Step up 120v to 240v tranformer help

[Stiffler]

So I have an EG for 6,000 XP that requires 220 split phase for generator input. I have a Westinghouse igen 4500 120 volt 30 amp single phase gene. I purchased this Step up Transformer



ROCKSTONE POWER 5000 Watt Voltage Converter Transformer - Heavy Duty Step Up/Down AC 110V/120V/220V/240V Power Converter - Circuit Breaker Protection – DC 5V USB Port - CE Certified [3-Year Warranty] https://a.co/d/7ShQtyv


But coming to find out it's not 220 split phase but rather 220 single phase.from what I gather. after testing with a multimeter I get 240 v connecting both L1&L2 but connecting either line to (neutral /ground) I get 70v on 1 line and 170v on the other from my understanding this is normal in the European world. Is it possible does anybody know if I can take both line one and line two put them together and then split them to make 2 120v to feed the eg4 6000xp
Or if you guys know of a another source of some kind that can take 120 volt single phase and convert it to 220 volt split phase so 120 per phase any help would be appreciated I know I can just buy a 48 volt charger and had the generator charge it that way but passing power through the inverter to supply load would be handy. I also know that purchasing another generator would be the easier solution but I'd rather not buy another generator because this generator is quiet remote start capable and it's low consumption on the propane

 

[Crowz]

Once you have any battery capacity at all the chargeverter is just a no brainer.

There isn't any reason to feed power into the inverter from a generator directly.

Simplest uber reason to do the chargeverter is one simple fact. If didn't charge the batteries because the generator is running loads when it runs out of gas or quits for any reason your in the dark.

With the generator running a chargeverter its charging the batteries AND powering the inverter at the same time. Refueling the generator or if it quits your still running on the batteries that were charged all along.

Also powering the inverter requires the generator to run for however many hours you need it. With the chargeverter you run the generator for an hour or so and then run on the batteries saving a TON of fuel. This also extends your fuel reserves massively in a power outage.

 

[timselectric]

That transformer is outputting a 240V ungrounded/bonded (floating) source.
I'm not sure if the 6kxp needs a neutral, but it's easy to find out.
Just hook up the two lines and try it. It will either work, or it will deem it incompatible and not connect to it.
If it doesn't work, you are back to square one. And will need a different transformer.
But I agree that the Chargeverter is a much better and more efficient solution.
Even if it's more expensive.

 

[kampto]

I believe the latest Firmwarre allows charging at 120V if using L1-N.. Not sure if anyone has tested it yet.

 

[Stiffler]

Once you have any battery capacity at all the chargeverter is just a no brainer.

There isn't any reason to feed power into the inverter from a generator directly.

Simplest uber reason to do the chargeverter is one simple fact. If didn't charge the batteries because the generator is running loads when it runs out of gas or quits for any reason your in the dark.

With the generator running a chargeverter its charging the batteries AND powering the inverter at the same time. Refueling the generator or if it quits your still running on the batteries that were charged all along.

Also powering the inverter requires the generator to run for however many hours you need it. With the chargeverter you run the generator for an hour or so and then run on the batteries saving a TON of fuel. This also extends your fuel reserves massively in a power outage.

I was thinking the same thing it's kind of a moo point might as well just buy a 48 volt charger and hav the generator charge the batteries directly and then the battery is feeding the inverter
Like this

HYDTGZ Forklift Battery Charger 12V/24V/36V/48V/60V/72V Lead-Acid Batteries Chargers with 50A Anderson Plug for Electric Forklift, Pallet Jack, Floor Scrubber,48v 20a https://a.co/d/1nxSoeR


Or

Croliumcx 48Volt 15Amp Aluminum Casting Wide Voltage Golf Cart Battery Charger Onboard/Manual Conversion Matching O-Type Terminal Charges The Golf cart/Electric Motorcycle https://a.co/d/fZTN5pf



Basically Chargeverter without the price

What's your thoughts on this

 

[42OhmsPA]

Basically Chargeverter without the price

What's your thoughts on this

Here you go.

 

[Stiffler]

I believe the latest Firmwarre allows charging at 120V if using L1-N.. Not sure if anyone has tested it yet.

What firmware is that? And you think signature solar would know that information or do I got to call eg4 directly?.. that would be super key

 

[kampto]

What firmware is that? And you think signature solar would know that information or do I got to call eg4 directly?.. that would be super key

K

Post in thread 'EG4 6000XPS New Firmware showing / No updated changelog'

Aug 28, 2024

Does it also support 120V generator charging? Or just grid..

