EG4 18kPV Q+A general thread

[Zapper77]

my LL batteries with KPV SOC setting seem to be less than My Growatt SOC settings with the LP batteries by about 1 1/2 volts @ 100% readings. All though I'm using the eg4 monitor with the LP which made it easy to set the voltage up and use SOC at the same time, if I'm thinking correctly. With out any changes of my own in SOC with KPV and LL batteries has been 54. some thing showing100% and the growatt soc settings @ 56v 100% reading. Comparing 3 LP verses 6 LL and 2 different inverters. Not comparing the 2 inverters but rather just the battery voltages.

What?

 

[Markus_EG4]

Hi guys a few questions if you have experience.
1. has anyone mixed LL with Lifepro4 batteries? any issues? I am thinking to add one more using lifepro4 to my two LL's
2. I use SOC for batteries but notice that my max voltage is 56.4 - 56.7V and at 10% when they kick off it's 50.9 - 51.1V. those ranges sound ok. I did two full cycles from 100% to 0% using 47V-58V as high and low cut off but never saw them get to those extremes.

thanks

The software is different between the 2 batteries. The Span from 0%-100% is also calculated different. We have a firmware to make the lifepowers slaves to the LLs but its still not the greatest for top balancing all batteries. I would personally only use LLs or Lifepowers and not mix them but thats just me.

 

[rmacgurn]

The software is different between the 2 batteries. The Span from 0%-100% is also calculated different. We have a firmware to make the lifepowers slaves to the LLs but its still not the greatest for top balancing all batteries. I would personally only use LLs or Lifepowers and not mix them but thats just me.

wow sales (Landon) told me no issue to mix the two as I have two LL and wanted to add a third and the cost of the lifepro4 is very attactive. only restriction is the LL has to be the master at first address. is that not correct? what is the drawback to adding a lifepro4 to my two LL's?

 

[Gavin Stone]

wow sales (Landon) told me no issue to mix the two as I have two LL and wanted to add a third and they cost of the lifepro4 is very attactive. only restriction is the LL has to be the master at first address. is that not correct? what is the drawback to adding a lifepro4 to my two LL's?

I believe the drawback is the top balancing aspect he just mentioned.

It’s still nice that it’s even possible now. When I asked about that possibility a while back they hadn’t come out with that firmware. If you have both types then I would definitely do it.

 

[Zapper77]

wow sales (Landon) told me no issue to mix the two as I have two LL and wanted to add a third and the cost of the lifepro4 is very attactive. only restriction is the LL has to be the master at first address. is that not correct? what is the drawback to adding a lifepro4 to my two LL's?

The LL and LP4 have different top voltage settings...that would make it hard to keep the LL batteries top balanced.

 

[ksmithaz1]

I'm about to pull the trigger on a 18kpv system through SS, but I have a few questions about wiring. I plan to install the inverter on the opposite side of a wall from my meter and main load (200amp panel) that is less than 10' from away. I use about 40kWh a day and installing a 13kW pv with 30kW battery backup for night. I plan on a 200amp main breaker under my meter, split the lines with polaris connecters, then to a transfer switch and grid load on inverter. The Load from inverter will go back out the wall to main panel breaker. I live in rural Texas with no permit besides electric co-op approval. (I do want it SAFE) just not bureaucracy safe

1. Should I fight with 4/0 copper or just use 3/0?
2. The manual has about 5 different fuses and breakers the wire goes through that I don't plan to use. Just Grid 200amp disconnect, inverter breakers, then 200amp on Main Panel. I only chose this because the solark 15k manual has no breakers between the grid disconnect and the inverter.
3. The neutral bar on the inverter says if fits 6-gauge wire. This seems small. Is there a way to fit a larger neutral for both the grid and the inverter load.

