diy solar

diy solar

Outback system setup for use with Lifepower4 batteries.

warrenwelder

New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2022
Messages
6
I have a Gvfx3524 and fm80 with mate. After two sets of lead batts, I have a pair of Lifepower4 200ah 24v batts and 10-240w panels. I am struggling to get info on this setup. Outback is little help and very confusing with info. My experiance with this is limited and at 75 years old suffering from CRS, I have to learn everything again for each project. I programed this system for lead batts from the outback books 10 years ago. I really don't want to relearn all this, but I probably can. any help would be very much appreciated.
 
To my knowledge our batteries do not communicate with Magnum, so you will likely have to choose the user settings and manually set them.
Typically you are looking at 3 numbers: Minimum voltage, maximum voltage, and float.
Min: 22.4v
Max: 28.8v
Float: 28v
 
Richard, you are Johnny on he spot. I appreciate the help. I don't know what Magnum is and how does those voltages relate to the outback settings. Is that for the charge controller only or is that for the inverter settings also?
 
I live in the USVI and we are very frugal. A waterpump is the only motor and it runs on WAPA. The aquaponic pumpis 250w and runs continus. The big power draw is the fridge defroster @ 500w on it's own brain timing.
 
I know exactly where you at on this... I would offer my settings, but I have an Outback Radian GS8048a, FM100's, Mate3s and a bunch of the LifePower4 batteries. I couldn't find any docs are guides anywhere to help me understand the inverter, charge controller, mate settings until I stumbled upon a guide Outback had on there support site for other LiFePo battery packs. I just used them as a guide... After a bunch of adjustments, I found that the closest Outback device settings were those specified in the very detailed SimpliPHi battery guide for Outback.


Please note that:
  1. Outback will tell you that only the newer models sold in the last couple of years will support Lithium based batteries, so this it at your own risk.
  2. Never EQ these batteries via the Outback equipment. The batteries BMS will EQ themselves. Set EQ time to -0-
  3. Do not Re-Float these batteries. Set Re-Float time to -0-
  4. Make sure you watch the BMS software during charging and discharging until you can confirm that the batteries are safely performing within tolerances.
FYI... you can buy a $200 refurbed mini PC on Amazon to run the BMS software and remote desktop to it from any other PC in the house. Much better than the LCD display upcharge of $250 per pack.
 
I don't know why Outback says this old system is not compatable with lithium batts or if there is a workaround to make it work. If I have to buy a new inverter I will but I should be able to use the FM80 charge controller. I am setting up the batt to do the initial charge on each one to make them equal so they can be connected together.
 
I know exactly where you at on this... I would offer my settings, but I have an Outback Radian GS8048a, FM100's, Mate3s and a bunch of the LifePower4 batteries. I couldn't find any docs are guides anywhere to help me understand the inverter, charge controller, mate settings until I stumbled upon a guide Outback had on there support site for other LiFePo battery packs. I just used them as a guide... After a bunch of adjustments, I found that the closest Outback device settings were those specified in the very detailed SimpliPHi battery guide for Outback.


Please note that:
  1. Outback will tell you that only the newer models sold in the last couple of years will support Lithium based batteries, so this it at your own risk.
  2. Never EQ these batteries via the Outback equipment. The batteries BMS will EQ themselves. Set EQ time to -0-
  3. Do not Re-Float these batteries. Set Re-Float time to -0-
  4. Make sure you watch the BMS software during charging and discharging until you can confirm that the batteries are safely performing within tolerances.
FYI... you can buy a $200 refurbed mini PC on Amazon to run the BMS software and remote desktop to it from any other PC in the house. Much better than the LCD display upcharge of $250 per pack.
We agree on the LCD being not worth $250, the key here is actually the commitment to a 10 year replacement warranty, this is a legal responsibility as an american company for us so not just a number like you would expect with international companies.

personally I would always get the 5yr because it gets you past the lemon period, but I understand the track record better than most
 
I'm in a similar situation with an outback gvfx3648/fm80/mate. I'm using a seplos battery. It's a 16s configuration so the outback vs. battery issues should be the same for both of us except for you running half the DC voltage. Are you selling to the grid? That makes the settings more of a challenge to get your battery adequately charged and reliably enable grid tie every day. I've not finalized the settings yet, and am running the voltages a tad too low because I sometimes switch back to the lead acid batteries.

On the FM80 I running the absorb voltage at 55.2, which brings the battery to about 80%. Eventually I want to have it charge to about 90% so I'll be bringing it higher than 55.2. I'm running the sell voltage at 53.6, which effectively acts as the float voltage. This is also too low for a final solution, because after the morning charging is finished, the inverter sells to the grid out of the battery for a while. (Frustrating to watch!) Another rub is that the FM80 does not react quickly to sunlight changes, and the inverter doesn't act quickly to keep the sell voltage constant. The result is that all day long the battery see-saws between charging and discharging. It's usually less than 2 amps in either direction, which would mean 4 amps for your 24 volt battery. It does sometimes spike to 5 amps for me, and occasionally as much as 25 amps.

All of this battery charge/discharge see-saw must have been happening with the lead acid batteries. The LiFePO4 monitoring software makes it a lot easier to see what's going on.
 
I know your running a 24v setup but here are my current GS8048A (48v inverter) settings:
- Note that Float and Re-Float are disabled by using "0" hours.

1649594608869.png1649594703603.png1649594764599.png1649595403888.png
 
I charged both my LiFePower 4 batts to 28v with the flex80 charg controller one at a time and shut them off overnight. This mourning they were both at 26.1v so now I need to connect them together. I think I just need to connect the cables, the rj45, set the dip switches and turn them on one at a time.
The outback inverter won't power up and the mate powers on but takes no input. When I switch the batt disconnect braker on the battery sets an error and shuts off. I may go to a 5kw Growatt from the 3kw outback. I saw Will talk about over panelling and letting the inverter clip at peak but the outback says 2kw array only and says nothing about being able to clip at peak. Is this only a growatt thing and outback does not have that capability?
 
I have a Gvfx3524 and fm80 with mate. After two sets of lead batts, I have a pair of Lifepower4 200ah 24v batts and 10-240w panels. I am struggling to get info on this setup. Outback is little help and very confusing with info. My experiance with this is limited and at 75 years old suffering from CRS, I have to learn everything again for each project. I programed this system for lead batts from the outback books 10 years ago. I really don't want to relearn all this, but I probably can. any help would be very much appreciated.
I feel your pain! After 16 years of my Outback VFX selling power to the grid (hydro input, with some misc. PV) it checked out and I bought a new one. First thing I learned was another $460.00 Mate was needed. Got that, and have been struggling for the last two days deciphering the frigging manual. I'm sure it all makes sense, but it is NOT user friendly at all. I THINK I have it set up correctly, but it refuses to sell. 40+ years of renewables, both off and on grid, and this thing is beyond me.
 
Back
Top