EG4 PowerPro or Ruixu for 18KPV?

[Hedges]

I think PowerPro is 280 Ah cells, 16s.

Depending on temperature, you could climate control an enclosure for them. Window A/C is cheap, especially used. That could give good payback in cell life.

You may be able to plan wiring box for service. Gap between them?
The installation pictures with straight conduit look clean, but "S" shape with flexible conduit should be easier to take apart.

 

[Rachel Wang-RUIXU]

Some Projects from our customers connecting with EG4 18kPV Inverter.

 

[mciholas]

Some Projects from our customers connecting with EG4 18kPV Inverter.

And how well does it work? It is closed loop? Does battery SoC report on the invert screen and through the inverter app? Etc...

In two of the three pictures, I can see communication wiring between units, so something is talking to the batteries.

How far away is UL9540? Is that a tease or are you going to achieve that soon?

Mike C.

 

[Rachel Wang-RUIXU]

And how well does it work? It is closed loop? Does battery SoC report on the invert screen and through the inverter app? Etc...

In two of the three pictures, I can see communication wiring between units, so something is talking to the batteries.

How far away is UL9540? Is that a tease or are you going to achieve that soon?

Mike C.

At present, I have not heard from customers about the battery can't communicate with 18kpv
Here is a video from current connected about EG4 6000XP.

We are doing UL9540A now,and our own brand inverter will be released next month,then we will combine our own brand inverter with our battery bank to do UL9540. so UL9540 will be ready Q2/2024.

 

[mciholas]

At present, I have not heard from customers about the battery can't communicate with 18kpv

The video with the EG4 6000XP is encouraging though, but the comment at the end about it being "unsupported" is concerning. I'd like to have a clear report that EG4 18KPV and Ruixu rack batteries work and report at least SoC. If I don't have SoC reports, programming some features won't work well, like using SoC levels to control features.

One of the things I like about the EG4 18KPV is the fact it can work with other batteries. If that's problematic, that may cause me to look at other inverters like Sol Ark or maybe see what the Midnite Solar new unit will be like. I like supporting companies that play nice with each other.

We are doing UL9540A now,and our own brand inverter will be released next month,then we will combine our own brand inverter with our battery bank to do UL9540. so UL9540 will be ready Q2/2024.

What will be the specs of the Ruixu inverter?

I don't quite understand the connection between UL9540 cert on the battery and having your won inverter. Won't the UL9540 cert for the battery apply no matter which inverter it is paired with? Or will the Ruixu UL9540 cert only apply when used with a Ruixu inverter? If that's the case, that makes your batteries less interesting to me.

Mike C.

 

[darrell2002]

9540A testing is for the battery alone. Many batteries have 9540A. 9540 is inverter + battery tested together. You likely need 9540 to get permitted. 9540A alone is probably not enough. EG4 is unlikely to test batteries other than their own unless there is some special agreement. If Ruixu is going to make their own inverter, that's probably the only way to get 9540 with their battery. I doubt Ruixu would want to apply for 9540 with an inverter other than their own

 

[mciholas]

9540A testing is for the battery alone. Many batteries have 9540A. 9540 is inverter + battery tested together. You likely need 9540 to get permitted. 9540A alone is probably not enough. EG4 is unlikely to test batteries other than their own unless there is some special agreement. If Ruixu is going to make their own inverter, that's probably the only way to get 9540 with their battery. I doubt Ruixu would want to apply for 9540 with an inverter other than their own

It is so hard to get straight answers on exactly what I need to pass code and inspection.

I'm starting to think the right path here is to install the inverter and panels, no battery, get that inspected and utility approved for net metering.

Then, someday later, batteries might magically appear connected to the system.

Mike C.

 

[Quattrohead]

9540A testing is for the battery alone. Many batteries have 9540A. 9540 is inverter + battery tested together. You likely need 9540 to get permitted. 9540A alone is probably not enough. EG4 is unlikely to test batteries other than their own unless there is some special agreement. If Ruixu is going to make their own inverter, that's probably the only way to get 9540 with their battery. I doubt Ruixu would want to apply for 9540 with an inverter other than their own

This is the correct answer.
The EG4 18k + PowerPro or LL-S batteries is one way to get a fully permitted and approved system.
Another way would be the EB Cube system.

 

[hwy17]

It is so hard to get straight answers on exactly what I need to pass code and inspection.

I'm starting to think the right path here is to install the inverter and panels, no battery, get that inspected and utility approved for net metering.

Then, someday later, batteries might magically appear connected to the system.

Probably a good idea. Whether the combined ESS system certification rule for 9540 is enforced depends on whether you're AHJ is on NEC 2020, and then it also depends on how your AHJ interprets the text in NEC 2020.

