EG4 18KPV VBUS issue and Poor Signature Solar Support

[AlaskaStartsHere]

I recently upgraded my EG4 18KPV to FAAB-2021. My system has been running for nearly a year and I have never had any issues, but now I am getting a E019 VBUS fault that causes my system to go offline. It reset itself in 2-3 minutes and then power is restored.

I called Signature Solar and told them what happened. They asked what the voltage was on my PV Strings. I told them it usually ranges from 490-515 or so. They proceeded to tell me that the Inverter is only capable of using 500V and after that it will clamp it and may have tripped the warning. This is of course total BS. The inverter is rated for up to 600V and will only utilize up to 500V. I explained this and she then started to ask me about grounds, neutral/ground bonds etc. Funny how it went from the PV string voltage is definitely the issue to possibly a wiring issue on the 240V load side. I work in a support function professionally. I get it we can't know everything, but many times when I call SS, I get some BS. Come on do better.

Anyway, I keep having this problem. It doesn't appear to be load-related at all. I'm not starting anything high draw, or using any device that hasn't been used in the past year with the system. It appears to only happen when the SOC reaches 100%. This most recent time on 4/12 it happened twice within about 30 minutes. The system didn't even log a fault this time either, which is strange.

The previous time on 4/2 a fault was logged. VPV1 was at 502.9 and VPV3 was at 510.5 Note that at earlier before the fault the system showed voltages around 511 and 514 respectively so the voltage being "too high" wasn't an issue then and it was higher.

Does anyone who actually knows what they're talking about know what's going on? Is this just bad firmware?

BTW, I hate to dog on SS, because I have called and gotten some good people, but way to many times, I've gotten someone who only knows what the tech support flip chart says.

 

[hybe022]

I have a similar thread you might want to read

Voc > MPPT upper range grey area

basically for 18kPV, most people are saying to stay away above 500V.

by the end of the thread, i tried comparing it to a Luxpower GEN6k video i found
that works even after being paneled way above MPPT range. It's probably not that efficient though.

 

[rodrick]

recently upgraded my EG4 18KPV to FAAB-2021. My system has been running for nearly a year and I have never had any issues, but now I am getting a E019 VBUS fault that causes my system to go offline. It reset itself in 2-3 minutes and then power is restored.

That’s why if it’s working correctly and there’s nothing feature wise that’s needed in the update I wouldn’t take the chance there’s a lot of threads that start out I just updated and this happen everything from bricking to error codes

 

[timselectric]

I recently upgraded my EG4 18KPV to FAAB-2021.

Why?
What issues were you having, that forced you to update?

 

[hybe022]

Why?
What issues were you having, that forced you to update?

ah, the golden rule.
if it works, don't touch it.

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

I have a similar thread you might want to read

Voc > MPPT upper range grey area

basically for 18kPV, most people are saying to stay away above 500V.

by the end of the thread, i tried comparing it to a Luxpower GEN6k video i found
that works even after being paneled way above MPPT range. It's probably not that efficient though.

Thanks, I will check it out. It should work, the specifications are clear.

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

Why?
What issues were you having, that forced you to update?

Thanks, that's very helpful

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

On another post some people were suggesting that the MPPT doesn't put out power over 500V. Although that isn't the issue, and I have seen power output over 500V many times.

 

[EG4TechSolutionsTeam]

I recently upgraded my EG4 18KPV to FAAB-2021. My system has been running for nearly a year and I have never had any issues, but now I am getting a E019 VBUS fault that causes my system to go offline. It reset itself in 2-3 minutes and then power is restored.

I called Signature Solar and told them what happened. They asked what the voltage was on my PV Strings. I told them it usually ranges from 490-515 or so. They proceeded to tell me that the Inverter is only capable of using 500V and after that it will clamp it and may have tripped the warning. This is of course total BS. The inverter is rated for up to 600V and will only utilize up to 500V. I explained this and she then started to ask me about grounds, neutral/ground bonds etc. Funny how it went from the PV string voltage is definitely the issue to possibly a wiring issue on the 240V load side. I work in a support function professionally. I get it we can't know everything, but many times when I call SS, I get some BS. Come on do better.

