EG4 LL-S to EG4 LL no communication

[johnbrutovsky@hotmail.]

I just bought a new EG4 LL-S battery to add to my existing pack of five batteries. I have verified that if I make the new EG4 LL-S battery the master battery ( pin switch set to 1 ) that it will communicate with the inverter ( my EG4 6000xp ). What I can not get to happen is for it to communicate with my one year old already existing EG4-LL battery ( pin switches are front mounted, not sure if that is a v1 or a v2 ) , or any of the other batteries. I'm sure that someone else has to have run into this problem before and I could use some help on this. Right now, I have tried a plane jane cat5 cable ( didn't work ) , and I've tried a custom cat5 cable with pin 6 removed ( still didn't work ). Do I need to make a cable that only uses pins 7 & 8? Do I need to do a firmware / software update? Any ideas on this. Why can't this just be plug and play? It's aggravating.

 

[ricardocello]

Have you seen this documentation?

https://eg4electronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Installing-EG4-LL-S-w-other-batterirs.pdf

 

[johnbrutovsky@hotmail.]

Have you seen this documentation?

https://eg4electronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Installing-EG4-LL-S-w-other-batterirs.pdf

Yes, I have read that page. It is in the EG4 LL-S owners manual. What I don't know, is if I need to remove all the pins except pins 7&8, or what software updates need to be preformed first.

 

[ricardocello]

From what I remember, only pins 7 and 8 can be present because the other pins conflict, and may trip a breaker.
So you cannot use a standard cable. Which is ridiculous, but that’s apparently how it is.



Recommend you read this thread to the end:
Post in thread 'Anyone have EG4 LL-S Batteries and EG4 LifePower4 V1 Batteries Communicating with EG4 6000XP Inverter?'
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/a...g-with-eg4-6000xp-inverter.96160/post-1301485

 

[ricardocello]

Yes, I have read that page. It is in the EG4 LL-S owners manual. What I don't know, is if I need to remove all the pins except pins 7&8, or what software updates need to be preformed first.

The multipack firmware needs to be installed on all batteries for this to work.

And for that you need a cable with only pins 1 and 2 for RS-485.

 

[johnbrutovsky@hotmail.]

The multipack firmware needs to be installed on all batteries for this to work.

And for that you need a cable with only pins 1 and 2 for RS-485.

Just for clarification, the multipack firmware needs to be installed on the master ( newest ) battery, correct?

 

[ricardocello]

Just for clarification, the multipack firmware needs to be installed on the master ( newest ) battery, correct?

All of them, according the EG4, not just the master.

 

[johnbrutovsky@hotmail.]

UPDATE: I am extremely frustrated. I have had no luck in getting the new battery to communicate. I have the RS232 cable from Signature Solar, I have the RS485 cable that came with my older batteries. I have tried to update the new battery starting with the RS232 update No luck, no communication. I tried the RS485 update. no communication. I tried the multipack, no communication. Not to mention the confusion. People here on the message board say to install the multipack on each battery. I have two EG4 LL-S batteries, one EG4 LL v2, and 3 EG4 LL v1 with the 4 pin dipswitch. Now what software goes where? The "multipack' zip file only lists EG4 LL batteries ( v1 and v2 ) , but not -S. The EG4 LL-S product page lists both the multipack firmware and the EG4 LL-S RS485 and the RS232 update. So again I ask, what software do I install to get all of these batteries to talk to each other? I've also tried making a cat5 cable with only pins 3, 7&8, That didn't work either. What am I missing here.

 

[ricardocello]

UPDATE: I am extremely frustrated. I have had no luck in getting the new battery to communicate. I have the RS232 cable from Signature Solar, I have the RS485 cable that came with my older batteries. I have tried to update the new battery starting with the RS232 update No luck, no communication. I tried the RS485 update. no communication. I tried the multipack, no communication. Not to mention the confusion. People here on the message board say to install the multipack on each battery. I have two EG4 LL-S batteries, one EG4 LL v2, and 3 EG4 LL v1 with the 4 pin dipswitch. Now what software goes where? The "multipack' zip file only lists EG4 LL batteries ( v1 and v2 ) , but not -S. The EG4 LL-S product page lists both the multipack firmware and the EG4 LL-S RS485 and the RS232 update. So again I ask, what software do I install to get all of these batteries to talk to each other? I've also tried making a cat5 cable with only pins 3, 7&8, That didn't work either. What am I missing here.

@SignatureSolarJess @EG4TechSolutionsTeam

 

[42OhmsPA]

What am I missing here.

Open loop will set you free.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

Hi! Thanks for the tag! You will need to install the V2 multipack onto the LL-S batteries. I'm going to respond to your dm and get you reconnected to ensure we get you sorted out! Copying to both threads for visibility to all!

 

[johnbrutovsky@hotmail.]

Hi! Thanks for the tag! You will need to install the V2 multipack onto the LL-S batteries. I'm going to respond to your dm and get you reconnected to ensure we get you sorted out! Copying to both threads for visibility to all!

Ok, let me see if I can make this post short. Bottom line, I just got my stack of six EG4 LL batteries working. Not sure if this is the recommended way to do it, but here is what has worked for me. First off, my homemade RS232 cable didn't work. It doesn't communicate with the "battery-comm" ports. Setting that aside, here is what worked for me in my situation. Originally, I had 3 v1 batteries at the bottom of my stack. I had one v2 battery above them that was tripping the breaker every time I plugged the v1 into it. I solved that problem two years ago by making a cat5 cable to go from the v1 to the v2 battery that was missing pin 6. I have a LL-S above that that was plug and play to the v2 when I bought it. So that summarizes my original stack of 5 batteries. I was able to get the new EG4 LL-S battery that I bought last week to work by putting it at the top of the stack, and DOWNGRADING the firmware to the LL v2 multipack level. That was the missing piece of information that was driving me crazy the whole weekend. Instead of needing to upgrade all of the older batteries, I just needed to DOWNGRADE my newest battery to the same firmware version that the year old LL-S battery was using the multipack firmware provided on the EG4 LL-S support page. So to summarize this, if you already have a stack of older batteries that function, and you are added the newest version of the LL-S, you need to DOWNGRADE the new one to match the already working stack. I suppose that I could go and install the same software on my v2, and v1, batteries, but since they all seem to be working now, I don't see the need. ( not to mention that the v1 firmware folder has two different files in it, and I'm not sure if I pick one over the other, or if I need to do both )