 

[Oldphile]

There are restrictions on where you can put batteries in a garage. This diagram is from the IRC concerning vehicle impact protection. Florida probably enforces this.

 

[y0bailey]

@Will Prowse had posted about his initial set up with these and had them oriented a bit differently. Not secure, but I’m sure one could devise a way.
Ironically, in that same post he says his two favorites are both the powerpro and ruixu units

View attachment 198886

View attachment 198887

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/i-really-like-the-new-powerpro-battery.67213/post-847675

Will needs a safety rope. I've heard this will make it pass inspection

 

[millsan1]

A. And I have the EG4 version of B

 

[btrocke]

At present, I have not heard from customers about the battery can't communicate with 18kpv
Here is a video from current connected about EG4 6000XP.

We are doing UL9540A now,and our own brand inverter will be released next month,then we will combine our own brand inverter with our battery bank to do UL9540. so UL9540 will be ready Q2/2024.

I’d love to chat with you on this. I’ve had nothing but troubles with my Ruixu batteries in closed loop communication with the EG4 18kpv. I’ve tried so many different things and I’m at wits end with it. Right now they seem to work “okay” but the inverter doesn’t seem to be getting all the information from the batteries. Biggest thing right now is that every now and then the batteries will only output 600w when solar is present even though according to the inverter discharge limit is 300amps. I have 3 batteries and the inverter doesn’t seem to know about them. And now just today BMS limit charge fluctuates between 120a and 180a. It also seems like the batteries drop 1% ever 3ish hours overnight even though nothing is pulling from them and that seems like a big drop in standby.

 

[krazyclimber]

RUiXU | Lithi2-16 | 51.2V314Ah | 16kWh LiFePO4 Battery​

UL9540 pending with discount $2999.

https://www.ruixubattery.com//product-page/lithi2-14-3-battery-bank?utm_campaign=837ba317-4fbf-43f3-8848-cc7d16daed25&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=730a2f8e-73f9-495f-a72d-20b958308b3b

 

[ksmithaz1]

I’d love to chat with you on this. I’ve had nothing but troubles with my Ruixu batteries in closed loop communication with the EG4 18kpv. I’ve tried so many different things and I’m at wits end with it. Right now they seem to work “okay” but the inverter doesn’t seem to be getting all the information from the batteries. Biggest thing right now is that every now and then the batteries will only output 600w when solar is present even though according to the inverter discharge limit is 300amps. I have 3 batteries and the inverter doesn’t seem to know about them. And now just today BMS limit charge fluctuates between 120a and 180a. It also seems like the batteries drop 1% ever 3ish hours overnight even though nothing is pulling from them and that seems like a big drop in standby.

I have 6x5KWH Ruixu and 6x5KWH EG4 independently monitored on a pair of 18KPV/12's. 'A' is the EG4, 'B' is RUiXU.



I have not really noticed anything bizarre, though I did recently have them trip 150A breakers (below spec should have been 200A, now replaced) when I had an extremely high load running from battery. The result was rather poor behavior on the inverter side trying to push 18+KW to the load mostly from battery, mimimal PV (maybe 1-2kw combined), and only one of the inverters actually having battery. It kind of went nuts instead of shutting down. The RUiXU's seem to discharge and charge a bit faster than the EG4's (green SOC curves). Inverter seems to average the numbers for some functions.

I assume you have the RUIXU's set to Luxpower, and you are using a straight thru data cable?:







i think it's using CAN, but I don't know for sure. I just have it set for SOC. with my thresholds and it kinda just does what it's supposed to. The charge/discharge rates are generally as expected. I poll both inverters every 30 seconds, and while the charge/discharge rates are never the same they are always within the range of my expectations. Currently the EG4's (on 160 the primary) are working marginally harder than the RUiXU's (on 231 the secondary). Numbers are generally similarly close. charging or discharging,


I generally try to make sure I make the most minimal changes to my settings. Also you may note the loss of ~150W. Pretty sure that's the inverter overhead + conversion loss (about 75W each at the moment) the % drops slightly as the output goes up, ie the delta rises somewhat less than the power. I think the units consume 40 or 50-odd watts, + around 7% conversion loss, YMMV. These numbers come directly from the inverters.

 

[Quattrohead]

Pretty sure that's the inverter overhead + conversion loss (about 75W each at the moment) the % drops slightly as the output goes up, ie the delta rises somewhat less than the power. I think the units consume 40 or 50-odd watts, + around 7% conversion loss, YMMV. These numbers come directly from the inverters.

These are around about the figures that I also calculate for overall inverter efficiency. It becomes a non-issue as you start pulling over a kw in/out of them.

