EG4 6500ex not charging consistently on generator

[NomNomCameron]

I have 2 6500ex inverters setup in split phase. I just had my outback radian 8048 partially fail on me and am now using the EG4's (in split phase) in conjunction with epever solar charge controllers for my off grid setup.

I just had to fire up the generator for the first time (not enough solar today). I have the 50 amp outlet feeding both inverters (the neutral and ground go through a splitter for each inverter's ac input, and the hots go into each inverter's line input)

Immediately I noticed the generator surges consistently and the "charging" indicator will display for a bit and then will not show, this continues to happen. I tried playing with setting 2 and 11, and it doesn't seem to matter what I set these to as the problem continues to occur. I believe it stays in line mode fine and the power stays on but the charger does not stay on consistently.

Please keep in mind I was using this generator with my outback inverter/charger without issues before it partially failed so I don't think the generator is the issue.

I'm hoping this is just a problem with the settings. What is the difference between setting 2 and 11? The manual says these work in "unison" so I feel like that means setting 11 is what the total ac input can be (for both line and the charger) and setting 2 is just how many amps the charger can output?

Any help or guidance on this will be greatly appreciated thank you!

 

[wpns]

Not sure of those exact devices, and your connection description is confusing (pictuers?) but it sounds like the load on your generator is too high, and it keeps tripping out (or going out of regulation, so your inverter drops the "grid" till it stabilizes?)

First thing to try would be to set the charge current to half (or a quarter?) of what you think it should support, and see if that works. If it does, you can work your way up till you find the failure point and then back off a bit. #SuccessiveApproximation

 

[LydMekk]

You don't mention neither brand nor model name of your genny.

 

[NomNomCameron]

You don't mention neither brand nor model name of your genny.

I didn't think it mattered (I've already established it works with my outback radian 8048 in charge mode)

The generator is a Firman 7500-watt tri-fuel and we're using the 50amp 240v receptacle to wire from the generator to the inverter. Since there are 2 EG4's to make split phase work I was using a small breaker box's bus bars to split the neutral and ground to the 2 different EG4's and the 2 hot lines are going into each EG4

 

[wpns]

Not really familiar with the 6000 series, do you need to tell it that you are connected to a generator? It may not allow what it thinks is supposed to be 'grid' input if the 'grid' isn't stable enough (frequency, voltage).

What fuel are you using? The spec sheet says it's 7500(Gas) 6750(LPG) 5500(NG) watts... What battery charge limits do you have set? I'd start them each with maybe 25A and see if it's stable.

 

[MattMan119]

I don’t think it will work all the time… it is not “clean” like from an inverter generator …


I suspect when starting off clean and works, so it lets it go passthru, when you put a load it gets dirty and disconnects.. (I don’t know for sure I never tried it with dirty power)

I solved this with chargeverter …

EDIT: I just noticed his is for the 6000ex not the 6000xp .. have not reviewed that manual yet to ee if same applied.


MattMan

 

[EG4TechSolutionsTeam]

Do you have any batteries?

The issues could be related to several things. You need to make sure that the THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) is less than 3%. Also, you need to make sure that the generator is powerful enough. We usually recommend twice the power of one inverter which one be a 13kW generator.

Most likely the problem is that the THD on your generator is too high. It is between 11%-14%.