EG4 3000 EHV-48 fire. Been running a 12 panel system with 2 EG4-lifepower batteries and the EG4 3000 EHV-48. Added the battery rack and 3rd battery

[Quattrohead]

Are your battery cables from Sig Solar ?
What specifications are listed on the wire if any ?
Surely they should be flame proof.

 

[jackull]

I was late reading this topic... And I just bought two EG4 3kW to have make split phase
Now I'm wondering if that fire was caused by the EG4 inverter or the cables or the panels...
I was wondering what signature solar diagnosis or if they have any insight at all...

 

[DIYVan]

So what'd you change in the setup after you replaced the EG4? Installing the same unit in the same setup wouldn't really give me confidence.

Can you run inline fuses on the +/- leads to the battery? Maybe MRBF style fuses?

 

[tomy2]

EG4 3000 EHV-48 fire. Been running a 12 panel system with 2 EG4-lifepower batteries and the EG4 3000 EHV-48. Added the battery rack and 3rd battery4 days ago, charge got up to 91% each day but stopped there. Today we had more sunlight and charge was up to 95% at 1pm and at 2 was still at 95% when I checked it. I was near when I heard a loud POP and saw smoke coming out of EG4 unit. Error code 13 (over current or surge) . shut off switch, shut off panels, ran for fire extinguisher, when I got back battery cables under EG4 were also on fire. Smothered fire with CO2 (not the best for electrical fires). Shut off batteries and put out fire again. My panels are Q Peak duo blk-G5 310
310 watts
Short circuit amps9.83
Open circuit voltage 40.2
current at max power 9.36
Voltage at max power 33.12
max system voltage 1,000
EG4 is burned inside at top left corner and battery cables right below where they enter unit.
What caused this?
Any ideas? I was looking to add more panels (arriving Monday) and another EG4 Not ordered yet. Should I upgrade? Right now we are only running an RV Fridge, 2 laptops, water pump 5 min every 3-4 hours. and a few chargers, Ryobi cordless, weather station.

Any ideas? I was looking to add more panels (arriving Monday) and another EG4 Not ordered yet. Should I upgrade? Right now we are only running an RV Fridge, 2 laptops, water pump 5 min every 3-4 hours. and a few chargers, Ryobi cordless, weather station.
I'm no expert, but it seems obvious that you have too many panels. I only have six 370 watt panels and one 48voltEg4 battery, and I run everything you have plus two 500watt window air conditioners four hours a day. And two tv's at least four hours a day. sorry about your loss.

 

[carefulmistake]

Any ideas? I was looking to add more panels (arriving Monday) and another EG4 Not ordered yet. Should I upgrade? Right now we are only running an RV Fridge, 2 laptops, water pump 5 min every 3-4 hours. and a few chargers, Ryobi cordless, weather station.
I'm no expert, but it seems obvious that you have too many panels. I only have six 370 watt panels and one 48voltEg4 battery, and I run everything you have plus two 500watt window air conditioners four hours a day. And two tv's at least four hours a day. sorry about your loss.

With those 12 panels he’s still under the 500 volt rating though. You would think even if it was at a full 500 volts there would be a safety threshold built in of at least a small percentage without it catching fire.

I’ve been monitoring my setup closely and haven’t put it under heavy load yet but I’m curious, whether with EG4 input or not, if he changed anything in his setup when putting the system back together. I’d guess most likely is combining two series of 6 panels instead of running the full 12 to keep far from the 500v rating just to be safe.

 

[tomy2]

why he was looking to add more panels is beyond me! And it seems like two 48v battery packs would be plenty. My six panels and one EG4 48v battery runs 80% of my house, when I get a second battery it will be 100% with no ccentral AC.

 

[400bird]

why he was looking to add more panels is beyond me! And it seems like two 48v battery packs would be plenty. My six panels and one EG4 48v battery runs 80% of my house, when I get a second battery it will be 100% with no ccentral AC.

Everyone (and every region) has different energy needs. I'm sure some would look at your system and think it is excessive. I read what you've got and it wouldn't cover my house, but I do want to include AC usage.

 

[tomy2]

I DO include AC usage. We have three window AC's (1500 watts max) Vs my retired central Air 4 ton (4kw) . Luckallly, I live close enough to the coast, that the temp drops after the sun goes down, so we only use fans once it is dark. If we lived further inland, like Fresno or Las Vegas, I wouldn't have that luxury. It just seems to me, that a lot of people are over expanding their solar systems, so they can consume more electricity not less. I know that I am lucky to live in a fairly temperate location and most people live in harsher enviroments. Isn't part of the solar culture to shrink your footprint, not expand it with cheaper electricity.