• kampto

 

[TM48]

With the new firmware if you feed 120v in on L1 you only get out 120V no 240v.

 

[Stiffler]

That transformer is outputting a 240V ungrounded/bonded (floating) source.
I'm not sure if the 6kxp needs a neutral, but it's easy to find out.
Just hook up the two lines and try it. It will either work, or it will deem it incompatible and not connect to it.
If it doesn't work, you are back to square one. And will need a different transformer.
But I agree that the Chargeverter is a much better and more efficient solution.
Even if it's more expensive.

It says it need neutral

 

[timselectric]

It says it need neutral

Well, that's a shame.
Hopefully you can get a refund for the transformer.

 

[Stiffler]

Well, that's a shame.
Hopefully you can get a refund for the transformer.

I returned it on Amazon I actually thought something was wrong with the Transformer cuz I couldn't figure out why there was high voltage on one leg and not the other and how it was not equal

 

[Stiffler]

K

Post in thread 'EG4 6000XPS New Firmware showing / No updated changelog'

Aug 28, 2024

Does it also support 120V generator charging? Or just grid..

• kampto

I just got off the phone with sig solar , and you have to turn the feature on in the app ( via local connect or sever app) then you have to feed 120 volt from your generator into the "grid L1" & "N" you will then get power from gene to the "load L1" as a pass through and charge your batteries, also a secondary option is to turn your generator input into a secondary " smart load" output source in which it would be a smart load output based on voltage parameters that you set it would shut that power off but keep the original "load" power going. Kind of similar to what a smart meter does to power a jacuzzi tub or hot water heater in your house for the electric company can turn that off and on in this case it turns off based on voltage that's another setting in the app to select differently the update is #1 & #4
So glad I decided to postage thread I never would have thought they were going to add a feature where you could do 120 thank you so much glad I returned the Step up Transformer and just going to feed 120

 

[timselectric]

I returned it on Amazon I actually thought something was wrong with the Transformer cuz I couldn't figure out why there was high voltage on one leg and not the other and how it was not equal

That's just the nature of a floating system/source.
You're not measuring usable power. Only the difference in potential between conductors.

 

[Stiffler]

So I just got off with technical support some more as soon as your solar and they said when you change the parameters for the inverter to accept 120 volt generator it makes the whole system 120 volt and not just the generator powers one leg and the inverter batteries and solar pick up the second leg and that you'd have to rewire your AC side if you're going to set it up in 120 days and then rewire it again to set up a 220 phase but you can't have 120 coming from generator into it and it Powers one leg but he still get 220 from the inverter pulling from the batteries and anybody tried this yet

 

[wpns]

So I just got off with technical support some more as soon as your solar and they said when you change the parameters for the inverter to accept 120 volt generator it makes the whole system 120 volt and not just the generator powers one leg and the inverter batteries and solar pick up the second leg and that you'd have to rewire your AC side if you're going to set it up in 120 days and then rewire it again to set up a 220 phase but you can't have 120 coming from generator into it and it Powers one leg but he still get 220 from the inverter pulling from the batteries and anybody tried this yet

Well, first, runonsentencesarereallyhardtoparsesoyoutendtolosepeople. And voice-to-text isn't all it's cracked up to be, so you need to spend a lot of time proofreading and correcting.

Another vote for 120Vac to 48Vdc battery charger (ChargeVerter or equivalent).

 

[timselectric]

So I just got off with technical support some more as soon as your solar and they said when you change the parameters for the inverter to accept 120 volt generator it makes the whole system 120 volt and not just the generator powers one leg and the inverter batteries and solar pick up the second leg and that you'd have to rewire your AC side if you're going to set it up in 120 days and then rewire it again to set up a 220 phase but you can't have 120 coming from generator into it and it Powers one leg but he still get 220 from the inverter pulling from the batteries and anybody tried this yet

My Growatts work the same way.
But you have to be careful, because the load side will match the input, only as long as there is input. And then it returns to the set output voltage.
If you have loads connected when it switches, they can be damaged.

 

[Stiffler]

My Growatts work the same way.
But you have to be careful, because the load side will match the input, only as long as there is input. And then it returns to the set output voltage.
If you have loads connected when it switches, they can be damaged.

