inverter shut down. cuts off electricity.

[learnbydoing]

let me start at the beginning:
the set i have so far has been running about 6 months.
1. 4 Renogy 200 watt panels set up in series and parallel for 24 volt
2. epever tracer 4210AN controller w/
remote meter MT50
3. 2 12v 100ah ampere batteries
in series for 24v
4. pure sine wave inverter
PS-3000KAR
5. getting ready to add 2 more batteries
the only things i am running on it is a fridge that uses about 60 w most of the time but goes occasionally to 100.
And a heating matt that uses 30w to cure our sweet potatoes.

Problems with this system. every time the batteries are charged the inverter and the remote buzz and the charge shuts off until it has run down enough. a couple of days ago i opened the fridge and it was warm. i hadn't been in it for 24 hours so not sure when the ac shut off. never happened before. the weather had bee rainy and overcast very little sunshine. the battery had shown 25.4 the night before so i thought it should have been enough.

Any ideas where we are going wrong?
Let me know what other info you need.
Thank you so much for being here to help.

 

[time2roll]

25.4 is fairly low voltage. Do the batteries get to 28.0+ each day? What is the controller Bulk/Absorption charging voltage set to?
I can't imagine why the inverter is buzzing unless the voltage goes over 30.

Any chance the series batteries are not balanced? Monitor the voltage of each 12v battery is the same as the matched series battery. Especially near the top of the charge.

 

[MisterSandals]

fridge that uses about 60 w most of the time but goes occasionally to 100.
And a heating matt that uses 30w to cure our sweet potatoes.

You sound confident in these numbers so lets mess with numbers:

30W x 24h = 720Wh daily
Lets say your fridge runs at 75W on average:
75W x 24h = 1800Wh daily

2520Wh daily use

800W of solar x 3? solar hours = 2400Wh running at 100% efficiency
There's a good chance you do not have enough solar production for your use.

2x 25.6V x 100Ah batteries = 5120Wh
The total capacity of both your batteries together is about 2 days of your power usage. With your use slightly exceeding solar production (or close?), its possible that these do not get charged properly.

 

[learnbydoing]

the appliances run intermittent and usually use about 1.2 over night so it shouldn't have gone below 24.2. don't understand why the inverter shut off.
the batteries go over 28 on a sunny day but not when it rains.
we balanced the batteries before we hooked them up but not since.
i have to look up the exact perimeters don't have them in my head. i shut everything off for now because i didn't want to kill the batteries.

 

[mikefitz]

Your low voltaage indicates a SOC around 15%, or 360 remaining watt hours, or 6 hours fridge run time, 12 hours on a 50% cycle.
Add the mat power and there is not enough power to last overnight .

 

[learnbydoing]

Your low voltaage indicates a SOC around 15%, or 360 remaining watt hours, or 6 hours fridge run time
Add the mat power and there is not enough power to last overnight .

thank you all. i need to check on the exact perimeters of the battery charge. when would the inverter shut off? does it not automatically come back on when the battery is being charged?
the fridge runs only 60 occasionally. otherwise it shows 0.00
i guess i need to see if i can time that. the 100 is when it defrosts not very often. the heating matt goes off and on also. makes it kind of difficult to tell the average.
can i just turn the inverter back on?

 

[learnbydoing]

Your low voltaage indicates a SOC around 15%, or 360 remaining watt hours, or 6 hours fridge run time
Add the mat power and there is not enough power to last overnight .

thank you all. i need to check on the exact perimeters of the battery charge. when would the inverter shut off? does it not automatically come back on when the battery is being charged?
the fridge runs only 60 occasionally. otherwise it shows 0.00
i guess i need to see if i can time that. the 100 is when it defrosts not very often. the heating matt goes off and on also. makes it kind of difficult to tell the average.
can i just turn the inverter back on.

 

[Bud Martin]

EPEVER output spike causing the Inverter to go into High Voltage shutdown is one of the bug.

Voltage spike read on SCC, inverter shutoff, voltage drop and inverter back on

Have seen some references to this issue on the forums. Today I noticed that my lithium 12v WEIZE brand batteries in series were sitting at 27 volt float. This seems to be normal. Although, the scc was reading no charging from my panels. This is off the grid no external power. I turned on my...

diysolarforum.com

A device that records max voltage?

