EG4 6500 randomly shuts down

[kurts]

Has anyone else had their EG4 6500s in split phase shut down only while charging with PV? I am only inputing around 5500 watts using 3 strings. I have the 6 EG4 rack of batteries off grid and 14 times in the last month my system turns off and within 5 or 10 seconds turns back on. I recently updated firmware to resolve the flickering lights which did not help but the inverters still turn off every day or two, my electronics are likely not happy about that. Any recommendations of other inverters that communicate with the EG4 batteries? I have had no help resolving my bad inverters so I think its time to jump ship and find a product that works. These are replacement inverters, my first two did not have these issues but were before the bad batch was shipped so I think I have more bad inverters.

 

[nc73]

These are replacement inverters, my first two did not have these issues but were before the bad batch was shipped so I think I have more bad inverters.

I think you answered your own questions....personally I would not recommend EG4's...

 

[Adam De Lay]

Has anyone else had their EG4 6500s in split phase shut down only while charging with PV? I am only inputing around 5500 watts using 3 strings. I have the 6 EG4 rack of batteries off grid and 14 times in the last month my system turns off and within 5 or 10 seconds turns back on. I recently updated firmware to resolve the flickering lights which did not help but the inverters still turn off every day or two, my electronics are likely not happy about that. Any recommendations of other inverters that communicate with the EG4 batteries? I have had no help resolving my bad inverters so I think its time to jump ship and find a product that works. These are replacement inverters, my first two did not have these issues but were before the bad batch was shipped so I think I have more bad inverters.

Are you taking a complete shut down or PV seems to stop for a few seconds and then ramp back up?

 

[kurts]

Are you taking a complete shut down or PV seems to stop for a few seconds and then ramp back up?

Complete shutdown, everything shuts down for 5 seconds or so and then power is back on but my starlink internet takes 4 or 5 minutes to reboot. This only happens during the day so it might be related to solar input. I have not installed all of my panels so I am not overcharging. I reset oven clock each time so that I know if power went down again. Not seeing anyone else with this issue so I think I got another batch of bad inverters. And I am not looking for people to dog on EG4, just opinions of other inverters that do not have these issues as I am off grid and can not keep allowing this to happen.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Complete shutdown, everything shuts down for 5 seconds or so and then power is back on but my starlink internet takes 4 or 5 minutes to reboot. This only happens during the day so it might be related to solar input. I have not installed all of my panels so I am not overcharging. I reset oven clock each time so that I know if power went down again. Not seeing anyone else with this issue so I think I got another batch of bad inverters. And I am not looking for people to dog on EG4, just opinions of other inverters that do not have these issues as I am off grid and can not keep allowing this to happen.

Yeah I can't say that I've seen that happen. I have had the MPPTs ramp down (what seems to be somewhat randomly) for a few seconds but then they ramp back up. It's almost like a cloud comes over the panels, but there's no clouds in the sky. I hear it happening a few times when it's sunny, but haven't given much thought to it.

 

[SkyMo]

Yeah I can't say that I've seen that happen. I have had the MPPTs ramp down (what seems to be somewhat randomly) for a few seconds but then they ramp back up. It's almost like a cloud comes over the panels, but there's no clouds in the sky. I hear it happening a few times when it's sunny, but haven't given much thought to it.

I have two brand new units that do exactly the same thing. Power off for about 4-5 seconds and then the power comes right back on. No alerts or errors that I can see.

Have you contacted support?

 

[Adam De Lay]

@SkyMo have you contacted support?

 

[SkyMo]

Yes. I did, but have not heard back from them. I wish they would assign case numbers so we could cross reference them. My issue is exactly the same as yours. I put starlink on a UPS for now so I don't have to deal with the 5 minute outage while it reboots. I have Trophy batteries and two EG4 Inverters in Parallel.

My stupid laptop is Windows 11 and I cannot get the software to work to monitor them. I do have WiFi working so I can at least see what's up.

 

[Adam De Lay]

I gave up on WatchPower the first time I used it.

 

[SkyMo]

Have you noticed any pattern? It works fine all morning and charged up the batteries. Then after they are fully charged, it just does the 5 second power cycle. The only load is some lights.

 

[Adam De Lay]

@kurts was the other one experiencing the issue.

 

[kurts]

I am still having the issue with my power going out, yesterday it did it twice before 10am. Today it has not gone out, it only happens when the panels are charging. I was told to update my firmware, unfortunately I only use apple products so a friend has to drive 80 miles to help me. I have updated firmware twice in the last two weeks but SS told me there is a new update (one day after the second update!) that should solve this but getting my friend to drive another 80 miles is not going well so I wait... My lights do not seem to flicker as much but until I can get a windows computer to my house to do a third update in just over 2 weeks my power will continue to go out. I am considering switching to the 6000 units which are split phase, James put a video on Youtube recently about it working better than the 6500 but I see people having issues with both products. When my last EG4 inverters died it took a month to get replacements and then another two weeks to get new display panels since the new ones did not work, 6 weeks off grid with no power is not acceptable. If I owned SS I would send me a different product since I am months into issues with the 6500 and potentially damaging my electronics. Its getting old.

 

[SkyMo]

I hear you. My off grid is an 8 hour drive over rough roads so doing anything is a huge pain. I have two 6000EX units that are brand new and they do this same thing, shutoff for 5 seconds so switching to them will probably not cure it. Windows made me upgrade to version 11 and I cannot get that to "talk" to the inverters at all.

