Install and Operation of the SUNGOLD 10KW 48V SPLIT PHASE SOLAR INVERTER

[Kenny_]

I was thinking this but I found out that this setting [28] is not working accurately. E.g. when it was set to 120, each battery was only getting 15A or 16A.

Maybe there is more inefficiency than I would like to believe.

Loads in the house were just 500W.

That value will be divided by the number of batteries you have connected in parallel.
That is the current that will go to each battery. e.g. when my 28 is set to 40, each of my 5 batteries/packs will get about 8A each depending on what the BMS in each battery is doing at the moment.

 

[Kenny_]

Now on to the next thing. Call me slow but I think I finally found out where the other half of my total home power usage is going.....the damn Mr. Coffee.... I haven't put the wattage counter on it but it may be drawing about 1 kw/hr for about 5 hours a day that 5 kw/day ... 30 days ...150 kw/month and that's close enough to half of my monthly total (pre solar).

The reason I haven't realized this is that I intentionally excluded it from the circuits that I set up for the Ecoflow Delta Pro because it was only capable of providing 3.5 kw from battery. I just hadn't thought of it after switching over the the Sungold 10K48.

I suspect most of the rest of the monthly usage is coming from the 220 dryer and maybe some 220 Range/Oven use (which is very minimal. I've been using my induction burner Christmas present for most of the range work and only use the oven on Thanksgiving

I've added the Mr. Coffee to the same circuit as the microwave and toaster oven ... lord help me if I turn them all on at once....likely will trip the breaker...

I'll try running things this way for February and see how the Xcel bill looks in March.

...and if it looks like I suspect it will the Revenuers gonna be knock knock knockin' on my front door...and I ain't gonna let 'em in!

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

That value will be divided by the number of batteries you have connected in parallel.

Yes, but 120A divided by 5 batteries is not 15A or 16A, right? Maybe it's a BMS thing.

I had observed the same with charging from utility.

And 5*16A*55V = 4400VA
Easily handled by my 40A AC breaker, or the 30A generator output.

It's OK with me though.

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

Mr. Coffee.... I haven't put the wattage counter on it but it may be drawing about 1 kw/hr

Sounds totally plausible!

Anything heat-related is a big consumer.
I found out painfully when I hooked up the water heater.

 

[Kenny_]

Yes, but 120A divided by 5 batteries is not 15A or 16A, right? Maybe it's a BMS thing.

I had observed the same with charging from utility.

And 5*16A*55V = 4400VA
Easily handled by my 40A AC breaker, or the 30A generator output.

It's OK with me though.

Oh yeah, there is 'missing' watts ... particularly when looking via Solar Assistant ... I was whining about that way back after I first got SA Working with only one and then three batteries and trying to figure where the 'missing' power was going. I still have no idea but have just let it go. There is certainly usage/loss in the inverter itself and I'm guessing that's where most of it is going but also just in 'measurement error' ..

When I first got SA going it seemed like the PV Input matched the load and battery usage and the numbers all added up the I rarely have seen that since. (or maybe it was just my deluded mind thinking they all added up. )

 

[Kenny_]

Sounds totally plausible!

Anything heat-related is a big consumer.
I found out painfully when I hooked up the water heater.

My water heater for now is natural gas but would love to replace it with a heat-pump water heater or just high efficiency electric if possible.

for now with that Mr. Coffee usage I'm thinking I need to check in with Cindy Lou about getting a good price on another battery, eh?

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

now with that Mr. Coffee usage I'm thinking I need to check in with Cindy Lou about getting a good price on another battery, eh?

Maybe better technology for Mr Coffee?
Can coffee be warmed up in a microwave?
That would pull 1200W.. but only for a minute.

I don't drink coffee, so I genuinely don't know.

The reason why I rather cut usage is.. we have only 10kW from the inverter. And we cannot parallel a second inverter, at least not YET.

 

[marionw]

Generator watts of 6250 / 120VAC = 52.08 amps max from the Generator
Generator watts of 6250 / 220VAC = 28.4 amps max from the Generator

#28 is Max current and not the current actually be used to charge.

What was #6 Battery Charging Mode set to. If not "CUb" and if Solar is available the Inverter will charge from Solar which would unload the generator assuming low inverter output loading (unless you run a Mr. Coffee)

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

#28 is Max current and not the current actually be used to charge.

I heard different opinions on this. Is it the amps on the incoming side @240v (not 220V) or on the DC side at 55V? Big difference.

I have 8AWG coming in, but a clamp meter showed under 20A on it (AC input side).

I did not mess with setting [06], I am guessing it's the default of SNU. However, there was no solar. I suspected it could have to do with it, and I turned off the solar input breakers.

 

[marionw]

I am assuming #28 is DC/Battery charging current. The AC Input breaker is not a 120 amp breaker and the max for #28 is 120 amps.
The AC Input wiring would not handle 120 amps either.

#60 Charging Cutoff SOC. If the BMS reported !00% SOC the inverter stopped charging the batteries?
#62 Switch to Inverter SOC. If the BMS reported 100% SOC the inverter switched back to the batteries?

