Confirm my dumb moment...

[42OhmsPA]

Yesterday the grid was down for around 7 hours, only the 3rd time this month...
Batteries were down to ~51V. (snow and no sun)

I hooked the generator (5.5kw Generac gas) up to the TP6048 (LVX6048) utility input and was able to start charging the batteries after adjusting the time settings for utility charging and switching from SBU to SUB.
I started with 10 amps and stopped at 70a to give the generator some headroom for the rest of the house. It was interesting seeing the frequency of the generator shift as I loaded it up more....
I let the batteries charge for around 2.5 hours before I switched things back to battery. I think this was my screw up...
I went into the inverter settings and switched back to SBU, the house went dark and the inverter started yelling at me. Iirc there was a fault 06 on the screen, the laptop lost power since the battery has been shot for years... Once I got the inverter powered back up and things working off the batteries again I was able to pull an output voltage to high from the event log. I also found a tripped GFCI outlet upstairs.
Wow that's a lot of text.

What I think happened - when I switched back to SBU the generator output voltage spiked since I took such a large load off so abruptly; the inverter saw this and shut down.

I think I should have slowly reduced the charging current back to 10a then killed the breaker for the generator then switched back to SBU...

Can anyone confirm? Possibility of a big storm at the end of the week so I'll likely be charging from the generator again.
Note - I'm also going to get a 120v dedicated charger ordered so I can use my smaller inverter genny and charge the batteries by connecting the charger to the buss bars, avoiding all the hoopla...

Thanks if you've made it through all that and can offer any feedback.

Attached photos are DC side charging amps and AC side generator load amps.

 

[Mattb4]

Starting or removing large loads on a generator, especially a small gas one, can cause big fluctuations in frequency and voltage. They lack the rotational mass and automatic speed control (governors) that can minimize such events.

So you are correct to slowly load and unload a generator wherever possible.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Starting or removing large loads on a generator, especially a small gas one, can cause big fluctuations in frequency and voltage. They lack the rotational mass and automatic speed control (governors) that can minimize such events.

So you are correct to slowly load and unload a generator wherever possible.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts.
I wonder if the midnite surge suppressor on the AC side helped with anything... I swear I saw the blue lights flashing but it all happened in a split second.
I also had a feint magic smoke smell but can't find anything that failed.
Hopefully it's helpful for others that search in the future.

 

[John Frum]

Thanks for confirming my thoughts.
I wonder if the midnite surge suppressor on the AC side helped with anything... I swear I saw the blue lights flashing but it all happened in a split second.
I also had a feint magic smoke smell but can't find anything that failed.
Hopefully it's helpful for others that search in the future.

The surge supressor clamping voltage will be ~1000 volts.

 

[John Frum]

Actually its 295 volts for this one but that is still too high in my estimation.

https://www.midnitesolar.com/pdfs/SPD_Installation_Manual.pdf

 

[offgrid22]

Yesterday the grid was down for around 7 hours, only the 3rd time this month...
Batteries were down to ~51V. (snow and no sun)

I hooked the generator (5.5kw Generac gas) up to the TP6048 (LVX6048) utility input and was able to start charging the batteries after adjusting the time settings for utility charging and switching from SBU to SUB.
I started with 10 amps and stopped at 70a to give the generator some headroom for the rest of the house. It was interesting seeing the frequency of the generator shift as I loaded it up more....
I let the batteries charge for around 2.5 hours before I switched things back to battery. I think this was my screw up...
I went into the inverter settings and switched back to SBU, the house went dark and the inverter started yelling at me. Iirc there was a fault 06 on the screen, the laptop lost power since the battery has been shot for years... Once I got the inverter powered back up and things working off the batteries again I was able to pull an output voltage to high from the event log. I also found a tripped GFCI outlet upstairs.
Wow that's a lot of text.

What I think happened - when I switched back to SBU the generator output voltage spiked since I took such a large load off so abruptly; the inverter saw this and shut down.

I think I should have slowly reduced the charging current back to 10a then killed the breaker for the generator then switched back to SBU...

Can anyone confirm? Possibility of a big storm at the end of the week so I'll likely be charging from the generator again.
Note - I'm also going to get a 120v dedicated charger ordered so I can use my smaller inverter genny and charge the batteries by connecting the charger to the buss bars, avoiding all the hoopla...

Thanks if you've made it through all that and can offer any feedback.

Attached photos are DC side charging amps and AC side generator load amps.

I brought my utility charging current down to 10a but didn't switch to SUB. I will give that a go. 2 or more brains are always better.

