Help, are those settings right? 5kw Hybrid Inverter

[Vi s]

Sunny greetings to everyone!

We use here an Must Ph18 5048 pluh 5Kw hybrid inverter. 4.5kw solar array. 100A 48v battery.
The idea was to reduce the electricity bill but we wondered why it doesn't make a big difference? We actually don't intend to pump anything into the grid (since we don't get anything for that/ no contract with the electricity company) but it seems that's what is actually happening or (please see pictures and video below)? The suspicious thing is at peak time we use around 2kw but the solar system only produces 1kw during that time even though it should be capable of producing much more or? I wonder if it works correctly, if it is correctly set up??

I have uploaded a video of the display with the different parameters shown, maybe an experienced person could kindly have a look and shed some light on this situation. Much appreciated in advance!

 

[Jeremiah]

I have a Must Power hybrid also, and it sure seemed to me like it was feeding the grid as well.
So what I do now is I have the AC line in connected as a plug so I unplug the grid until the inverter beeps haha.
On sunny days I dont need the grid for full 24hour cycle so no beeping.
If it beeps, just plug it in.
Funny I have a different model but the software identifies it as your model.
do an experiment and unplug as often as you can.
Also, you should be sure to set the "amps charge when grid connected" to as low as you can get away with and set the solar charge priorty to SOL (only panels charge battery) otherwise at night your battery will get fully charged from the grid (ouch) and in daylight hours there wont be much room left for the panels to provide.

 

[Jeremiah]

another thing I noticed, the manual that came with mine is more up to date than the pdf they have online ... dunno if it's the same with you but dont loose that thing. read it through several times... feel free to ask more questions

 

[Vi s]

Thank you so much for your reply!!

So if I flip the fuse of the grid aka unplug the grid (which I did yesterday) I see the grid icon dissappears. Energy still flows into the load icon. Why should it beep? Or would it be better to switch to off grid mode?

Unfortunately the guy who installed that inverter requested that manual and said if there is a problem just call him. We gave it to him in our ignorance. So we don't have that manual anymore and the online PDF Like you said is not informative at all/ does not help much. ? When we called the guy he always said he will come but never came.

How to change all the parameters you talk about? In the menu?

 

[Vi s]

We just checked, the electricity company meter turns backwards (towards the left against the direction of the arrow which points to the right). So it actually reduces our electricity bill, that's good to know. ?

That leaves only one issue, during the frequent power cuts here, we don't have any electricity even though we have a battery bank which should deliver enough power for 1h. How to set up the inverter that if the grid power dissapears it will switch to use the battery backup power instead?

 

[Vi s]

The last mystery has been solved as well, we phoned the guy who installed the system, he said he didn't connect any off grid circuit. ? So in 2 - 3 days he will come and fix that as well return the manual. ?

Nevertheless cannot really recommend this must hybrid inverter because it seems one cannot change any charge parameters via pc software, probably via the hardware buttons though. Also it has a 4 stage charge mode for lithium, floats persistently at 100soc. :/

 

[Vi s]

I have a Must Power hybrid also, and it sure seemed to me like it was feeding the grid as well.
So what I do now is I have the AC line in connected as a plug so I unplug the grid until the inverter beeps haha.
On sunny days I dont need the grid for full 24hour cycle so no beeping.
If it beeps, just plug it in.
Funny I have a different model but the software identifies it as your model.
do an experiment and unplug as often as you can.
Also, you should be sure to set the "amps charge when grid connected" to as low as you can get away with and set the solar charge priorty to SOL (only panels charge battery) otherwise at night your battery will get fully charged from the grid (ouch) and in daylight hours there wont be much room left for the panels to provide.

Yes you are right, I also just observed that yesterday, the grid charges the battery at night! We basically charged those batteries since one year day and night for nothing since there is still no off grid circuit connected. ?
Thanks for all those useful Tipps and suggestions!

 

[Vi s]

Also the customer service on the must website is unfortunately zero responsive for any inquiries.

 

[Jeremiah]

The last mystery has been solved as well, we phoned the guy who installed the system, he said he didn't connect any off grid circuit. ? So in 2 - 3 days he will come and fix that as well return the manual. ?

Nevertheless cannot really recommend this must hybrid inverter because it seems one cannot change any charge parameters via pc software, probably via the hardware buttons though. Also it has a 4 stage charge mode for lithium, floats persistently at 100soc. :/

OK so here is where you can get pdf versions of the manual (for my model the printed manual is most up to date).

