I've watched Will Prowse and other's on Youtube pre-charging the capacitors on their inverters before connecting them to the battery. Generally, they use a high power resistor to ease the current in without a big spark. That's a great idea but it got me thinking... the right kind of incandescent light bulb could do the same thing but also give a visual indicator of what's happening!
I tried it out with my 2x Growatts (SPF 3000TL LVM-ES) and a 48v lifepo4 battery and it works great! The one I picked up was a 48v, 25w bulb intended for truck/machinery https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046IQMNG. Once I was ready to connect my battery to the Growatt, I first touched the wires to the light bulb; one to the side of the bulb and one to the "button" on the bottom of the bulb (ideally, I would have had a matching socket for the bulb with wires but I don't have that yet). The light lit up brightly for about one second and then faded out over another 2 seconds as the voltages equalized!
I really loved being able to visually see the power moving. Good confirmation that the capacitors were charging as well as showing when they were done (or at least close).
PS. I've also used this bulb when I need to restart my Daly BMS. Normally you temporarily short P- and B- but I like to put the bulb between to prevent the spark.
Hope this helps someone
I tried it out with my 2x Growatts (SPF 3000TL LVM-ES) and a 48v lifepo4 battery and it works great! The one I picked up was a 48v, 25w bulb intended for truck/machinery https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046IQMNG. Once I was ready to connect my battery to the Growatt, I first touched the wires to the light bulb; one to the side of the bulb and one to the "button" on the bottom of the bulb (ideally, I would have had a matching socket for the bulb with wires but I don't have that yet). The light lit up brightly for about one second and then faded out over another 2 seconds as the voltages equalized!
I really loved being able to visually see the power moving. Good confirmation that the capacitors were charging as well as showing when they were done (or at least close).
PS. I've also used this bulb when I need to restart my Daly BMS. Normally you temporarily short P- and B- but I like to put the bulb between to prevent the spark.
Hope this helps someone