Since these are all Chinese based inverter, and they all copy paste each others firmware I wonder if we could customize the firmware on our own. Has anyone looked into it?
EG4 6500EX-48 Expansive lesson learned!
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Zapper77
Renaissance Man
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Plug in hybrid for the wife. Mainly used for Groceries and dropping the teens off at school and work. 30-40 mile battery range. Unfortunately I don’t have sufficient solar to run the house and charge the vehicle (yet). Only gets charged when batteries are full.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
Went from the 6500EX to a pair of MPP LV6548's. The LV6548's have been rock solid.
What's the difference other than PV input VOC rating? Hard to say but I'm running the firmware the LV6548's came with.
I had enough with the light strobe on the 6500EX, went down that rabbit hole with Adam. Wasted countless weekends attempting to fix it thinking it was on my end. I installed the LV6548's temporarily while waiting for replacement 6500EX's arrived. No changes except cut PV array to half to meet the 250V rating. Ran for over a month, no problems. Installed replacement LV6500's, updated firmware and had lights glowing with the switch off. The replacements were on the wall 1 day and the LV6548's were installed again.
Take the $1000 off and move to the 18Kpv. Sucks but chalk it up to a learning experience where you have learned to research before buying. In my case, the reports of strobe lights didn't come in until after I purchased the 6500EX's.
What's the difference other than PV input VOC rating? Hard to say but I'm running the firmware the LV6548's came with.
I had enough with the light strobe on the 6500EX, went down that rabbit hole with Adam. Wasted countless weekends attempting to fix it thinking it was on my end. I installed the LV6548's temporarily while waiting for replacement 6500EX's arrived. No changes except cut PV array to half to meet the 250V rating. Ran for over a month, no problems. Installed replacement LV6500's, updated firmware and had lights glowing with the switch off. The replacements were on the wall 1 day and the LV6548's were installed again.
Take the $1000 off and move to the 18Kpv. Sucks but chalk it up to a learning experience where you have learned to research before buying. In my case, the reports of strobe lights didn't come in until after I purchased the 6500EX's.
I would jump on it, but problem is what do I do with the 6500EX, I can’t just leave them hanging in my garage taking up space and be reminder of my lack of researching. Also I think flicking lights are probably frequency generator is not up to par even though it’s supposed to have a smooth 60hz but I think it fluctuates, I’m going to borrow a oscilloscope from my work to look at the sign wave along with voltage to see if it’s collapsing voltage or fluctuating frequency that’s causing LEDs to flicker.
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Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
Start here: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/e...548s-installed-and-replacement-6500exs.63575/
and here: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/problems-with-eg4-6500ex-buyer-beware.54597/post-793547
Take the credit SS is offering towards the 18Kpv. If you want to use the 6500EX's for something, you can always use them for a charge controller.
The strobe is due to voltage regulation. This also causes backfeed on N where lights glow in the dark with switch off. There are also problems with the H bridge switching, this might be the real cause of the voltage regulation problem. I've scoped the LV6548's and the problem with the H bridge switching is not present.
You can go down the rabbit hole but it is wide and deep and leads to nowhere. I spent well over 100 hours on this problem. It was clearly a fault in the units.
Zapper77
Renaissance Man
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That's exactly what you do with them. Reminds you...Lesson Learned
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
One more thing, you can use the 6500EX to charge batteries using grid power and not have to purchase a Chargeverter with the 18Kpv. Do not use AC input on the 18Kpv as there are some problems with zero export.
Hahaha indeed!
I will definitely keep that in mind!. But if I can’t use AC input how would I input the solar panels with micro inverters on the gen port? And how would it know grid went down and it needs to create a micro grid to wake up the solar panels on the roof?. I wonder how long SS is offering the $1000 off I don’t have funds available as of now. Whatever spare money I had I spent it on batteries and 6500EX if SS continues to offer the discount come next year I’ll purchase the 18Kpv,
Yup I have IA signed and blessed by utility company since I work for them it only took 2 days for whole process and I live in county so no permits were required.
I also watched and read your thread omg I wish I had seen these before purchasing these POS!. Frequency jumping from 59-64hZ that’s crazy!! On a normal grid every generator would trip at 62.5hZ! I am so glad I didn’t put any of my motor based loads on these inverters or the motors life spans would take a big hit!, also the voltage sign waves at peaks look like multiple peaks like almost as if you’re getting some small L-G faults being created and causing voltage to sag and rise I bet my inverts are also doing. Or I wonder if the transformer inside has inadequate insulation which is causing some leakage to the case and causing small L-G faults. I am on road right now or id amp the case ground to see what kind of current flows through it under normal perfect system no ground should have any voltage or current.
