EG4 6000EX/6500EX Parallel - random restarts/outages SOLUTION

[kburndred]

If you're experiencing random restarts and power outages from your parallel inverter setup I have 2 things that completely solved the issue for my setup.

1. Ensure that the parallel cables (15 pin) and the power sharing cables (red/black twisted pair) are NOT in your wireway/cableway!! These communication cables are highly sensitive to noise from AC induction etc. As a side not I will be replacing the red/black twisted pair with a shielded cable and contacting SS to advise them to ship shielded cables with their inverters in the future.

2. If you're using Solar Assistant, plug in monitoring cables to both inverters. Yes 2 cables!! Both these cables plug in to your Raspberry Pi USB ports. This creates an "inverter cluster" in Solar Assistant. The reason for this is so that the 2nd inverter data is no longer read via the parallel connection, instead each inverter is read directly. The result is that there is no monitoring traffic on the parallel communication cables. This removal of extra traffic stabalizes the inverters. In addition you will see all the data for both inverters, including inverter temperature etc that is not shown when data is read via the parallel connection.

These 2 changes have made my system ROCK SOLID. Please let me know if you get the same result.

 

[timselectric]

Awesome information.

 

[Adam De Lay]

If you're experiencing random restarts and power outages from your parallel inverter setup I have 2 things that completely solved the issue for my setup.

1. Ensure that the parallel cables (15 pin) and the power sharing cables (red/black twisted pair) are NOT in your wireway/cableway!! These communication cables are highly sensitive to noise from AC induction etc. As a side not I will be replacing the red/black twisted pair with a shielded cable and contacting SS to advise them to ship shielded cables with their inverters in the future.

2. If you're using Solar Assistant, plug in monitoring cables to both inverters. Yes 2 cables!! Both these cables plug in to your Raspberry Pi USB ports. This creates an "inverter cluster" in Solar Assistant. The reason for this is so that the 2nd inverter data is no longer read via the parallel connection, instead each inverter is read directly. The result is that there is no monitoring traffic on the parallel communication cables. This removal of extra traffic stabalizes the inverters. In addition you will see all the data for both inverters, including inverter temperature etc that is not shown when data is read via the parallel connection.

These 2 changes have made my system ROCK SOLID. Please let me know if you get the same result.

That's great news! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Zapper77]

What do you think of using shielding tape? Faraday Tape 1inch x 50 Feet Conductive Cloth Tape Double Conductive Fabric Tape for ESD Grounding, EMI Shielding, Wire Harness Wrap, RFID Signal Blocking, Electrical Repair, Cable Interference Shield https://a.co/d/iq223J3

 

[kburndred]

I guess that would be ok. I haven't used that stuff before but it's worth a look.

 

[RoverDude]

If you're experiencing random restarts and power outages from your parallel inverter setup I have 2 things that completely solved the issue for my setup.

1. Ensure that the parallel cables (15 pin) and the power sharing cables (red/black twisted pair) are NOT in your wireway/cableway!! These communication cables are highly sensitive to noise from AC induction etc. As a side not I will be replacing the red/black twisted pair with a shielded cable and contacting SS to advise them to ship shielded cables with their inverters in the future.

2. If you're using Solar Assistant, plug in monitoring cables to both inverters. Yes 2 cables!! Both these cables plug in to your Raspberry Pi USB ports. This creates an "inverter cluster" in Solar Assistant. The reason for this is so that the 2nd inverter data is no longer read via the parallel connection, instead each inverter is read directly. The result is that there is no monitoring traffic on the parallel communication cables. This removal of extra traffic stabalizes the inverters. In addition you will see all the data for both inverters, including inverter temperature etc that is not shown when data is read via the parallel connection.

These 2 changes have made my system ROCK SOLID. Please let me know if you get the same result.

Not so fast. I have three 6000-ex inverters. They have been exhibiting power outages/reset for months. Many firmware updates. Including the June 23. I even ordered SA USB/serial cables per the above recommendation. The resets have been in the 1-2 week interval. Just had two outages in two days. No warnings, no faults, nothing on the displays. SS stopped communicating with me. I'm getting ready to throw these EG4s in the trash and install a pair of Sol-Arks.

