Signature Solar Customer Support and EG4 6000EX inverter issues

[SignatureSolarJames]

This thread will be on a projector next week.

 

[Nomad Mods]

Would this have been a possible fix for my issue? If so why did no one tell me anything about the revamp and the potential that I might not have had to go through all of this return process?


Trying to get R+d and support better connected, it sounds like it will

That really pisses me off!! I'll be waiting until the end of the week for an inverter I had to purchase to replace one that is installed and may only need a firmware update? That i should be able to install by the end of the week as well? You guys really need to get your act together.

 

[42OhmsPA]

This thread will be on a projector next week.

That really passes me off!! I'll be waiting until the end of the week for an inverter I had to purchase to replace one that is installed and may only need a firmware update? That i should be able to install by the end of the week as well? You guys really need to get your act together.

It really does seem like they are trying to learn from there mistakes and get better, unfortunately it appears to be taking way to long.
Sucks the customers have to be the guinea pigs.

Seems like a group of dedicated product testers across the country for new releases, before selling to the masses, would be an excellent implementation to make.

 

[SignatureSolarJames]

That really passes me off!! I'll be waiting until the end of the week for an inverter I had to purchase to replace one that is installed and may only need a firmware update? That i should be able to install by the end of the week as well? You guys really need to get your act together.

This happens a lot in the inverter business in general, I think we can use better processes and data to do it, would rather be honest vs say “you have a faulty unit”

It really does seem like they are trying to learn from there mistakes and get better, unfortunately it appears to be taking way to long.
Sucks the customers have to be the guinea pigs.

Seems like a group of dedicated product testers across the country for new releases, before selling to the masses, would be an excellent implementation to make.

The thing here is that it is not a new product thing vs a new batch thing, we RD products internally over a year to avoid using customers as guinea pigs. Nobody was having this issue a month ago.

In the PCB business things happen with firmware conflicts and we have to just get faster responding. Our RD team is very high capacity now, just have to listen to customers better when they have issues that we don't have a category for.

 

[Nomad Mods]

This happens a lot in the inverter business in general, I think we can use better processes and data to do it, would rather be honest vs say “you have a faulty unit”

The thing here is that it is not a new product thing vs a new batch thing, we RD products internally over a year to avoid using customers as guinea pigs. Nobody was having this issue a month ago.

In the PCB business things happen with firmware conflicts and we have to just get faster responding

Just have your departments talk! I would have rather waited a week to try a firmware update than shell out the money for a second inverter that may still have the same issue! How does customer support not know anything about potential fixes that are being worked on?

 

[SignatureSolarJames]

Just have your departments talk! I would have rather waited a week to try a firmware update than shell out the money for a second inverter that may still have the same issue! How does customer support not know anything about potential fixes that are being worked on?

Talking is happening a lot, clearly not enough.
I agree with you.

 

[Quattrohead]

This thread will be on a projector next week.

Hello Signature Solar staff ? ?

 

[mountkay]

@Nomad Mods

Can you get a voltage reading when you are getting low power? I may have a similar issue on one of my inverters. I’ll post a link to a thread where someone else described this issue and I responded, as well as the thread I made myself.

I think my SCC would have figured things out at the point I would be getting 2KW of solar. It more low light situations for me. But switching my disconnect off and on causes it to reset and start getting more power. For me, the voltage is related to this as it is always stuck at 90v before I reset it. Then it will immediately jump up to +150v.

I have also had it happen where I reset it once in a day, but low light causes the issue to happen again. So can you get a voltage reading and tell me if you are also stuck at 90v (you can just read it off the inverter display, that’s what I was doing) Also what firmware do you have?

Here is the thread someone else made:

EG4-6500 losing clock and MPPT issues

system is: two inverters configured split phase, each with 3.4kW of panels connected to PV1. The 2P1 inverter loses about an hour per day on its clock, the 2P2 inverter does not. The 2P1 inverter's MPPT input "idles" around 285W until I interrupt the input, then it instantly increases to match...

diysolarforum.com

Here is the thread I made:

EG4 6500 - stuck low PV voltage

Hello! I have 2x inverters, (running split phase). 3 strings of 340W panels, 2x strings of 7 panels and one of 6 panels. Inverter 1 is receiving a 7 panel input and 6 panel input. Inverter 2 just receives a 7 panel input. Inverter 1 will almost always have panel voltage above 90v. Inverter 2...

diysolarforum.com

 

[Nomad Mods]

@Nomad Mods

Can you get a voltage reading when you are getting low power? I may have a similar issue on one of my inverters. I’ll post a link to a thread where someone else described this issue and I responded, as well as the thread I made myself.

I think my SCC would have figured things out at the point I would be getting 2KW of solar. It more low light situations for me. But switching my disconnect off and on causes it to reset and start getting more power. For me, the voltage is related to this as it is always stuck at 90v before I reset it. Then it will immediately jump up to +150v.

I have also had it happen where I reset it once in a day, but low light causes the issue to happen again. So can you get a voltage reading and tell me if you are also stuck at 90v (you can just read it off the inverter display, that’s what I was doing) Also what firmware do you have?

Here is the thread someone else made:

EG4-6500 losing clock and MPPT issues

system is: two inverters configured split phase, each with 3.4kW of panels connected to PV1. The 2P1 inverter loses about an hour per day on its clock, the 2P2 inverter does not. The 2P1 inverter's MPPT input "idles" around 285W until I interrupt the input, then it instantly increases to match...

diysolarforum.com

Here is the thread I made:

EG4 6500 - stuck low PV voltage

Hello! I have 2x inverters, (running split phase). 3 strings of 340W panels, 2x strings of 7 panels and one of 6 panels. Inverter 1 is receiving a 7 panel input and 6 panel input. Inverter 2 just receives a 7 panel input. Inverter 1 will almost always have panel voltage above 90v. Inverter 2...

diysolarforum.com

I've already done my daily reset today. Haha. And it's supposed to be sunny all day. I'll try to grab that reading tomorrow. Are you just reading right at the PV terminals in the inverter or at the PV breaker? Should be the same reading, but I want to do it just like you are.

