever since.
The symptom is that the generator will not "pair" with the charger or it will pair for a "while" and then disconnect repeatedly. The duration of the time it will charge is highly variable and I can not ascribe any logic to what causes it to work or what causes it to stop working. This causes a power outage in the home while the inverter/charger re-boots. I can not consistently get power from my generator to my battery and am therefore completely at the mercy of the sun to keep power in my home.
Eliminating variables:
I can confidently say that the PV is not the culprit, the panels still produce adequate power when the sun is shining and it travels down the wires into the house with the expected electrical characteristics.
I am fairly confident that the battery is in good working order.
I believe the problem is either the inverter/charger or generator, or what seem more likely is that it is an interaction between these two parts of the system.
The LVX6048 seemed like the weakest link in the system so I replaced it with the 6000XP. I like the unit, it is less noisy than the LVX6048 and a much more efficient charger using the PV. However, it has not solved the problem, I still can not reliably get the Generac to pair and charge the battery. I do not believe it is an overload problem because it will not even work, predictably and consistently if I kill the power to the house. I also wired the Generac directly to the house main with no inverter/charger/battery inline and ran my home for nearly 2 days with no power issues of any kind.
Other odd observations:
I have also been reading about neutral/ground bonding and am wondering if that may have anything to do with the problem, my main panel in my home is bonded. Not sure how this could be a latent or intermittent issue but maybe?
I did just receive the updated firmware for the 6000XP which reportedly addressed some genset issues...it did not solve the problem however.
If anyone has any insight to offer, I would be eternally grateful.
Thank you!
My current system is:
BigBattery 48V GRILA 6kWh
EG4 6000XP
Generac 7.5kW PowerPact propane generator
Qty 6 Trinasolar 330W panels wired in series
I am off grid in Montana at 4800 ft elevation.
From 2021 until Oct 2023, I was running:
BigBattery 48V GRILA 6kWh
MPP Solar LVX6048
Westinghouse Wgen9500df (without high elevation kit, primarily on gasoline but occasionally propane)
Qty 6 Trinasolar 330W panels wired in series
During the summers, I have adequate power both in collection and storage, running my gennie only rarely if we have consecutive cloudy days. In winter, I count on my gennie every day to top off my battery.
In Dec 2022, we experienced temperatures just shy of -40F for a couple of days. At that time, my Westinghouse suffered irrecoverable damage to the throttle control which destabilized the output frequency. After that time, the only way I could get the gennie to pair with the battery charger was to stand at the gennie and manually manipulate the choke until I could get the idle low enough to get to 60hz without killing the engine while the load was applied (sounds like fun in negative zero temps huh? haha). I limped along in this fashion until summer of 2023 when I borrowed money to purchase a new gennie.
I bought the Generac 7.5kW knowing it was slightly underpowered and also not warrantied for off grid use, yet it was what I could afford and it seemed to me, since I have a 6kW inverter and run at an average of 10% of load, I would be fine. It also allowed me to automate the start/stop of the gennie so that I could leave my house in the winter and tend to the power from afar. I added a 2-wire start to the Generac and an aftermarket wi-fi dry contact switch, and life was grand for about a month when everything worked exactly as I had planned. Then we experienced another cold snap and starting on the day it was -32 degrees the wheels fell off my cart and I have been trying to root cause the issue ever since.
The symptom is that the generator will not "pair" with the charger or it will pair for a "while" and then disconnect repeatedly. The duration of the time it will charge is highly variable and I can not ascribe any logic to what causes it to work or what causes it to stop working. This causes a power outage in the home while the inverter/charger re-boots. I can not consistently get power from my generator to my battery and am therefore completely at the mercy of the sun to keep power in my home.
Eliminating variables:
I can confidently say that the PV is not the culprit, the panels still produce adequate power when the sun is shining and it travels down the wires into the house with the expected electrical characteristics.
I am fairly confident that the battery is in good working order.
I believe the problem is either the inverter/charger or generator, or what seem more likely is that it is an interaction between these two parts of the system.
The LVX6048 seemed like the weakest link in the system so I replaced it with the 6000XP. I like the unit, it is less noisy than the LVX6048 and a much more efficient charger using the PV. However, it has not solved the problem, I still can not reliably get the Generac to pair and charge the battery. I do not believe it is an overload problem because it will not even work, predictably and consistently if I kill the power to the house. I also wired the Generac directly to the house main with no inverter/charger/battery inline and ran my home for nearly 2 days with no power issues of any kind.
Other odd observations:
- When there is no PV power at all, (ie, at night) my odds of success getting anything from the gennie to the battery are nil.
- When the gennie disconnects from the charger the voltage reading from the gennie drops in steps from 240V down to 0V, after the 6000XP reboots, the voltage climbs back up from 0V to 240V and it will connect for a minute or two and then disconnect again, rebooting...rinse and repeat.
- It seems the first time (or second time) it connects and starts to charge is the longest duration, it can last for an hour or so but once it drops the next time it connects it is usually very briefly.
- The 6000XP and battery carry the load for the house without any issues.
- The Generac carries the load for the house without any issues.
- Even with the Generac generator limited to 10A and 1000W in the 6000XP software (damned near trickle charger), it still will not work.
I have also been reading about neutral/ground bonding and am wondering if that may have anything to do with the problem, my main panel in my home is bonded. Not sure how this could be a latent or intermittent issue but maybe?
I did just receive the updated firmware for the 6000XP which reportedly addressed some genset issues...it did not solve the problem however.
If anyone has any insight to offer, I would be eternally grateful.
Thank you!
Last edited:
thank you!