Update: Two of the three 6000 inverters just blew up. That made my decision for me. Interestingly, a few days ago SS reached out to me with an upgrade deal to the 18kpv. They gave me $750 credit for EACH 6000 inverter. Can't justify a Sol-ark with a deal like that. I'm going to limp along on one inverter until the 18kpv arrives. I have heard good reviews about that product.

 

[kburndred]

As a follow up, I found that I still had random restarts just far apart. Anyway the final piece of the puzzle came when I grounded my PV combiner boxes to earth ground. I have not had a restart since. It all came about when I realized I had about 85VAC buzzing around in the PV combiner box enclosure and the solar panel frames. There was very little current though. Anyway now that the PV combiner boxes are grounded I have one less issue.

 

[RoverDude]

As a follow up, I found that I still had random restarts just far apart. Anyway the final piece of the puzzle came when I grounded my PV combiner boxes to earth ground. I have not had a restart since. It all came about when I realized I had about 85VAC buzzing around in the PV combiner box enclosure and the solar panel frames. There was very little current though. Anyway now that the PV combiner boxes are grounded I have one less issue.

Are you bonding the + or - to ground? I have single breaker boxes (plastic) per string with lightning arrestors and ground rods for each. One string per inverter.
I had two more outages today and one yesterday.

 

[ThePatriotDude]

I was also experiencing this with my two 6ks in parallel until i did the firmware update. It’s been a few months and I’ve only experienced one outage. I also took signature solar’s advice on replacing my cheap light bulbs and that fixed the flickering.

I experienced a NEW issue today. Through the night or in the early morning the inverters decided to randomly change the bulk and float charge to super low values causing my system to not charge for the day. Coming home to low batteries was a total bummer. I called SS and they had no idea. They let me know there is a new NEW firmware available. We’ll see how that goes.

 

[ThePatriotDude]

If you're experiencing random restarts and power outages from your parallel inverter setup I have 2 things that completely solved the issue for my setup.

1. Ensure that the parallel cables (15 pin) and the power sharing cables (red/black twisted pair) are NOT in your wireway/cableway!! These communication cables are highly sensitive to noise from AC induction etc. As a side not I will be replacing the red/black twisted pair with a shielded cable and contacting SS to advise them to ship shielded cables with their inverters in the future.

2. If you're using Solar Assistant, plug in monitoring cables to both inverters. Yes 2 cables!! Both these cables plug in to your Raspberry Pi USB ports. This creates an "inverter cluster" in Solar Assistant. The reason for this is so that the 2nd inverter data is no longer read via the parallel connection, instead each inverter is read directly. The result is that there is no monitoring traffic on the parallel communication cables. This removal of extra traffic stabalizes the inverters. In addition you will see all the data for both inverters, including inverter temperature etc that is not shown when data is read via the parallel connection.

These 2 changes have made my system ROCK SOLID. Please let me know if you get the same result.

Did you disconnect the parallel cables to make this work or was that still connected and you just added the Pi?

 

[Zapper77]

I was also experiencing this with my two 6ks in parallel until i did the firmware update. It’s been a few months and I’ve only experienced one outage. I also took signature solar’s advice on replacing my cheap light bulbs and that fixed the flickering.

I experienced a NEW issue today. Through the night or in the early morning the inverters decided to randomly change the bulk and float charge to super low values causing my system to not charge for the day. Coming home to low batteries was a total bummer. I called SS and they had no idea. They let me know there is a new NEW firmware available. We’ll see how that goes.

Open or Closed Battery Communication?

 

[ThePatriotDude]

Closed

 

[Zapper77]

Closed

Are the batteries reporting correct SOC?

 

[kburndred]

Did you disconnect the parallel cables to make this work or was that still connected and you just added the Pi?

You must keep the parallel cables as the inverters use these to balance load/power etc. The solar assistant Pi and software work better when there is a separate USB to RS232 cable for each inverter. I stopped using solar assistant and wrote my own software to support the protocol. I can now see what's happening much clearer and create any dashboards I want.

 

[Quattrohead]

I stopped using solar assistant and wrote my own software to support the protocol. I can now see what's happening much clearer and create any dashboards I want.

I wish I was this clever LOL. I'm just a dumb old hardware guy.