Eg4 6500EX-48 not working when switching to battery

[anotherchattymind]

Hi everyone, please excuse me if I'm not explaining this well as I am quite the n00b. I have an Eg4 6500EX-48 (connected to EG4 batteries) that after much trouble, I recently setup. We had bought it awhile back but only recently set it up on our tiny house/land that we have not yet moved into yet. Off the bat we encountered a lot of problems, the infamous error 61 which we fixed by updating the firmware but at first it could not connect to the com port. Tech support could not figure it out and my brother had the idea to downgrade to windows 10 from windows 11. And it worked! We thought we were finally in the clear, but it turns out our water catchment pump does not work if it's in the evening or raining despite the battery being fully charged (but works when pv is running). When the pump starts to run in evening the lcd screen on the inverter starts going crazy and once started flashing random error codes and the electricity is completely shut off to everything. Another time it didn't flash random error codes but just started making icons on the lcd screen rapidly appear and disappear. The power doesn't work for anything in the tiny house until the water pump is unplugged from the outlet. Any ideas on what's going on? Or am I just doomed because I bought an Eg4 that seems to now be discontinued? Thanks for any help you might have.

Also just wanted to mention.. has anyone gotten the watchpower app to work? Because I definitely haven't, ugh.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Well off the batt there is the upgrade program if you wanted to switch out to the 6000xp or the 18kpv.

If you put a multimeter on the battery terminals, do you get voltage?

What do you see on the display after the sun goes down?

 

[marionw]

What EG4 batteries do you have:
1: EG4 LL
2: EG4 LL-S
3: EG4 LL-V1
4: EG4 LL-V2
5: EG$ LifePower4
6: EG4 PowerPro
7: Or some other EG4 Battery.

How many batteries and what is the State Of Charge (SOC) of "each" the batteries and how are the batteries mounted (rack etc).

 

[anotherchattymind]

What EG4 batteries do you have:
1: EG4 LL
2: EG4 LL-S
3: EG4 LL-V1
4: EG4 LL-V2
5: EG$ LifePower4
6: EG4 PowerPro
7: Or some other EG4 Battery.

How many batteries and what is the State Of Charge (SOC) of "each" the batteries and how are the batteries mounted (rack etc).

Eg4 Lifepower4 battery. Right now we only have one battery (bought two but only one got shipped, but that's not your problem haha)
so it's free standing for now until we receive the other one. Battery was fully charged so should be near 100% SOC. As we are not down there living yet, nothing else was running or drawing electricity in the tiny house while the pump turned on, I turned it on in isolation to test it.

 

[anotherchattymind]

Eg4 Lifepower4 battery. Right now we only have one battery (bought two but only one got shipped, but that's not your problem haha)
so it's free standing for now until we receive the other one. Battery was fully charged so should be near 100% SOC. As we are not down there living yet, nothing else was running or drawing electricity in the tiny house while the pump turned on, I turned it on in isolation to test it.

Well off the batt there is the upgrade program if you wanted to switch out to the 6000xp or the 18kpv.

If you put a multimeter on the battery terminals, do you get voltage?

What do you see on the display after the sun goes down?

I bought from shopsolarkits (although they source and ship from signaturesolar) because I was having issues with getting signaturesolar to ship to me in Hawai'i. I have not yet tried putting a multimeter on the battery terminals, and I'm not on my land right now to try it out but can try that out when I'm there. If I turn something on in the tiny house in the evening it does not seem to have a problem drawing energy from the battery though, so far only when turning on the pump. But I am also not living down there yet so have not yet had a lot of heavy use in the evening. What I see on the display is what I described above, "When the pump starts to run in evening the lcd screen on the inverter starts going crazy and once started flashing random error codes and the electricity is completely shut off to everything. Another time it didn't flash random error codes but just started making icons on the lcd screen rapidly appear and disappear. " Otherwise the display screen looks normal. I'll have to get a video of what it's doing.

 

[marionw]

Do you have the battery BMS connected to the BMS Port on the inverter?

Some things you can do:
Download the BMS Test Windows.zip or BMS Test MacOS.zip (depending on the computer you have) from https://eg4electronics.com/categori...wer4-48v-100ah-lithium-iron-phosphate-battery.

You can also download the manual and latest firmware.

The BMS_Test.exe software is a great tool that will allow you to update the battery BMS firmware to the latest and also allow you to verify the actual status of the battery. You will also need a communication cable that will connect between an RJ45 port on the battery and your computer/laptop. You will also be able to monitor the battery while the inverter is operating and especially when the pump kicks on.

We can also explain how to easily make your own cable if you can't find one to purchase.

 

[anotherchattymind]

Do you have the battery BMS connected to the BMS Port on the inverter?

Some things you can do:
Download the BMS Test Windows.zip or BMS Test MacOS.zip (depending on the computer you have) from https://eg4electronics.com/categori...wer4-48v-100ah-lithium-iron-phosphate-battery.

You can also download the manual and latest firmware.

The BMS_Test.exe software is a great tool that will allow you to update the battery BMS firmware to the latest and also allow you to verify the actual status of the battery. You will also need a communication cable that will connect between an RJ45 port on the battery and your computer/laptop. You will also be able to monitor the battery while the inverter is operating and especially when the pump kicks on.

We can also explain how to easily make your own cable if you can't find one to purchase.

Yes, it is connected. Thanks, I'll try the BMS test/updating the firmware.

 

[marionw]

One other item; if possible could you send any photos of your installation.
What cables did you use to connect the battery to the inverter, normally the cables provided with the battery would not be long enough to connect from the battery to the inverter as they are only long enough to connect to a bus bar in a rack.

Writing this as you posted. Try temporarily disconnecting the BMS Communications.

 

[DIYrich]

Eg4 Lifepower4 battery. Right now we only have one battery (bought two but only one got shipped, but that's not your problem haha)

With only one battery, you have about 5kw of energy available

 

[anotherchattymind]

With only one battery, you have about 5kw of energy available

Yes, the pump would only use about 1/5th of that.

 

[JWLV]

A volt meter (multimeter) is absolutely necessary when hooking up batteries, inverter, or solar panels.

Without it, it’s like trying to drive a car with no hands. You can still do it, but it won’t be easy.

 

[DIYrich]

Yes, the pump would only use about 1/5th of that.

At startup? What other loads are there when the pump starts up?

What are the volts/amps on the battery before the pump turns on, and when the pump turns on?

Note: It works on PV because the PV is supplying additional power. Battery + PV allows the inverter to deliver more power.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Pump could trip the BMS trying to run with 1 battery and no solar available, you shouldn't have any issues with 2 batteries in parallel if your wiring is appropriate.

Stop wasting time with watch power and look into Solar Assistant.

 

[Quattrohead]

Details on the pump and you say the inverter works properly until the pump is connected.
How are you connecting it, how are you grounding the system, including panels ?