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EG4 18k PV Discharging 10 - 50 times per day

You have identified a valid improvement that could be made in the programming, maybe give them a touch more than a week to implement it.
Quattrohead, come on. Luxpower is going to have to fix this. Stop pretending EG4 is writing the firmware for this product. They arent.
And you're right, its likely going to take a lot longer than a week! If they fix this.
 
Quattrohead, come on. Luxpower is going to have to fix this. Stop pretending EG4 is writing the firmware for this product. They arent.
And you're right, its likely going to take a lot longer than a week! If they fix this.
I'm sure the firmware is a co-operative effort. Any other scenario would be silly. Could even be a forked effort, though I would guess a back-and-forth. Frankly nobody has to "fix" anything. If the 18kpv does not meet your needs, perhaps you should sell/return it and get something that operates in a manner more to your liking. There are a few people on this forum that have done just that. This time verify the product will operate as you deem necessary with a return clause if it does not meet your specification. You have access to this forum, lay out what you want and ask what systems will accomplish your goal, get confirmation, and then buy it.

Every product made does not have to meet the desired expectation of whomever happens to buy it. This relentless expectation by people that they should be able to buy something and that the manufacturer has some obligation to make it work in a particular way is stunning to me. If it does not work as advertised then they should take it back, otherwise they are under no obligation to do anything.
 
Desired State:

PV power to Loads
Excess PV to battery charge
Discharge only between 18:00 and 7:00
Any excess energy after PV can go to grid or not (I don't care).

1. powering loads from pv first
2. charging battery with any excess pv
3. power from grid (not battery) when pv power is insufficient
4.. only discharging batteries overnight

I run my system normally with backup power enabled, not in Off-grid or anything, but not tied to the grid.
I run my "LOAD" outputs into an ATS with the grid on the other side of the ATS, feeds everything.
When the sun is shining the inverters power the loads from PV and excess solar goes to the batteries.
I switch to batteries when solar is insufficient. If I bleed the batteries to 10% my inverter turns off and the ATS kicks me to the grid.
Thus the only threshold I have set is backup power and SOC cutoff at 10%. Works great with my 13:00-21:00 TOU.

So the sticky point seems to be #3, forcing output via the grid on a schedule, when there is insufficient PV to power all the loads.

This would indicate the desire is to charge the batteries to 100% and keep them there until some pre-defined time. and to just cut-over to grid and dump any PV anytime it is insufficient to handle the load, which is odd to me.

This seems somewhat complex. If you do not allow the batteries to supplement the PV then you will switch to grid any time cloud cover or something drops PV below your load.

You seem to be trying to do this with forced discharge, and I don't think that will work. All the other settings seem to want to charge the batteries from the grid when there is no PV.

Did you try something like:

Charge:
Charge Last: DISABLE
Battery Backup: DISABLE
AC Charge: DISABLE
PV Charge Priority: DISABLE

Discharge:
DISABLE other sections
Peak Shaving: Do not try the wrap-around for the time, set it to 1800-2359. SOC 10 Power 0
 
Here's another aspect of how the 18k pv doesn't optimize for ROI. I should have 10kw coming from panels at 12:35pm EST, but I'm only getting 5kw because the inverter is only supplying the needed load, and has already filled the battery early in the day with pv power that wasn't in excess of loads.

Further explanation:

If the 18k pv prioritizes all pv power to battery first, then the batteries get prematurely filled, and then later in the day when pv power is sure to exceed load, there is no battery capacity left to bank the excess pv power. So then pv power is rate limited by the inverter.
Yes, I could sell back to grid at a few pennies, but I bought expensive batteries to bank the pv power, not sell back to grid for pennies.


View attachment 220395
Sorry, but I don't understand this. How does the inverter know how much solar power you may or may not get that day? If you need to be 100% certain your batteries are charged then it must charge them first there are no other alternatives. You can set your max charge rates if you have some reasonable expectations for a given day, for example to a number that should charge the batteries by 1500 or something, but if for whatever reason you have clouds or other PV degradation, you may not make it.

There is no such thing as 'prematurely' filled. This critique is silly, I doubt any inverter has a crystal ball to know what your solar production is going to be at any given hour of the day, or any given period of time.
 
