EG4 18k caused massive voltage spike

[scottlebus]

The long and short of it is while troubleshooting battery connection (eg4 lifepower 48 volt (6)) a signature solar technician remotely shut off the unit which shut my power down. The unit came back on and fried my furnace board, 2 garage door motors, and other insignificant items such as power strips. The furnace as well as other items could of caused a major fire and the cost to replace the furnace could be as much as 10k. The techs (besides the woman that caused it) have been incredibly helpful and sympathetic, however the management has ignored my calls and is not taking any responsibility except to replace unit (eg4 18k all in one). I believe it was the techs fault for shutting off my system and not advising me to switch the load breaker off in the event the unit would turn back on.

1. How do I prevent this when I receive new one? I was thinking an system wide surge protection and a transfer switch to bypass unit.
2. How do I try and convince sig solar to compensate me for my furnace?

 

[400bird]

I guess everyone here became a shill for Signature Solar.

Make a claim with your home owners insurance and let them go after Signature Solar.

 

[AntronX]

Did the inverter fail to make AC power after this event? I am curious what kind of failure caused this to happen. Pretty big design flaw if true.

 

[Tulex]

Why would you have to spend 10K to replace a furnace when it's the board that's fried?
I agree with 400bird, go through homeowners, push SS for any deductible.

 

[Quattrohead]

Mine has been power cycled multiple times during firmware upgrades and me fanning around with various things and I've never fried a single gadget in my house. I never turn off circuit breakers.
Can you detail your installation and show us a few pictures of it?

 

[BKY2003]

Mine surged once and knocked out my stove. So I put a lighting arrestor on the 18Kpv. SS powered cycled mine yesterday and did not have any issues.

 

[Brucey]

Mine surged once and knocked out my stove. So I put a lighting arrestor on the 18Kpv. SS powered cycled mine yesterday and did not have any issues.

What do you mean by "knocked out"? Was it repaired?

 

[BKY2003]

What do you mean by "knocked out"? Was it repaired?

It went dead, I turned off the breaker for and hour then it worked again.

 

[42OhmsPA]

The long and short of it is while troubleshooting battery connection (eg4 lifepower 48 volt (6)) a signature solar technician remotely shut off the unit which shut my power down. The unit came back on and fried my furnace board, 2 garage door motors, and other insignificant items such as power strips. The furnace as well as other items could of caused a major fire and the cost to replace the furnace could be as much as 10k. The techs (besides the woman that caused it) have been incredibly helpful and sympathetic, however the management has ignored my calls and is not taking any responsibility except to replace unit (eg4 18k all in one). I believe it was the techs fault for shutting off my system and not advising me to switch the load breaker off in the event the unit would turn back on.

1. How do I prevent this when I receive new one? I was thinking an system wide surge protection and a transfer switch to bypass unit.
2. How do I try and convince sig solar to compensate me for my furnace?

Wow. Sorry to hear you're having issues.

I'm surprised @SignatureSolarJess hasn't replied yet.

I wonder if @Will Prowse has any insight?

Mine surged once and knocked out my stove. So I put a lighting arrestor on the 18Kpv. SS powered cycled mine yesterday and did not have any issues.

So two reports of these units damaging equipment.

@Eddie_LuxPowerTek have you seen this before?

 

[Tulex]

Makes one wonder how many other people have had this happen and didn't make the connection.

 

[EG4_Jared]

The long and short of it is while troubleshooting battery connection (eg4 lifepower 48 volt (6)) a signature solar technician remotely shut off the unit which shut my power down. The unit came back on and fried my furnace board, 2 garage door motors, and other insignificant items such as power strips. The furnace as well as other items could of caused a major fire and the cost to replace the furnace could be as much as 10k. The techs (besides the woman that caused it) have been incredibly helpful and sympathetic, however the management has ignored my calls and is not taking any responsibility except to replace unit (eg4 18k all in one). I believe it was the techs fault for shutting off my system and not advising me to switch the load breaker off in the event the unit would turn back on.

1. How do I prevent this when I receive new one? I was thinking an system wide surge protection and a transfer switch to bypass unit.
2. How do I try and convince sig solar to compensate me for my furnace?

I suggest using a manual transfer switch and a PV Interactive System 2-pole fused disconnect for the safest troubleshooting method. This setup ensures that power from the utility is directed to the loads panel while isolating the inverter from the grid and loads. You can find a helpful example of this setup in the 18kPV manual on page 34.

Link to the manual: https://eg4electronics.com/categories/inverters/eg4-18kpv-12lv-all-in-one-hybrid-inverter

 

[BKY2003]

The long and short of it is while troubleshooting battery connection (eg4 lifepower 48 volt (6)) a signature solar technician remotely shut off the unit which shut my power down. The unit came back on and fried my furnace board, 2 garage door motors, and other insignificant items such as power strips. The furnace as well as other items could of caused a major fire and the cost to replace the furnace could be as much as 10k. The techs (besides the woman that caused it) have been incredibly helpful and sympathetic, however the management has ignored my calls and is not taking any responsibility except to replace unit (eg4 18k all in one). I believe it was the techs fault for shutting off my system and not advising me to switch the load breaker off in the event the unit would turn back on.

1. How do I prevent this when I receive new one? I was thinking an system wide surge protection and a transfer switch to bypass unit.
2. How do I try and convince sig solar to compensate me for my furnace?

On the EG4 monitoring site, under the Data History Tab. Did it happen to catch the voltage spike?

