The Battery Thread (Solar / Inverter)

[maxxis]

Thanks everyone for the help and patience with this.

Looks like im winning.

Batteries at the 100% and the ac load shows again.



Latest flowchart.
House takes 650 on AC
I’m exporting 607
Batteries just floating around.

Is the inverter supposed to sound like a small fan is running? Luke warm to the touch on the front and sides. Heatsink is warm. Can keep my hand there without discomfort.

 

[Mzezman]

Thanks everyone for the help and patience with this.

Looks like im winning.

Batteries at the 100% and the ac load shows again.

View attachment 1211392

Latest flowchart.
House takes 650 on AC
I’m exporting 607
Batteries just floating around.

Is the inverter supposed to sound like a small fan is running? Luke warm to the touch on the front and sides. Heatsink is warm. Can keep my hand there without discomfort.

Nice... glad its working

Yes it will when doing a bit of DC > AC work

 

[maxxis]

I’m still confused. Not sure why my brain isn’t getting this.

Geyser is on currently. Efergy showing house total consumption. PV is producing 200w



CT is at 1025w. Should this not show the total draw or 3.3kwh that the efergy shows?



Now. When I switch off “Limit to load” this happens:

 

[thehuman]

Remember efergy can't diferiencate between usage and export.

 

[AchmatK]

I’m still confused. Not sure why my brain isn’t getting this.

Geyser is on currently. Efergy showing house total consumption. PV is producing 200w

View attachment 1211460

CT is at 1025w. Should this not show the total draw or 3.3kwh that the efergy shows?

View attachment 1211462

Now. When I switch off “Limit to load” this happens:



View attachment 1211464

I think something might be not right with your install.

The efergy will not display exactly the same value but it should be close enough.

Can you check which pins the CT is connected to inside the inverter. You can just remove the from bottom panel.

 

[maxxis]

I think something might be not right with your install.

The efergy will not display exactly the same value but it should be close enough.

Can you check which pins the CT is connected to inside the inverter. You can just remove the from bottom panel.

Pin 3&4. If i disconnect 4 then I still get a reading. Disconnect both and it goes to 0.

I tried to switch the wires around and to change the direction of the coil. No luck.

Currently on batteries and the CT shows -2323 Watts. Meter isn’t moving and app confirms 0 grid. Efergy shows the same consumption as the house pulling from batteries though. Only drops to 0 if I switch the main feed to the house off.

I assume everything will work fine with a faulty CT. I just wont have my non-essentials benefit from the PV.

I know you need to switch off limit to load anyways to get that but as soon as I do that my dials to weird. Grid shows the negative reading = ct reading and AC load goes to 0.

Solar export does work though. Meter spins in the happy direction.

I’m gatvol after two weeks of **** and now my installer is on holiday and will most likely only look at this next year.

 

[AchmatK]

Pin 3&4. If i disconnect 4 then I still get a reading. Disconnect both and it goes to 0.

I tried to switch the wires around and to change the direction of the coil. No luck.

Currently on batteries and the CT shows -2323 Watts. Meter isn’t moving and app confirms 0 grid. Efergy shows the same consumption as the house pulling from batteries though. Only drops to 0 if I switch the main feed to the house off.

I assume everything will work fine with a faulty CT. I just wont have my non-essentials benefit from the PV.

I know you need to switch off limit to load anyways to get that but as soon as I do that my dials to weird. Grid shows the negative reading = ct reading and AC load goes to 0.

Solar export does work though. Meter spins in the happy direction.

I’m gatvol after two weeks of **** and now my installer is on holiday and will most likely only look at this next year.

3 and 4 is correct.

It could be a faulty CT. The inverter will still work but the non essential load would be an issue.

Your installer need to do a wiring diagram and also show your exactly how it's connected. It should be similar to this diagram in the manual.

 

[maxxis]

Thank you. Will call him tomorrow.

Non essential is not a big deal yet. Only a small geyser that runs between 5 and 6 in the morning and afternoon. Not really much PV available at that time.