This is similar to my setup, but I'm running 100A on a breaker from the outside 150A panel, via a transfer switch to an inside 125A panel de-rated to 100A, and I moved ALL my loads into it. About 5 wire feet of 2AWG to the transfer another 2 feet into the panel. About 6 feet of 2AWG from a pair of inverters to the transfer switch. 200A should be like 2/0 I think. My daily house load is around 100-130KWH/day. The only 4/0 I put in is between the batteries and the 48v bus bars, individually fused at 300A. If you are only using 40KWH/day, that's not much what are your high demand loads? I'm tracking my A/C (Phoenix AZ), and I'm going to add a sensor to my HWH/Dryer circuit, and my EV charging circuit. This is all from my panel. My inverters shut down during the week between 2200 and 0100 hours as my batteries run out. Cloudy yesterday, during peak and the GF likes to dry 50 loads (Okay, 4, but it seems like 50) of laundry every Saturday and Sunday. The big spike after 2000 was for charging her Kona from the grid. My Niro EV is charging now, timer kicks on from 1130-1500 during my peak Solar window. Today I should be able to get a good 3-1/2 hours of charge on the EV and have the batteries at 95% ish at the cross-over point at 1800. When the checkbook improves I'll get another 30K of batteries and another 7KW of West facing panels to extend the afternoon roll-off. Won't get me any bragging rights in these forums, but might get me close to 100% off grid.

 

[Luxpower_Gilbert]

The LL and LP4 have different top voltage settings...that would make it hard to keep the LL batteries top balanced.

View attachment 157977
View attachment 157978

i have a 4 Daly bms with Daly Interface board, with different Ah capacity. what i noticed is the master will send the charging voltage and average SOC for all battery. also on the app it show available AH. My total AH capacity is 980AH

 

[ksmithaz1]

In regards to the modbus registers, can someone point out which would show the ac coupled power/energy?

I have several modbus sensors that work flawlessly, but cannot get reliable/understandable readings from the 18K's. I'm sure I will probably get back to this soon, but it's a zillion degrees (okay over 100F) in the utility room, and I'm not interested in getting the laptop and trying things standing there sweating my butt off. Love to see a post of a working poll. Input register 16 is listed as inverter output power (grid port). What are you trying to get exactly? My current understanding is the inverter pretty much just ties inputs to the bus, but until I can poll this thing, I can't get happy controlling my car charging. I have an SBC with a bunch of relays controlling output to various non-critical loads.

 

[Markus_EG4]

wow sales (Landon) told me no issue to mix the two as I have two LL and wanted to add a third and the cost of the lifepro4 is very attactive. only restriction is the LL has to be the master at first address. is that not correct? what is the drawback to adding a lifepro4 to my two LL's?

You can mix them if you want all I was saying is that I wouldn't do it because of the top balancing problem that can happen.

 

[ksmithaz1]

You can mix them if you want all I was saying is that I wouldn't do it because of the top balancing problem that can happen.

Mixing battery types seems like a really bad idea in general to me, unless you could somehow isolate them behind something that acted as an output regulator, and they were being independently charged.

 

[Quattrohead]

Mixing battery types seems like a really bad idea in general to me, unless you could somehow isolate them behind something that acted as an output regulator, and they were being independently charged.

That is called a BMS ?

 

[timselectric]

Disconnect communication and do whatever you want.

 

[G00SE]

You can mix them if you want all I was saying is that I wouldn't do it because of the top balancing problem that can happen.

I think part of his reply was left unaddressed. Conflicting information from sales vs on here.
I’d be confused as well

 

[ksmithaz1]

That is called a BMS ?

Yea, sort of, but if you parallel the posts between different battery "types" now you need a blocking diode that you can hook a charger behind, and then ... I dunno, I've never really messed with an independent BMS. Do they have charge input that is behind a blocking diode or something? I've dealt with this in an electronic (3-5v very low amperage) arena.

 

[Markus_EG4]

I think part of his reply was left unaddressed. Conflicting information from sales vs on here.
I’d be confused as well

Not really because the firmware does support this. All I was saying is that I personally wouldn’t do it that’s all.

 

[G00SE]

Not really because the firmware does support this. All I was saying is that I personally wouldn’t do it that’s all.

