The Battery Thread (Solar / Inverter)

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wingnut771

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Feb 15, 2011
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Priapus said:
I think the end might be neigh for my inverter.

Couple of weeks ago; it was not stable when panels were generating power. Fluctuating between 300w and 2500w constantly. Switching it to grid and keeping batteries on charge; it would stay at max PV to charge batteries. The only way to “fix” it was a hard reboot.

problem hasn’t come back again. But it wasn’t the first time it has done that.


The last night; the house lost power for a few seconds. Then again 10 mins later. This repeated three times or so before the wife woke me up to tell him something was up.

Go to garage and sure enough the inverter has a fault. Whilst trying to read the screen and see what it is - it rebooted and threw a fault. House lost power again.

So I did a hard reboot and it’s been fine ever since.

If it dies; I think a Sunsynk 8kw is the replacement.
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What and how old is it?
 
RonSwanson

RonSwanson

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Priapus said:
It’s one of those Kodak jobbies. 18 months old.
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Kodak inverters are supplied by Blue Mountain PV, locally represented by Segen Solar. Even their axpert type inverters are respected in the local industry for their high quality, and if I am not mistaken, it should have a 5 year warranty.
 
Priapus

Priapus

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wingnut771 said:
I wonder if there is a firmware update?
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There are I believe. But you have to be 100% sure it’s the exact firmware you need. Because this is a “generic” or “clone” inverter; there are lots of variants. Getting it wrong, means a bricked inverter. Irreversible, damage.

So I’ll see how it goes. It’s been perfectly fine since Friday night.
 
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wingnut771

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Priapus said:
There are I believe. But you have to be 100% sure it’s the exact firmware you need. Because this is a “generic” or “clone” inverter; there are lots of variants. Getting it wrong, means a bricked inverter. Irreversible, damage.

So I’ll see how it goes. It’s been perfectly fine since Friday night.
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Yeah, updating firmware always shaves a few years off my life expectancy. My motto with firmware: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
RonSwanson

RonSwanson

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wingnut771 said:
Yeah, updating firmware always shaves a few years off my life expectancy. My motto with firmware: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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Yep, I agree if it's something like a PC, or a server. The problem (even in the PC and server world) is that the manufacturers' support will want the latest firmware, it is usually linked to their SLA, and I don't blame them , especially if it's a known problem and it's fixed in a later version. Ancient firmware releases also cause logistical problems in the CI/CD pipelines, the devs have to reproduce the problem so that they know (and can test) when they have fixed it.
 
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semaphore

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Well seems like my tripping issue a week ago may have been related to an almost 20 year old ELCB and those shitty Ellie’s surge protector plugs.
 
RonSwanson

RonSwanson

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semaphore said:
Well seems like my tripping issue a week ago may have been related to an almost 20 year old ELCB and those shitty Ellie’s surge protector plugs.
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I understand how the ELCB can cause it, but why is the SPP a suspect as well?
 
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semaphore

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RonSwanson said:
Sure, but both the ELCB & SPP at the same time?
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Purely coincidence really, surge protector is a few years old as well. Replaced dead breaker house still tripped randomly, eventually went through each SPP and turned them on one by one and found one that caused a trip.
 
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maxxis

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Annoyed... Hubble AM2 still out of stock due to the trucking strike last week. As a result my install is on hold until the local guys get their stock.

Loadshedding looming again and I really don't want this delayed any longer. Hopefully everything will be sorted by Friday. Still a lot left to do.

- Finish grounding spikes for one PV array
- Update conduit in the roof to metal pipes (stock issues)
- Install batteries
- Finish wiring
- Balance batteries
- CoC for the install and then the whole house (long story there)

Hopefully by Friday my life returns to normal.
 
Mzezman

Mzezman

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maxxis said:
Annoyed... Hubble AM2 still out of stock due to the trucking strike last week. As a result my install is on hold until the local guys get their stock.

Loadshedding looming again and I really don't want this delayed any longer. Hopefully everything will be sorted by Friday. Still a lot left to do.

- Finish grounding spikes for one PV array
- Update conduit in the roof to metal pipes (stock issues)
- Install batteries
- Finish wiring
- Balance batteries
- CoC for the install and then the whole house (long story there)

Hopefully by Friday my life returns to normal.
Click to expand...
sending you strength mate...
 
W

W@P

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Sep 10, 2007
Messages
6,127
maxxis said:
Annoyed... Hubble AM2 still out of stock due to the trucking strike last week. As a result my install is on hold until the local guys get their stock.

Loadshedding looming again and I really don't want this delayed any longer. Hopefully everything will be sorted by Friday. Still a lot left to do.

- Finish grounding spikes for one PV array
- Update conduit in the roof to metal pipes (stock issues)
- Install batteries
- Finish wiring
- Balance batteries
- CoC for the install and then the whole house (long story there)

Hopefully by Friday my life returns to normal.
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You lucky you have things on the roll.
My whole system has been lying in my garage since 22 Nov. Waiting for 1 guys quote to install.
Decided yesterday to fire off 4 more requests for quotes. Not waiting for one guy any longer.
 
C

crawler

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Nov 5, 2013
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Neuk_ said:
Like I said, we have the same series inverter, just the smaller 3kVa, and it works as a hybrid inverter every day. We obviously have a Victron MPPT with two PV arrays and Venus GX to control everything.
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It's been confirmed by victron unit is too old. My unit is on version 209 and can't be updated to latest 490

Awaitng a quote for a new control card to see if it's viable as I'll then have ess capabilities
 
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