 

[Priapus]

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.

So, since this post; the inverter hasn't skipped a beat. Might have just been a "glitch" ... or something.

 

[Koosvanwyk]

This is probably not good

Edit: The picture was taking in the morning after running on batteries the entire evening.

 

[wingnut771]

This probably not good View attachment 1212220

Don't know if this applies to all makes of batteries?

 

[Koosvanwyk]

Don't know if this applies to all makes of batteries?

Thanks, have tried top balancing and balancing the bank as suggested in the video, the top battery in my picture (with the 100% SOC) does not want to partake in the battery balancing activities (must be an introvert!).

The only way that I can get that battery to discharge is to increase the current ( by turning on kettle by example). Once it starts to discharge and the kettle is turned off, it would continue to discharge like normal, but it needs "defibrillation treatment" to get going

 

[TheChamp]

Thanks, have tried top balancing and balancing the bank as suggested in the video, the top battery in my picture (with the 100% SOC) does not want to partake in the battery balancing activities (must be an introvert!).

The only way that I can get that battery to discharge is to increase the current ( by turning on kettle by example).

Why don't you leave the top one alone and worry about the others? Good thing is that they seem to be at the same SOC.

 

[Koosvanwyk]

Why don't you leave the top one alone and worry about the others? Good thing is that they seem to be at the same SOC.

I should have started off with saying that the picture was taking in the morning after running on batteries the entire evening.

 

[wingnut771]

Thanks, have tried top balancing and balancing the bank as suggested in the video, the top battery in my picture (with the 100% SOC) does not want to partake in the battery balancing activities (must be an introvert!).

The only way that I can get that battery to discharge is to increase the current ( by turning on kettle by example). Once it starts to discharge and the kettle is turned off, it would continue to discharge like normal, but it needs "defibrillation treatment" to get going

Maybe from inverter, unplug the com cables, change the dipsw on master and make it slave before connecting in parallel then switch batteries on to balance?

Or, try charging each battery individually and then connect bank up again?

Maybe move battery one to three position and see if behaviour follows?

 

[Koosvanwyk]

Maybe from inverter, unplug the com cables, change the dipsw on master and make it slave before connecting in parallel then switch batteries on to balance?

Or, try charging each battery individually and then connect bank up again?

Maybe move battery one to three position and see if behaviour follows?

Some good troubleshooting advice, thanks. Have actually already tried most of what you propose without any luck.

BMS is likely gone. SOC per the LEDs show 100% but a Volt reading shows it is somewhere between 45% to 55% (measured on its own, not connected to the bank)

I had it hooked up by itself (removed the 3 working batteries from the bank), placed a recorder in front of it and let it run on its own for 2/3 hours. There is one section in the video where it goes from 2 LED SOC to 4 LED SOC within a matter of a second.

 

[maxxis]

Inverter sounds like its under load. Hums?
View attachment 1211330


AC load is back
View attachment 1211332

Geyser on for both

In this flowchart my house and CT is visible. This morning the two icons aren’t there.

Any idea why?

 

[AchmatK]

In this flowchart my house and CT is visible. This morning the two icons aren’t there.

Any idea why?

If it's not showing then limit to load is ticked.

 

[wingnut771]

Some good troubleshooting advice, thanks. Have actually already tried most of what you propose without any luck.

BMS is likely gone. SOC per the LEDs show 100% but a Volt reading shows it is somewhere between 45% to 55% (measured on its own, not connected to the bank)

I had it hooked up by itself (removed the 3 working batteries from the bank), placed a recorder in front of it and let it run on its own for 2/3 hours. There is one section in the video where it goes from 2 LED SOC to 4 LED SOC within a matter of a second.

No worries Strange that it still works? Maybe try draining it completely then doing a full charge then drain it again, a full cycle?

 

[Koosvanwyk]

No worries Strange that it still works? Maybe try draining it completely then doing a full charge then drain it again, a full cycle?

The supplier is sending someone to read the BMS on site, this should confirm what is going on.