Schneider firmware really has issues
- Thread starter romangeek
- Start date
srcorrecto
New Member
srcorrecto
New Member
Hi there folks, as this is my first post I will try to explain the best I can. My problem is similar if not the same as romangeek. Firts my setup: xw6848Pro,two conext mppt 60-150 for a 7.9 Kv pv array and a Fortress Power Evault Classic 18.5 KW Battery in open loop(the interface with schneider sees all current as charging!!!).
Today the utility installed a new meter for Net Metering and in doing some tests i notice that no matter the sell amps i set, the pv array was alway giving about 3.2 Kw in a full sunny day. I had adjusted my gsv to 54.6, as the same as the mppt's bulk and absorb and float. This was the only way to get it to work(as written by romangeek). I just disconnect two temp sensors that i reconnect when changed to open loop but see no changes. The temp setting are warm.
Any ideas to try to get the full pv capacity available? Thanks and excuse my typing..
Today the utility installed a new meter for Net Metering and in doing some tests i notice that no matter the sell amps i set, the pv array was alway giving about 3.2 Kw in a full sunny day. I had adjusted my gsv to 54.6, as the same as the mppt's bulk and absorb and float. This was the only way to get it to work(as written by romangeek). I just disconnect two temp sensors that i reconnect when changed to open loop but see no changes. The temp setting are warm.
Any ideas to try to get the full pv capacity available? Thanks and excuse my typing..
srcorrecto
New Member
Does it matter that i have the charger of the xw disabled? Also set to cold in the mppt's and the xw?
srcorrecto
New Member
I do not use the charger on the XW Pro so the "Cold" setting makes no difference. Also, I assume that for your battery the float voltage is specified as 54.6 ?? For mine, it is 54 and so that is the value I use. My Grid support SOC is lower at 95% instead of the 99% you have. In my case with 54 V for the battery value, the SOC at 99% would keep it from exporting.
Here is my MPPT charger setting
And here is the battery setting on the MPPT
So far, this has been working great. I am not sure if the -70 is the final number, but I have tried 0 and no output at all. I tried small numbers like -10 and that produced a tiny output. So by experimenting, -70 seems to work best, but I still need to observe it under various light conditions.
Here is my MPPT charger setting
And here is the battery setting on the MPPT
So far, this has been working great. I am not sure if the -70 is the final number, but I have tried 0 and no output at all. I tried small numbers like -10 and that produced a tiny output. So by experimenting, -70 seems to work best, but I still need to observe it under various light conditions.
sancsam
New Member
What is the DC or Battery Voltage Difference show in Insight Home between the Inverter and the MPPT?
srcorrecto
New Member
There are various voltage across the system. First The battery recommended float voltage is 54.4. Measured with a Fluke digital voltmeter at the dc bus is exactly as the battery and exactly as the battery integrated display. At the mppt's it is 0.1 volt above; 54.5. At the Inverter display in the gateway it is 0.4 volt above: 54.8 v, SCP shows 0.2 v above. That is why i setup the charger at 54.6, when the charge is finished it display 54.8 in the gateway, so it is really 54.4 v. spot on.
Is there any procedure to calibrate those suckers? Thanks
srcorrecto
New Member
Thanks for you time. My system is in open loop, so no soc. I am fighting with the Fortress Power people because their modbus interface with the gateway is always showing positive current no matter if charging or discharging. soi disconnect the interface and reset the gateway to factory and started in open loop. Also my battery float setting recommended is 54.4 v, but the mppt shows a bit more, about 0.1 volt above.
sancsam
New Member
Sadly, I dont think there is a procedure to calibrate. Workaroud would be what you already did.
The important measurement for export to work is what the inverter think is the voltage vs what the mppt think it is. If the inverter is setup to use enhanced grid support, it will use the absorb/float voltage from the mppt but if there is a difference in the measurement between the two it could lead to the system not exporting/producing.
