diy solar

diy solar

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

I don't see it on monitor.eg4electronics. I just walked over into my 105F room, where they are mounted a foot away from each other and I see the on the display the leftmost reporting 65/74/6x.. and the right one reporting 56/65/5x... for T0-T4.

I just realized the fans appear to blow *down.* At some level it's venting but I've spent a lot of time on cooling in data centers, and you always run the hot air out the top, cold air in from the bottom. Maybe I'm feeling reflected air or something? I will re-check this when I'm charging the car tomorrow. Can anyone else confirm or deny this to be the case? My plan is/was to put a big vent fan in the roof. That might be sub-optimal if it's fighting the airflow of the unit.
 
Shimmy said:
Do you need to do it at max power for your range requirements?
Click to expand...
Depends on previous usage. I have to be fully charged at 6am. A service call can come at any time. And I could have to drive for 3 hours, round trip. And there are no fast charging stations, along the route.
In a pinch, I can always rig up a way to charge at the mine. But it makes working more difficult, leaving my truck in one place.
 
superchachi said:
Has anyone tried to replace fans with something like the noctura brand fans? I remember my TiVo fans being pretty noisy at times and someone suggested a noctura fan…it was night and day when I replaced them. Fans seem to be a recurring theme on these forums
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I love Noctua fans. They are generally very quiet, but they do not usually move as much air. I ended up having to swap them back out in my Juniper EX/POE switches, it was just getting a little too hot. I found something in-between the ridiculous factory fans and the Noctua's. There is a direct correlation between fan speed and noise, so generally in the electronics world if you can fit it (on like a cpu cooler or something) you just get a bigger but slower fan that moves the same air, but makes less noise. Unfortunately because of size constraints a lot of the 1U gear gets 15K+rpm fans that like to sing.
 
timselectric said:
Depends on previous usage. I have to be fully charged at 6am. A service call can come at any time. And I could have to drive for 3 hours, round trip. And there are no fast charging stations, along the route.
In a pinch, I can always rig up a way to charge at the mine. But it makes working more difficult, leaving my truck in one place.
Click to expand...
Wow! Three hours is gonna really tap most EV's even if you can keep it under 60. It's pretty impressive you can store and then move enough juice from your batteries to your EV. The sheer quantity needed explains why you have so much battery. I see about a 7% wattage loss battery->ac, you gotta be needing 40-50KWH from the batteries on a tough day. I'm a little suprised 75ish runs you thru the night charging a car. Then again your nights are probably not in the 90's. I've been seriously considering DIY'ing a string to save some coin, but I have space constraints, and the rack mount stuff is really easy to deal with. After all it's only money.
 
ksmithaz1 said:
Wow! Three hours is gonna really tap most EV's even if you can keep it under 60. It's pretty impressive you can store and then move enough juice from your batteries to your EV. The sheer quantity needed explains why you have so much battery. I see about a 7% wattage loss battery->ac, you gotta be needing 40-50KWH from the batteries on a tough day. I'm a little suprised 75ish runs you thru the night charging a car. Then again your nights are probably not in the 90's. I've been seriously considering DIY'ing a string to save some coin, but I have space constraints, and the rack mount stuff is really easy to deal with. After all it's only money.
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To clarify.
Don't have enough battery, yet.
Also Don't have the EV, yet. Have to finish the solar system first.
 
This is why I love grid assist mode, i go over the capacity of 12,000w, it’ll just adjust and allow grid to supply the rest.

In my case, right now I’m charging the Tesla at 11,000w + 2 minisplits ~2,500w + rest of the house ~1,500w= 15,000w (12,000w from 18kpv + 3,000w from the grid). Cant get better than that.

On top of that: 0kwh’s exported, thanks again @Heritage1


IMG_7828.png
 
rakitejada said:
This is why I love grid assist mode, i go over the capacity of 12,000w, it’ll just adjust and allow grid to supply the rest.

In my case, right now I’m charging the Tesla at 11,000w + 2 minisplits ~2,500w + rest of the house ~1,500w= 15,000w (12,000w from 18kpv + 3,000w from the grid). Cant get better than that.

On top of that: 0kwh’s exported, thanks again @Heritage1


View attachment 161216
Click to expand...

Super jealous of your results. Congratulations!!!
I've been running mine for 5 weeks completely off grid with no issues on the firmware released publicly back in July. My largest concern was the export issue and it sounds like it has been dialed in. In that 5 weeks I've been able to confirm that I'll need grid assistance to assist with the battery charging as well as support the house. I have come super close to it going into standby mode. I'll never make it through the winter.
I'm finalizing my permanent install this weekend (hopefully done today) and will be looking to run the same /similar setup. Just need someone to log into my system and install the firmware that is proving to be successful, and maybe confirm my setup as it will be different than off grid settings. I'm certain the DIY'ers here can help me fine tune the setup from there.

