EG4 18kpv Questions

[Freep]

I'm really liking what I see with the EG4 18KPV but I have a few questions. I'm in the middle of an energy audit now and I have a baseline of around 900-1000w of continuous usage before items like HVAC and other appliances factor in. I'm using about 30-40 Kw a day. This will probably go up for summer and winter, but I'm not sure by how much because I'm getting a geothermal heat pump installed.

I tried to push my usage as high as I could today by running the old air conditioner, the oven, a toaster oven, microwave, tea kettle, everything I could find and I got right up to 13Kw. The max output for the EG4 18KPV is 13.5Kw.

1. What happens if I have an 18KPV and I push it to 14 Kw for half an hour? Do circuit breakers trip?
2. I will not be pushing to the grid. What happens when production is more than consumption?
3. Are there any BMSs that the unit can communicate with or do you have to set it to lead battery when you have a DIY battery bank?
4. Can I programmatically set the unit to charge the batteries from the grid? The scenario is using Home Assistant, seeing that the next day is cloudy and charging overnight in anticipation of a low production day.

 

[Quattrohead]

1. What happens if I have an 18KPV and I push it to 14 Kw for half an hour? Do circuit breakers trip?
2. I will not be pushing to the grid. What happens when production is more than consumption?
3. Are there any BMSs that the unit can communicate with or do you have to set it to lead battery when you have a DIY battery bank?
4. Can I programmatically set the unit to charge the batteries from the grid? The scenario is using Home Assistant, seeing that the next day is cloudy and charging overnight in anticipation of a low production day.

1. As it seems like you will have grid connected to it, it will pull any extra it needs from grid, no trips.
2. Production from the panels will match consumption, it can be set to not backfeed grid at all.
3. There are a few BMS that can talk to inverters, Seplos and some JBD. Setting it to lead acid and set the inverter to monitor voltage is fine.
4. Yes on the unit itself, it has timers but no on SA/HA control for now.

It sounds like a perfect fit for your situation and pretty much how I am running mine.

 

[MN_1963]

Quick question,
Has anyone tried the 18KPV fast charge?
I tried mine the other night and display showed the fast charge activated but it did not charge the batteries. I think I may have a setting incorrect, If yours is working, what are the charge settings?

 

[Quattrohead]

EG4 18K

I have a EG4 18K Inverter, works well except for (Quick Charge) When I click on Quick Charge the screen will indicate charging but no voltage from grid to batteries. I have 3 EG4 48V LL batteries.

diysolarforum.com

It does in grid assist mode but currently not in EPS mode.
Actually I just tested again as I have newer firmware and some settings that have been changed in the back end that are not currently available and it does now appear to work in EPS mode too.
So it will be available to everyone soon.

 

[Ben McCann]

Spoke with Signature Solar about quick charge not working. The 18k needed a firmware update. After that update, quick charge DID work, but it is at a low current, only charging 560w instantaneously. Since quick charge is only for 1 hour, that is hardly going to get us close to full if a bad storm is predicted. Charge current limit is set to 250 Adc and AC charge power is set to 12 kw. Going to keep working on it.

 

[SignatureSolarJames]

Spoke with Signature Solar about quick charge not working. The 18k needed a firmware update. After that update, quick charge DID work, but it is at a low current, only charging 560w instantaneously. Since quick charge is only for 1 hour, that is hardly going to get us close to full if a bad storm is predicted. Charge current limit is set to 250 Adc and AC charge power is set to 12 kw. Going to keep working on it.

good feedback @Markus_EG4

 

[y0bailey]

Spoke with Signature Solar about quick charge not working. The 18k needed a firmware update. After that update, quick charge DID work, but it is at a low current, only charging 560w instantaneously. Since quick charge is only for 1 hour, that is hardly going to get us close to full if a bad storm is predicted. Charge current limit is set to 250 Adc and AC charge power is set to 12 kw. Going to keep working on it.

What battery?

I've been fiddling with quick charge all day today and it's working as intended once I figured it out.
This is how I get mine to quick charge now - https://diysolarforum.com/threads/eg4-18kpv-q-a-general-thread.61636/post-928689

 

[ChrisG]

Just watched this video from @Zapper77. Having to manipulate SOC settings to get quick charge to work seems like a horrible user experience just to charge when needed, like a storm coming in.

 

[y0bailey]

Just watched this video from @Zapper77. Having to manipulate SOC settings to get quick charge to work seems like a horrible user experience just to charge when needed, like a storm coming in.

Look at my post. So much easier.

But I do agree there need to be some tweaks made to make this more intuitive

 

[rmacgurn]

1. As it seems like you will have grid connected to it, it will pull any extra it needs from grid, no trips.
2. Production from the panels will match consumption, it can be set to not backfeed grid at all.
3. There are a few BMS that can talk to inverters, Seplos and some JBD. Setting it to lead acid and set the inverter to monitor voltage is fine.
4. Yes on the unit itself, it has timers but no on SA/HA control for now.

It sounds like a perfect fit for your situation and pretty much how I am running mine.

do you know what the settings are for using Seplos batteries with the EG4 18kpv. i think someone told me to set it to pylon type as i don't think Seplos is an option in the 18kpv?

thanks

 

[Markus_EG4]

try lithium 6

 

[rmacgurn]

Markus i cannot get into change it as it seems the password was changed. last people in to update it was EG$ or Gilbert. also fyi it is currently set as 2, which according to the luxpower US manual is pylon tech battery. Spelos says they use this same protocol. so should i try this as im in standby spending money on the grid now.

thanks

 

[rmacgurn]

ok I got the password to work again but I can't seem to get the battery type to save as anything but 0, when I change and hit save and check again it back to zero.

 

[rmacgurn]

Markus got it working but a little concerned the batteries max discharge rate is 200amp. but via canbus comms its showing a lot more....390amps. don't want to fry the new batteries.

is this normal?

 

[Markus_EG4]

thats going to be a protocol problem from that bms. The Manufacture of that bms or battery need to fix it

 

[Markus_EG4]

Here is the list we have so far

 

[ChrisG]

Markus got it working but a little concerned the batteries max discharge rate is 200amp. but via canbus comms its showing a lot more....390amps. don't want to fry the new batteries.

is this normal?

Did you look in the Seplos BMS, what protocol is the BMS itself set to? I am extremely interested in someone getting comms working with Seplos BMS v2 or v3. Would assume setting BMS to Pylon and Inverter to the proper config would get it.

EDIT: Looks like people are getting the 18kPV and 6000XP working with setting the Seplos BMS to Pylon and setting the inverter to Lithium #2.

 

[rmacgurn]

Did you look in the Seplos BMS, what protocol is the BMS itself set to? I am extremely interested in someone getting comms working with Seplos BMS v2 or v3. Would assume setting BMS to Pylon and Inverter to the proper config would get it.

EDIT: Looks like people are getting the 18kPV and 6000XP working with setting the Seplos BMS to Pylon and setting the inverter to Lithium #2.

yes its using pylon option #2 under battery type works fine with the seplos units i have. they are 11.7KW and canbus comms are working fine after setting to pylon protocol in EG4 18kpv. That info came from the LuxPower guide to set up different batteries. Only issue is the max charging rate is 390amps well beyond the 2/0 wire I used. talking with china about this. it might be right as each of my two units can take 200amps so if each were drawing 200amps that is 400amps. beyound the output ability of the EG4 unit or my cables or my 8kw of panels.