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

Generator watts of 6250 / 120VAC = 52.08 amps max from the Generator
Generator watts of 6250 / 220VAC = 28.4 amps max from the Generator

This shows charging power yesterday . The 2 tall ones are from the generator.

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

I never viewed or modified settings 60, 62.
I assume they were at 100, and still are.
Pretty sure my SOC was in the 80s.

It would be a bigger problem at the opposite side of the charging range, e.g. SOC under 30 and it won't draw from utility (if I wouldn't be in an outage)

Yesterday I was just unhappy because the generator was wasting fuel and produced power that didn't go in the batteries. Luckily I noticed the change in sound. It was worse than sunshine and full batteries.

 

[marionw]

That's where the dry contacts come in. Just monitor pins 5, 6 and 7 with an ohm meter (or a small separate battery and light bulb).

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

That's where the dry contacts come in. Just monitor pins 5, 6 and 7 with an ohm meter (or a small separate battery and light bulb).

I don't even know yet what they are good for. To start a generator, I suspect. My generators don't have that interface. Need to study this.

I will measure the resistance between the pins when I am there. Good sunshine today, SOC already over 80 and 4h left. Possibly tomorrow utility power is restored.

Thank you for your suggestion.

 

[Kenny_]

And lookit that Mr. Coffee go:



...and I'm getting slight flickers in my office light every time it goes on/off.

 

[Kenny_]

Last 24 hours:

 

[Kenny_]

That's where the dry contacts come in. Just monitor pins 5, 6 and 7 with an ohm meter (or a small separate battery and light bulb).

Interesting.... they follow Params 04 and 05 with both Normally Open and Normally Closed circuits could be useful for any number of things. ...

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

With the water heater on, this morning SOC was at 41%. Now it's almost 4pm, the water heater kicked on a few times during the day, but nobody took long showers during the day. And SOC is 92%.

I think this water heater uses less electricity than I thought. It's from 1994, pulls 4550W. I am guessing 10kWh a day.

With only 10kWh a day, I am not so sure if a heat pump water heater would be worth it. Savings maybe 5kWh = $4 a day. Oh. Yes. That's over $1000 a year.

Going to measure the consumption over a month.


Yesterday's discussion about [28]... while I am able to set that number, and the value does indeed stick. Since I am not in user mode, and have full communications, probably that is why my batteries received less than expected current.

Strictly on pv today, and the utility fixed their problem, so that's a backup. Only 66h outage.

 

[Kenny_]

I upped my param #7 to 80 and wow! What a difference...
(in closed loop this would be automatically changed back)

 

[Kenny_]

I kinda hate it when solar power just goes to waste with no where to use/store it...Batteries were fully charged around noon...

 

[marionw]

Do more laundry. Bake some bread....

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

Do more laundry

I am slowly developing awareness off what activities consume how many Wh.

2 x laundry and 1x electric dryer, which also engaged the water heater. The battery bank went from 25kWh (6pm) to under 8kWh (30% SOC) by ~10pm.

Otherwise I recommend charging tool batteries, things like Jackery boxes, and of course EVs.

 

[Crowz]

Time to start farming crypto

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

here's my update on my attempts at Utility charging. My battery bank has reached quite low levels under 20% SOC, due to increased consumption with decreased sunshine.

It seems that one major issue for other operators was the switching between solar/ battery/ utility when the voltage drops below [04]. I think it's why so many disabled BMS communication and changed the battery to type "user".

When BMS communication is enabled, that number is 49.2V set by the batteries. I think that's too low. If the system is at 49.25V and a big load comes in like the 4.5kW water heater, I think that could be bad. I would rather have this number higher like at 51V.

I turned off BMS communication but did not go into battery type "user".

I had [01] set to UTI, and indeed, it was charging from utility as it should.

As soon as I change [32] from SLA back to 485, the box beeps around, relais are clicking, and it won't charge from utility.

On a side note, my problems with the total amps going into the battery not matching the setting [07].. I had not realized that [28] also limits it. The total amps going into the batteries is the smaller of [07] and [28].

Because of my lack of knowledge & confidence, I still believe it's better for my system to use full BMS communications. So, I probably from time to time will force charge the battery bank as I see it necessary, by switching [01] from "SbU" to "UTI" while comms are disabled.


I also measured the continuity at the generator dry contact pins which had been suggested a few days ago. The manual's section on this gives me a headache. While at 51.6V, I think I measured continuity between 5,6 but not 6,7. I won't go back for a while.

 

[CaliSunHarvester]

What was #6 Battery Charging Mode set to. If not "CUb" and if Solar is available the Inverter will charge from Solar which would unload the generator assuming low inverter output loading

I tried this again and it has had the best result so far. No beeping/ relais clicking for a while. Thank you, and I should really read every response 5 times to not miss anything.

The "manual" is such junk. Might be worth it to learn Chinese and get the original.



What exactly constitutes "sufficient" for *charging* purposes?