Again - Congratulations!!!!
 
rakitejada said:
This is why I love grid assist mode, i go over the capacity of 12,000w, it’ll just adjust and allow grid to supply the rest.

In my case, right now I’m charging the Tesla at 11,000w + 2 minisplits ~2,500w + rest of the house ~1,500w= 15,000w (12,000w from 18kpv + 3,000w from the grid). Cant get better than that.

On top of that: 0kwh’s exported, thanks again @Heritage1


View attachment 161216
Click to expand...
@rakitejada
Just so I understand, you have your CTs between meter and main panel so you can send back to main panel in addition to critical loads panel also if you have excess power without ever going to grid?
 
ChrisG said:
@rakitejada
Just so I understand, you have your CTs between meter and main panel so you can send back to main panel in addition to critical loads panel also if you have excess power without ever going to grid?
Click to expand...
No. I have the CT’s are placed here:

METER > MAIN SWITCH > GENERATOR TRANSFER (if i get a blackout the generators turns on, the inverter continues seeing it as “the grid”)> CT’s > 18kpv inverter > critical loads panel

Excess power just gets lost for now (after the batteries are charged before 11am usually). Today I had all three EV’s charged and also charged my neighbors Tesla Model Y Long Range yesterday, so had a bunch of power that wasn't used today after 1pm even though i had two AC’s running.

Let me know if i answered your question
 
Wes975 said:
Super jealous of your results. Congratulations!!!
I've been running mine for 5 weeks completely off grid with no issues on the firmware released publicly back in July. My largest concern was the export issue and it sounds like it has been dialed in. In that 5 weeks I've been able to confirm that I'll need grid assistance to assist with the battery charging as well as support the house. I have come super close to it going into standby mode. I'll never make it through the winter.
I'm finalizing my permanent install this weekend (hopefully done today) and will be looking to run the same /similar setup. Just need someone to log into my system and install the firmware that is proving to be successful, and maybe confirm my setup as it will be different than off grid settings. I'm certain the DIY'ers here can help me fine tune the setup from there.

Again - Congratulations!!!!
Click to expand...
Of course there a bunch of people here that have helped me and we will help you as well. Anything i can help, just let me know.

The reason i have been posting so much is for precisely so others have information and maybe learn from my mistakes and improvements.
 
Anyone else with 6 lifepower4 in parallel? It really has me wondering what this means:

IMG_7897.jpeg

Battery Capacity is showing: 20,048wh, isnt it supposed to say around 30,000wh??

Another question my battery only charges to 99% but i have NEVER seen it reach 54v and its supposed to charge up to 56v. Can anyone help me?
IMG_7707.jpeg
 
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rakitejada said:
No. I have the CT’s are placed here:

METER > MAIN SWITCH > GENERATOR TRANSFER (if i get a blackout the generators turns on, the inverter continues seeing it as “the grid”)> CT’s > 18kpv inverter > critical loads panel

Excess power just gets lost for now (after the batteries are charged before 11am usually). Today I had all three EV’s charged and also charged my neighbors Tesla Model Y Long Range yesterday, so had a bunch of power that wasn't used today after 1pm even though i had two AC’s running.

Let me know if i answered your question
Click to expand...
Got it. I was thinking meter->CTs->Main Panel->18kPV-> Critical Loads Panel

So you have your 18k in front of all loads if I understand correctly so nothing feeds back to main in my scenario above.
 
ChrisG said:
Ok so if you moved the CTs up closer to the meter then it could supply power to upstream panels?
Click to expand...
Im not sure about that, i know Deye inverters have that ability, but i don’t know if if the 18kpv is able to do it. I dont have to possibility to move the ct’s closer to the meter for now. I have a temporary setup until i finish the shed that im building right next to the meter and when i move it im just going to do the entire home through the inverter
 
ChrisG said:
Ok so if you moved the CTs up closer to the meter then it could supply power to upstream panels?
Click to expand...
Yes, if you put the CTs between the meter and the main panel with the grid on the 18kPV being fed from a breaker on your main panel, it will back-feed your main panel if there is enough coming in from PV (or from the batteries) after covering the loads in the critical loads panel.
This is of course as long as the grid up. (If the grid goes down, the 18kPV will only feed the critical loads panel.)

This is how I have my system setup and running for the past couple of months.

Also have had a few short grid down situations which tested out how well the unit covers the critical loads when the grid is down. (If it wasn't for my stove, which is still on my main panel, I wouldn't have even known the grid was down!)
 
