Lifepower4 24v and MPP Solar LV2424 issue

[Scott Martinez]

I see, my pip is an all in one, so no external controller. I am currently reading through the other thread...

Finished the thread. It looks like I should be able to get the system booted in the daytime with solar and the inverter part of the pip on, and with the AC in connected. Paralleling the batteries shouldn't be a problem in the short term, but as long as I have light, I should be able to switch the the lead acid bank off, and switch the EG4's on with another DC switch. I also have a breaker in-line after these switches. I'll keep watching the other thread, and thank you for checking in here. I'll report back.

 

[Scott Martinez]

Sorry, solar charge controller. I have to use mine to provide a dc source to help the lifepower batteries start.

It got too dark before I had a chance to wire in another switch, so I did parallel the the lead acid bank with the EG4 bank for about 30 seconds and then switched off the old batteries and the system is up and running again with both of my 24v EG4s. The BMS software shows one of the 2 EG4's discharging, while the other sits idle. I'm assuming that's because the idle one is at a lower SOC. I have a couple of basic loads on each leg (2 LV2424 setup in split phase), and have them set to pull from the grid when necessary to charge. I'll let it run this way till the batteries are balanced.

 

[HighCountryBill]

Any idea what caused your system to go down? Lucky it didn't happen at night or you couldn't have used the scc.

One of my lifepower 4 batteries was off this morning with a solid red alarm light. The other three were fine. No communication hooked up between them. This was after working fine for several days.

We had a similar problem. After running fine for a couple days, one of our two batteries shut down with the red alarm light for no apparent reason. I turned the breaker off and on and it restarted. We also had a lot of difficulty getting the batteries to start up initially and then have one just suddenly shut down is not good. My confidence in these batteries is fading fast. When we live off grid in the middle of nowhere, returning them is not easy.

 

[Koldsimer]

We had a similar problem. After running fine for a couple days, one of our two batteries shut down with the red alarm light for no apparent reason. I turned the breaker off and on and it restarted. We also had a lot of difficulty getting the batteries to start up initially and then have one just suddenly shut down is not good. My confidence in these batteries is fading fast. When we live off grid in the middle of nowhere, returning them is not easy.

I'm sorry to hear that you had the same issue. @SignatureSolarUS has been little to no help with my batteries and my confidence is fading as well. I'm 100% off grid with no grid backup so i need these to work!

 

[SignatureSolarUS]

We had a similar problem. After running fine for a couple days, one of our two batteries shut down with the red alarm light for no apparent reason. I turned the breaker off and on and it restarted. We also had a lot of difficulty getting the batteries to start up initially and then have one just suddenly shut down is not good. My confidence in these batteries is fading fast. When we live off grid in the middle of nowhere, returning them is not easy.

Inverter model? have you called tech support here?

 

[Scott Martinez]

Inverter model? have you called tech support here?

Emailed tech support. I got a response, but basically nothing was resolved. I sent a couple more emails after I received my 2nd unit, and it did the same thing. It looks like a pre-charge issue with my MPP Solar LV2424 inverters. Starting my split phase system on the old lead acid bank in parallel seems to keep the BMS from shutting down my two EG4's. I just had to buy another DC switch and some cabling. Hopefully there will be a way to make this work without keeping a 2nd set of batteries around. I should be good for now as long as I don't go below DC cutoff.

 

[Scott Martinez]

Any idea what caused your system to go down? Lucky it didn't happen at night or you couldn't have used the scc.

One of my lifepower 4 batteries was off this morning with a solid red alarm light. The other three were fine. No communication hooked up between them. This was after working fine for several days.

Did you pull a alarm code from the unit? I think my initial problem might have been I had the inverter part of the LV2424 turned off and it shut down when I had no more PV. I'm thinking the BMS didn't know what happened and threw a short circuit error. I got through day 1 with the two batteries connected and will cycle them to try and get them balanced. In glancing the cell values, they seem close after a drain and charge, but are reporting a SOC that's off by a bit. Also, I did notice since I received my two units at different times, that the front panels are different. I don't know if the internals are different, or just the SOC LED meters. One runs right and the other runs left. -Odd...

 

[Scott Martinez]

The system is still up and running after booting with lead acid 24v bank. I hope there will be a better fix down the road.

 

[Kelper]

I was just about to purchase one of these batteries for my LV2424. Glad I did a little research. Too bad as looking at 2 Battleborn batteries you only get 100Ah versus 200Ah for one EG4 for about the same price.

 

[Koldsimer]

I was just about to purchase one of these batteries for my LV2424. Glad I did a little research. Too bad as looking at 2 Battleborn batteries you only get 100Ah versus 200Ah for one EG4 for about the same price.

sok, jakiper, trophy... all similar or arguably better batteries that Will reviews and gives the thumbs up.

 

[Kelper]

sok, jakiper, trophy... all similar or arguably better batteries that Will reviews and gives the thumbs up.

Any thoughts on Ampere Time? I saw a review of his on Enjoybot batteries, he liked the construction and sounded like it had the same build as Ampere(as well as many others).

 

[Koldsimer]

Any thoughts on Ampere Time? I saw a review of his on Enjoybot batteries, he liked the construction and sounded like it had the same build as Ampere(as well as many others).

Never owned one, but they seem to get lots of positive comments around here.

 

[mactech]

I have 4 12v 100ah AmpereTime batteries and they've been working well for me with my LV2424

 

[Capt Bill]

4 of the eg4 lifepower batteries and they won't start my inverter. After spending days troubleshooting and with the help of some very knowledgeable people here in this forum, Signature acknowledged that they made a change to the timing of the resistor and it's causing startup failures with some inverters (Schneider, Magnum, MPP)

WOW, ...That sure sounds like a time suck kind of learning curve. Hope to read about your resolving this issue as I study further down this thread (when that happens).

 

[Newbie solar guy]

I wonder if the BMS may have been tripped when you hook up the battery to the 2424 due to inrush current when the capacitor banks inside the 2424 are being charged up.

That's why I use a resistor like Will showed us.