EG4 6500EX Problem
- Thread starter vitalssigns
- Start date
johnnysolar
lvl 6 noob
⚠ Given the presentation of facts in this thread, this is a dangerous situation not likely to get better by forum input in this thread. Please hire consult from a professional in real time, in person. ⚠
vitalssigns
New Member
I don’t doubt that Quattrohead knows his stuff but for sure I can say, he’s not God almighty with his righteous attitude. I asked him to explain in more detail what he wanted me to do, he did not.
vitalssigns
New Member
Ok, I did watch the video and understand a lot more now than what I did.
vitalssigns
New Member
Ok, I understand what needs to be done now, thank you for explaining it in Laymans terms.
vitalssigns
New Member
The inverter is not getting power from the buss bar, through the breaker, to the inverter. Am I not right when I say the light bulb trick will not work if the inverter is not getting power?
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
It's not getting power because the class T fuse is blown... No power is getting to the breaker because the class T fuse is blown.
Since the class T fuse is blown Quattro (do you drive an Audi?) was having you connect 1 battery directly to the inverter with a pre charge resistor to determine if the inverter is shorted out. It's possible the inrush current blew the class T fuse but it's unlikely.
vitalssigns
New Member
I understand, I did by pass the class T fuse and breaker to see if I could get a current on the negative and positive but their was none. At the battery bank when I did this had one battery bums flashing green, and the other 2 batteries had a red alarm light on.
vitalssigns
New Member
Bms I meet to say
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Confirm power is available from one battery pack, use just that one battery for the testing of the inverters. I recommend just using the top battery from your stack, disconnect and switch off the others for now. We need to limit the complexity of the system while we test.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
I don't know what else to suggest.
If you have a communication cable for the batteries you could try connecting them to a PC and see if you read any errors.
You might find some youtube videos on these inverters helpful as well.
This around 8. 5 minutes goes over start of install.
This covers wiring
If you have a communication cable for the batteries you could try connecting them to a PC and see if you read any errors.
You might find some youtube videos on these inverters helpful as well.
This around 8. 5 minutes goes over start of install.
vitalssigns
New Member
Thank you for the appreciative information, tomorrow’s a new day and I plan on picking up a resistor or a 48 volt light to help with the test. Happy thanksgiving and once again thanks for your help.
vitalssigns
New Member
Thank you and hope you all have a happy thanksgiving, even to the more righteous than others.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Between the brain power here we will get it figured out.
You have a happy Thanksgiving as well. I can already taste the smoked baked beans and deep fried turkey...
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Have a happy Thanksgiving @vitalssigns - and everyone, (Canadian T-G was back in October, home grown Turkey was so good). lol.
When you are ready this is my recommendation for initial testing:
Small steps approach:
Step one - disconnect everything from both inverters. EVERYTHING - remove the PV supply all wires from both inverters, switch off both.
Step two - disconnect all the server rack battery cables and switch them all off.
Step three - with nothing connected, turn on one rack battery - the top one. put a meter and see if you have 50-54 volts (like you did back at post #78 where you have the meter red to red, black to black on the top battery - it was showing proper voltage. Lets confirm it still does.
Step four - connect the neg from the top battery only to the neg of one inverter. Then connect a cable to the pos of the top battery.
Step five - Now attach one light bulb wire to this pos cable.
Step six - touch the other light bulb wire to the neg battery terminal for a few seconds - the light should come on dim, and stay dim.
Step seven - now touch that same light bulb wire to the pos terminal on the inverter for a few seconds. - the light should come on dim and fade out.
STOP HERE - report to the forum the follwing:
Did the light bulb glow dim when you touched the bulb wire to the battery neg terminal at step six. Yes or NO?
If YES - did the light bulb glow dim when you touched the wire to the inverter positive terminal in step seven. YES or NO?
If YES - did the light bulb glow dim and fade slowly or did it glow dim and stay steady dim, STEADY OR FADED?
We will move to the next steps once we have your replies to the above.
Gobble - gobble!
When you are ready this is my recommendation for initial testing:
Small steps approach:
Step one - disconnect everything from both inverters. EVERYTHING - remove the PV supply all wires from both inverters, switch off both.
Step two - disconnect all the server rack battery cables and switch them all off.
Step three - with nothing connected, turn on one rack battery - the top one. put a meter and see if you have 50-54 volts (like you did back at post #78 where you have the meter red to red, black to black on the top battery - it was showing proper voltage. Lets confirm it still does.
Step four - connect the neg from the top battery only to the neg of one inverter. Then connect a cable to the pos of the top battery.
Step five - Now attach one light bulb wire to this pos cable.
Step six - touch the other light bulb wire to the neg battery terminal for a few seconds - the light should come on dim, and stay dim.
Step seven - now touch that same light bulb wire to the pos terminal on the inverter for a few seconds. - the light should come on dim and fade out.
STOP HERE - report to the forum the follwing:
Did the light bulb glow dim when you touched the bulb wire to the battery neg terminal at step six. Yes or NO?
If YES - did the light bulb glow dim when you touched the wire to the inverter positive terminal in step seven. YES or NO?
If YES - did the light bulb glow dim and fade slowly or did it glow dim and stay steady dim, STEADY OR FADED?
We will move to the next steps once we have your replies to the above.
Gobble - gobble!
Last edited:
shopman
Solar Enthusiast
More than one person has had an issue with these inverters, when hooked up in parallel, shorting out the battery input terminals. The easiest way to check this without destroying any more equipment is to disconnect everything(all wiring INCLUDING THE BATTERIES) from the inverter and then use the "ohms or continuity" function on your meter to check for a short across the battery input terminals of the inverter. You'll want to do this check by applying the meter leads in both directions(positive to positive, negative to negative first then swap the meter leads and go positive to negative, negative to positive). If you read a dead short in both directions then I'd say the inverter is fried. If what I've described isn't easily understood then I highly recommend bringing in a professional to diagnose your issue. Also, using pvc sprinkler pipe as conduit is a bad idea. The sprinkler fittings are not the same as the conduit fittings in that they have rough/sharp internal edges that will easily strip the sheath on the wire as it's pulled through the fittings. It's a great way to introduce an invisible short.
vitalssigns
New Member
I have not did the light bulb test yet, my bulbs came in yesterday, and today my sleeves will come in so I can do the test.
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vitalssigns
New Member
In all honesty without doing the light bulb test, I believe that my 2 inverters are fried like burnt toast. I say this only for the fact of, 1) when I disconnect the power from the batteries to the inverters, I get a test reading of 52.7 with all 3 batteries functioning as they should. 2) when I hook up the positive and negative back up to the inverters , I get no reading on the breaker (top side) on the wall under the inverter, as well as 2 of the 3 batteries going into alarm mode. 3) with only solar hooked up to the inverters, the setting screen on the inverters will not come on. Just my observation.
vitalssigns
New Member
I did as you recommended an I do have continuity in all directions. I went a step further and found out that on all 3 batteries when I go positive to negative with the leads, their is no continuity, dead silence.
Gavin Stone
Solar Addict
Both inverters are probably blown. And your t class fuses may also be blown. The inverters could blow if you wire the PV into them the way you have. Or they could blow not using the precharge resistor like you described before. So you’ll have to contact Signature Solar and run some tests for their tech team to confirm the issue.
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