EG4 6000EX-48 not seeing generator

[pabear89]

Well it was going well till lack of sun. Finally got the generator set up and wired into the invertor/charger.
Problem.... it sees the running gen but does not charge the battery bank.
I have gone over the manual several times and and the display never show the dotted line from the gen side to the battery's charge icon like the manual shows.
What am I missing? Have run the LCD aet up over and over but no luck in connecting.

Thanks for your time .

 

[Zapper77]

Well it was going well till lack of sun. Finally got the generator set up and wired into the invertor/charger.
Problem.... it sees the running gen but does not charge the battery bank.
I have gone over the manual several times and and the display never show the dotted line from the gen side to the battery's charge icon like the manual shows.
What am I missing? Have run the LCD aet up over and over but no luck in connecting.

Thanks for your time .

240v generator?

Inverter Generator?

 

[42OhmsPA]

You may have to add a separate load to the generator to get the inverter to accept the power.
Some other info on settings I changed to get mine to work in this thread.

Confirm my dumb moment...

Yesterday the grid was down for around 7 hours, only the 3rd time this month... Batteries were down to ~51V. (snow and no sun) I hooked the generator (5.5kw Generac gas) up to the TP6048 (LVX6048) utility input and was able to start charging the batteries after adjusting the time settings for...

diysolarforum.com

 

[pabear89]

rv 6500 w 120v twin lead 30a to eg4, runs the power panel when the battery bank is shut off so its putting out power.
Display has gen icon on when running but not connecting to battery charge icon on screen.

 

[Zapper77]

rv 6500 w 120v twin lead 30a to eg4, runs the power panel when the battery bank is shut off so its putting out power.
Display has gen icon on when running but not connecting to battery charge icon on screen.

The 6000ex is a 240v inverter. What kind of generator are you using?

 

[pabear89]

Cummins 6500 w . Has 2 120v 30a load lines, but its not 240.
got it from a motorhome.
lcd panel shows good 120/60cyl voltage on both legs and full 30 amps.

 

[Zapper77]

Cummins 6500 w . Has 2 120v 30a load lines, but its not 240.
got it from a motorhome.
lcd panel shows good 120/60cyl voltage on both legs and full 30 amps.

You need a 240v generator for a 240v inverter.

 

[pabear89]

thanks, back to the drawing board.

 

[Zapper77]

thanks, back to the drawing board.

EG4 makes a 100 amp ChargeVerter.

Since the generator is only 120v it would be limited to 50'ish amps DC.

EG4 Chargeverter | 48v 100A Battery Charger | 5120W Output | 240/120V Input

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

 

[42OhmsPA]

EG4 makes a 100 amp ChargeVerter.

Since the generator is only 120v it would be limited to 50'ish amps DC.

EG4 Chargeverter | 48v 100A Battery Charger | 5120W Output | 240/120V Input

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

View attachment 175824

Since he has 2 120v legs couldn't he feed each one to the chargeverter and get full output?

 

[Zapper77]

Since he has 2 120v legs couldn't he feed each one to the chargeverter and get full output?

No The CV is limited to 28'ish amps AC.

 

[pabear89]

Ok, after this screw up that gen is going on the for sale pile.
I have a 240 gen on my work trailer that I can use in its place.

Now I have looked into that eg4 charger Zapp has posted, going over the spec sheet and reviews it leaves me with more questions.
I like the option to charge the bank without going thru the EG4 6000.
But will i need to shutdown the pv system when using it?
The plan is to set it at 30 amp charge rate to recharge the 6 eg4 battery bank up from approximately the 50% level to full charge when the pv panels can't supply it, winter time may not provide enough power.

My goal is to keep gen run time to a minimum amount of time and keep it simple.

 

[Adam De Lay]

But will i need to shutdown the pv system when using it?

You shouldn't have to. It's no different than adding an external solar charge controller to your 6000ex.

 

[Zapper77]

Ok, after this screw up that gen is going on the for sale pile.
I have a 240 gen on my work trailer that I can use in its place.

Now I have looked into that eg4 charger Zapp has posted, going over the spec sheet and reviews it leaves me with more questions.
I like the option to charge the bank without going thru the EG4 6000.
But will i need to shutdown the pv system when using it?
The plan is to set it at 30 amp charge rate to recharge the 6 eg4 battery bank up from approximately the 50% level to full charge when the pv panels can't supply it, winter time may not provide enough power.

My goal is to keep gen run time to a minimum amount of time and keep it simple.

Limit your combined charging rate to your max battery.

You should also consider that the maximum charging rate should drop when the SOC exceeds 90-95%% SOC.


Example

If, 1 - EG4 Lifepower4 battery has a recommended charging rate of 30-50 and a max continuous rate of 100.

Next Say you have 3 batteries. You should set your max combined rate under 150 amps or if you want to push it...go for 300 amps.

In my case. I have 12 Lifepower4 Batteries
So a combined charge rate of 360-1200 amps. While I'd never recommend charging at 1200 amps, nor would I recommend exceeding 56v or 600 amps without using bms comms.

Next my inverter has a max charge rate of 250 amps. Max solar I'd never exceed 150 amps. I can safely set my ChargeVerter at 100 amps and know that my combined charging rate would never exceed 350 amps.

Additionally I would never recommend setting the ChargeVerter over the maximum charge rate of any single battery and discourage setting voltage over 56.5v unless you know your equipment.

 

[pabear89]

test run with 240v gen, Still will not connect to battery bank to charge, rechecked all connections and settings.
going to go directly and bypass inverter, So it will be gen to charger to bank for boosting the 6 eg4 batteries when lack of sunshine.

Sadly that the cheap home depot 12v plug and play system is and has work perfectly, then dropped 16k on a 48v system and now banging my head with simple things.

They said go off grid and things will be so easy and simple. LOL......

 

[Adam De Lay]

Got a few questions for you:

• Are you just wiring the generator into the AC IN?
• What output source priority are you running the inverter in (menu option 1)?
• What do you have set for charger source priority (option 10)?
• What do you have set for your max utility charging current (option 13)?

 

[pabear89]

Wired to the AC in on the inverter, option 1 tried both settings.
option 10 ran all and back to default.
option 13 default.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Wired to the AC in on the inverter, option 1 tried both settings.
option 10 ran all and back to default.
option 13 default.

Ok, so I know with the 6500s, you have to be in a "utility mode" (ex SUB) and you have to have "Solar and Utility" charging set.
The kicker is, it wouldn't start charging until solar went away. "Solar and Utility" acted just like "Solar First" (unless you were in USB mode, which the 6000 doesn't have).

Can you disconnect your solar to see if it starts charging?

 

[pabear89]

that was included in test run also. It never connects to bank so running the generator does nothing but waste fuel.
will not even power breaker panel from inverter.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Can you share a picture of the screen of your inverter?