@@GavinStoneDIY Gavin. Is that taking into account voltage gain in low temps? I was planning 2 502.8V arrays, but if my cold coefficient is 1.20 I could hit 603.36V or even potentially 628.5V if it hits a 1.25 Coefficient.
@@celicalostandfound the 600v is maximum allowable voltage. So you’d have to take that into account when designing the array. I would shave off a panel from that setup if I were you. Plus the actual usable voltage is 500v. The extra 100v is just for headroom in cold temps.
@@celicalostandfound the 4 inputs are actually 2 inputs. They just allow for paralleling. So it’s sorta like a combiner box within the inverter. It’s has a pretty high amperage allowance because of this, so you can likely parallel your array to achieve what you need.
Thanks for the video. I'm under the impression that there is no way to turn off the inverter side (and accompanied idle consumption and noise) while the mppt still charge the battery. Have you tried this? Looking for a definitive answer as to whether i could use the 6000xp with the inverter off but still bring in charge current through the mppts and utilizing DC loads - off the battery through a dc-dc converter 48-12v and or a small inverter that is super quiet. I'd really appreciate an answer if possible. Thanks!
@@GavinStoneDIY what happens when the EPS switch is turned off? Is that essentially an inverter on/off switch (in addition to it other functions?) Can you explain? I don't mind the fans going on when the mppt is running, but that idle draw is a deal breaker for me if it has to be there in order to charge from the mppt.
Do you need a precharge resistor when connecting the Chargeverter to the 48V batteries? Can you adjust the max current without the generator running. Does the Chargeverter remember its settings if disconnected from all power?
The generator will actually precharge the unit. But either way I haven’t ever used one on it. Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. But I haven’t seen anything written on it that I’m aware of. You can adjust the current without generator power. The battery can power the unit and allow you to change settings I think. Yes it remembers the previous settings.
Thanks for clarifying. I connected my V1 and V2 this week. I modified the cable between the two groups but inverter only recognized half capacity. Don't know if it was recognizing new or old, all SOC lights were on. I called Signature Solar and they suggested I set protocol switches for Lux power, which was 1,2 and 3 down, 4,5 and 6 up. Cycled batteries and all is well EXCEPT... Small amber lights on the upper right corner of V2 ports are blinking! Everything else working fine. Strange indeed... Thanks for your help to this community.
My issue is I have three v2’s and one v1 lifepower4 batteries. I can flip dip switch six under protocol down and then it will talk to v1 batteries but then looses the v2’s. It’s almost like either or.
@@GavinStoneDIY I’m with you it’s got to be a dip switch issue. I called SS support earlier today, but they just said they’re trying to work out the kinks and said I should just leave the v1 battery alone for a while. lol I do have a communication hub I might try to see if I can do some kind of combination to make it work. 🤷🏼♂️
Sounds like a hot mess. They should have figured this out before selling these. Thank you for explaining all this. You are doing what they should be doing!
Good video as usual Gavin. Now one more layer of complexity is what do you do if you have an LL battery as the master, a new LifePower 4 V2 battery and the old LifePower 4 battery?
@@bhbaker220 it depends on how many of the lifepowers I had vs the LL’s. As of right now one of them wouldn’t have communication, you’d have to pick one. The other battery can still be connected to the busbar, and it will charge and discharge with the rest of the pack. It just wouldn’t have battery communication.
Quick question with an unrelated issue because it seems like you know what you are doing. When I’m programming my amps to the inverter. How do I calculate the number of amps on my setting. Do I just plug in the number of amps that are on my solar panels. Do you have a video explaining this
Which inverter do you have? Most settings regarding amperage are related to charging the batteries. Whether from the grid or solar. The way you’d choose the amount of amperage coming from solar is by the panels you install, and how you install them. Also voltage pushes, and amperage is pulled. That’s another discussion, but it may play a part depending on what you’re installing.