You keep talking about net metering, blah, blah, but what I'm hearing is a desire to get blood from a turnip. . . Some sort of ideal battery optimization, with magic mirrors, and schedules and shift to save a few minutes of on-grid time. I'd take a step back, as I don't think any system is going to do what you want to try to do, and even if it did it won't save you any significant money. Either you have enough battery to get thru the night or you don't. When the sun goes down to the point it won't power your load, you want to shut the inverters off, and then crank them back on at 1800 with the batteries, until the batteries are done. My advice would be to get enough extra battery to cover the 2-4 hour window your trying to shut the thing off (1500-1800ish), if shifting that usage later in the evening will actually save significant money. Otherwise I'd stick with KISS.

Alternatively you could write a modicum of code that monitors all the different things you want to make a decision on, and kick the unit off/on via a modbus call. I started to get creative like this for winter TOU 5-9A,5-9P. After I did the math I realized the effort and maintenance was not worth the few pennies I would save. I did go ahead and double my battery capacity last Nov, mostly eliminating the issue, but there is only so much you can realistically do to optimize your battery capacity.
 
You keep talking about net metering, blah, blah, but what I'm hearing is a desire to get blood from a turnip. . . Some sort of ideal battery optimization, with magic mirrors, and schedules and shift to save a few minutes of on-grid time. I'd take a step back, as I don't think any system is going to do what you want to try to do, and even if it did it won't save you any significant money. Either you have enough battery to get thru the night or you don't. When the sun goes down to the point it won't power your load, you want to shut the inverters off, and then crank them back on at 1800 with the batteries, until the batteries are done. My advice would be to get enough extra battery to cover the 2-4 hour window your trying to shut the thing off (1500-1800ish), if shifting that usage later in the evening will actually save significant money. Otherwise I'd stick with KISS.

Alternatively you could write a modicum of code that monitors all the different things you want to make a decision on, and kick the unit off/on via a modbus call. I started to get creative like this for winter TOU 5-9A,5-9P. After I did the math I realized the effort and maintenance was not worth the few pennies I would save. I did go ahead and double my battery capacity last Nov, mostly eliminating the issue, but there is only so much you can realistically do to optimize your battery capacity.
Eg4 glitches. Period. I am returning because it's a faulty product. Not even eg4 or sig solar knows how to make the machine do what it's supposed to as evidenced by my 15 back and forth with them and sig solar. If the software behaved in some predictable way, I could figure out some work around but no settings behave predictably. I can turn AC charge off, and then it turns on. And vice versa. Anyone making excuses for this product simply hasn't seen what I've seen or is accepting of the many glitches. If I had to make this machine work, I could, but it would cost me thousands over the next 10 years to compromise with the behavior. Scheduled charging and discharging just doesn't work...and this feature is advertised.
 
Scheduled charging and discharging just doesn't work...and this feature is advertised.
Doesn't work as expected/desired I would agree.

Please let us know which system you get that does work as you have outlined. Maybe a Sol-Ark? They have the most mature firmware. It would save a few pennies if I could prioritize my 5-9 windows for battery use in the winter.
 
Doesn't work as expected/desired I would agree.

Please let us know which system you get that does work as you have outlined. Maybe a Sol-Ark? They have the most mature firmware. It would save a few pennies if I could prioritize my 5-9 windows for battery use in the winter.
Yes, going with solark 15k ($6300 no tax/no s&h) , spoke with their tech support and they claim my desired state is their out of the box configuration. So I may never know if their software is buggy if I don't have to flick 2 dozen switches to make it work. If they have a minimum soc before battery can be discharged, I'll be impressed but I'll wait to find out on that one. That feature could save many battery cycles (2-3x)
 
I'm sure the firmware is a co-operative effort. Any other scenario would be silly. Could even be a forked effort, though I would guess a back-and-forth. Frankly nobody has to "fix" anything. If the 18kpv does not meet your needs, perhaps you should sell/return it and get something that operates in a manner more to your liking. There are a few people on this forum that have done just that. This time verify the product will operate as you deem necessary with a return clause if it does not meet your specification. You have access to this forum, lay out what you want and ask what systems will accomplish your goal, get confirmation, and then buy it.

