EG4 8K Not a True Hybrid? SIg Solar needs to either fix or recall.

[labeeman]

There are generators that do this, but they are very high-end (Expensive) and specialized. Most of us on the forum will never come close to one let alone working with one.

For some reason, this reminds me of my power lab back in school.

View attachment 149949

We had to manually adjust the motor till the generator output aligned with the grid and then throw the switch to connect the generator to the grid. If there was anything more than a small 'thunk' when you connected you failed and had to do it again. (They were big multi-horsepower motors and generators bolted to the floor. Some guys had a thunk that shook the room) At the time I did not think much of it. Thinking back I am amazed they had us do anything like that.

The trick I learned was to adjust the motor to be ever so slightly slower or faster than the grid and then throw the switch when I saw the best alignment on the scope. There would be a small thunk but then the motor and generator would be locked in sync.

Yep that is the way all powerplants work the operators at the plant where I worked did a good job of doing that you could barely feel it with 110 tons spinning.

 

[Cheap 4-life]

In the example layout I showed there is nothing connected to load 2, so no powere would ever flow out of load 2. However, if there was a load connected to load 2, it would only receive power when the utility is present. Where the power is coming from will depend on how large the various loads are and how much power the inverter circuit is generating. It could be that all the power is coming from the inverter, some of the power is coming from the inverter, or none of the power is coming from the inverter.

As mentioned in my previous post, the unit has a generator input and I don't know how the power from the generator impacts the scenarios. Typically, this type of inverter would be set up to only run the generator when the grid is down.

I am asking about Load 1 not Load 2. When the inverter is supplying power to Load A and Load B at the same time, is Load B getting grid tie inverter power (hertz and volts taking the grids power into consideration) or offgrid inverter power? I know Load 1 is getting grid tie inverter output.

 

[FilterGuy]

I am asking about Load 1 not Load 2. When the inverter is supplying power to Load A and Load B at the same time, is Load B getting grid tie inverter power

It depends.
If the battery is dead and the inverter is not putting power on the line, all of the power for Load A & B is going to be coming from the utility.
If the inverter is putting out enough power for all of Load A & B, all of the power will come from the inverter and none from the grid.
If Load A & B needs more power than what the inverter can supply, some of the power will come from the utility and some from the inverter.

I know I started it, but talking about where the power is coming from for each load when both the grid and the inverter are supplying power is probably not a good way to think about it. Perhaps a super simplified diagram of the system would help.



The inverter and the utility are two power sources in parallel. Both can put power into the circuit. Some of the power will go to Load A and some of the power will go to Load B. It does not really matter which power is going where. The grid and Inverter are supplying power and the two loads are taking power.

If the inverter is providing more power than the combined load of both A and B, the inverter output voltage will be slightly higher than the utility voltage and power will be pushed/exported to the grid. (The grid becomes a load that is taking the excess power)

If the inverter is providing less power than the combined load of both A & B, then the voltage from the grid will be slightly higher and power will be purchased from the grid to make up the difference between what the inverter can supply and the combined demand of A & B.

Edit: Added clarity

With the current transformers, the inverter can adjust its voltage so that the voltage at the service entrance exactly matches the grid voltage. This allows the inverter to power both A & B without exporting or importing power to/from the Utility.

If the Inverter is charging the batteries from the grid, It becomes a load and everything is powered by the utility.


When the utility power goes down, the relays open up and everything changes.




Since Load A is disconnected from the inverter and the Utility is down.... Nothing is powering Load A.
Load B is still connected to the inverter so the inverter can power it for as long as battery power is available.

 

[DVD]

I've done all of that. Pin outs, new cable firmware updates, etc., etc.

I ordered LiFePOWER4 batteries in two orders about 6 months apart. I was getting the BMS Comm failure. Tech support was clueless other that to say the LiFePOWER4 was not compatible with the 8K EXP, despite them offering a custom cable to do exactly that.
I swapped the master battery to the latest shipment and Presto works fine. I asked tech support and they were again clueless.

 

[Markus_EG4]

I ordered LiFePOWER4 batteries in two orders about 6 months apart. I was getting the BMS Comm failure. Tech support was clueless other that to say the LiFePOWER4 was not compatible with the 8K EXP, despite them offering a custom cable to do exactly that.
I swapped the master battery to the latest shipment and Presto works fine. I asked tech support and they were again clueless.

We have 8k firmware for the lifepower batteries. If you need this firmware i can provide it to you.