With my model I can change all of the charging profile options. You just have to hold down the <enter> button for a few seconds then the 1st "program" item appears. You press <enter> again (on that bright green screen) and the next one appears, etc. So look at your manual for float voltage, you can change it to whatever using the up and down arrows. Yeah the PC software is weird, I don't trust making changes that way but all the changes I make with the menu work.
The interface is bad but I actually like this inverter now that I have it figured out. It's SUPER heavy which is in part why I bought it. I wanted a heavy copper transformer so the inverter would last (thanks @fhorst for educating me on this before I bought).
I have the PV3500 Pro series 6kw model so I'm not sure if yours is as configurable but the PC software LISTS my inverter as the same model as yours so I imagine the core functionality is the same. Actually the software looks like it was a tool used by the engineers / programmers to dump data to debug the hardware and someone said, "hey let's let the users see this" b/c so much of the data are clearly variable names from software and a lot of it is stuff a user doesn't give a s*** about (bus voltage 400v etc? who cares as a user).
That said, I've been using this for over half a year so far and it's been rock solid.

Glad you weren't getting charged for what you fed the grid, I was feeding the grid and having to pay for it when they told me it was not grid tied (our meters in Philippine do not go backwards unless you have a special contract with the electric company [and you have to own the house, I don't and you have to spend more than x per month to get it and then the rates are crappy].
I don't know why your seller needs to come to install some off grid thing; mine didn't need any special installation, just unplug grid line in, done.
Mine does eat a decent amount of power when doing almost nothing if it's not in power save mode.
They are very vague about how much power this is; for me it seems to range from 100-250 watts while the most I use is around 1kw.
@fhorst explained to me that the overhead on inverters is usually a set 10-15% of the *rating* i.e. 6kw in my case; I had thought it was a % of the power actually being drawn so there's a lesson learned.
To get around this issue I converted all my fans to DC, my chargers to DC etc. only the Ref. is AC and I have a separate inverter that runs the Ref. so my big one only gets woken up from power-save mode when we use a blender or something.
Sorry I wasn't on the site the last couple of days.
If you don't see your manual on the download page, I can photograph mine for you. All the values are customizeable it's actually pretty good when you get used to it.

 

[Jeremiah]

Yes you are right, I also just observed that yesterday, the grid charges the battery at night! We basically charged those batteries since one year day and night for nothing since there is still no off grid circuit connected. ?
Thanks for all those useful Tipps and suggestions!

My pleasure. So here's a suggestion, there is a "program" in the menu where you can set the MAX amps the grid will charge the battery. I have mine set to be just a bit higher than my max DC usage at night b/c I don't want to charge up the battery fully in the night (paying for it) when the next day the sun comes up. I recommend you do as well because if you are feeding the grid you surely have plenty of power to charge your batteries with solar only. Menu Item #1 or #2 (again hold <enter> until menu appears then press enter again to change to the next program) has options SOL and some other stuff this is where you can define the charge behavior.

So I ordered directly from the manufacturer and paid around $600 to get it to my door (including my shipping etc)

 

[Jeremiah]

Oh you mentioned brownouts... we usually don't notice there is a brownout until a text comes in from the power company that power will be restored at such and such a time or we are on the terrace and notice the neighbors' lights are out. Really the inverter should just not feed the grid when it senses power is down from the grid ... as a hybrid that is.

 

[Vi s]

Much merits for the time and effort you spent to reply and give me such plenty of useful informations! Very very kind of you!

I downloaded every single manual on the page, nothing really useful in it. I will wait a few days more until that electrician hopefully comes, 2-3 days in Thailand can become 2-3 weeks if at all. He said he will bring the manual with him. Anyway many thanks for your generous offer to copy the manual!

Our inverter isn't connected to the grid at the main income but somewhere down the line, like if it would be another appliance in the house. I don't know if that is how it should be done? Can you plug in the grid to your inverter at any point in your electric system?

What is the login password in the pc software? I suppose it is stated in the manual!? Something like 1234 or 0000?

 

[Vi s]

Also the customer service on the must website is unfortunately zero responsive for any inquiries.

Took countless WhatsApp messages till the sales lady even replied (she read everything but didn't reply a word for days) and finally told me upon asking whom I should ask if she cannot answer my questions that I should write an email to info@mustpower.com concerning questions related to inverters. ?

 

[Vi s]

Oh you mentioned brownouts... we usually don't notice there is a brownout until a text comes in from the power company that power will be restored at such and such a time or we are on the terrace and notice the neighbors' lights are out. Really the inverter should just not feed the grid when it senses power is down from the grid ... as a hybrid that is.

Wow you get even texts! What a service!

The neighbours down the hill said since we installed the solar system they have no power drops anymore as well less power cuts! ? We are at the end of the line... Transformer got hit by a lightning many years ago, they 'repaired' it but told us it has problems and should be replaced but they don't have the funds (they basically wanted us to pay for it). Since then all those issues happen on a almost daily basis. That's life ?