My interim solution, since I was "upgrading" an older system, is using that old system to power starlink and the router for now and the new 6000 ex-system mostly just charges the batteries. In the summer it will run the air conditioner and keep itself cool.

I suspect I will end up with a SolArk or something along those lines, but they are 7x the cost and I choose to deal with this for now. I am hoping that enough of us will open cases and post what we are dealing with that EG4 will fix it.

I made a video for SS so they can see what I am talking about. Have yet to hear from them.

My YouTube Video

 

[Zwy]

Has anyone else had their EG4 6500s in split phase shut down only while charging with PV? I am only inputing around 5500 watts using 3 strings.

But what is the VOC of the strings? One string to one MPPT?

I have the 6 EG4 rack of batteries off grid and 14 times in the last month my system turns off and within 5 or 10 seconds turns back on.

Using battery communication?

You might try USE and set the parameters yourself. The reason I say this is battery communication adds another variable.

I recently updated firmware to resolve the flickering lights which did not help but the inverters still turn off every day or two, my electronics are likely not happy about that. Any recommendations of other inverters that communicate with the EG4 batteries?

Drop the battery communication and set your own parameters under USE. You could very well have a battery issue. And ensure you monitor the bank voltage for when the shut down occurs with a multimeter. Use a camera if you need to record over a long period.

I have had no help resolving my bad inverters so I think its time to jump ship and find a product that works.

You might install a different brand and still have a problem if it is battery related.

These are replacement inverters, my first two did not have these issues but were before the bad batch was shipped so I think I have more bad inverters.

What happened to the first inverters?

 

[kurts]

But what is the VOC of the strings? One string to one MPPT?
I have 3 strings, the highest voltage is 400v with 10 panels. The other two stings are only six panels each, and each string to its own input.


Using battery communication?
Yes I am using the com cables between inverters and the single cable from my battery bank to the master inverter.

You might try USE and set the parameters yourself. The reason I say this is battery communication adds another variable.
I had to put my slave inverter into use or it flashed a fault light. Now it shows SOC instead of voltage so 10% or 30% like it show me mean nothing, I would much prefer to set my system with actual voltage numbers instead of %.


Drop the battery communication and set your own parameters under USE. You could very well have a battery issue. And ensure you monitor the bank voltage for when the shut down occurs with a multimeter. Use a camera if you need to record over a long period.
If the voltage was off when the inverters shut down I would think they would shut down again right away, full sun today and they did not shut down.

Are you recommending unplugging the cable from the batteries? I can try this but it seams like I need that communication for long term health of the batteries. My batteries have never given me any indication there is a problem, my first inverters did not flicker or turn off.

You might install a different brand and still have a problem if it is battery related.

Has anyone had issues with their batteries causing the inverters to turn off and then back on? By the time I run out to the inverters they are running fine and no faults.

What happened to the first inverters?

No idea what happened to my first inverters, they ran for a week in standby mode to fully charge my batteries. I turned the system on and it worked perfect for 4 days, I went for a hike late in the day and came home to a tripped battery breaker and both inverters fried. Never found out why. I live alone so no one touched it. The replacement inverters turned on but would not charge or produce power so they sent me two new display panels. I have 3 solar systems on other houses, two off grid outback inverters and an SMA grid tie on the third. All have been going non stop for many years.

 

[Zwy]

Set both inverters to USE and set the parameters for charging manually. Remove the communication cable between battery and inverters. Don't worry about long term health of the batteries at this point, you are testing to find a fault. I don't use communication at all between my inverters and battery bank. You will need the cable between the inverters.

The 10 panel string, what is the VOC of the panels and what is the temperature there? How cold does it get in the winter?

 

[SkyMo]

I can answer for mine as I've blown up other systems when it got really cold and there was full sun and the voltage went way up. This happens to my paired 6000's after the batteries are done charging and the system is just floating. I run about 175 volts and 1200 watts per string, one to each inverter at full power. No errors and it's not a restart of the inverter, the panel lights just go blank and AC output stops for about 4 seconds, then it's right back on. Happens with a load or with just some lights on (77 watts per the app).

 

[kurts]

Update on my system. My friend made the drive out again and we put the new firmware in two days ago and no power outages yet. Its been about 4 days since its shut off so I am hoping things are good here now. I live just outside of phoenix so its not cold here this time of year, my 10 panel string is 400v so I have plenty of room for safety, I am hoping to use 3 strings of 11 panels which would be 440v each but need to get through my final inspection from the county as this is a new house build. Then I can build ground mounts and tidy everything up, I am running everything electric in the house on 6 eg4 batteries but its just me and the dog. Heat pump water heater seems great on batteries.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Update on my system. My friend made the drive out again and we put the new firmware in two days ago and no power outages yet. Its been about 4 days since its shut off so I am hoping things are good here now. I live just outside of phoenix so its not cold here this time of year, my 10 panel string is 400v so I have plenty of room for safety, I am hoping to use 3 strings of 11 panels which would be 440v each but need to get through my final inspection from the county as this is a new house build. Then I can build ground mounts and tidy everything up, I am running everything electric in the house on 6 eg4 batteries but its just me and the dog. Heat pump water heater seems great on batteries.

Glad to hear no more outages!

 

[SkyMo]

Can you let us know what exact firmware you use cuz I'm in the same exact position just waiting on support