diy solar

diy solar

Epever is money down the drain.

F

Farmgirl0527

New Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Messages
83
Well, seems Epever is a jinks product for me. Started with an Outback 80 which seem to be drifting voltage, so bought a 100 amp Epever unit. Checked one morn and found it died. Company said the would replace it, so got 2 60 amp units. Must have gotten a storm hit as today both bad. My Daly bms, my Listen wind controller and Signeer inverter all fine. Had eco combiners at the panels and they have surge protection. Grounded inside my power room to well pipe for surges. .Old Outback still humming along again.
 
Farmgirl0527 said:
Well got the word back 0n my 2 60 Epever units not covered. So I now have 3 pieces of junk, with my 100amp boat anchor. My old Outback still run under all conditions, but these Epever don't hold up. Pay the bucks and buy better.,
Click to expand...
So what is the whole story on these EPEVER?
 
I looked at what my neighbors all used and copied them. Surprisingly most have magnum brand. I really hope to not outgrow this 4400w 48v unit. Very expensive!
 
The reality is even the good equipment can fail if there isn't adequatel protection against outside influence, lightning for example.
Many use solar surge protection devices commonly available, these often have clamping voltages of 600 to 1000 V, which is too high to provide protection to a device which may have a maximum input of 120V, as an example.

Even with the correct SPD there is no guarantee, particularly in a direct strike, inverters are particularly vulnerable on the AC side so suitable SPD protection is need there as well.

Of course Ithis is speculation, loosing multiple devices at the same time would likely involve a a storm with lightning.
 
Last edited:
Farmgirl0527 said:
Well got the word back 0n my 2 60 Epever units not covered. So I now have 3 pieces of junk, with my 100amp boat anchor. My old Outback still run under all conditions, but these Epever don't hold up. Pay the bucks and buy better.,
Click to expand...
Yep they got me allso , I was one week out of ware tee and no replacement no repairSOL
 
90% of SCC Failures are because someone did poor math when configuring their Solar Array's and crossed the Max Voltage Input limit from the panels. People will rarely admit to it either and deflect blame. No different than Tweedle Dee's mishandling their delicate electronics by tossing them about, not considering what Static Electricity can do to a BMS' Fine Electronics or even silly things like having the BMS Harness attached to the BMS when connecting hardness to cells. (the most common way to fry a BMS).

FACT is that EPEver is a Very Good Value Product Line with a pretty solid reputation and there are MANY installed without issues.
SADLY - The Grey Market Vendors essentially kiebosh warranties and that is and has always been a risk when buying from 3rd party vendors and resellers.
 
Steve_S said:
FACT is that EPEver is a Very Good Value Product Line with a pretty solid reputation and there are MANY installed without issues.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Obviously it's not conclusive, but I can add a few more data points here.

I have been running 4 EPever 'AN' units (10A, 30A, 40A) for well over a year now with almost no issues. These are deployed in marginally protected/covered outdoor locations. One got REALLY wet and the on-device screen stopped working for several months but then started working again once it fully dried out - other than the screen being blank the other charge controller functions were unaffected the whole time.

Hoping to install another 3 units in the near future - 2 x 10A and 1x 100A.
 
Last edited:
Thought I had a lightning hit on my controllers, but finally my brain reminded me that it was my bms. I have been trying to figure out it setting. It would ocassional go I n to alarm and disconnect power to the system, al my stuff, then come back on when the voltage dropped. The controller had no 48v dc, but 130v panel power. When 48v came back on they died., End of story, junk
 
The Epever MPPT has a open circuit voltage limit of 100V for the PV input, having 130V may have caused the damage, who knows.

Having a DC rated relay, powered by the battery with the PV wired through a normally open contact will prevent this from happening, should the BMS disconnect, the relay drops and cuts the PV input.
 
pollenface said:
why?
Click to expand...
Here are my main reasons for my preference: The finned aluminum heatsink on the 'BN' seems more effective. But more important, I have never seen reports of a BN failing to perform correctly, and in compliance with its programmed parameters (from an MT-50). There have been several reports of AN misbehaviors here, and elsewhere. And the AN is only rated for 100V maximum PV voltage (which I wouldn't push past 70-80V in the real world), while the BN is rated at 150V (which I wouldn't push past 120V). The AN is also an older model.

I have used only 'BN' controllers in my various installations, and I've had no issues or callbacks which involved "issues" with the controllers. For all of those preceeding reasons, If I needed to go past 40A or 24V, I would choose the eTracer, and not the AN series. But it does cost a lot more.
 
Last edited:
Farmgirl0527 said:
Thought I had a lightning hit on my controllers, but finally my brain reminded me that it was my bms. I have been trying to figure out it setting. It would ocassional go I n to alarm and disconnect power to the system, al my stuff, then come back on when the voltage dropped. The controller had no 48v dc, but 130v panel power. When 48v came back on they died., End of story, junk
Click to expand...
With the EPever controllers, you must ALWAYS have the batteries bank connected before the Solar PV is connected.
 
Couple corrections here...

rickst29 said:
The "AN", although sometimes sold as a "60A controller", is not shown in a 60 Amp version on their website.
Click to expand...

The 50A-100A versions, including the 60A version, are shown on their website. https://www.epsolarpv.com/product/44.html (Linked from "Products" under "Solar Charge Controllers" -> "Solar Power Station Controller".)

rickst29 said:
And the AN is only rated for 100V maximum PV voltage (which I wouldn't push past 70-80V in the real world), while the BN is rated at 150V (which I wouldn't push past 120V).
Click to expand...

The AN controllers are sold in several different voltage ratings; 60V, 100V, 150V, and 200V.

It's also important to note that those are nominal voltages and that the manual provides a description of how to derate them (e.g. from 100V to 92V) based on one's PV array configuration. i.e. Based on termperature and whether the theoretical max power of the PV array exceeds the rated charging current of the controller - which is a supported configuration, but requires derating the allowable OC voltage to ensure that it is not crossed under certain temperature/charging conditions.
 
Farmgirl0527 said:
Thought I had a lightning hit on my controllers, but finally my brain reminded me that it was my bms. I have been trying to figure out it setting. It would ocassional go I n to alarm and disconnect power to the system, al my stuff, then come back on when the voltage dropped. The controller had no 48v dc, but 130v panel power. When 48v came back on they died., End of story, junk
Click to expand...

Which model did you for the 100a and the 2 60a? A Tracer 6210AN is only rated to 100VOC for example. My guess is the 60a was either a 6410AN or 6420AN. The 6410AN is limited to 138V at 25C enviroment temp. https://www.epsolarpv.com/upload/file/2107/EPEVER-Datasheet_Tracer-AN (50A-100A).pdf
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
New off the grid project in The Philippines looking for some advise.
Replies
4
Views
521
Greg P
G
Back
Top