diy solar

diy solar

EG4 new AIO rated 12K output and 18kPV aka "EG4-18Kpv-12LV"

Quattrohead said:
Just goes to show you how tough the EG4 18kpv is.
I am 100% happy to run my whole Florida house off 1...maybe 2 units.
2 units hint hint James/Markus LOL
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I can live with one. I'd need to redo my wiring if I added a second.
 
rakitejada said:
Only 4 lifepro? What is your plan for usage? I know there is no electricity in almost the complete country, so you cant feed to the grid neither. So why 2 units of 18kpv and only 4 lifepro batteries? Or did you mean 2 x 30kwh kits (total 60kwh’s of batteries)?

Im you next door neighbor ? are you in PAP or Cap Haitien?
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i'm close to Cap-Haitian and i'm getting 4 EG4 power pro totaling 57.2kw, Will be completely off grid.
 
Will Prowse said:
Also the voltage only sagged to 220. When previously it was 240-250 depending on where I was measuring. The Tesla always says it's a solid 250V. Anything above 210 is fine from what I've read.

But even when I tried to overload the inverter with inductive loads piled on top of purely resistive loads, it would still be able to power it. Will do a bunch of various load tests in a video.

Still running it 24/7 from day one as well. Has not been down except for doing firmware update for a few minutes. No error codes or shutdowns of any kind.

I actually have the car lift connected to the 18K as of today because when it was connected to the grid it would trip so often.
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This is somewhat tangential, but does anyone have recommendations on car lifts for off-grid folks? I know you use your lift for stress testing systems but I need a lift that doesn't stress my system.

My situation: tiny house in New Mexico, no utilities, just 16 cells I got from the Michael Caro guy a few years ago and Magnum 4400W inverter (48v, 240 AC).
 
rakitejada said:
Only 4 lifepro? What is your plan for usage? I know there is no electricity in almost the complete country, so you cant feed to the grid neither. So why 2 units of 18kpv and only 4 lifepro batteries? Or did you mean 2 x 30kwh kits (total 60kwh’s of batteries)?

Im you next door neighbor ? are you in PAP or Cap Haitien?
Click to expand...
Perhaps 2 units for 100 amp? I am considering 2 of the 18kp for this reason.
 
greensoldierusa said:
Perhaps 2 units for 100 amp? I am considering 2 of the 18kp for this reason.
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Yea, 240/100A (24KW) will pretty much cover most anything in a modest all electric home with a single HVAC system. The extra unit bumps your PV MPPT towards silly (36KW) if you are in sunny places, but I think it would be even more useful if you just need extra panels in places that are not all that sunny. The real money starts when you start adding enough batteries to actually be able to stay off grid for a reasonable time.
 
ksmithaz1 said:
Yea, 240/100A (24KW) will pretty much cover most anything in a modest all electric home with a single HVAC system. The extra unit bumps your PV MPPT towards silly (36KW) if you are in sunny places, but I think it would be even more useful if you just need extra panels in places that are not all that sunny. The real money starts when you start adding enough batteries to actually be able to stay off grid for a reasonable time.
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I was looking at 50 sunpower 450w panels to start, 1 eg4 18kpv, 2-3 of the powerpros. But i may have to just get another inverter also. Wife has an EV on order and with my wells etc I just dont think 50amp gonna do it. Thought about a smart panel (SPAN) to shed loads but they cost as much as adding another inverter.
 
greensoldierusa said:
I was looking at 50 sunpower 450w panels to start, 1 eg4 18kpv, 2-3 of the powerpros. But i may have to just get another inverter also. Wife has an EV on order and with my wells etc I just dont think 50amp gonna do it. Thought about a smart panel (SPAN) to shed loads but they cost as much as adding another inverter.
Click to expand...
EV really puts a dent in things. I have two and charging them from solar is a challenge. The problem is multi-fold. You need X KWH of battery to run for a day, thus I must store it. When I'm not getting as much sun I need to fill batteries before I charge but with only 60KWH of battery If it's sunny and I'm not using much power (M-F),I'm at 100% at noon Tuesday, so now I'm throwing power away. So bleed off an extra 20% of the battery monday night & tuesday morning, Sun comes out, but now it's mostly cloudy so batteries don't make it to 70%, and now I'm back on the grid, the next morning. More panels would help out when it's hazy & cloudy to charge better on the occasional gloomy day, but more (expensive) battery is what I really need. On a weekday I get way more power out of the 18KW of panels than I use, but on the weekends it's pretty much parity, so the trick is to get the car charged during the week, except I'm not home.

There is definitely a hit of 10% if you have to use PV batteries to charge your EV batteries. Not a problem per-se you just need to factor it in.

50x450 is a healthy chunk of PV. Probably near where you want to be if you can afford the battery.
 