Nvm. Thanks for clarifying

 

[Farm Boy]

The LL and LP4 have different top voltage settings...that would make it hard to keep the LL batteries top balanced.

View attachment 157977
View attachment 157978

What? That did not come out quiet as meant but in a related relation to the LP4 verses LL that I've noticed in my 2 inverters. I did not mix and match I left the LP4's on 1 and the KPV with the LL's. knowing some issues of using both types of batteries with each other.

 

[rs50pilot]

I'm thinking of buy a 18k to use in a grid tied back up. I have 30kwh battery bank consisting of 5 sok server rack batteries and one home built 100ah battery.

I'm running 32 enphase Iq7+ with 365 watt modules. Line side tapped. I'm in CA on NEM 2.

I've read the whole thread and it was asked very early if the 18k has been used with enphase. I did not see a answer.
1. Has it been proven to work ac coupled with iq7+?

2. How does the 200a "bypass" work? If you turn the inverter off, does it still output power? I wouldn't think so.

3. Can it be set to charge directly from the grid only? Even if you have ac coupled PV? I didn't see, or can't recall the answer to this. I've read so many things in the last week...

4. Does the EG4 and the Lux use the exact same soft/firmware?
I read there were a couple hardware differences.

I use my inverter cover peak times, and for when PGE decides to shut the power off on us. I want to connect only one string or 13 modules to the 18k. I will also be running it to a critical loads panel. I have a all in one main panel and I don't wanna mess with trying to wire it as a pass through.

Thanks

 

[fromport]

I'm thinking of buy a 18k to use in a grid tied back up. I have 30kwh battery bank consisting of 5 sok server rack batteries and one home built 100ah battery.

I'm running 32 enphase Iq7+ with 365 watt modules. Line side tapped. I'm in CA on NEM 2.

I've read the whole thread and it was asked very early if the 18k has been used with enphase. I did not see a answer.
1. Has it been proven to work ac coupled with iq7+?

I have read that IQ7 are better suited to be AC coupled to AiO hybrid inverters than IQ8 series.
The IQ8 are basically "too smart". They have way too much computing power included and turns out as less stable than IQ7's.
Since it is a programmable design, IQ8 (with a software upgrade) might in the future be on par with the IQ7 or maybe even better.
I have only hooked up 1x IQ8+ micro inverter with a panel to my LP inverter and that seemed to work okay in an off grid simulation.
But I had not much to test with load swings and SoC of the battery etc.

2. How does the 200a "bypass" work? If you turn the inverter off, does it still output power? I wouldn't think so.

I never even thought about testing that condition. Maybe someone else has ?

3. Can it be set to charge directly from the grid only?

Yes, up to 12kW AC can be used from the grid to charge the battery afaik

Even if you have ac coupled PV? I didn't see, or can't recall the answer to this. I've read so many things in the last week...

Ac coupled will take over the load and charge the batteries if/when needed, up to 12kW AC (input in that case) afaik.
I have not tested that though.

4. Does the EG4 and the Lux use the exact same soft/firmware?
I read there were a couple hardware differences.

There is an old series LP and a new series LP that is also is sold under a different name.
They all use the same software.

I use my inverter cover peak times, and for when PGE decides to shut the power off on us. I want to connect only one string or 13 modules to the 18k. I will also be running it to a critical loads panel. I have a all in one main panel and I don't wanna mess with trying to wire it as a pass through.

In your setup with line side you have a fused disconnect with a minimum of 60 amps and max the same size of your main fuse of your main panel.
if you want to hook up a LP inverter between your main panel and a critical load panel, and you want to move 13 panels/micro inverters to the secure load panel, you would need to calculate bus bar capactity.
You would basically create a hybrid of both load & line side setup

And I am not sure how the NEC code would agree with such a setup.

 

[rs50pilot]

Buss rating is 225a. I have 125a main breaker. But if I'm line side tapped, the buss rating doesn't come into play. So I would just have a 60a breaker in the box for the inverter. Way good on 120% rule. As far as NEC goes...