Electrical Terrorism OR Valuable Feedback?

[Old_Skewler]

Have link to that Small Cabin forum? I've been looking for those sheets and can't find them anywhere. Also thought it would be useful for battery boxes.

Here it goes:

Small Cabin Forum

www.small-cabin.com

 

[timselectric]

I don't think that I would trust that guy to replace a light bulb.

 

[oregonsun]

Today your friend is pretending to be an electrical engineer, tomorrow maybe a doctor, the next day perhaps a pilot for pan am airlines.

Get growatt and eg4, and warn your boss about this guy you are working with.

 

[Old_Skewler]

Get growatt and eg4, and warn your boss about this guy you are working with.

Bro, you have no idea. My boss is under spell.

GroWatt + EG4 seems like a really viable option. I hear third design iteration is a charm and usually the last one.

Magnum > SunGoldPopwer > GroWatt

It just happens that it is cheaper and better looking than SGP! And despite the lack of quality control, it seems like the retailer supports the product, which is great.

 

[Honuz]

I find that people are a little hard on your co-worker Joe (i named it Joe, make things easier)... what he said is not exactly right, but the main idea is here.
Some battery pack and inverter can talk to each others through the CAN protocol, is it mandatory ..? No ... is it better ..? I guess for some cases it's better. Will using the AG4 battery pack a problem with a non AG4 inverter ? I can't see why, the included BMS decide for himself to protect his cells, so the pack is safe.

You got to imagine it like ...

1 - First case : CAN protocol : You got 2 people, one is the Chief in his Office and the other is a guy that is in the cells room, he check voltage, SOC, temp .. and report those info to the Chief .. which will decide how much current or whatever voltage got to be sent, the Chief decide .. !

2 - Second case : No communication : You got 2 people, one is InverterChief in his Office and the other is CellsChief in the Cells room, they both decide, even if InverterChief decide to send 58V, CellsChief will convert it to the needed 48V... even if InverterChief let the door open and let access to 100A, CellsChief can decide only to take 50A. They do not know what the other decide, but ... the real responsible for the battery pack is CellsChief, even if InverterChief think he is ?

Like in a real company... those 2 way can be succesfull .. !

Now imagine a complex system, with water pumps for cooling, with vents to be open for whatever needed... the CAN protocol is the way to go, cause everybody on the CAN network is aware on what's happening, battery pack report a hot temp => pump+10% speed, temp is freezing => Water heater on.... you got the idea.

So .. maybe Joe worked on very big systems (i said maybe) and for him .. communication is mandatory which seems fair. Will your system catch fire if they do not communicate ... no, it will not, cause CellsChief is responsible for those cells NOT to catch fire.

My examples may not be super accurate, but .. it's the idea.

 

[Lilikoi_Heavy_Industries]

It looks like he doesn't understand that this BMS provides the necessary protections independent of an inverter. You do need to setup your charging amps and discharge loads correctly for these batteries and ensure that it's wired correctly for current sharing. But no, you don't need a BMS to talk to the inverter.

I think Magnum has a high failure rate for such a "fancy brand", it's a waste of money in my opinion, I have a dead one that nobody is interested in repairing in fact.

Buy a Victron, Outback, Schneider if you were trying to get Tier 1? Going to sungoldpower or an all-in-one seems like a very misguided move. Growatt or EG4 if you do.

What was his complaint about EG4+EG4 exactly then?

 

[Honuz]

It looks like he doesn't understand that this BMS provides the necessary protections independent of an inverter. You do need to setup your charging amps and discharge loads correctly for these batteries and ensure that it's wired correctly for current sharing. But no, you don't need a BMS to talk to the inverter.

I think Magnum has a high failure rate for such a "fancy brand", it's a waste of money in my opinion, I have a dead one that nobody is interested in repairing in fact.

Buy a Victron, Outback, Schneider if you were trying to get Tier 1? Going to sungoldpower or an all-in-one seems like a very misguided move. Growatt or EG4 if you do.

What was his complaint about EG4+EG4 exactly then?

EG4 are just rebranded chinese products, it's not better then other things (MPP) and it has not been extensively tested like a victron would. It do not mean that victron do not have their own problems... but they sure do what is needed to solve them.
I'm not saying that MPP is bad, i got chinese inverter and happy with them, but i'm not a fan of companies importing devices and just rebranding them, for me it's like "stealing" the work of others. Plus.. those EG4 inverter are pretty costy.. 1300$ ? For this price, i got 3 of my 5.5kW chinese device (well.. maybe not today, did not checked prices)

 

[Old_Skewler]

I think Magnum has a high failure rate for such a "fancy brand", it's a waste of money in my opinion, I have a dead one that nobody is interested in repairing in fact.

Buy a Victron, Outback, Schneider if you were trying to get Tier 1? Going to sungoldpower or an all-in-one seems like a very misguided move. Growatt or EG4 if you do.

Thanks for your feedback. I am in the middle of troubleshooting my freshly installed GroWatt AOI and it is still not clear how things will pan out with Signature Solar.

 

[Bluedog225]

Misusing the term terrorism helps no one. shame on you.

 

[Lilikoi_Heavy_Industries]

EG4 are just rebranded chinese products, it's not better then other things (MPP) and it has not been extensively tested like a victron would. It do not mean that victron do not have their own problems... but they sure do what is needed to solve them.
I'm not saying that MPP is bad, i got chinese inverter and happy with them, but i'm not a fan of companies importing devices and just rebranding them, for me it's like "stealing" the work of others. Plus.. those EG4 inverter are pretty costy.. 1300$ ? For this price, i got 3 of my 5.5kW chinese device (well.. maybe not today, did not checked prices)

So who was the original builder of all-in-one inverters, and who made the first firmware versions, since you seem to be an expert on their origins and creation? Do you know who was licensed to build the specific one that you're complaining about or their relation to the original builders? No?! That's shocking you would speak from a place of ignorance like that. Absolutely shocking.

"those EG4 inverter are pretty costy"
No, I don't consider them "costy" if buying the $700 all-in-one instead of the $500 all-in-one suddenly alleviates a mountain of concerns over compatibility and support. I'm referring to the 3KW model in this case, out of stock right now.

"i'm not a fan of companies importing devices and just rebranding them"
You don't know 99% of the time when a company has done this, right now you're throwing some sassy attitude because you think you know what's going on better this time. If you send your tech to china, you can expect it to be copied many times. Unfortunately, they copy a lot of really bad tech.

All of these hybrid inverters are garbage. It's painful to see somebody mentioning them next to quality equipment in the same sentence as if they belong together. And it's pretty terrible that you bought those 3 5.5KW "Chinese device" because they were obviously stolen designs since they came from China.

EDIT: I don't buy them because of their idle current draw, otherwise I would be beta testing the hybrid inverters with the rest of you.