 

[B-Mod]

If you are going to buy a charger and you use 48v, I would purchase a EG4 chargeverter, you can dial it up or down for large or small generators. 120v or 240v. It kind of future proof's your setup. I have a 20kw gen and use 4 of them to charge with if needed. I can dial them up or down if I want to just charge at max, or lower the charge and put the house on the gen too. Just a thought.

 

[offgrid22]

If you are going to buy a charger and you use 48v, I would purchase a EG4 chargeverter, you can dial it up or down for large or small generators. 120v or 240v. It kind of future proof's your setup. I have a 20kw gen and use 4 of them to charge with if needed. I can dial them up or down if I want to just charge at max, or lower the charge and put the house on the gen too. Just a thought.

Is that a one per battery setup or can it just be hooked up to the full battery bank?

 

[Zwy]

Is that a one per battery setup or can it just be hooked up to the full battery bank?

If all batteries are in parallel, you can use one charger.

It just takes X number of hours longer according to the number of batteries. They should be charged as a group anyway. Need shorter time, add more chargers.

 

[B-Mod]

Is that a one per battery setup or can it just be hooked up to the full battery bank?

Either I guess. You can hook it to one, or to your whole bank.

 

[offgrid22]

Yesterday the grid was down for around 7 hours, only the 3rd time this month...
Batteries were down to ~51V. (snow and no sun)

I hooked the generator (5.5kw Generac gas) up to the TP6048 (LVX6048) utility input and was able to start charging the batteries after adjusting the time settings for utility charging and switching from SBU to SUB.
I started with 10 amps and stopped at 70a to give the generator some headroom for the rest of the house. It was interesting seeing the frequency of the generator shift as I loaded it up more....
I let the batteries charge for around 2.5 hours before I switched things back to battery. I think this was my screw up...
I went into the inverter settings and switched back to SBU, the house went dark and the inverter started yelling at me. Iirc there was a fault 06 on the screen, the laptop lost power since the battery has been shot for years... Once I got the inverter powered back up and things working off the batteries again I was able to pull an output voltage to high from the event log. I also found a tripped GFCI outlet upstairs.
Wow that's a lot of text.

What I think happened - when I switched back to SBU the generator output voltage spiked since I took such a large load off so abruptly; the inverter saw this and shut down.

I think I should have slowly reduced the charging current back to 10a then killed the breaker for the generator then switched back to SBU...

Can anyone confirm? Possibility of a big storm at the end of the week so I'll likely be charging from the generator again.
Note - I'm also going to get a 120v dedicated charger ordered so I can use my smaller inverter genny and charge the batteries by connecting the charger to the buss bars, avoiding all the hoopla...

Thanks if you've made it through all that and can offer any feedback.

Attached photos are DC side charging amps and AC side generator load amps.

I have been going back n forth with the settings on the inverter since u seem to have it dialed in can u send me a snap shot of ur settings and how many batteries r u running? Oh and what exactly am I adjusting with the time on the utility charging?

 

[42OhmsPA]

I have been going back n forth with the settings on the inverter since u seem to have it dialed in can u send me a snap shot of ur settings and how many batteries r u running? Oh and what exactly am I adjusting with the time on the utility charging?

Sorry, I've been running an SRNE ASF for months now, the SGP just hangs on the wall. I ran in SBU 99% of the time but had to switch to USB to charge with gen.
I was running 2 230ah packs, I've since added a 305 ah pack.

Either leave the times at zero so they are disabled or set them to be within the time you are trying to charge.

 

[offgrid22]

Sorry, I've been running an SRNE ASF for months now, the SGP just hangs on the wall. I ran in SBU 99% of the time but had to switch to USB to charge with gen.
I was running 2 230ah packs, I've since added a 305 ah pack.

Either leave the times at zero so they are disabled or set them to be within the time you are trying to charge.

Roger that

 

[offgrid22]

If you are going to buy a charger and you use 48v, I would purchase a EG4 chargeverter, you can dial it up or down for large or small generators. 120v or 240v. It kind of future proof's your setup. I have a 20kw gen and use 4 of them to charge with if needed. I can dial them up or down if I want to just charge at max, or lower the charge and put the house on the gen too. Just a thought.

To all who offered assistance, thank you. I have decided it's best to go with a chargeverter. After some more searching around and hearing that these small generators are really not great for the all in one inverters. So my order is in, back order I should say. But that solves every problem. Thanks again everyone. PS if there is anyone who wants to part with their chargeverter, let's make a deal. Thanks again.