Can u elaborate ? R u talking bout 220v? Meaning If I had loads in 220 volt configuration? And that it would damage 220v stuff cause it turns off L2 and then u would only have 110 going to the 220v Appliance? My current setup is I have the microwave on L2 of the eg4 and the rest of the cabin comes out of L1....
I'm just hoping that I don't have to configure each time I want to turn on & off gene to get L2 to come back on. I'd be nice if it did it automatically

 

[timselectric]

Can u elaborate ? R u talking bout 220v? Meaning If I had loads in 220 volt configuration? And that it would damage 220v stuff cause it turns off L2 and then u would only have 110 going to the 220v Appliance? My current setup is I have the microwave on L2 of the eg4 and the rest of the cabin comes out of L1....
I'm just hoping that I don't have to configure each time I want to turn on & off gene to get L2 to come back on. I'd be nice if it did it automatically

To work on 120v, you would have to connect the generator L1 and neutral to the inverter L1 and L2.
Your loads would not work, unless you reconfigure the connection to match the generator connection.
Then when the generator power is lost, the loads will see double the voltage, and be damaged.
So the only safe way to charge the batteries through the inverter, from a 120v source. Is to disconnect the loads, while using the generator.

 

[Stiffler]

To work on 120v, you would have to connect the generator L1 and neutral to the inverter L1 and L2.
Your loads would not work, unless you reconfigure the connection to match the generator connection.
Then when the generator power is lost, the loads will see double the voltage, and be damaged.
So the only safe way to charge the batteries through the inverter, from a 120v source. Is to disconnect the loads, while using the generator.

Yeah that's kind of what I figured. I thought about Bridging the connections, I've done that at my house in my panel B4 when needed, but the my panel isn't smart. the inverter is smart and can read things so I wasn't going to test that out. I might just get a golf cart 48 volt charger 15 amp or 20 amp and just charge the batteries from the gene that way... it would have been nice if they turn that software feature on to allow to take 120 volt generator power but when you flip that setting on L1 and L2 wouldn't be able to be synchronized and that they would be two separate inverters at 3,000 Watts. So that you won't be able to run 220 on anything but at least you don't miss out on the opportunity of having a separate inverter running off batteries while the generator is running the other one

 

[wpns]

I might just get a golf cart 48 volt charger 15 amp or 20 amp and just charge the batteries from the gene that way

That's only going to charge at ~1KW, which is going to take forever to charge any significant battery, and is going to lightly load your generator and be pretty inefficient.

 

[timselectric]

Yeah that's kind of what I figured. I thought about Bridging the connections, I've done that at my house in my panel B4 when needed, but the my panel isn't smart. the inverter is smart and can read things so I wasn't going to test that out. I might just get a golf cart 48 volt charger 15 amp or 20 amp and just charge the batteries from the gene that way... it would have been nice if they turn that software feature on to allow to take 120 volt generator power but when you flip that setting on L1 and L2 wouldn't be able to be synchronized and that they would be two separate inverters at 3,000 Watts. So that you won't be able to run 220 on anything but at least you don't miss out on the opportunity of having a separate inverter running off batteries while the generator is running the other one

I don't think that will be enough, but worth a try if you already have the charger.

 

[Stiffler]

That's only going to charge at ~1KW, which is going to take forever to charge any significant battery, and is going to lightly load your generator and be pretty inefficient.

Yeah my thoughts were as such that in the evening hours when there's no sun running a microwave and air fryer or whatnot for 30 minutes start the generator up so I'm giving a thousand watts to the batteries and drawing a thousand Watts or so, so that it kind of cancels itself out obviously I'm still losing some but I won't be losing more if there was no power coming in. was kind of my thoughts

 

[Rednecktek]

But I agree that the Chargeverter is a much better and more efficient solution.

Once you have any battery capacity at all the chargeverter is just a no brainer.

Because obviously the only answer to charging your battery is a $500 charger that you can use at half capacity or a $1000 generator to use the battery charger you already have.

That's only going to charge at ~1KW, which is going to take forever to charge any significant battery, and is going to lightly load your generator and be pretty inefficient.

The chargeverter on 120v is only 50a, so $500 for a 50a charger or $200 for a pair of 20a chargers?

I just can't wrap my brain around the chargeverter. Is it the yellow? Is it the name brand? Or is it just "screw the poors and their small generators"?

 

[42OhmsPA]

Here you go.

That was 120VAV with a shady temporary setup using 10AWG wire on the AC and DC side.
I haven't tested 240VAC yet, waiting on 8AWG lugs and an L14-30 plug.

The chargeverter on 120v is only 50a, so $500 for a 50a charger or $200 for a pair of 20a chargers?

I just can't wrap my brain around the chargeverter. Is it the yellow? Is it the name brand? Or is it just "screw the poors and their small generators"?

It's just power rectifiers in a fancy case. I'd have multiple if they were half the cost.