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Eg 4 18kpv confusion

J

jcschild

New Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2023
Messages
18
Location
Tn
So finally got all hooked up passed inspection
When I flipped from 100% grid to 100% inverter it worked for about 10 seconds.
I watched the watt meter fly up to 11k then it shut down.
Assuming it was maxed out at 12k?
I dont know how it's possible I am running 12k watts. All major stuff is gas not electric.
5 fridges/freezers. Some lights (led of course) TV

Also limit is 50amp at 240, is that not 100amp 120 also?

Thanks
 
you have 2 inverters 120v at 50 amps internally.
my first guess not knowing anything how you wired it (whole house vs essential loads panel vs many other
questions... etc) would be reversed CT's (drawings,pics would be appreciated)
also, did you read your POCO meter before switching over to your 18Kpv?
 
Keep in mine your inverter is 12k, or 6k per leg. Theres 2 legs at 50a, and each leg is isolated and cannot pull power from the other, so it's important to have the legs relatively balanced.

Fridge have surge when starting up their compressors. Depending on the age of the appliances, it's possible to hit 11k, although not likely.

There's really not enough information in this post to make a proper assessment. Would need to know more about all electrical devices, what a normal bill looks like, pictures of wiring, etc.
 
We need a lot more details of what you have and how you wired it. Feels like your CTs are reversed or something equally obvious.
 
fatjay said:
Keep in mine your inverter is 12k, or 6k per leg. Theres 2 legs at 50a, and each leg is isolated and cannot pull power from the other, so it's important to have the legs relatively balanced.

Fridge have surge when starting up their compressors. Depending on the age of the appliances, it's possible to hit 11k, although not likely.

There's really not enough information in this post to make a proper assessment. Would need to know more about all electrical devices, what a normal bill looks like, pictures of wiring, etc.
Click to expand...
jjww said:
you have 2 inverters 120v at 50 amps internally.
my first guess not knowing anything how you wired it (whole house vs essential loads panel vs many other
questions... etc) would be reversed CT's (drawings,pics would be appreciated)
also, did you read your POCO meter before switching over to your 18Kpv?
Click to expand...
1 inverter
 
wpns said:
We need a lot more details of what you have and how you wired it. Feels like your CTs are reversed or something equally obvious.
Click to expand...
Whole house direct from inverter to transfer switch. Transfer switch to panel
 
jcschild said:
Whole house direct from inverter to transfer switch. Transfer switch to panel
Click to expand...
Batteries? Grid power to the inverter to charge the batteries? When you designed your system, how did you know how to size it? Have you measured your house load from the grid?
 
If you have 5 fridge/freezers and if there was any hesitation or slow switch over from grid to battery, you could have multiple compressor stalls occurring simultaneously. The current inrush would be overwhelming compounding if the load wasn’t distributed evenly between the two legs. Some newer fridge/freezers have a built in delay so the pressure have time to equalize.
Edit; Looks like fatjay beat me to the same idea
 
Last edited:
jjww said:
you have 2 inverters 120v at 50 amps internally.
my first guess not knowing anything how you wired it (whole house vs essential loads panel vs many other
questions... etc) would be reversed CT's (drawings,pics would be appreciated)
also, did you read your POCO meter before switching over to your 18Kpv?
Click to expand...
Poco meter??
wpns said:
Batteries? Grid power to the inverter to charge the batteries? When you designed your system, how did you know how to size it? Have you measured your house load from the grid?
Click to expand...
60Kw summer, 35Kw winter per day average
Bear in mind i did this at dusk so no power from panels
1 14.3Kwh wall battery. Will be adding 2 more.
24) 650w bifacial 3 strings series.
 
wpns said:
Batteries? Grid power to the inverter to charge the batteries? When you designed your system, how did you know how to size it? Have you measured your house load from the grid?
Click to expand...
Put watt meters on 2 fridge 1 freezer. For days to get average
1Kw for fridge per day. In garage summer
2.8Kw large stand up freezer in garage
Inside fridge same 1Kw.
 
jcschild said:
1 inverter
Click to expand...
They’re presuming that there are two inverters inside stacked appropriately to generate two 120V legs

Also we can sort of fix your kW vs kWh confusion but it muddies the discussion and I’m not sure your mental model of the difference is solid. Specifically around startup surge, average, and in between kW demands

I agree, try turning off your motor loads, and maybe checking CTs. Was the battery charged up?