@@GavinStoneDIY Thank you for taking my question! I have rich solar 6500 watt 48 volt off grid hybrid solar inverter 550 pv input. I have mega 400 watt mono crystal Max power volt 30.9 volt Max power current 12.9 amp Open circuit voltage 37.1volt Short circuit current 13.7 amp Maximum system voltage 1500 vdc
Any updates on this unit? I just got my second one and have 2 running in parallel now. Absolutely thrilled with these. SO so so much better than any of the voltronics products I've used. No lights flickering, no clunky switching between grid/inverter, it's quite seamless. Just solid inverters and work without any fuss. I wish more people would review these units.
This are definitely a step up from the older voltronic’s units for sure. No updates on this one. I’ll likely be taking it off the wall soon to make more space to review another. Over all it did its job. I do prefer some of the other units on the market now. But these can get the job done.
How do you reset the acr fault on the touch screen for a eg4 18K pv. I was installing a second array and didnt shut the first array off with the pv combiner power having power from first which had power to inverter , I arced to wires on second array
A surge could still easily fry your system when it’s off. You’d have to disconnect all your wire leads for it to be effective. That would be rather difficult for some people depending on the system size.
Surge protection isn't fool proof. It really depends on the hit you take. I've seen arrestors blown to smithereens' and melt or explode devices beside them. Static energy has a habit of making it's own rules as it goes. But even at that they will usually lessen the fallout when it's over. They are very much worth having. Actually more like unwise to take your chances without them.
Just FYI to those that that own the original EG4 3000 AIO (yellow inverter), battery communications does not work properly with these V2 batteries. I've been in talks with SS Tech support and currently they've confirmed this issue and are looking to possibly update the firmware. I've tried the cable mod presented on this video but it still does not recognize the pack using the battery hub with r485 communications running the v1.12 firmware. I'm going to do a few tests with the BMS Test software and see if the 1/2 pinouts will work with the V2 batteries but so far I have not been successful at integrating this into my pack because of the communications issue with the inverter. My setup: EG4 3000 AIO V1 EG4 LP4 V2 EG4 LP4 V1 EG4 LP4 V1 I do have the EG4 Hub that works perfectly fine with the V1s running v1.12.
Yeah I’ve seen them make an announcement about this. I’ve gotten the coms to work between 3k and the V2. The first time I tried it wasn’t difficult. Then when I checked again it didn’t connect. I finally was able to replicate it quite a few times. But it did take some work. I had to keep cycling through the dip switches.
@@GavinStoneDIY I'm sorry. I'll try and clarify. If you were to use the vehicle to load (V2L) plug from an electric car, these normally have a 3.6kw output via a plug. I was wondering if the cable could be run into the chargeverter to recharge the home batteries.
Yes the challenge I have now with my EG4 18kpv is AC load output, and it's a kind of giving me 120 volt instead of 240 volts, but pls how do I change the settings pls
Possibly an issue with one of you connections. There isn’t a setting to change the unit to split phase. It comes that way. You should have roughly 6kw on each leg.
I’m glad that little box did its job. I’ll definitely look into some kind of surge protection. Do you feel roof mount panels at a higher risk than ground mounted panels? Mine are on a ground rack.
I would imagine this could affect either roof or ground mount. So having some quality SPD’s is a good practice either way.
7 дней назад
I have 2 Midnight solar arrestors on the DC side and 2 LAR arrestors on the AC side along with several MOV spike devices across all the solar to breaker to ground connections.. I do want to add additional arrestors at the charge controllers and inverters this winter before Spring storms start up..
Looks like the "EMP Shield" was the problem, not the solution. It blew up short which in turn caused the combiner breaker to trip. It should have an internal fuse and not short out this way. Likely your system would have kept going without it as the protection inside EG4 is all that you need. The EG4 has the lowest impedance to ground assuming it is by your meter/main panel so its surge protection is most effective. Something at the end of the many feet of wire at your solar connection is not going to be similarly situated.
The combiner breaker wasn’t tripped. SPD’s are designed to shunt to ground this way. There wouldn’t be any way to know whether my system would have survived without it, because I had it. 🤷🏼♂️ My inverter is around 130’ from my main panel.
