jbatx
I make stuff with things
..also, I use heltec 16s active balancers on two of my three batteries.
Sungold split phase 6k hybrid inverter scc review
- Thread starter jbatx
- Start date
Bigtruckin85
New Member
I'll keep playing with it. I haven't had enough panels out or good enough sun to really experiment before I run out of time. Yesterday I added 4 more 435 watt panels for a total of 8 (4s2p). It has been rainy and cloudy most of today until about 3pm when the sun suddenly popped out. I was in the garage and heard the unit taking off. I thought something was going wrong, but it was just taking in over 3400 watts and charging at 53 amps. I was pretty excited. The panels are just tipped up on 5 gallon buckets in my yard. I'm pretty impressed with the setup, I just hope we get some kinks worked out with the firmware eventually. It would be nice to have an on/off/restart switch in the app too.
jbatx
I make stuff with things
My array produced about 4kw in good sun. It got to about 80% charge yesterday and then stopped at about 54.1v. Then nothing but draw on the batteries with 3ish hours of sun left. I emailed the company and they're asking for more troubleshooting info
jbatx
I make stuff with things
After adding a n-g bond on the ac output and ac input side, the invert is well behaved. It will now charge the batteries with both solar and ac input simultaneously. It is not toggling on and off charge. I'm currently charging at 90a from ac and about 15-25 from solar (it cloudy and raining) for a combined of 105 - 115a. This is showing up on my monitors separately from the inverter
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42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Thanks for all the info so far, this model has had my attention for awhile.
Can you comment on the surge capacity / capability for motors? I'm uncertain if 1 will handle my well pump...
They have an 18k surge spec for there other LF 6k models; however I have yet to find a surge spec for this model.
I know my 5.5K running 6.5k peak generac handles the pump, while bogging significantly, so this should handle it as well in theory. (waiting for my inrush clamp meter to deliver so I can have some real data)
Can you comment on the surge capacity / capability for motors? I'm uncertain if 1 will handle my well pump...
They have an 18k surge spec for there other LF 6k models; however I have yet to find a surge spec for this model.
I know my 5.5K running 6.5k peak generac handles the pump, while bogging significantly, so this should handle it as well in theory. (waiting for my inrush clamp meter to deliver so I can have some real data)
I have the same question about this unit and deep well pumps. Not much use in an emergency if it cannot handle a deep well pump, 1hp @ 600 ft deep.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
They answered the question I posted on amazon about surge capacity, I was ready to order .... "Dear customer, the overload capacity of TP6048 is 5sec, @>150% Load ; 10sec, @110%~150%, according to these data, it will certainly handle a 1HP 230V split phase well pump."
Then I saw there reply to my question about idle consumption , 135 watts! I'm almost certain I've ruled this model out. Https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09R42K57J/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_SAQC91SBYA9K7GHMYZ4B?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
135 watts is high, what unit did you end up with?.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Looking back on this old thread I realized I missed your question. I still haven't decided. I was leaning towards the new eg4 now I'm back to this sungold. Going to order real soon.
jbatx
I make stuff with things
Instead of rehashing all the weird stuff I've experienced with this inverter (lvx6048), here's my final message back to sun gold support.
-----
MY LAST QUESTION TO SUNGOLD:
How should someone set up n-g bonding on this unit?
My grid connection is 240v split phase and has an n-g bond at the breaker on the power pole.
Please be comprehensive in your explanation.
-----
FROM sungold:
Thank you for your inquiry.
In mains mode, the neutral and ground from the input/output are separated. Only in battery inverter mode, the neutral and ground from the output are bonded.
Hope you can understand.
Best Regards
Cindy
---------
MY REPLY:
Yes, thank you. That [incorrect n-g bond] appears to be the root cause of the issues I have experienced. Previously it was n-g bonded on the AC output and also the AC input for the occasions when I had a generator connected. That was not entirely stable but it worked alright. Now I have a permanent mains connection and I did not know to remove the AC output n-g bond. I decided to remove it after considering the symptoms...
symptoms:
1. Erratic and random charge current from AC mains into the battery while "solar only" is selected.
2. Frequent and random fault code 8 shutdowns when PV, AC mains input and batteries are connected. This was not related to a voltage spike as suspected - there was no measured spike during an observed fault and shut down.