The workaround provided by schneider to @romangeek is to use the battery temperature adjustment to compensate for the difference. By removing the battery temperature sensor makes the adjustment a fix offset either positive offset if using cold or negative offset if using hot.
srcorrecto
New Member
Thanks for the input. For your recommendation i will have to change the inverter battery type to Custom. Easy Peasy. But first I will try to re-flash the previous firmware 1.11.01 build 49 to the inverter. I have not tested selling before with this previous version bacause i was waiting for the utility to change the Meter for net-metering.
sancsam
New Member
You can keep using the latest firmware and leave the inverter setup as Lithium-Ion. Just need to play around with the mppt settings to get the most out of them.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Where and how is this SoC determined?
I am a couple days from first power up of my SW4048 so paying close attention to these threads. Thanks!
srcorrecto
New Member
Just a big hit !! I just changed Grid Support Voltage in Inverter settings from 54.6 to 54.5 volts and the system suddenly release the 3kv pv limit that i was having and increased to 5kw solar !!!. I set max sell to 20 amps and got a max of 3.9 kw sell to grid, aprox 16.25 amps !! That is excellent, just have a overcast day because the passing of a stormy wave here. Will try tomorrow. I did not change the firmware or anything else. just this gsv setting
I don't know why Schneider says in the documentation that the MPPT and Inverter "battery voltages" have to be exactly the same, since by experimentation, I have not found an impact if they are slightly different ??!!
I also have slight voltage differences depending on where the voltage is measured. This is natural due to the very large currents. I have not found that this plays any role, and therefore did not need any compensation on my part by setting the MPPT battery voltage higher to compensate for the drop. I think this can actually lead to overcharging issues on the battery when the currents are low and therefore minimal voltage drops.
There are basically two issues here:
1)Setup of the MPPT parameters to enable it to put out maximum power. For my MPPT, this I had to find having to do with the battery temperature settings and the compensation curve.
2)The setup of the Inverter so that it will "know" when to export and when to taper down the export. The main factor I have found in this is to make sure that if the GSV is set to what the voltage of the battery should stay at... which is the voltage that the MPPT would charge at. So in my case it is simply this (set MPPT charge voltage regardless of bulk/absorb/float to 54V), (Set the Inverter battery settings to be same as the MPPT, and set the GSV to 54 V). The Inverter then acts like a servo system ... it will increment the sell amps up until the DC input voltage starts to go below the GSV of 54V... then it backs off on the sell to maintain that voltage of 54 Volts on the input. All of this it does while first supplying enough power to the house loads. When there is sudden low PV power (clouds passing) and hence low charge power from the mppt, the battery will discharge slightly (only by Milli-volts). At which point, the Inverter will notice that the DC input is lower than the GSV, and it will either stop exporting, or even supplement the house power from the grid.
This is now how my system is working perfectly (finally!), and this is what I wanted all along. If the grid should go down in the night ( or day when very low PV) then the inverter draws power from the battery until the Low Battery Cutout voltage, at which point it would shut down, and you have to bring out the generator.
What I hope, and I hope Schneider is listening, is that they will update the firmware on the MPPT to be able to do this all in a coordinated manner. The big benefit for the MPPT firmware change would be that it could know what the actual current is to the battery and what it is to the Inverter... this could eliminate a lot of this nonsense.
I also have slight voltage differences depending on where the voltage is measured. This is natural due to the very large currents. I have not found that this plays any role, and therefore did not need any compensation on my part by setting the MPPT battery voltage higher to compensate for the drop. I think this can actually lead to overcharging issues on the battery when the currents are low and therefore minimal voltage drops.
There are basically two issues here:
1)Setup of the MPPT parameters to enable it to put out maximum power. For my MPPT, this I had to find having to do with the battery temperature settings and the compensation curve.