Markus_EG4 said:
You will not back feed your generator. We actually tested this not to long ago sorry for the confusion. Pv or battery will not supply loads while the generator is on. Pv will help charge batteries but thats it.
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@Markus_EG4: Just read through the thread and got to the above statement, and now have a question. Please tell me if my restatement of your assertion is correct.

IF you have PV connected to the Inverter, AND you have battery(ies) connected to the BATT port, AND you have a "smart load" connected to the GEN port, AND you have "routine loads" (e.g., a breaker panel) connected to the LOAD (AC out) port, AND you have a generator connected to the GRID (AC in) port, AND the generator is on (supplying AC to Inverter), THEN the only AC supply to the LOAD port will be from the generator (GRID port) (i.e., neither the PV nor batteries will supply the loads)?

Can this be correct? I am hoping not.
 
Adam De Lay said:
I'm not familiar with the settings of the 18kpv, but is it possible the values used to switch between battery/grid are set to closely to each other so it's constantly switching back and forth?
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This sounds reasonable, as the resting and loaded battery voltage may be fluctuating enough to tell the inverter to keep switching modes.
 
Last edited:
fromport said:
Back when 247watts was shaking up the market with the luxpower for real low prices, I put myself on the "waitlist" when it would become available again:

Today I received their long awaited email: </s>
View attachment 199069
But when I clicked on the provided link:

View attachment 199070

<s>
It seems there isn't going to be a price war with this product
</s>
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That's too bad. I was hoping. When I click the link I don't get the error page you did. Instead I get an empty page with Watts247 header and footer. So maybe he is working on it. I have seen this problem before with their website.
 
adamantium said:
That's too bad. I was hoping. When I click the link I don't get the error page you did. Instead I get an empty page with Watts247 header and footer. So maybe he is working on it. I have seen this problem before with their website.
Click to expand...

Luxpower – Watts247 Wholesale

watts247.com watts247.com
is empty "No products were found matching your selection."
I doubt they will ever sell another luxpower inverter.
 
I see no reason why Ian would go through the motions of letting people know that they can buy it if he is not really selling it.
Sending out emails is trivial, adding the product to the website is not and is most likely done by someone else. It’s probably just a case of his webmaster not getting it done on time.
I suggest calling Watts247 and just ask him what’s going on and when will the page be fixed.
 
fromport said:
Back when 247watts was shaking up the market with the luxpower for real low prices, I put myself on the "waitlist" when it would become available again:

Today I received their long awaited email: </s>
View attachment 199069
But when I clicked on the provided link:

View attachment 199070

<s>
It seems there isn't going to be a price war with this product
</s>
Click to expand...
I saw the same thing. Kinda wish I had imported one for $2800 when I had the chance or took up the discount offer but also glad I didn't.
 
Hi guys, its been a while since i posted anything regarding my 18 kpv. Ill share my story to see if anyone else has been through this.

The way i have been using it is:

- off grid mode with grid backup (when battery reaches 20%, or any % i input, it switches to grid) you can actually hear the contactor switch with a loud sound when it does.

- next day when the sun is out and charges the batteries to 25% it switches back to solar/batteries.

That had been working great for months, but a couple of days back i saw had not updated to the newest firmware, so i did that, it rebooted when it was done, and from that point on it has not worked properly again.

Now its ALWAYS using the grid to power the house, it doesn't matter if the batteries are at 100%, doesnt matter if i am producing 11,000w of solar, it doesnt matter if its off grid or on grid, makes no difference and it doesnt make the sound lf the contactor of you switch on/off values on the off grid menu; so the ONLY was i can use solar and batteries right now is turning off the main breaker from grid supply and manually turning before i go to sleep so the grid takes over until the morning

I regret doing the firmware update so much! I shouldnt have

Any help? Suggestions?
 
rakitejada said:
Hi guys, its been a while since i posted anything regarding my 18 kpv. Ill share my story to see if anyone else has been through this.

The way i have been using it is:

- off grid mode with grid backup (when battery reaches 20%, or any % i input, it switches to grid) you can actually hear the contactor switch with a loud sound when it does.

- next day when the sun is out and charges the batteries to 25% it switches back to solar/batteries.

That had been working great for months, but a couple of days back i saw had not updated to the newest firmware, so i did that, it rebooted when it was done, and from that point on it has not worked properly again.

Now its ALWAYS using the grid to power the house, it doesn't matter if the batteries are at 100%, doesnt matter if i am producing 11,000w of solar, it doesnt matter if its off grid or on grid, makes no difference and it doesnt make the sound lf the contactor of you switch on/off values on the off grid menu; so the ONLY was i can use solar and batteries right now is turning off the main breaker from grid supply and manually turning before i go to sleep so the grid takes over until the morning

I regret doing the firmware update so much! I shouldnt have

Any help? Suggestions?
Click to expand...
Make sure this setting is disabled.
Screenshot_20240324_230638_Edge.jpg
 
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