EG4-LL V2 has protection fault out of the box (RESOLVED - see posts)

[RxJemm]

Hi All, I have been an avid reader of this forum for months, but this is my first post!

I recently purchased a single EG4-LL V2 from a leading solar equipment reseller in Kingston Jamaica that I have been working with for over a decade. I have confirmed with them that the battery was bought from Signature Solar. The battery is having these issues however:

• The Battery is not connected (has never been) to any load or inverter. It is still in the plastic wrapper in the shipping box.
• Turning on the BMS shows a "protection" notice on the screen along with the red Alarm LCD being it.
  • This happens 90% of the time when turning on the unit. The other 10% the unit starts with the "Standby" message with ~ same voltage as the display present at the terminals.
  • When in "protection" fault mode, there is initially 48V at the terminals which rapidly decreases to around 5V until a relay clicking sound is heard and then it jumps back to 48V and starts the downward cycle again.
• The behaviour is not influenced by the breaker being open or closed.
• Resetting the BMS with a toothpick most times results (9 times out of 10) in the unit booting into Standy with ~53V at the terminals.
• Connecting to BMS_TOOLS shows a Discharge SC protection fault in red (see screenshot).

I emailed tech@Signaturesolar a few days back, however I have not received a response as yet. I plan to call them tomorrow. The local vendor is working with me to help resolve the issue (they gave me the RS485-USB cable) as they are also keen to import more of this product for sale here.

I am hoping @SignatureSolarJames or @SignatureSolarJarrett might see this thread before and give me their opinion ..

Is my BMS or Precharge resistor BORKED? ?

Thanks in Advance folks!
Regards,
- David

 

[Saturn_up]

Has it ever gone into sc protection after it has booted normally?

Meaning it starts up in stand by and then after some period of time goes into protection, Or is it an either/or deal?

 

[RxJemm]

Has it ever gone into sc protection after it has booted normally?

Meaning it starts up in stand by and then after some period of time goes into protection, Or is it an either/or deal?

Thanks Saturn_up for your reply!
No it has never gone into protection after starting normally in standby. However I have not left it on for more than a 5 minutes. I am going to reset it now and leave it on for a few hours and get back to you.

 

[LithiumCowboy]

Can you open the front faceplate and check if the green pre charge resistor plug got unplugged from the bms pcb?

 

[RxJemm]

Thanks Saturn_up for your reply!
No it has never gone into protection after starting normally in standby. However I have not left it on for more than a 5 minutes. I am going to reset it now and leave it on for a few hours and get back to you.

Experiment conducted with it being on overnight: It stayed in "Standby" and did not go into fault.
No loads attached.

 

[RxJemm]

Can you open the front faceplate and check if the green pre charge resistor plug got unplugged from the bms pcb?

Hi Leadacidtrip (darn cool name btw!), I could take a chance and do that yes. Hope it will not void the warranty....

 

[Saturn_up]

Experiment conducted with it being on overnight: It stayed in "Standby" and did not going into fault.
No loads attached.

I would try and run it. It may just be a boot issue. Its not ideal but if its only on start up it may just be a software glitch.

 

[RxJemm]

Update : so the local vendor has contacted Signature Solar, and I am to bring it in for them to do their diagnostics and relay directly to signature solar's tech support.

I will keep the thread updated, so that others may learn from my experience...

 

[tyrone]

Hi All, I have been an avid reader of this forum for months, but this is my first post!

I recently purchased a single EG4-LL V2 from a leading solar equipment reseller in Kingston Jamaica that I have been working with for over a decade. I have confirmed with them that the battery was bought from Signature Solar. The battery is having these issues however:

• The Battery is not connected (has never been) to any load or inverter. It is still in the plastic wrapper in the shipping box.
• Turning on the BMS shows a "protection" notice on the screen along with the red Alarm LCD being it.
  • This happens 90% of the time when turning on the unit. The other 10% the unit starts with the "Standby" message with ~ same voltage as the display present at the terminals.
  • When in "protection" fault mode, there is initially 48V at the terminals which rapidly decreases to around 5V until a relay clicking sound is heard and then it jumps back to 48V and starts the downward cycle again.
• The behaviour is not influenced by the breaker being open or closed.
• Resetting the BMS with a toothpick most times results (9 times out of 10) in the unit booting into Standy with ~53V at the terminals.
• Connecting to BMS_TOOLS shows a Discharge SC protection fault in red (see screenshot).