What is the float voltage? That would be even lower around 26.8? Seems odd to get to 30+ in just a couple seconds while floating. Have you contacted epever? Quick google search indicates this is a general problem with this controller. Cloud edge effect or large change in load will effect the...

diysolarforum.com

 

[MisterSandals]

the fridge runs only 60 occasionally. otherwise it shows 0.00

If you can get a better grasp of your actual energy usage (Wh per day) with something like a Kill-a-watt meter or clamp meter, we'd be able to guess a little better at what is wrong.

Is your daily solar production data available on your Epever?

 

[Delmar]

The defrost cycle could draw lots of amps. My full-size fridge nameplate is 11.6A however my kill-a-watt measures around one amp when running.

 

[MisterSandals]

The defrost cycle could draw lots of amps. My full-size fridge nameplate is 11.6A however my kill-a-watt measures around one amp when running.

How many Wh in a 24h period?
EnergyStar?

 

[MichaelK]

Actually, I think the numbers in post #3 are a bit off. There are two 12V 100Ah batteries, so the total battery capacity is only 2400Wh, just half of above. The 2520Wh though is not also including the inverter itself, which is also going to be several hundred watts. My inverter pulls 30W/h, or 720Wh in a day, so add that to the 2520Wh and you are looking at 3.2kWh per day.

You mentioned the cloudy, rainy weather? I would not expect to get more than 0.5 sunhours in a day with rain, so that's just 400Wh coming into the batteries on a rainy day.

This is a system designed to work under the very best conditions, not the very worst. You need both more battery, and more solar to make this work.

 

[MisterSandals]

Actually, I think the numbers in post #3 are a bit off. There are two 12V 100Ah batteries, so the total battery capacity is only 2400Wh, just half of above.

Thanks, good catch!
I show my work so my friends can help me out when i falter.

 

[Rocketman]

One item that would really help is a Victron Smartshunt (or BMV712). That way you KNOW if your battery is mostly full or mostly empty. It also tells how many days since it was at 100%, and most important- how much running time until your battery hits the empty floor (assuming the load over the last three minutes remains constant).

 

[learnbydoing]

EPEVER output spike causing the Inverter to go into High Voltage shutdown is one of the bug.

Voltage spike read on SCC, inverter shutoff, voltage drop and inverter back on

Have seen some references to this issue on the forums. Today I noticed that my lithium 12v WEIZE brand batteries in series were sitting at 27 volt float. This seems to be normal. Although, the scc was reading no charging from my panels. This is off the grid no external power. I turned on my...

diysolarforum.com

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/a-device-that-records-max-voltage.31620/page-2[/URL

http://

 

[learnbydoing]

thank you! it is so good to be able to some real advice. this is a lot to work through.
what i understand so far:
1. epever has trouble with high power spikes shutting off inverter. so batteries don't always charge fully.
yes that seems to be happening.
2. i under estimated my power usage still have to figure that out. also forgot what the inverter uses. there is quite a bit of power loss that we figured in from the 100' distance between the panels and the controller. we used 8 gage marine wire.
i try to get the info together and get back to you.

 

[learnbydoing]

One item that would really help is a Victron Smartshunt (or BMV712). That way you KNOW if your battery is mostly full or mostly empty. It also tells how many days since it was at 100%, and most important- how much running time until your battery hits the empty floor (assuming the load over the last three minutes remains constant).

 

[learnbydoing]

that was a consideration. however i wanted to stay away from the internet and i don't think they work just locally or do they after you download the ap.
we did install a battery monitor. have to look up what it is called.
what puzzles me is that ladder graph that shows the percentage of the charge still shows the battery to be at over 50% when it shows about 25.4 on the epever remote.

 

[learnbydoing]

a more general question. i have 4 more renogy panels at 180 watts that i want to install in addition to the 4 200 watts panels. will that be too much power for the 4 batteries 24v 200ah? unfortunately the controller is the same epever as the other one. both then going to the same 3000watt inverter. i will get the batteries wired in tomorrow but won't have time to finish the stand for the panels.

 

[time2roll]

Consider a different controller. No reason they need to match. One controller could handle all the panels.
I have and recommend Morningstar controllers.