After removing the n-g bond on the AC output side both symptoms have stopped.
I suggest that you all start the troubleshooting process with establishing the current n-g bond set up of the system. Maybe you do this already with some customers. This could have saved so much of your time and mine. Additionally, there are numerous threads on solar forums where people are having similar issues and confusions because there is no good documentation on n-g bonding for the LVX6048 inverters. ...not that I can find, anyhow.
Thank you for helping!
----
-----
MY LAST QUESTION TO SUNGOLD:
How should someone set up n-g bonding on this unit?
My grid connection is 240v split phase and has an n-g bond at the breaker on the power pole.
Please be comprehensive in your explanation.
-----
FROM sungold:
Thank you for your inquiry.
In mains mode, the neutral and ground from the input/output are separated. Only in battery inverter mode, the neutral and ground from the output are bonded.
Hope you can understand.
Best Regards
Cindy
---------
MY REPLY:
Yes, thank you. That [incorrect n-g bond] appears to be the root cause of the issues I have experienced. Previously it was n-g bonded on the AC output and also the AC input for the occasions when I had a generator connected. That was not entirely stable but it worked alright. Now I have a permanent mains connection and I did not know to remove the AC output n-g bond. I decided to remove it after considering the symptoms...
symptoms:
1. Erratic and random charge current from AC mains into the battery while "solar only" is selected.
2. Frequent and random fault code 8 shutdowns when PV, AC mains input and batteries are connected. This was not related to a voltage spike as suspected - there was no measured spike during an observed fault and shut down.
After removing the n-g bond on the AC output side both symptoms have stopped.
I suggest that you all start the troubleshooting process with establishing the current n-g bond set up of the system. Maybe you do this already with some customers. This could have saved so much of your time and mine. Additionally, there are numerous threads on solar forums where people are having similar issues and confusions because there is no good documentation on n-g bonding for the LVX6048 inverters. ...not that I can find, anyhow.
Thank you for helping!
----
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42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Thank you for the follow up. Would you happen to have a wiring diagram or photo you could share? I'm ready to order this week and want to make sure I'm not missing anything. I plan to use this with grid as backup only, no export.
When you say you removed the N-G bond on the AC output, did you open it up and remove the screw?
jbatx
I make stuff with things
all the n-g bonds that I'm referring to are external to the unit. They're in breaker boxes. I didn't touch anything in the unit. I don't think I'll have time to do a diagram and I've already left the ranch (where the system is). if I do get time, I'll post it here.
SignatureSolarJames
Try Solar, the Grid will always take you back
EG4 is about to jump in the pool...
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
What are they planning to do special? I'd like to support a US business even its a beefed up clone, I'm still helping US workers.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Everything external cleared it up enough for me. Thank you.
Not to bring up an old thread, but..., I have this same unit. I powered it down today just to make some changes. Since I have done that the wireless will not connect. I have tried different iphones and ipads with no luck. I even power cycled., including removing all the power sources to the 6048. Anyone else had this problem?
jbatx
I make stuff with things
I haven't had trouble with it reconnecting. But, I have had trouble with their service. It's flaky and will give the appearance that your device isn't online. ...actually, the app shows its offline now. Though all my other devices are
I wish I wouldn't have touched the wifi config as that is the same issue I was having with it being offline. Around midnight (Eastern time) I was able to re-establish communication. I actually did a tcpdump of the comms and found the ip address as well so I could make sure it was whitelisted. They are using Amazon AWS West coast for the server to the app.
jbatx
I make stuff with things
Nice. It'd be really cool to reverse engineer the communication it's doing and create an open source project for the server...
yes it would! When I get some time maybe I will do a dump of it just running and then another with a connection to it. I did NOT check the port it was using so it may be encrypted. I will have to look next time.