@@GavinStoneDIY I thought you said the breaker had tripped in one of the comments. Regardless, the SPD created a short. it is poorly designed. It needs to have fuses to a) avoid creating that short and b) not set fire to itself and whatever else is around it. Sadly most MOV based SPDs don't have such fuses causing both of those problems.
@@AudioScienceReview the surge actually jumped the internal fuses on the combiner box. Either way I don’t think my issue was the SPD. It was the lightning/gradient pulse. But I realize you don’t agree. 🤷🏼♂️
Back in June we had a direct lightning strike on our east-facing array. I thought it had killed the charge controller but in reality all of the bypass diodes in all 20 of the solar panels had shorted out. Once I removed the bypass diodes that charge controller came back to life.
@@GavinStoneDIY The array that got hit was old Trina Solar 240W panels, 20 of them. They each had 3 bypass diodes. ALL of them were shorted. Many had exploded and melted the plastic junction box covers.
You realize you need to check if your panels bypass diodes are all blown? You are gonna end up with hots spots and cooked panels, especially with all the tree shading.
The air near a lightning storm can become charged with electricity. I have heard ham and CB antennas snapping while discharging thousands of volts to ground when thunderstorms passed overhead. It doesn't need a direct hit to compromise electrical equipment. And yes I personally tested this with baling wire and had painful sparks leaping out of my tennis shoes.
I have a Solark 8K, I don't have DC protection, but lightning nearby put out in an alarm twice and I lost power for 4mins. The alarm said "DC Overcurrent". Anyway the inverter got back on and everything has been working fine. Sol Ark inverters have lightning pv input protection integrated but I don' know well or how it works. That buzzing was the charges from the lightning generating an EM field. That was an indirect impact most likely. From what I understand, direct lightning strike is usually catastrophic no matter the protection you have. Though EMP protection should be standard for all inverters, solar flares and lightning happen frequently. You should check your surge protectors in the house to check for evidence of damage. If there is nothing, then AC side prob wasnt affected that bad. It was just the solar array that acted as an antenna and afected pv input.
Yeah the surge could still have come from the PV side. That is possible. It’s hard to say really. The somewhat cheesy surge protectors I have on the ac side are still intact. But yeah, with a direct strike all bets are off really. I definitely don’t want one any closer.
@@GavinStoneDIY Fuses/breakers trip based on current i.e overcurrent/short circuit. Surge protectors trip based on voltage. That's why a fuse doesn't offer any real protection against a surge. Presumably, the EMP shield blew because of the sudden voltage spike and the Metal Oxide Varistors (MOVs) inside of it are now toast. You can see the MOVs in the new device that was installed, they're the large blue rectangular components.
@@GavinStoneDIY it can jump from a cloud to the ground. It's going to go where it wants to go. Consumerism isn't being safe, it's spending money you don't need to.
@@samuelfox8126 so your idea is to do nothing? I hope that works out well for you in the future. I don’t really follow that logic. But to each his own.
Any perspective on what would happen if you had disconnected the PV on the inverter or a PV breaker or disconnected the PV at a MC4 connector? If I know lightning storms are coming, I generally power everything down and open breakers but not sure if that would help with a close strike. Thanks for sharing!
@@bhbaker220 disconnecting the PV lines would do the trick I’m sure. That’s a lot of prep for each storm though, I guess it depends on your system size. But you also have the ac side of things to contend with.
I use Midnight Solar on my arrays at the solar panel array as well as at the inverter. I have a 400 foot run between solar array and inverter. Also have one on the Battery side. AC has square D surge in the panel, as well as one in the Mini Split System. Hopefully they take the hit if we have similar situation.
This is the area I get confused watts amp volts My plans battery plus 3 day atonamy first Battery 48v 280 watt 14!3 l indoor EG4 How battery Cargo trailer 8 x 22 ft Add grid 6000XP inverter Solar 6 or 8 400 watt panel on roof 10’p house fridge EG4 hybrid solar mini split Slow cooker Microwave Water on demand with switch Light 12v Water pump 12v