 

[mountkay]

Are you just reading right at the PV terminals in the inverter or at the PV breaker? Should be the same reading, but I want to do it just like you are.

I’m just reading it off of the display on the inverter. I have 2 inverters.
Firmware 79.02 has never had this issue, but Firmware 79.03 does.

- What firmware do you have?

- Do you have a newer model with the grey input/output terminals on the inside or were they black? (This changed in Nov. 2022).not sure this is a hardware issue, but good to gather as much data as possible.

- Am I reading correctly all of your panels are on one PV input? So the other PV input is not being used?

 

[Nomad Mods]

I’m just reading it off of the display on the inverter. I have 2 inverters.
Firmware 79.02 has never had this issue, but Firmware 79.03 does.

- What firmware do you have?

- Do you have a newer model with the grey input/output terminals on the inside or were they black? (This changed in Nov. 2022).not sure this is a hardware issue, but good to gather as much data as possible.

- Am I reading correctly all of your panels are on one PV input? So the other PV input is not being used?

I have the 6000EX so it only has 1 SCC. I will check my firmware when I get back later

 

[42OhmsPA]

I have the 6000EX so it only has 1 SCC. I will check my firmware when I get back later

It would be nice to know what changes SS / EG4 has made to the firmware and hardware vs the TP6048 / LVX6048.
I was going to order the EG4 6k to 'upgrade' my SGP, I'm glad I didn't.
Hope you can get your issues resolved.

Edit - very windy and cloudy morning.

 

[Koldsimer]

ALL of these stages were supposed to happen a lot faster, but reporting shows that lead time is narrowing. the firmware botch from the factory was a major slowdown. have 5 more techs starting each week so we will catch up, get ahead, and stay ahead in the next couple of months.

Signature Solar is making Texas jobs with the money you spend, 170 and counting.

the MPPT firmware is getting a revamp for the low voltage range as well, eta next week

I didn't know you were running a special march promotion... Free broken record with every purchase!

Must have missed the email.

 

[Quattrohead]

I didn't know you were running a special march promotion... Free broken record with every purchase!

Must have missed the email.

Some people never forget LOL

 

[Nomad Mods]

Talking is happening a lot, clearly not enough.
I agree with you.

I have been through the ringer now. "Buy a new inverter and then when you ship your old one back we will refund you." That order is canceled and my money returned because "we have firmware coming out that will fix the issue next week." 2 weeks later still no firmware so I'm told once again to get a new inverter and that will solve the issue. This time I'm not made to pay ahead of time. Swap out the inverters and I have the exact same problem. Now I'm told that I should install the latest firmware to fix it. Which I have the latest firmware. Communication is still lacking between offices over there and I still have an inverter that has an MPPT issue.

Just sat outside with the screen up on the inverter. The perfect climb of PV was going as usual. It was bouncing around at 188v-193v for a couple minutes. It jumped to 248v and the wattage dropped to the float state at that exact moment.

 

[mountkay]

It jumped to 248v and the wattage dropped to the float state at that exact moment.

What do you mean it dropped to the float state? Like your batteries finished bulk charging and switched to Float? If so, Float requires less power than Bulk so the graph makes sense.

 

[Nomad Mods]

What do you mean it dropped to the float state? Like your batteries finished bulk charging and switched to Float? If so, Float requires less power than Bulk so the graph makes sense.

That is the problem. The batteries are at 80%. This issue has been happening every day for months. As the sun is coming up, the PV climbs until it just fails. It will sit there for the rest of the day at 500w or so but when I flip the PV breaker off and then back on, it wakes up and is producing exactly what it should be for the rest of the day. Unless of course a cloud passes over, and then I have to flip the breaker again to wake it back up. Once the batteries are full, the PV will increase with loads like it should

 

[Adam De Lay]

Sounds like the same MPPT issue discussed here.

I wana say your at least the 4th person I’ve heard of that’s had this issue.

EG4-6500 losing clock and MPPT issues

system is: two inverters configured split phase, each with 3.4kW of panels connected to PV1. The 2P1 inverter loses about an hour per day on its clock, the 2P2 inverter does not. The 2P1 inverter's MPPT input "idles" around 285W until I interrupt the input, then it instantly increases to match...

diysolarforum.com

 

[Nomad Mods]

Sounds like the same MPPT issue discussed here.

I wana say your at least the 4th person I’ve heard of that’s had this issue.

EG4-6500 losing clock and MPPT issues

system is: two inverters configured split phase, each with 3.4kW of panels connected to PV1. The 2P1 inverter loses about an hour per day on its clock, the 2P2 inverter does not. The 2P1 inverter's MPPT input "idles" around 285W until I interrupt the input, then it instantly increases to match...

diysolarforum.com

Yeah, different inverter, but same issue. They said they have a few with my inverter having the same issue and really wanted mine back so they could look into the unit, but the new one I recieved has the same issue. They keep claiming a firmware fix, but it hasn't come

 

[Adam De Lay]

Yeah, different inverter, but same issue. They said they have a few with my inverter having the same issue and really wanted mine back so they could look into the unit, but the new one I recieved has the same issue. They keep claiming a firmware fix, but it hasn't come

Must be a bigger issue if it spans multiple hardware types.