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
You could try leaning extremely hard on signature solar seeing as you've been very unsatisfied with these from day one. Maybe point them to this thread
RV10flyer
Solar Wizard
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I’m have same voltage sag, flickering LED’s, compressor on refrigerator and 2 ton heat pump with soft start pulsing on startup. This only happens during the morning when PV is ramping up. Once the batteries are taking a charge and PV is taking care of loads it smooths out. I need to update firmware to see if it helps. I bought these in Aug 22. Started up two weeks or so ago. I got what I paid for for my shop.
My two home Sol-Ark 12K’s…had one bad dongle. That’s it! One phone call, new one in the mail. Working as expected 18 months. Way better reliability than our greedy power company was. SolArks are not LF inverters, so I’m careful with higher inrush appliances. I read the data sheets, so no surprises with the “12K”. They just work.
Just tried is no change in voltage and also lights are still flickering. I turn one of them off the other stayed at 111v. What's weird is for now 2P2 is at 111 and 2P1 is at 119-120 but randomly they will swap low voltage output without any changes and it only happens when it’s battery fed. When they are in bypass mode no problems with voltage of flickering lights. Makes me really wonder if the transformer is the issue it’s not properly insulated.
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RV10flyer
Solar Wizard
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All of the cheap meters that I have won’t show the drop in voltage or frequency, but I know it’s happening. There’s a reason they put those cheap meters on their units. They don’t want people to see how much it fluctuates. I wish I had an oscilloscope. I have surge protectors on several appliances and garage door openers. During that Battery to PV transition time I can hear them clicking, faulting and going into time delays.
My recommendation if you’re having same issues I wouldn’t put any motor based load like your appliances fridge freezer. Under low voltage motors will pull higher current could stall motors and cause overheating, also fluctuating frequency can cause issues with collapsing and energizing magmatic field inside the winding will decrease their life spans.
I can actually measure this low voltage with my two different voltmeter, it really does reflect what’s on the inverter display, right now I’m looking at them they are both at 119v, 2P1 only has 193w load and 2P2 0w, and load has nothing to do with them dropping voltage they just randomly do it. And weirdly these inverter lose any programming I do to their timer settings if I change anything to do with priority level of source of feed. And then it’s pain to have to reprogram it every time!
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
I would think the transformer would be the same as the LV6548 as both were manufactured by Voltronic. It is in the programming/loads management part of the inverter.
The story is SS found that some components had been substituted due to availability from the supply chain problems after covid. It seems there isn't a PPAP under ISO 9001 certification process in place where a product is built for a customer and tested to a standard, approved after testing and the manufacturer can not change anything with the product unless the customer approves the change after testing.
The purpose of the firmware changes available for the 6500EX was an attempt to use coding to hide or eliminate the problem. This failed and thus the credit towards purchase of the 18Kpv came about.
In another recent thread, I am relating my latest experience with SS and how it is progressing. To tell you the honest truth, I'd prefer not to even purchase the 18Kpv as the customer service/tech support has not measurably improved. The Sol Ark would be a better choice simply due to customer service/tech support after the sale. .
The story is SS found that some components had been substituted due to availability from the supply chain problems after covid. It seems there isn't a PPAP under ISO 9001 certification process in place where a product is built for a customer and tested to a standard, approved after testing and the manufacturer can not change anything with the product unless the customer approves the change after testing.
The purpose of the firmware changes available for the 6500EX was an attempt to use coding to hide or eliminate the problem. This failed and thus the credit towards purchase of the 18Kpv came about.
In another recent thread, I am relating my latest experience with SS and how it is progressing. To tell you the honest truth, I'd prefer not to even purchase the 18Kpv as the customer service/tech support has not measurably improved. The Sol Ark would be a better choice simply due to customer service/tech support after the sale. .
i haven’t even looked into solark how do they compare reliability wise/issue wise and importantly can they do proper AC coupling along with frequency shifting to curtail the solar panels output during grid outage when I want to create my tiny isolated black start island ?.
edited to say: @Adam De Lay can you do a video on the sol ark honestly I prefer your videos over other people you do an actual honest videos and go into details others might not