Every product made does not have to meet the desired expectation of whomever happens to buy it. This relentless expectation by people that they should be able to buy something and that the manufacturer has some obligation to make it work in a particular way is stunning to me. If it does not work as advertised then they should take it back, otherwise they are under no obligation to do anything.
Luxpower is doing the firmware, period. That came out in the 18kpv thread regarding a parallel application that put roughly 400 volts on the input terminals. The Luxpower firmware is in lockstep with the 18kpv release.
I agree, return it. Life's too short.
 
well, well, well. eg4 fumbled it at the 1 yard line and managed to recover the ball in the endzone...well played, eg4, well played.

credit to @EG4_Jared ... who got somebody in the back back back office to hail mary down these settings which magically achieved DESIRED STATE:

Enabling Battery Backup Mode + PV Charge Priority Stop Volt(V) set to 48v

Here is the final product (pic below):

Notice no more glitchy charge/discharge behavior...
Notice only excess pv going to charge batteries...
Notice only battery discharge at night...
1718653604040.png

For the sake of thoroughness, I'll post all the settings below....but the setting that made ALL THE DIFFERENCE was as I mentioned above:

Enabling Battery Backup Mode + PV Charge Priority Stop Volt(V) set to 48v (which I've outlined in red below)

I've also pointed to the AC Charge Settings which are part of tricking into EG4 18k pv into behaving itself.

This software still requires jerry-rigging (as you'll see the Forced Discharge is not enabled...but the scheduler in that section is still adhered to for it's discharge schedule). BUT, my desired state has been met and that's good news for EG4 18k pv which NEEDS this desired state to be accomplishable. I just hope it's not wrecked by a firmware update. @EG4_Jared PLEASE make sure this desired state is protected at all costs.

Not sure if EG4 made any changes to the inverter to eliminate the glitching (charging/discharging hundred cycles/day) or if LUX did...I did not do any firmware updates in the past week...but the glitches are no longer present as of the last 3 days testing these settings.



1718653728291.png



1718653794720.png

1718653893616.png
1718653922927.png
 
well, well, well. eg4 fumbled it at the 1 yard line and managed to recover the ball in the endzone...well played, eg4, well played.

credit to @EG4_Jared ... who got somebody in the back back back office to hail mary down these settings which magically achieved DESIRED STATE:

Enabling Battery Backup Mode + PV Charge Priority Stop Volt(V) set to 48v

Here is the final product (pic below):

Notice no more glitchy charge/discharge behavior...
Notice only excess pv going to charge batteries...
Notice only battery discharge at night...
View attachment 222688

For the sake of thoroughness, I'll post all the settings below....but the setting that made ALL THE DIFFERENCE was as I mentioned above:

Enabling Battery Backup Mode + PV Charge Priority Stop Volt(V) set to 48v (which I've outlined in red below)

I've also pointed to the AC Charge Settings which are part of tricking into EG4 18k pv into behaving itself.

This software still requires jerry-rigging (as you'll see the Forced Discharge is not enabled...but the scheduler in that section is still adhered to for it's discharge schedule). BUT, my desired state has been met and that's good news for EG4 18k pv which NEEDS this desired state to be accomplishable. I just hope it's not wrecked by a firmware update. @EG4_Jared PLEASE make sure this desired state is protected at all costs.

Not sure if EG4 made any changes to the inverter to eliminate the glitching (charging/discharging hundred cycles/day) or if LUX did...I did not do any firmware updates in the past week...but the glitches are no longer present as of the last 3 days testing these settings.



View attachment 222690



View attachment 222691

View attachment 222693
View attachment 222694
If you get it running properly simply dont allow firmware updates unless its a safety issue.
 
If you get it running properly simply dont allow firmware updates unless its a safety issue.
well....
here's the post mortem

the eg4 18k was able to achieve the desired state but only at the expense of reintroducing the 50-100 charge/discharge cycles per day. I had a few days without the glitching, but then it all fell apart.

I've charged off the eg4 18k pv with my credit card company because Signature Solar, despite their friendly marketing, has dodged my emails and calls for the last 3 weeks.

***Update***
Sig Solar says they'll do an RMA with me. Took several nasty emails and dozens of hours of troubleshooting. FYI.
 