 

[BKY2003]

I suggest using a manual transfer switch and a PV Interactive System 2-pole fused disconnect for the safest troubleshooting method. This setup ensures that power from the utility is directed to the loads panel while isolating the inverter from the grid and loads. You can find a helpful example of this setup in the 18kPV manual on page 34.

Link to the manual: https://eg4electronics.com/categories/inverters/eg4-18kpv-12lv-all-in-one-hybrid-inverter

I am set up with the critical load subpanel diagram. It calls for a non fused 2 pole disconnect, which I have. Do you think its better to change to the fused Disconnect? Thanks.

I went ahead and ordered the fuse one.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

The long and short of it is while troubleshooting battery connection (eg4 lifepower 48 volt (6)) a signature solar technician remotely shut off the unit which shut my power down. The unit came back on and fried my furnace board, 2 garage door motors, and other insignificant items such as power strips. The furnace as well as other items could of caused a major fire and the cost to replace the furnace could be as much as 10k. The techs (besides the woman that caused it) have been incredibly helpful and sympathetic, however the management has ignored my calls and is not taking any responsibility except to replace unit (eg4 18k all in one). I believe it was the techs fault for shutting off my system and not advising me to switch the load breaker off in the event the unit would turn back on.

1. How do I prevent this when I receive new one? I was thinking an system wide surge protection and a transfer switch to bypass unit.
2. How do I try and convince sig solar to compensate me for my furnace?

Hi @scottlebus ! I'm so sorry this has happened! Our tech manager has actually been out of the office, but our senior tech manager reached out to you yesterday to offer support, and he is reaching back out to set up a phone call with you now to offer further assistance. As stated in his previous email, after a thorough review of the calls and emails with our technicians, this was caused by a lack of grounding that was addressed in a few phone calls with you. Therefore, regrettably, we cannot provide compensation for the furnace as we did not advise against grounding your inverter. Mistakes happen! We are all learning, but we are here to help! We will be sure to get you through the resolution process as quickly as possible to provide you with a replacement 18kPV. Once you have the new inverter, we'll be happy to help you get your system up and running smoothly. We'll ensure the settings are just right and the inverter is working at its best. However, please be aware that we're unable to provide guidance on wiring. We recommend involving a licensed electrician for any wiring assistance you may need. We look forward to getting this taken care of for you!

 

[Will Prowse]

The long and short of it is while troubleshooting battery connection (eg4 lifepower 48 volt (6)) a signature solar technician remotely shut off the unit which shut my power down. The unit came back on and fried my furnace board, 2 garage door motors, and other insignificant items such as power strips. The furnace as well as other items could of caused a major fire and the cost to replace the furnace could be as much as 10k. The techs (besides the woman that caused it) have been incredibly helpful and sympathetic, however the management has ignored my calls and is not taking any responsibility except to replace unit (eg4 18k all in one). I believe it was the techs fault for shutting off my system and not advising me to switch the load breaker off in the event the unit would turn back on.

1. How do I prevent this when I receive new one? I was thinking an system wide surge protection and a transfer switch to bypass unit.
2. How do I try and convince sig solar to compensate me for my furnace?

Can you post pictures of your wiring and system configuration? Grounding and how you have the 18K connected to your house? Can you post graphs of when it shut down?

 

[Hedges]

Mine surged once and knocked out my stove. So I put a lighting arrestor on the 18Kpv. SS powered cycled mine yesterday and did not have any issues.

We've all made the mistake of believing specs.

Read up on my in-house tests, then watch the videos Midnight made (my thread has links) showing this or similar model Delta lightning arrestor. Then buy a midnight. It may be 4x the cost, but at least it will work.

Delta LA 602 Lightning Arrestor "Hey! Is this thing on??"

I've been using Delta Lightning Arrestors on my system since they were spec'd by Real Goods as part of the package I bought from them. I now have a surge capacitor on the AC input as well, which is supposed to slow rising edge of voltage so it doesn't get as high before the Silicon Oxide...

diysolarforum.com

 

[Will Prowse]

Makes one wonder how many other people have had this happen and didn't make the connection.

If this happened often we would know about it. Especially me. Let's get more information on their system and figure out what's going on first.

 

[Will Prowse]

Wow. Sorry to hear you're having issues.

I'm surprised @SignatureSolarJess hasn't replied yet.

I wonder if @Will Prowse has any insight?


So two reports of these units damaging equipment.

@Eddie_LuxPowerTek have you seen this before?

No evidence posted here so it's useless till we see what actually happened. Hoping they can post pictures of their system and some logs of when it happened. And how they have their system wired

 

[Hedges]

As stated in his previous email, after a thorough review of the calls and emails with our technicians, this was caused by a lack of grounding that was addressed in a few phone calls with you.

Can you explain to me (like I'm an engineer) what the wrong/right way to wire it is and how lack of grounding caused damage to his equipment?

This is a DIY forum, many people here are buying and installing that model. They need to know what to watch out for, and why.

 

[Will Prowse]

I guess everyone here became a shill for Signature Solar.

Make a claim with your home owners insurance and let them go after Signature Solar.

No one here is shilling signature solar, and everyone bashes on them here more than anywhere else. We are constantly trying to find issues with their products. What we need here is actual evidence. Also this device is made by luxpower for eg4, and distributed by signature solar. This should be impossible for a luxpower or distributor tech to do remotely, unless it is wired incorrectly or has a bad neutral connection or something like that.