2)The setup of the Inverter so that it will "know" when to export and when to taper down the export. The main factor I have found in this is to make sure that if the GSV is set to what the voltage of the battery should stay at... which is the voltage that the MPPT would charge at. So in my case it is simply this (set MPPT charge voltage regardless of bulk/absorb/float to 54V), (Set the Inverter battery settings to be same as the MPPT, and set the GSV to 54 V). The Inverter then acts like a servo system ... it will increment the sell amps up until the DC input voltage starts to go below the GSV of 54V... then it backs off on the sell to maintain that voltage of 54 Volts on the input. All of this it does while first supplying enough power to the house loads. When there is sudden low PV power (clouds passing) and hence low charge power from the mppt, the battery will discharge slightly (only by Milli-volts). At which point, the Inverter will notice that the DC input is lower than the GSV, and it will either stop exporting, or even supplement the house power from the grid.
This is now how my system is working perfectly (finally!), and this is what I wanted all along. If the grid should go down in the night ( or day when very low PV) then the inverter draws power from the battery until the Low Battery Cutout voltage, at which point it would shut down, and you have to bring out the generator.
What I hope, and I hope Schneider is listening, is that they will update the firmware on the MPPT to be able to do this all in a coordinated manner. The big benefit for the MPPT firmware change would be that it could know what the actual current is to the battery and what it is to the Inverter... this could eliminate a lot of this nonsense.
sancsam
New Member
I heard today from Schneider that they will release within a month the firmware for MPPT close loop with batteries.
It will be interesting to see how it works.
Last edited:
Eber
Student of YouTube University
I wish I had thought to write to them earlier and ask for when the Insight is connected by ethernet cable, that it shuts off its wifi . Mine seems to always be on even though it is hard line Ethernet cable connected.
Do you folks have an email address that you use to communicate with Schneider? I do not see it online.
When I call them, it is a crap shoot if they will even stay on the line 2 minutes before disconnecting me.
In fact, I have never been able to speak to a human so far.
Dont get me wrong, I have no big issues with their equipment, it is the best I have owned so far.
Do you folks have an email address that you use to communicate with Schneider? I do not see it online.
When I call them, it is a crap shoot if they will even stay on the line 2 minutes before disconnecting me.
In fact, I have never been able to speak to a human so far.
Dont get me wrong, I have no big issues with their equipment, it is the best I have owned so far.
sancsam
New Member
Eber
Student of YouTube University
Thanks, but I have had the Access point off since I set it up and still I see it showing on my Dell Pc from time to time.
Must be a fluke.
Must be a fluke.
sancsam
New Member
Yeah, definitely a fluke/bug. I have experienced it.
Just now i did a firmware update to 1.18 and after it was finished the Access point was on again after it was set to off before the update.
srcorrecto
New Member
I just did the update to 1.18 and lose wifi, access point, everything. Had to remove and do a factory reset. It said something like that in the fw readme. But now i dont get internet access. Dont know what else to do. Gracias ! I did reset my lan access point and my switch also, just to be sure but nothing
400bird
Solar Wizard
What do you mean you "lose wifi" and "don't get internet access" ?
Do you have the IP for the Insight to log in from your local network?
If you did a factory reset, all your log in and password information is lost. I'm pretty sure you've got to start fresh and connected your laptop to the access point created by the Insight.
Do you have the IP for the Insight to log in from your local network?
If you did a factory reset, all your log in and password information is lost. I'm pretty sure you've got to start fresh and connected your laptop to the access point created by the Insight.
srcorrecto
New Member
Those are my actual status pages. I did full factory reset, then connect LAN cable from router for initial setup, configured AP Ip and password, and lastly configured wi-fi ssid and password.
sancsam
New Member
A similar thing happened to me, but I was able to connect using the InsightHome Wi-Fi AP. From there i had to configure again the network settings so it was able to connect to my Wi-Fi network.
The internet connectivity status was showing the red X but i think it was due to an outage of the schneider Insight Cloud (site was down). After the Insight Cloud site was working the internet connectivity status was showing good again.
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