Last edited:
well....
here's the post mortem

the eg4 18k was able to achieve the desired state but only at the expense of reintroducing the 50-100 charge/discharge cycles per day. I had a few days without the glitching, but then it all fell apart.

I've charged off the eg4 18k pv with my credit card company because Signature Solar, despite their friendly marketing, has dodged my emails and calls for the last 3 weeks.

***Update***
Sig Solar says they'll do an RMA with me. Took several nasty emails and dozens of hours of troubleshooting. FYI.
It appeared that you were able to get it working, but then it became glitchy, yet again? Sounds like you and SS beat on that inverter for a long time.

What are you going to replace the 18kpv with?
 
It appeared that you were able to get it working, but then it became glitchy, yet again? Sounds like you and SS beat on that inverter for a long time.

What are you going to replace the 18kpv with?
Solark 15k. Crossing my fingers that the rumors are true...that it just works out the box. $6499, no sales tax or s/h. The extra spend is worth it if no glitching. But I'll be documenting it's behavior here once installed in 10 days.
 
Just updated to the latest firmware on my 18 K PV the things acting like it’s possessed. It changed the AC charge to 100% even though I had had it set at 15 I didn’t make that change and now it’s ramping up and ramping down even though there’s not a cloud in the sky on the on the solar, and then it’s pulling from the grid even though I have the peak shaving turned on was zero.
 
Just updated to the latest firmware on my 18 K PV the things acting like it’s possessed. It changed the AC charge to 100% even though I had had it set at 15 I didn’t make that change and now it’s ramping up and ramping down even though there’s not a cloud in the sky on the on the solar, and then it’s pulling from the grid even though I have the peak shaving turned on was zero.

I suggest performing a full system reset by disconnecting all power sources for at least 30 seconds following a firmware update. Should this not resolve the issue, please feel free to direct message me.
 
Just updated to the latest firmware on my 18 K PV the things acting like it’s possessed. It changed the AC charge to 100% even though I had had it set at 15 I didn’t make that change and now it’s ramping up and ramping down even though there’s not a cloud in the sky on the on the solar, and then it’s pulling from the grid even though I have the peak shaving turned on was zero.
How did the.shining fix his problem? Ah, right, return shipping. Although possession is perhaps an alternative source of energy! 😁
 
Thanks for the advice. I’ve done as you suggested and things for now are behaving normally. I’ll follow up tomorrow with status.
 
Well last night at midnight my system started AC charging my batteries even though AC charge is off and my batteries were at 63%. It charged to 78% even when though there isn’t any setting anywhere near 78%. 99% is the stop setting.
 
Well last night at midnight my system started AC charging my batteries even though AC charge is off and my batteries were at 63%. It charged to 78% even when though there isn’t any setting anywhere near 78%. 99% is the stop setting.

Would you mind sending me a DM with your serial number? I would like to look into this.
 
There’s been changes to the AC charge start and stop time schedule that I did not make. There’s an input on the third time schedule. Did you guys do that?
 
There’s been changes to the AC charge start and stop time schedule that I did not make. There’s an input on the third time schedule. Did you guys do that?
Welcome to the jungle.

I got my Solark 15k installed 2 weeks ago and it's been everything I dreamed of. It just works. Having said that, I'm waiting on a dongle replacement from Solark so that I can get all my analytics feeding into my app. So they failed the dongle test and it took 4 phone calls over 2 weeks to get them to agree to replace it...unacceptable. But the inverter does work like a dream. Only charges from AC when you tell it to. Only discharges when you tell it to. Quieter too than the eg4 18k. Easier to install with more room for the entrance cables from below. Solark 15k gets a 9.5 all things considered. Eg4 18k is just BUGGY. Anyone who tells you otherwise just isn't paying close attention. Might be fixed in the future but not for now. Zero bugs with Solark 15k imverter but they need to get their current dongle and firmware problems sorted out, but seems like a temporary migration issue from one mobilr app to another.
 
One tech who was attempting to fix another problem fiddled and poked and made changes, and finally read back the _WRONG_ serial number for my inverter, so he had been poking at someone else's system and not mine. Might be some time for some additional training @SignatureSolarJess
 

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