Anyway, I keep having this problem. It doesn't appear to be load-related at all. I'm not starting anything high draw, or using any device that hasn't been used in the past year with the system. It appears to only happen when the SOC reaches 100%. This most recent time on 4/12 it happened twice within about 30 minutes. The system didn't even log a fault this time either, which is strange.

The previous time on 4/2 a fault was logged. VPV1 was at 502.9 and VPV3 was at 510.5 Note that at earlier before the fault the system showed voltages around 511 and 514 respectively so the voltage being "too high" wasn't an issue then and it was higher.

Does anyone who actually knows what they're talking about know what's going on? Is this just bad firmware?

BTW, I hate to dog on SS, because I have called and gotten some good people, but way to many times, I've gotten someone who only knows what the tech support flip chart says.

Good afternoon, could you please provide us with your serial number or station name so we can look into this?

 

[Zapper77]

On another post some people were suggesting that the MPPT doesn't put out power over 500V. Although that isn't the issue, and I have seen power output over 500V many times.

View attachment 292254

You can PM SN to EG4Tech (above me) or myself and we can take a look at the VBus on your inverter.

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

You can PM SN to EG4Tech (above me) or myself and we can take a look at the VBus on your inverter.

PM Sent

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

Hey!! I'm really sorry for the frustration here. I totally get it!
Our Tier 1 team covers a wide range of possibilities, and their job is to gather as much info as possible. If they can’t nail it down right away, the case gets escalated to Tier 2 for a deeper look. It’s a process, and while it can be a little frustrating, it’s meant to make sure nothing gets missed or misdiagnosed.
Still, your feedback is super valid, and we’re always working on improving! Have you been escalated to tier 2 yet? If you'd like me to take a look at the progress of your ticket personally, just send your ticket number to engagement@signaturesolar.com, and I’ll help make sure it’s moving in the right direction

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

Hey!! I'm really sorry for the frustration here. I totally get it!
Our Tier 1 team covers a wide range of possibilities, and their job is to gather as much info as possible. If they can’t nail it down right away, the case gets escalated to Tier 2 for a deeper look. It’s a process, and while it can be a little frustrating, it’s meant to make sure nothing gets missed or misdiagnosed.
Still, your feedback is super valid, and we’re always working on improving! Have you been escalated to tier 2 yet? If you'd like me to take a look at the progress of your ticket personally, just send your ticket number to engagement@signaturesolar.com, and I’ll help make sure it’s moving in the right direction

My frustration isn't that tier 1 didn't know everything. I completely accept that. My frustration is when they say something like the system is supposed to shutdown after 500v, and that's completely wrong. And then they argue with me about it. If they don't know, they should escalate to tier 2. Instead they said "just restart the inverter because that's what's needed after an update." I explained the inverter rebooted itself after update, but I restarted again. Of course that didn't fix the issue, but I'm left without a resolution waiting for it to break again, which it did. Since then I was contacted above and told that the vbus threshold has been increased. I have no idea where that setting is, but ok, so far so good, but it's not every day that I have this problem.

Some of the best tech support people I know, are the ones that say, I'm not sure and they look find out and escalate to someone who does. The worst are faking it until they make it, and then the customer loses.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

I completely agree and understand. I will certainly take this feedback to our tech team. In the meantime, if I can help in any way, please let me know!

 

[Flunkyboi]

I'm a solar noob with an EG4 3kw 48. When I first set mine up a week three back. While setting the parameters, I had a 19 fault code pop up. I was using the wrong battery parameter. Once I changed it, the code cleared. I know your unit and mine are different, but are from the same manufacturer, so fault codes may be similar. I've seen that in electrical controls in my work.

I'm wondering if your update set that to the OEM battery setting.

 

[fnnwizard]

I recently upgraded my EG4 18KPV to FAAB-2021. My system has been running for nearly a year and I have never had any issues, but now I am getting a E019 VBUS fault that causes my system to go offline. It reset itself in 2-3 minutes and then power is restored.