 

[timselectric]

Not me.
I'm not changing how I live. Just changing what it costs me.

 

[Kornbread]

Not me.
I'm not changing how I live. Just changing what it costs me.

I'm upside down.

 

[codypilot]

MPP Solar, SunGold, Growatts, and EG4 are made from same Chinese company (Voltronic)

What evidence is there that the EG4 3k is made by Voltronic?

I agree the 6.5k is Voltronic, but nothing I can find points to the 3k being made by the same group.

 

[Kornbread]

What evidence is there that the EG4 3k is made by Voltronic?

I agree the 6.5k is Voltronic, but nothing I can find points to the 3k being made by the same group.

In Will's video about the 3k, he says it is very similar to MPP but also says he is told it's a different manufacturer, then goes on to talk about the similarities. So yeah, maybe it's not a Voltronic product, or maybe it is. What are you hearing?

 

[codypilot]

In Will's video about the 3k, he says it is very similar to MPP but also says he is told it's a different manufacturer, then goes on to talk about the similarities. So yeah, maybe it's not a Voltronic product, or maybe it is. What are you hearing?

Based on tear down it shares many similarities to a powmr 5.5kw inverter I have. Same style case, same blue pcb, same brand caps and relays, same fans, same internal plastic covers, same batt terminal, same labeling, etc...but I don't know who makes this model for powmr either. While some of their models are SRNE and Voltronic clones this one is not.

Neither one will communicate with solar assistant, but all the other Voltronic rebrands I have tried do.

At the end of day I am just curious who the OEM is. Bluesun is another distributor of this same inverter.

 

[Kornbread]

Based on tear down it shares many similarities to a powmr 5.5kw inverter I have. Same style case, same blue pcb, same brand caps and relays, same fans, same internal plastic covers, same batt terminal, same labeling, etc...but I don't know who makes this model for powmr either. While some of their models are SRNE and Voltronic clones this one is not.

Neither one will communicate with solar assistant, but all the other Voltronic rebrands I have tried do.

At the end of day I am just curious who the OEM is. Bluesun is another distributor of this same inverter.

Can you share some pics?

 

[Prince Of Darkness]

A couple of late comments;

The 3 K EG4 inverter appears to come with a 125 Amp breaker, and the manual shows this breaker being connected to the positive battery input to the inverter.

A 125 amp breaker is sufficiently sized to protect #4 AWG cable, in free air, at 75 degrees C. Could not find any reference to the OP using such a breaker, or any other, at the input to the inverter.

The placement of a breaker at the input to the inverter would be customary, an most any battery-connected inverter, that I've seen.

There had been a question or two for a diagram, or pic on the layout of this system, but might have missed them, but did not see them.

See quite a lot of examples of just how simple and easy it is to hook u and use these AIO systems, and, more recently, there seems to be more focus on OCPDS in these setups on YT, but, it does appear that a number of users kind of tend to want to fudge on the specs of these AIO systems. IMO, probably all of the specs that have been fudged-on were done at the design and production phase of making these systems. Think that there is nothing in the way of specs that can be fudged, is left for more fudging.

Am a newbie on this fourm, so, it is not really my place to say anything about this ... but, just a thought.

FWIW 'Luke'

 

[FilterGuy]

The placement of a breaker at the input to the inverter would be customary, an most any battery-connected inverter, that I've seen.

At the input? What would the purpose of that be? I would put it at the battery.

 

[Prince Of Darkness]

At the input? What would the purpose of that be? I would put it at the battery.

Yes, at the input to the inverter. Its purpose would be protect the cable, in the event of an inverter overcurrent, or Fault. POD

 

[FilterGuy]

Yes, at the input to the inverter. Its purpose would be protect the cable, in the event of an inverter overcurrent, or Fault. POD

If you put the breaker at the input of the inverter, there is nothing protecting the cable between the battery and the breaker


So lets fix this with a breaker at the battery.



Now the input to the inverter is double protected. That adds complexity but does not really help, so why have the breaker at the input to the inverter? Just use the one at the battery:



Over-current protection devices are always needed at the output of the power source. Over-current Protection devices are very rarely needed at the input of a load.

 

[timselectric]

The over current protection has to be at the source (batteries) , to protect the cable.

 

[Hedges]

Built into the inverter.
It will protect the cables against overload, but not against short circuit.
There is one in my Sunny Island. They also recommend a fuse at battery.
I put in a fuse, considering what wire gauge would be acceptable as a ground wire in a system with such OCP amperage. It won't blow for modest overload presented by inverter; breaker takes care of that. It will blow for a short circuit, fast enough to not overheat the wire.