I emailed tech@Signaturesolar a few days back, however I have not received a response as yet. I plan to call them tomorrow. The local vendor is working with me to help resolve the issue (they gave me the RS485-USB cable) as they are also keen to import more of this product for sale here.

I am hoping @SignatureSolarJames or @SignatureSolarJarrett might see this thread before and give me their opinion ..

Is my BMS or Precharge resistor BORKED? ?

Thanks in Advance folks!
Regards,
- David

Hey RxJemm, who is the local distributor in Kingston, Jamaica and how much did the battery cost? I would like to purchase one.

 

[RxJemm]

Hey RxJemm, who is the local distributor in Kingston, Jamaica and how much did the battery cost? I would like to purchase one.

Hi Tyrone, Sorry for the reply. I sent you a message.

 

[CNC Guy]

RxJemm, I believe I am having the same issue. Alarm light is on and BMS tools shows Discharge SC light, straight out of the box.
I look forward to seeing what you find Out. I will post here if I find something. I just started talking to Signature Solar about the issue.

 

[RxJemm]

RxJemm, I believe I am having the same issue. Alarm light is on and BMS tools shows Discharge SC light, straight out of the box.
I look forward to seeing what you find Out. I will post here if I find something. I just started talking to Signature Solar about the issue.

Still awaiting word from the local vendor, they are to contact Signature Solar on the phone and to do a real-time debug. I am being patient.
Do you have a contact there @SS that you can point to this thread?

 

[Jamsolar876]

I'm in Jamaica bought my batteries and inverters directly from signature solar, everything works great and I've had no issues with their tech support. How much did you pay for battery from local supplier?

 

[CNC Guy]

Still awaiting word from the local vendor, they are to contact Signature Solar on the phone and to do a real-time debug. I am being patient.
Do you have a contact there @SS that you can point to this thread?

I do not yet have a contact to direct to this thread. I will try to investigate more this week. I was able to reset my battery and clear the alarm, but it came back as soon as I attached the cables to an inverter.

 

[RxJemm]

It would be nice to know from Signature Solar what "Discharge SC" means....

 

[RxJemm]

I'm in Jamaica bought my batteries and inverters directly from signature solar, everything works great and I've had no issues with their tech support. How much did you pay for battery from local supplier?

Sent you a message.

 

[RxJemm]

I do not yet have a contact to direct to this thread. I will try to investigate more this week. I was able to reset my battery and clear the alarm, but it came back as soon as I attached the cables to an inverter.

Morning Folks, I was going through some earlier documentation for the older EG4 line, which has a better write up on the BMS_TOOLS and it seems that "DISCHARGE SC" with the alarm light always on, means that there is a short circuit in the power output line. Since there are no loads connected, it must have to do with the precharge resistor or wiring or BMS itself. Could it be that these batteries are prone to having something dislodged in shipping?

My Retailer has a service call slot with Signature Solar on Monday, so we shall see what happens....

 

[RxJemm]

Thanks to the excellent combined effort of Kaleb B. @ Signature Solar and our local retailer for this product (with whom the warranty resides), the issue has been RESOLVED!! ?

100 XP+ points goes out to @leadacidtrip who had the solution right in the first place!

It was indeed the pre-charge resistor not being plugged in properly or becoming dislodged in shipping.

I hope this thread becomes a resource for folks with similar issues.

Thanks to all that contributed!

 

[RxJemm]

Up and running!
- Now to get another one and switch over from the dying lead acid bank... ?

 

[Jamsolar876]

This is great news!!