Have you completely shut down the system and reboot? Are you sure the update took 100%?
You can check in the Maintenance Tab, Update Record - can you screenshot and post?

The 2121 firmware changed 2 of the Vbus' lower. The V1 from 400V to 370 and the Vp from 200-180.

Can you go into Data Tab, Data History and download the week's data, starting a few days before event and 1 day after. Post that here with sensitive info redacted or take lots of screen shots.

that would help us tremendously to help you.

I called Signature Solar and told them what happened. They asked what the voltage was on my PV Strings. I told them it usually ranges from 490-515 or so. They proceeded to tell me that the Inverter is only capable of using 500V and after that it will clamp it and may have tripped the warning. This is of course total BS. The inverter is rated for up to 600V and will only utilize up to 500V. I explained this and she then started to ask me about grounds, neutral/ground bonds etc. Funny how it went from the PV string voltage is definitely the issue to possibly a wiring issue on the 240V load side. I work in a support function professionally. I get it we can't know everything, but many times when I call SS, I get some BS. Come on do better.

This is BS as you correctly surmised. Dealt with this before and I've confirm with Lux themselves 500V+ at PV is ok.. EG4 needs to re-educate.

Post in thread '[SOLVED] 18kpv loud bang on day 3 of operation'

Dec 10, 2024

Hmm, lessee:
select Epoch, EG4$Alpha$Vpv1, EG4$Alpha$Ppv1 from EG4 where EG4$Alpha$Vpv1 > 510;

+------------+----------------+----------------+
| Epoch      | EG4$Alpha$Vpv1 | EG4$Alpha$Ppv1 |
+------------+----------------+----------------+
| 1720716123 |      517.90000 |     1626.00000 |
| 1720813263 |      511.30000 |     1816.00000 |
| 1722788583 |      515.70000 |     1581.00000 |
| 1722788643 |      514.90000 |     1649.00000 |
| 1722788702 |      518.60000 |     1482.00000 |
| 1722790083 |      535.20000 |     1595.00000 |
| 1722790263 |      519.10000 |     1460.00000 |
|...

• wpns

• 
• 

Waiting for your logs to see and hopefully help catch the issue.

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

Have you completely shut down the system and reboot? Are you sure the update took 100%?
You can check in the Maintenance Tab, Update Record - can you screenshot and post?

The 2121 firmware changed 2 of the Vbus' lower. The V1 from 400V to 370 and the Vp from 200-180.

Can you go into Data Tab, Data History and download the week's data, starting a few days before event and 1 day after. Post that here with sensitive info redacted or take lots of screen shots.

that would help us tremendously to help you.



This is BS as you correctly surmised. Dealt with this before and I've confirm with Lux themselves 500V+ at PV is ok.. EG4 needs to re-educate.

Post in thread '[SOLVED] 18kpv loud bang on day 3 of operation'

Dec 10, 2024

Hmm, lessee:
select Epoch, EG4$Alpha$Vpv1, EG4$Alpha$Ppv1 from EG4 where EG4$Alpha$Vpv1 > 510;

+------------+----------------+----------------+
| Epoch      | EG4$Alpha$Vpv1 | EG4$Alpha$Ppv1 |
+------------+----------------+----------------+
| 1720716123 |      517.90000 |     1626.00000 |
| 1720813263 |      511.30000 |     1816.00000 |
| 1722788583 |      515.70000 |     1581.00000 |
| 1722788643 |      514.90000 |     1649.00000 |
| 1722788702 |      518.60000 |     1482.00000 |
| 1722790083 |      535.20000 |     1595.00000 |
| 1722790263 |      519.10000 |     1460.00000 |
|...

• wpns

• 
• 

Waiting for your logs to see and hopefully help catch the issue.

I did fully shut down the system and bring it back up after the firmware update. Attached is the exported data. The fault occurred on April 2. I don't know which day it was but it happened again, 2 twice in a row about 30 minutes apart, but the system didn't log that for some reason.