 

[ksmithaz1]

These are around about the figures that I also calculate for overall inverter efficiency. It becomes a non-issue as you start pulling over a kw in/out of them.

I've noticed people often complain of the ghost drain from any inverters. Personally I think you just need to factor it it when you engineer your setup. In the grand scheme 50W of overhead on 12KW of output is 0.42%. With two inverters obviously that doubles, but my units are running 24x7. So I may need an additional 2400WH (~100*24hours, soon to be 3600WH) of capacity just to run the system. itself for a day. My noise line is just under 24000WH/day (1000*24) so I need a 10% buffer on capacity when my system is mostly idle. Cost of doin' business and when I'm amping up into the 105000WH days, gets down in the 2 or 3% range. Now if you only had a single 3000W inverter it would be much more significant, but with my daily power requirements, it's kind of a non-issue. I don't have hard numbers, but I noticed last year when the inverters were basically off waiting for solar to charge, they don't seem to have even that much overhead. YMMV

 

[btrocke]

I have 6x5KWH Ruixu and 6x5KWH EG4 independently monitored on a pair of 18KPV/12's. 'A' is the EG4, 'B' is RUiXU.

View attachment 206410

I have not really noticed anything bizarre, though I did recently have them trip 150A breakers (below spec should have been 200A, now replaced) when I had an extremely high load running from battery. The result was rather poor behavior on the inverter side trying to push 18+KW to the load mostly from battery, mimimal PV (maybe 1-2kw combined), and only one of the inverters actually having battery. It kind of went nuts instead of shutting down. The RUiXU's seem to discharge and charge a bit faster than the EG4's (green SOC curves). Inverter seems to average the numbers for some functions.

I assume you have the RUIXU's set to Luxpower, and you are using a straight thru data cable?:

View attachment 206419


View attachment 206420
View attachment 206424

i think it's using CAN, but I don't know for sure. I just have it set for SOC. with my thresholds and it kinda just does what it's supposed to. The charge/discharge rates are generally as expected. I poll both inverters every 30 seconds, and while the charge/discharge rates are never the same they are always within the range of my expectations. Currently the EG4's (on 160 the primary) are working marginally harder than the RUiXU's (on 231 the secondary). Numbers are generally similarly close. charging or discharging,

View attachment 206425
I generally try to make sure I make the most minimal changes to my settings. Also you may note the loss of ~150W. Pretty sure that's the inverter overhead + conversion loss (about 75W each at the moment) the % drops slightly as the output goes up, ie the delta rises somewhat less than the power. I think the units consume 40 or 50-odd watts, + around 7% conversion loss, YMMV. These numbers come directly from the inverters.

View attachment 206422

Yeah I had everything set the same as you. I ended up setting the batteries to RS484. All dip switches down and I have the inverter set to Lithium 8. It’s only been a week so time will tell, but no strange issues since. We actually lost power last night and batteries were able to drain to 2% and the power came back. Previously they would kick off at 15% and start demanding a charge from the grid till they hit 20. The EG4 app still states 0 parallel batteries but discharge and charge rates are correct and update if I unplug a comm cable from a battery, so I’m guessing the master battery is just reporting as a single large battery. I hooked the BMS to Solar Assistant with a USB cable and it did the same thing, reported as a single battery. I also haven’t seen the batteries capping out at 650ish watts discharge like I was before.

 

[murmeister]

My dislikes with the PowerPro are the heavy weight of one unit, the way it gets built into the system under the junction box making it hard to change out,

They are heavy - no argument there. However, ASFIK, there is no requirement that they mount physically under the 18Kpv like the diagram shows. Some marketing person made that image for a cleaner look. While you CAN mount it like that, you can also mount it further away. It will just require longer battery cables (which Signature Solar now sells).
I don't see why you couldn't put one in front of the other. There should be no air flow issues that way. The back side is expected to be blocked by the wall and there are no vents or holes in the front panel at all. All ventilation and breaker/cable access is from the sides. You need spacing on both sides for access to dip switches, the LCD, and breakers. The front and back are non-functioning panels.
IF you prefer the rack mount but like the simple connections of the PowerPro, build a simple frame on a dolly or something similar to make it a pseudo rack-mount. Position a raceway/conduit wherever you want for connecting the inverter. Then, make your connections in that instead of directly to the inverter. Future change-outs (if ever needed) would be pretty straight forward.
I'd still recommend having a brace connecting it/them to the wall. As you stated - they are heavy!

 

[Offgrid Jungle]

I'm going with the Ethos battery instead of the PowerPro. Better design, modular, easily expandable, sealed connections.