Woeful lack of photos, screenshots, and logs here. Screenshots of your inverter status pages would be a good starting point
 
Last edited:
zanydroid said:
They’re presuming that there are two inverters inside stacked appropriately to generate two 120V legs

Also we can sort of fix your kW vs kWh confusion but it muddies the discussion and I’m not sure your mental model of the difference is solid. Specifically around startup surge, average, and in between kW demands

I agree, try turning off your motor loads, and maybe checking CTs. Was the battery charged up?

Woeful lack of photos, screenshots, and logs here. Screenshots of your inverter status pages would be a good starting point
Click to expand...
Sorry I get lazy about kw,kwh
Pretty sure you understood 35kwh winter and 60kwh summer. 1kwh for fridge 3kwh freezer
What is CTs?
I haven't set anything in software other than no export to grid.
Obviously I need more battery like 3 more.
Seems I may need a 2nd 18k gonna be hard to get that past wife.
Only doing solar for grid down extended time. Have refrigeration. We are homesteading
 
Jumping the gun with going to second one when you haven’t figured out the first one yet

CT = current transformer, these are the sensors used by inverter to sense the power flow in the system

You may need to set discharge limit unless you are using it in communicating mode with the batteries

AC clamp meter readings would be helpful, you have 10 seconds to do that. However I don’t recommend trying again without having people look at your settings.

You need to share screenshots, it’s not possible to progress with your problem without that.
 
zanydroid said:
Jumping the gun with going to second one when you haven’t figured out the first one yet

CT = current transformer, these are the sensors used by inverter to sense the power flow in the system

You may need to set discharge limit unless you are using it in communicating mode with the batteries

AC clamp meter readings would be helpful, you have 10 seconds to do that. However I don’t recommend trying again without having people look at your settings.

You need to share screenshots, it’s not possible to progress with your problem without that.
Click to expand...
CT aren't connected i though that was for grid feed only oops
 
You also need it for on grid self consumption. Maybe other things.

With grid down the CTs should not be needed for functioning, but I don’t own this inverter yet. Working on permits

When do you think you can post your settings screenshots? And maybe also charge up the system a bit and share the energy state screenshot before you do another test
 
jcschild said:
CT aren't connected i though that was for grid feed only oops
Click to expand...
That is for on-grid mode only. I ended up removing my CTs (I needed the Cat5 cable in the conduit for my Acrel meter) and mine works fine.

We still don’t know how you’ve wired it up, how you’ve configured it, what your peak load ( in KW) or daily consumption (in KWHR) is. 🤷‍♂️
 
wpns said:
That is for on-grid mode only. I ended up removing my CTs (I needed the Cat5 cable in the conduit for my Acrel meter) and mine works fine.

We still don’t know how you’ve wired it up, how you’ve configured it, what your peak load ( in KW) or daily consumption (in KWHR) is. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
Dont understand, how i am wired.??
Already said
But here it is
200 amp pass through
Load directly to MAIN service panel.
I use about 35kwh per day winter which is confusing only heavy electric is dryer.
60kwh per day summer
Thank you
 
zanydroid said:
You also need it for on grid self consumption. Maybe other things.

With grid down the CTs should not be needed for functioning, but I don’t own this inverter yet. Working on permits

When do you think you can post your settings screenshots? And maybe also charge up the system a bit and share the energy state screenshot before you do another test
Click to expand...
What setting? On the screen?
 
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