EG46500 in split phase stops charging

[Colormaker]

I have had 2 EG46500ex in split phase with 6 Lifepower4 batteries running good for a year. I use EG4 BMS for battery type With comms cable. System is off grid and no utility power into inverters. With the recent hurricane I tried a charger setup unsing signatture solar 1800watt 48v chargers to keep the batteries topped off while I was away. The only draw on the battery was the standby current used by the inverters. I setup a timer that would power down the charger for 1 minute every 2 hours to reset the float mode. This worked fine through hurricane IAN but this time when I tried it I got different results. The cycling charger gave me 100% on batteries when I returned but the inverters would not start charging when solar power was available. Both inverters were working fine powering my loads but would not charge. The batteries would accept a charge from my 1800watt charger but not the inverters. The batteries drained to 93% and still no charging. Any Ideas ? I did not want to reboot inverters before I get assistant on the issue.

 

[Quattrohead]

Sounds like your inverters are happy with the state of charge of the batteries, therefore they don't need to.

 

[Adam De Lay]

If your using battery coms, they determine all the charging values of the inverters. They just don’t reflect those changes in the settings.

If you change from EG4 to USE and set the voltage values for charging, do you see the same thing?

 

[Colormaker]

Sounds like your inverters are happy with the state of charge of the batteries, therefore they don't need to.

Solar assistant says batts are 93%, watchpower says 93% so I assume the battery is telling the inverters 93%. So I am not sure why they dont start charging. Adam thanks for reply love your YT channel

 

[Colormaker]

If your using battery coms, they determine all the charging values of the inverters. They just don’t reflect those changes in the settings.

If you change from EG4 to USE and set the voltage values for charging, do you see the same thing?

I just checked inverter primary is set to EG4 and secondary is set to USE. I cannot remember why I originally set them to these values. I changed secondary to EG4 and battery went to 0% on Solar assistant but started charging. I set back to USE and everything back to normal. Could there be an issue on how I use the 1800watt charger on a cycle to maintain charging? I would like to know why it happened before I make allot of adjustments to the settings.

 

[Adam De Lay]

I just checked inverter primary is set to EG4 and secondary is set to USE. I cannot remember why I originally set them to these values. I changed secondary to EG4 and battery went to 0% on Solar assistant but started charging. I set back to USE and everything back to normal. Could there be an issue on how I use the 1800watt charger on a cycle to maintain charging? I would like to know why it happened before I make allot of adjustments to the settings.

The primary inverter has the connection to the battery, and it has option five set to EG4. The secondary inverter is set to use because it gets all his information from the primary inverter.

If you have the BMS tools app on your computer, I would plug into the battery to see if it’s throwing any specific warnings about preventing charging.

Either that or put a good load on the inverters and let them run down a little bit more to see if it’ll start charging like normal in the morning.

Do these inverters have AC In?

 

[Colormaker]

The primary inverter has the connection to the battery, and it has option five set to EG4. The secondary inverter is set to use because it gets all his information from the primary inverter.

If you have the BMS tools app on your computer, I would plug into the battery to see if it’s throwing any specific warnings about preventing charging.

Either that or put a good load on the inverters and let them run down a little bit more to see if it’ll start charging like normal in the morning.

Do these inverters have AC In?

No AC in. Inverters were set right and all the information from Victron shunt, Solar assistant and Watchpower were all the same values 93%. I did check voltage on battery with meter and showed 53.4. The batteries did accept charger from 1800watt charger so the hangup is with EG46500ex. No BMS app available. I do have 1 EG4-LL battery in the setup and found the SOC 91%. I am trying to reproduce the issue but no luck so far.

 

[Adam De Lay]

I was talking about using the BMS Test app at the bottom of this page.

Resources - EG4 Electronics

EG4 Electronics

eg4electronics.com

That allows you to connect a computer to your lifepower batteries and view the data. Maybe that would show you some reason why the batteries aren't accepting a charge.

 

[Zapper77]

Sounds like one or more of the batteries was silently reporting an alarm to the inverter. Next time Try cycling each battery breaker. Staring with the primary and working your way down...1 through 6.

You may want to update the battery firmware. The newest firmware made huge improvement in stability and charging performance.

Like Adam said use the BMS test app to get the details of each battery.

 

[Zapper77]

FYSA,

(One way to tell if the inverter is reading a warning or alarm from the batteries.)
2P1 inverter will flash the 2P1 on the LCD screen.

 

[Zapper77]

You may need to modify your battery to computer communication cable if you have trouble updating the battery firmware.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Thanks @Zapper77. I don't have any direct experience with the EG4 batteries, just going off the hip from what I've read and heard.

 

[Colormaker]

I was talking about using the BMS Test app at the bottom of this page.

Resources - EG4 Electronics

EG4 Electronics

eg4electronics.com

That allows you to connect a computer to your lifepower batteries and view the data. Maybe that would show you some reason why the batteries aren't accepting a charge

You may need to modify your battery to computer communication cable if you have trouble updating the battery firmware.

You may need to modify your battery to computer communication cable if you have trouble updating the battery firmware.

Zapper77 and Adam thank you for all the help. I ordered replacement cables but right now everything is working and until our grid power is stable I dont want to try anything that might disable the system. I have seen to many videos on the disaster that comes with FW updates so very hesitant right now. Im still waiting for answers from SS from 2 weeks ago so no help there if the system craps. Im thinking real hard on the Victron that Adam installed.
Please remember Red Cross and donate to the charities to support the people impacted by the hurrican.

 

[Adam De Lay]

Zapper77 and Adam thank you for all the help. I ordered replacement cables but right now everything is working and until our grid power is stable I dont want to try anything that might disable the system. I have seen to many videos on the disaster that comes with FW updates so very hesitant right now. Im still waiting for answers from SS from 2 weeks ago so no help there if the system craps. Im thinking real hard on the Victron that Adam installed.
Please remember Red Cross and donate to the charities to support the people impacted by the hurrican.

Y'all stay safe!

 

[Zapper77]

Zapper77 and Adam thank you for all the help. I ordered replacement cables but right now everything is working and until our grid power is stable I dont want to try anything that might disable the system. I have seen to many videos on the disaster that comes with FW updates so very hesitant right now. Im still waiting for answers from SS from 2 weeks ago so no help there if the system craps. Im thinking real hard on the Victron that Adam installed.
Please remember Red Cross and donate to the charities to support the people impacted by the hurrican.

*If you need permits...just confirm that you can legally install the Victron system prior to buying it. Assuming permitting is required.