 

[Vi s]

OK so here is where you can get pdf versions of the manual (for my model the printed manual is most up to date).

With my model I can change all of the charging profile options. You just have to hold down the <enter> button for a few seconds then the 1st "program" item appears. You press <enter> again (on that bright green screen) and the next one appears, etc. So look at your manual for float voltage, you can change it to whatever using the up and down arrows. Yeah the PC software is weird, I don't trust making changes that way but all the changes I make with the menu work.
The interface is bad but I actually like this inverter now that I have it figured out. It's SUPER heavy which is in part why I bought it. I wanted a heavy copper transformer so the inverter would last (thanks @fhorst for educating me on this before I bought).
I have the PV3500 Pro series 6kw model so I'm not sure if yours is as configurable but the PC software LISTS my inverter as the same model as yours so I imagine the core functionality is the same. Actually the software looks like it was a tool used by the engineers / programmers to dump data to debug the hardware and someone said, "hey let's let the users see this" b/c so much of the data are clearly variable names from software and a lot of it is stuff a user doesn't give a s*** about (bus voltage 400v etc? who cares as a user).
That said, I've been using this for over half a year so far and it's been rock solid.

Glad you weren't getting charged for what you fed the grid, I was feeding the grid and having to pay for it when they told me it was not grid tied (our meters in Philippine do not go backwards unless you have a special contract with the electric company [and you have to own the house, I don't and you have to spend more than x per month to get it and then the rates are crappy].
I don't know why your seller needs to come to install some off grid thing; mine didn't need any special installation, just unplug grid line in, done.
Mine does eat a decent amount of power when doing almost nothing if it's not in power save mode.
They are very vague about how much power this is; for me it seems to range from 100-250 watts while the most I use is around 1kw.
@fhorst explained to me that the overhead on inverters is usually a set 10-15% of the *rating* i.e. 6kw in my case; I had thought it was a % of the power actually being drawn so there's a lesson learned.
To get around this issue I converted all my fans to DC, my chargers to DC etc. only the Ref. is AC and I have a separate inverter that runs the Ref. so my big one only gets woken up from power-save mode when we use a blender or something.
Sorry I wasn't on the site the last couple of days.
If you don't see your manual on the download page, I can photograph mine for you. All the values are customizeable it's actually pretty good when you get used to it.

Super Glad to hear that all the values are customizable!

 

[Vi s]

My pleasure. So here's a suggestion, there is a "program" in the menu where you can set the MAX amps the grid will charge the battery. I have mine set to be just a bit higher than my max DC usage at night b/c I don't want to charge up the battery fully in the night (paying for it) when the next day the sun comes up. I recommend you do as well because if you are feeding the grid you surely have plenty of power to charge your batteries with solar only. Menu Item #1 or #2 (again hold <enter> until menu appears then press enter again to change to the next program) has options SOL and some other stuff this is where you can define the charge behavior.

So I ordered directly from the manufacturer and paid around $600 to get it to my door (including my shipping etc)

I ever tried to long press the menu button but then the inverter started to scream/beap loud and I thought maybe no good idea. Will do it next time with more confidence. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Vi s]

Finally found some usual information about the manual settings in a few of the many manuals from different inverters I dowloaded. Thanks for mentioning the manuals again! Either last time I overlooked something or I was just unlucky with the manuals I downloaded at that time.
Those Infos from the manuals which I found now should be enough to get me going.

 

[Vi s]

I only like to know how to display following window in the pc app, where do I have to press?


Do I have to login first? What is the login password? Is it a generic one?

Could you kindly explain me how you connected your inverter to the grid? Quick hand drawn schematic would be helpful. Solar and battery to inverter is clear only about the grid power connections. I see there is only one ac input cable connected but no ac output!! I don't understand that... How can the solar power go into the grid? Also what is the load?

 

[Vi s]

OK after some trials figured out the password, admin!

We will soon separate (electric lines) one major building (we have close to 20 buildings) to be powered solely with the ac output/ solar.

 

[Jeremiah]

OK after some trials figured out the password, admin!

We will soon separate (electric lines) one major building (we have close to 20 buildings) to be powered solely with the ac output/ solar.

haha sorry I'm only on every once in a while.
So, I would not do the settings over the computer unless you find them working.
The menu is confusing as I recall pressing menu did not bring up the actual menu, instead you have to hold down <enter> for a few seconds
then [01] comes up. Press <enter> again to keep the settings and go to settings (they call it "program" hehe chinenglish [02] ... etc. when yo uget to a program you need to change press the up or down keys to cycle through the values or increase / decrease numbers then press <enter> when you are done.
Here is a tricky part. When you are done with all the settings press <enter> many times until the menu goes away otherwise it seems the settings do not take.