SS said they went into my system and changed the vbus warning threshold and it hasn't happened since, but I don't see that setting. The issue doesn't happen every day either, and only seems to happen when my battery goes to 100%, but it doesn't happen every time my battery is at 100%.

 

[rogerheflin]

I don't see that setting in the modbus definition that is publicly available.

There are lots of settings in the modbus that are not accessible from any of the interfaces(web, app or inverter lcd), and there is a pretty good chance that the modbus that is publicly available is from a while ago, and does not have every setting that is actually available in the current firmware.

 

[fnnwizard]

I did fully shut down the system and bring it back up after the firmware update. Attached is the exported data. The fault occurred on April 2. I don't know which day it was but it happened again, 2 twice in a row about 30 minutes apart, but the system didn't log that for some reason.

SS said they went into my system and changed the vbus warning threshold and it hasn't happened since, but I don't see that setting. The issue doesn't happen every day either, and only seems to happen when my battery goes to 100%, but it doesn't happen every time my battery is at 100%.


View attachment 293049

I only have mobile for next few days and it’s hard to analyze this data on it. It sounds like it working ok for time being so not as urgent. I will take a look when back at home base and see if I find anything unusual.

I wonder what they can change… warnings and actual reset due to a fault isn’t exactly the same thing, but we’ll see.

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

I only have mobile for next few days and it’s hard to analyze this data on it. It sounds like it working ok for time being so not as urgent. I will take a look when back at home base and see if I find anything unusual.

I wonder what they can change… warnings and actual reset due to a fault isn’t exactly the same thing, but we’ll see.

I lost power again today. The logs don't show anything. The last 2 times the system shutdown it didn't log anything then either.

This time it happened at 12:26PM local time and reset itself at 12:28PM. I have a power monitor device in my house and that is how I was alerted. I wasn't home at the time.

 

[AlaskaStartsHere]

I completely agree and understand. I will certainly take this feedback to our tech team. In the meantime, if I can help in any way, please let me know!

I lost power again today. The logs don't show anything. The last 2 times the system shutdown it didn't log anything then either.

This time it happened at 12:26PM local time and reset itself at 12:28PM. I have a power monitor device in my house and that is how I was alerted. I wasn't home at the time.

 

[fnnwizard]

I lost power again today. The logs don't show anything. The last 2 times the system shutdown it didn't log anything then either.

This time it happened at 12:26PM local time and reset itself at 12:28PM. I have a power monitor device in my house and that is how I was alerted. I wasn't home at the time.

I kind of figured this since I can't think of anything they can change to make it not fault vs warning. I'm back home and will take a look in a couple hours. can you send latest logs also?

 

[Zapper77]

I kind of figured this since I can't think of anything they can change to make it not fault vs warning. I'm back home and will take a look in a couple hours. can you send latest logs also?

Are you experiencing a similar issue?

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

I lost power again today. The logs don't show anything. The last 2 times the system shutdown it didn't log anything then either.

This time it happened at 12:26PM local time and reset itself at 12:28PM. I have a power monitor device in my house and that is how I was alerted. I wasn't home at the time.

Oh no I'm so sorry you're still having trouble. If you'd like to DM me your contact info, I can connect with the team and see what I can do to help!

 

[fnnwizard]

Are you experiencing a similar issue?

No, my array maxes out at 400V. Just trying to help out a fellow DIY seeing that EG4 support is under par yet again. I just updated to 2121 so am interested in any/all issues relating to it.

@AlaskaStartsHere

I saw in the logs that the same issue under Vepst(V) =819.2 = occurred on 3/31. That's actually code for the Vbus V issue. (Wonder if EG4 knows tht). But if you look under the Vbus 2, it's V actually dropped so it may be firmware issue with relative Vbus V delta between bus 1 and bus 2.

Also, what I find odd is how the Mppts acted. Mppt 1 drop the array power while it boosted Mppt 2 @ 2025-04-02 15:25:34.

Do you have any shading issue with array 1. I would double check connections for all modules on 1 also.

Other than that, I'm not able to see anything specifically pointing to a cause.

I removed non important (zero's) columns below to fit more data in.