RESOLVED: EG4 6500EX and 6000EX Lights Flickering FIRMWARE

[Sundown]

Anyone else seeing this?

Have you tried turning off and on the PI.

 

[Tundra-guy]

New issue came up after updating to this new firmware (which didn't help the flickering at all).

I use Solar Assistant to integrate the solar with my smart home. It's been working fine for months and months. Now, several days after updating the firmware, the USB from the PI to USB on the EG4 stopped working. Tried different cables, still didn't work.

So, switched to USB to serial (the same one I used to flash the firmware) to console port on EG4, and that worked... for two days. It stopped yesterday.

I just brought the entire system down completely then brought it back up (thinking it could be a memory leak in the new firmware), but I still can't connect to the USB or console port on the EG4 any more.

Anyone else seeing this?

I just set up solar assistant on mine for the first time. Had a spare raspberry 3 so decided to set it up. No problems configuring it and used the micro USB port on the inverter to the USB on the raspberry. I have the latest firmware as well. No problems talking to to the inverter and getting the stats.

 

[Nashional99]

Have you tried turning off and on the PI.

Yes, I brought everything down and back up and reseated everything as well. (I'm an IT pro by trade so I'm used to the "is it plugged in and turned on" questions first ).

I've finally got it to work again via USB to USB again but I really don't know why it's working as it's no different than before (same cable, etc.).

It's been working fine with this same RPi4 since October of last year and never skipped a beat, until now...

 

[42OhmsPA]

Yes, I brought everything down and back up and reseated everything as well. (I'm an IT pro by trade so I'm used to the "is it plugged in and turned on" questions first ).

I've finally got it to work again via USB to USB again but I really don't know why it's working as it's no different than before (same cable, etc.).

It's been working fine with this same RPi4 since October of last year and never skipped a beat, until now...

Could your SD card be failing and its just coincidence it was around the same time as the fw update?

 

[Nashional99]

It's still working this morning. I'm using the high endurance cards in the Pi. Everything else is working. The settings page showed the connection was missing in the case of the USB or a communications error with the serial to RJ45 adapter (even though they both worked before). So doesn't seem like a card issue (but you never know).

But, today is chemo day so I'm going to be down for about a week. Hopefully it'll continue to work until I'm able to troubleshoot it some more.

 

[lns]

Has anyone had GFCI breakers and outlets consistently trip upstream or in an adjacent subpanel from the EG4 AC input when the EG4 is using grid power?

 

[Zapper77]

Has anyone had GFCI breakers and outlets consistently trip upstream or in an adjacent subpanel from the EG4 AC input when the EG4 is using grid power?

GFCI trip if the "power" leaks to another object like a ground or human. You may have a bad or undersized neutral

 

[lns]

GFCI trip if the "power" leaks to another object like a ground or human. You may have a bad or undersized neutral

Do you know why they would only trip when the EG4 uses grid power, and not when it uses solar and battery power? Also, these GFCI breakers and outlets are only "sharing" connections with the EG4 at the main service panel (they are in separate buildings from the EG4 subpanels). Or are you saying that the neutral between the main service panel and the EG4 AC input is bad or undersized?

 

[PreppenWolf]

None of my GCFIs have tripped in any mode since commissioning my units in November.

 

[lns]

None of my GCFIs have tripped in any mode since commissioning my units in November.

Thanks, are these GFCIs breakers or outlets? And are they serviced by your EG4s' output power?
I'm hoping my issue with GFCIs tripping may be fixed along with the dirty sine wave fix in the new firmware... but tech support told me to wait as the new 6000ex firmware does not quite work. Also, my old firmware does not use % for for EG4 battery setting AND the maximum BackToGridAC voltage is 51V. I'm not sure what % that maps to for the EG4 batteries. But I think that's too low as batteries all flashed red lights well before getting down to 51V.

 

[PreppenWolf]

Outlets. I don't use GFCI breakers and never will.

 

[RGH69]

Comprehensive neutral ground bond video coming this week or by Tuesday next, making sure we get enough third party review because a lot of situations can be made with parallel stacks and we know what happens if we misplace an apostrophe lol

Where is this video? I have two LV6548's that have constantly given me problems and had to replace 4 main boards. Some have told me that perhaps it has something to do with neutral bonding. I am tired of the problems with the LV6548's so I will likely buy two 6500's to replace them but I want to make certain that my wiring is up to what y'all say it should be.

 

[Gavin Stone]

Where is this video? I have two LV6548's that have constantly given me problems and had to replace 4 main boards. Some have told me that perhaps it has something to do with neutral bonding. I am tired of the problems with the LV6548's so I will likely buy two 6500's to replace them but I want to make certain that my wiring is up to what y'all say it should be.