Heritage1 said:
Yes, if you put the CTs between the meter and the main panel with the grid on the 18kPV being fed from a breaker on your main panel, it will back-feed your main panel if there is enough coming in from PV (or from the batteries) after covering the loads in the critical loads panel.
This is of course as long as the grid up. (If the grid goes down, the 18kPV will only feed the critical loads panel.)

This is how I have my system setup and running for the past couple of months.

Also have had a few short grid down situations which tested out how well the unit covers the critical loads when the grid is down. (If it wasn't for my stove, which is still on my main panel, I wouldn't have even known the grid was down!)
Click to expand...
" it will back-feed your main panel if there is enough coming in from PV (or from the batteries) "

Will it back feed from your batteries? I thought only the excess PV would be back fed. Did I read that wrong?
 
Wes975 said:
" it will back-feed your main panel if there is enough coming in from PV (or from the batteries) "

Will it back feed from your batteries? I thought only the excess PV would be back fed. Did I read that wrong?
Click to expand...
It will back feed from your batteries as well as PV. It will primarily use PV to cover but it will off-set with battery if not enough PV. (At least in how I have my settings. I don't know if there are settings to restrict it from using battery.)

I have my major loads (AC, Stove, Hot Water) in my main panel still. PV and battery will cover all of those loads as long as they don't exceed the inverter limits. The grid will assist in those loads especially with start up of AC but the grid quickly drops off and gets covered by my PV/batteries.
Over night the batteries cover all of my loads in both panels.

(There are settings to change this if you want to utilize AC/Grid to cover the loads instead of the battery during certain times.)
 
Heritage1 said:
It will back feed from your batteries as well as PV. It will primarily use PV to cover but it will off-set with battery if not enough PV. (At least in how I have my settings. I don't know if there are settings to restrict it from using battery.)

I have my major loads (AC, Stove, Hot Water) in my main panel still. PV and battery will cover all of those loads as long as they don't exceed the inverter limits. The grid will assist in those loads especially with start up of AC but the grid quickly drops off and gets covered by my PV/batteries.
Over night the batteries cover all of my loads in both panels.

(There are settings to change this if you want to utilize AC/Grid to cover the loads instead of the battery during certain times.)
Click to expand...
Interesting.
Was looking to back feed the main panel to use excess PV, just didn't want the battery supporting it. I only have a 30 kwh bank and my intent was to support my CL panel with it. I'll have to look through the settings to see what can be done or rethink my energy strategy.

Thanks for the insight!
 
Wes975 said:
Interesting.
Was looking to back feed the main panel to use excess PV, just didn't want the battery supporting it. I only have a 30 kwh bank and my intent was to support my CL panel with it. I'll have to look through the settings to see what can be done or rethink my energy strategy.

Thanks for the insight!
Click to expand...

There might be a setting to restrict it from doing that, I just don't know of it from my usage as I am trying to have it off-set as much of my grid usage as possible. My solar typically is enough to have my batteries fully recharged from any overnight usage as well but I also have a little more battery so my batteries usually don't go below 30% by the time I'm getting solar back the next day.

You can always set it to AC charge when the batteries hit a certain SOC% so that overnight if the batteries get below a certain level, it will run everything from the grid and even put some charge back into your batteries. I have it set up that way just in case my batteries end up going below 20% they will start to recharge from grid back up to 50% just in case (but it is rare that it triggers for me unless it is a full day with heavy rains.)
 
Heritage1 said:
Yes, if you put the CTs between the meter and the main panel with the grid on the 18kPV being fed from a breaker on your main panel, it will back-feed your main panel if there is enough coming in from PV (or from the batteries) after covering the loads in the critical loads panel.
This is of course as long as the grid up. (If the grid goes down, the 18kPV will only feed the critical loads panel.)

This is how I have my system setup and running for the past couple of months.

Also have had a few short grid down situations which tested out how well the unit covers the critical loads when the grid is down. (If it wasn't for my stove, which is still on my main panel, I wouldn't have even known the grid was down!)
Click to expand...
Wow that is awesome! I guess i did not understand that in the manual or you found out another way, thats pretty amazing
 
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is there anyone here with 6 x lifepower 48v batteries with an 18kpv?

I have two things bothering me, my batteries are supposed to be charging up to 56 volts, i have NEVER seen them reach 54 volts, i understand the resting volt and everything and not even 54 volts? Ever? I think there is something wrong. Besides i also have that screen on the app that says 20048 i suppose its watts but 6 x 5,120 = over 30,000w

Right now the batteries charge up to 99% and they cutoff even though i have it charging with volt settings up to 56v. And at 99% with NO LOADS its at 53.6v



Can you Share your screen to what your 6 x 5.12kwh looks like at 99-100%? Have you ever seen your batteries over 54v?

Im attaching pictures of my settings

HELP!
IMG_8291.jpegIMG_8292.jpegIMG_8293.jpeg
 
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