EG4 18KPV behavior

[chrisman2731]

I have an EG4 18KPV that went online in december of 2023, over the last month or so it has been working very well and I am happy with it. I do however have 3 weird behaviors that I am curious as to why this happens.

Design:
I am using diagram 4.1 as my design
main panel provides a 70 amp breaker to power EG418KPV which then powers a sub panel via a 60amp breaker.
6 X Ruixi Server rack batteries added last week
3 Strings of Sunpower 440w panels X 8 for 10.56KW of power
firmware: fAAB-1312 initial post - Updated to fAAB-1717 on 2/1/2024

Settings:


behavior #1
Firmware: fAAB-1312, have not tested on Firmware: fAAB-1717
I originally did not have any batteries hooked up and was hoping to use solar first and then grid power to charge my f150 lightning and Chrysler Pacifica PHEV. however it just did grid passthrough as my solar was not enough to provide 100% of the power. I have an emporia charger and I set it all the way down to 6 amps. My expectation was 2-6kw of solar + remainder from grid. instead I got grid passthrough and solar shutoff. I next tried to move over another circuit into my sub panel to run my dining room and mini fridge. however again I got grid passthrough and not solar first and my solar stayed shut down. This only changed once I moved over my two air handlers on double pole 15A breakers and and my heat pumps on double pole 40A and double pole 50A breakers. Then everything started working as expected with solar first and then grid. when my dining room was averaging less than 400w I had plenty of solar to handle but it still just went grid bypass. was it because it was 120v and not 240v? can I not use one leg at a time even with such a tiny load? was the car charger just too big of a load?

behavior #2
Firmware: fAAB-1717
Inverter takes grid power to partially power loads even when solar is more than enough and solar is charging the battery. again not a big deal, just why?
Solution: disabled "Weather Optimize" and this now works as expected. even though I thought I correctly configured this, perhaps I misunderstood the settings?



behavior #3
Firmware: fAAB-1717
Inverter provides load power from solar, battery AND grid. My battery stack is more than sufficient to handle the entire load on its own. why take grid power?
Solution: disabled "Weather Optimize" and this now works as expected. even though I thought I correctly configured this, perhaps I misunderstood the settings?



Issue #1
Mobile application constantly times out saying "Network Error" and only way to fix is to close app, open and login again.

Issue #2
LCD screen settings are vastly different than Mobile App and Web UI

 

[tmprof]

I see #2 and #3 with my system that uses the 18kpv as well. If you hit refresh on the page, it'll usually switch to only pulling from batteries / panels within 30 seconds or so, but I agree...it's annoying.

 

[BKY2003]

I see #2 and #3 with my system that uses the 18kpv as well. If you hit refresh on the page, it'll usually switch to only pulling from batteries / panels within 30 seconds or so, but I agree...it's annoying.

“hit refresh on the page” the app?

Yeah, I have the same issue. I submitted a request to get it fixed, but what ever they changed didn’t seem to work

 

[BKY2003]

I just Called SS and they said my unit had some conflicting setting causing these issues. So they said my 18Kpv should not pull from the Grid anymore when solar or Battery is available. Shoutout to SS, they are super nice and it is so good to speak to someone that speaks fluent southern draw. Like I do.

 

[chrisman2731]

care to share what settings? Signature solar actually set these values for me during my setup.

 

[BKY2003]

I believe it was settings not available to the enduser.

 

[y0bailey]

I can't speak to the 3rd issue, but I've seen issue #2 in the past. I haven't seen it since updating to the newest 1717 firmware.

Maybe worth a shot.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

care to share what settings? Signature solar actually set these values for me during my setup.
View attachment 192671

Don't hesitate to give us a call if you need any assistance! The wait time is less than 30 seconds right now!

 

[chrisman2731]

firmware upgraded to fAAB-1717. will monitor for a few days and then if no change will call SS. again I do wish to be clear, these behaviours are not a big deal and I really like this inverter. I just wanted to share my experience with others so far.

 

[tmprof]

I agree! My 18Kpv has been super stable since I installed it last November, I'm 100% satisfied with it.

 

[BKY2003]

Just giving an update. It’s not perfect but it’s way better than it was. I update to firmware 1717 and seemed like it performed better after I did a reboot of the system. (Restart) My 18Kpv uses a little grid when it should not, but I can live with this minimal amount. It only used 300 watts from the grid since 12 o’clock.

 

[Jsands]

jumping in on this tread... I too just upgraded from two 6500's to the 18Kpv and am very glad i made the change. I was having a lot of flickering lights with the 6500's (none with the 18K). SS did the remote firmware update to 1717. Took two attempts.

I have 1 18Kpv with 6 Eg4 lifepower4 batteries.

I would also like to see what others are doing about the settings issues as described above.

I have noticed Grid will NOT charge my battery bank. Grid will kick in when my bank hits 20% (like it should), but only charges for a short time (about 2% extra charge) and then shuts off. I have made a couple calls to SS without much luck in finding the glitch.

I have to say the manual is not the greatest in describing what each setting is and how to best make adjustments.

I find using the web based platform easier vs the phone app

 

[EG4_Jared]

jumping in on this tread... I too just upgraded from two 6500's to the 18Kpv and am very glad i made the change. I was having a lot of flickering lights with the 6500's (none with the 18K). SS did the remote firmware update to 1717. Took two attempts.

I have 1 18Kpv with 6 Eg4 lifepower4 batteries.

I would also like to see what others are doing about the settings issues as described above.

I have noticed Grid will NOT charge my battery bank. Grid will kick in when my bank hits 20% (like it should), but only charges for a short time (about 2% extra charge) and then shuts off. I have made a couple calls to SS without much luck in finding the glitch.

I have to say the manual is not the greatest in describing what each setting is and how to best make adjustments.

I find using the web based platform easier vs the phone app

If you could DM your station name and serial number for the inverter, I can look into this.