 

[Zwy]

Where is this video? I have two LV6548's that have constantly given me problems and had to replace 4 main boards. Some have told me that perhaps it has something to do with neutral bonding. I am tired of the problems with the LV6548's so I will likely buy two 6500's to replace them but I want to make certain that my wiring is up to what y'all say it should be.

Gavin linked the video, it came out in the last few weeks. EG4 has changed the firmware (for stationary applications) to make the neutral pass thru under inverter power. The EG4 6500EX has been shipped since late 2022 without the bonding screw. There is another thread here regarding the N-G bond for the EG4 6500EX. https://diysolarforum.com/threads/n...ut-the-bonding-screw.53547/page-4#post-691270

With the pass thru neutral, bonding under inverter power will depend on the N-G bond at the main service panel. This is similar to Schneider, Deye and a few others.

I recommend a 3 pole double throw if you want to bypass the inverters completely and use grid power for repairs,etc. The reason why is the neutral for a subpanel relies on the neutral thru the inverter.

 

[30362]

So watching this video, it sounds like there's a need to remove the screw on older 6500s and upgrading firmware to support the software-based control of the NG bond... or did I miss something and all that's needed is the latest firmware?

 

[PunchySunshine]

So watching this video, it sounds like there's a need to remove the screw on older 6500s and upgrading firmware to support the software-based control of the NG bond... or did I miss something and all that's needed is the latest firmware?

I just saw that there is two different firmware available on EG4. One for stationary installations and one for mobile. I'm about to flash the stationary install firmware and see if it fixes the N+G bond without having to open it up. That'd be great!

 

[30362]

I just saw that there is two different firmware available on EG4. One for stationary installations and one for mobile. I'm about to flash the stationary install firmware and see if it fixes the N+G bond without having to open it up. That'd be great!

Let me know! Based on everything I've read, you void the warranty opening it unless you get an OK from them first, and I don't feel like that level of hoop jumping ...

 

[Zwy]

So watching this video, it sounds like there's a need to remove the screw on older 6500s and upgrading firmware to support the software-based control of the NG bond... or did I miss something and all that's needed is the latest firmware?

Not always.

Take for instance a system where bonding at the inverter needs to take place or is desired. An example would be an RV. N-G would need to be bonded under inverter power, but not bonded when hooked to shore power. For that reason, the unit would require the bonding screw in place and the mobile firmware installed. Or just leave it as it came, just ensure it has N-G bond by measuring continuity between N and G without any wires attached to the unit and the unit off. If it has continuity, then it has the bonding screw in place.

 

[lns]

He said firmware "61.13" for the 6000ex.. did he mean that or 63.13 (which is the latest) ?

 

[knexbuilder]

We are releasing a firmware update on our website and here in this post that resolves the flickering light issue on the most recent batch of EG4 6000 and 6500 inverters.

• Who does this affect: people with EG4 6k and 6.5k units Shipped after November first who are experiencing lights flickering when PV is charging the battery (these units only have gray larger terminals, not all gray terminal units have this issue though)
• Who this does not affect: People buying new units today (full reflash and usb cable packed in for future use. People with units that have black terminals, people with gray terminals that have not experienced light strobing/major flicker.
• What happened: An unauthorized minor component hardware change was made at the Voltronic factory on the standard 6500 and 6000w rectifiers inside the All-in-one inverters; We use the same factory as MPP solar, Sungold, Rich Solar, and other 6000/6500 units, Our units are specced with exclusive money-saving added features but this issue came down to Rectifier management; the firmware starved the rectifier by not allowing battery power to be prioritized on a board level. This caused the rectifier in PV charge and some grid circumstances to shift frequency slightly and make lights flicker.
• What we did: Around late November/December we started receiving units with this issue from the factory, we did not detect this use case in our standard Quality control check (a lot of points have been added for future units). When we began receiving units back with the issue we tried to get support from the factory but the team was in full denial of the issue, after a week as well as seeing that this issue was popping up with other high-volume Voltronic OEMs that weren’t sitting on old stock. We dispatched our lead engineering team to Taiwan and they took over the situation this week, yielding this firmware.
• What we did wrong: We too too long to recognize the issue as new and rush the inverters back, our warrnty dept insisted that procedure was followed on information gathering before a claim went through, on several occasions this just ended up in a hard headed gridlock where customers with legit issues were charged back
• What we will do better:
  • Quicker response and recognition, this is an agenda setter for us going forward aand new tools and procedures too catch this are being set up
  • Additional air tightness added to our quality contracts enforced on future production
  • More points added to batch quality test
  • All units are being reflashed before shipment and all units will have an update cable packked in (no other voltronic oems on this yet I think)

I have light flicker while PV is charging the battery. Once I have a load kick on, like the heat pump, it goes away, or at night when it pulls straight from the battery. My two EG4 6500 inverters (in split phase config) were purchased last April/May timeframe. Will this update help me any?