Problems with Eg4 6500ex buyer beware.

[Zwy]

Did you happen to try a physical N-G bond jumper right at the inverter terminals (for your testing), since the new firmware holding the relay open would disable their bonding screw?

The pair I installed on Monday I did jumper at the loads panel and it cleared up the sine wave when measuring from L to G.

L to N looked good, no hash. L to G, not good. Jumper installed and cleaned it right up.

Go to this thread and see some of the videos and scope videos I have posted. https://diysolarforum.com/threads/e...548s-installed-and-replacement-6500exs.63575/

 

[Zwy]

Zwy said at some point he grounded to the homes water pipes. Can these grounds somehow intersect the neutral such as inside an appliance.

I know my homes water pipes were originally inside the foundation and grounded at the far end last outlet near the electrical main disconnect. Eventually pipes were changed and re routed through the attic.... 1st owners changed the whole grounding system without a thought or care.

Water pipes are copper and grounded by NEC.

 

[Zwy]

Yes, that's usually how it gets in the house.

The ground is how it got to the neutral.
Especially if you have an overhead service feeder.

Yes, it hit the overhead that comes across the street.

Insurance covered it, sure stunk in the house. I had just gone upstairs to wake the wife and kids and get them to the basement. I had just checked outside and it was getting pretty rough.

 

[Zwy]

It cannot, by ohms law, if that circuit has the resistance of 180' of #4 copper wire. It's on your own circuit diagram you posted.

Maybe this article from Fluke can help you? https://www.fluke.com/en-us/learn/blog/electrical/diagnosing-power-problems-at-the-receptacle

 

[timselectric]

Kinda hard to do, the 6500EX's are no longer installed. I installed the LV6548's last night in a few hours. Boxed up the 6500EX's for their next journey to Tim's address.

I don't want that crap. lol

 

[Zwy]

I don't want that crap. lol

They are getting shipped out, they agreed to take them back. I have to give them credit for that, I've rode them hard here in the forum but always kept any correspondence civil and nice. They are treating me right on this and I just might try that high PV voltage SCC they have. Only buy one at first and see if it holds up.

They have done right by me, even if they dropped the ball on support on occasion. Even when support called me, we discussed a plan to move forward to see if it would correct the problem. I really wanted for these to work out as it made things simple for a SCC and inverters.

 

[timselectric]

They are getting shipped out, they agreed to take them back. I have to give them credit for that, I've rode them hard here in the forum but always kept any correspondence civil and nice. They are treating me right on this and I just might try that high PV voltage SCC they have. Only buy one at first and see if it holds up.

They have done right by me, even if they dropped the ball on support on occasion. Even when support called me, we discussed a plan to move forward to see if it would correct the problem. I really wanted for these to work out as it made things simple for a SCC and inverters.

I'm glad that you are getting fair treatment.
I'm just not interested in the 2 inverters to create split-phase configuration. I prefer redundancy with multiple units, instead of dependency on multiple units. And all loads to be equally carried by all units.

 

[Samsonite801]

I'm glad that you are getting fair treatment.
I'm just not interested in the 2 inverters to create split-phase configuration. I prefer redundancy with multiple units, instead of dependency on multiple units. And all loads to be equally carried by all units.

Too bad, he's already shipping them to you now, UPS probably already came and picked them up

 

[timselectric]

Too bad, he's already shipping them to you now, UPS probably already came and picked them up

John Smith will be signing for them. I can't be responsible for what happens to them. lol

 

[BuffaloTrace]

I must say, with all the stuff Zwy is trying, I am interested in how the eg4 500v SCC stand alone units will work in conjunction with the LV's. Looks like Zwy may be taking us for another ride here soon!

 

[RV10flyer]

Finally got my two 6500ex’s going on the shop. Received them Aug 2022. I was powering everything just fine with two 12k’s. What pos ex’s are. I guess I got what I paid for.

My 2 ton package hp with soft start (31A Inrush at 238VAC) and my small refrigerator compressors both sound like krap starting up in the morning before pv starts coming in good. The LED’s flicker like crazy when the compressors start up and it continues for several minutes.

I guess I better update them, now that I ordered and received the other half of the cord that they didn’t send with these pieces of junk.

If solar is not coming in at all, everything starts/runs fine on 64kWh of LFP. If solar is coming in full blast 11-2, all fine. When solar is just picking up to finally start charging batteries, that’s when they do strange things.

 

[Will Prowse]

Finally got my two 6500ex’s going on the shop. Received them Aug 2022. I was powering everything with two 12k’s. What pos they are. I guess I got what I paid for. My 2 ton package hp with soft start and my refrigerator compressors both sound like krap starting up in the morning before pv starts coming in good. The LED’s flicker like crazy when the compressors start up and it continues for several minutes. I guess I better update them now that I ordered and received the other half of the cord that they didn’t send with these pieces of junk to update firmware.

Can you post pictures of your refrigerators? And everything else you're running and the labels on the side? Those inverters push harder than most in my shop. I'm surprised they sound like that because that has not been my experience with massive inductive loads. It can even power my car lift

 

[Samsonite801]

Finally got my two 6500ex’s going on the shop. Received them Aug 2022. I was powering everything with two 12k’s. What pos they are. I guess I got what I paid for. My 2 ton package hp with soft start and my refrigerator compressors both sound like krap starting up in the morning before pv starts coming in good. The LED’s flicker like crazy when the compressors start up and it continues for several minutes. I guess I better update them now that I ordered and received the other half of the cord that they didn’t send with these pieces of junk to update firmware.

Do you mean the 12k are pos or the 6500EX are pos?

How many batteries you have hooked up to your system? (the setup that works better once the PV starts coming in good) Is the battery voltage dropping a lot on surge? (like the voltage seen right at the inverter terminals)

Assuming you ruled out bus bar and cable gauge sizing or connection issues...

 

[Gavin Stone]

The remedy could be as easy as firmware. So I would definitely try that first.

 

[RV10flyer]

The remedy could be as easy as firmware. So I would definitely try that first.

I’ll do that because SS has put out a lot of updates that should have been done during their own testing instead of having customers be their guinea pigs. Reminder to self: Never buy from SS or a new to the market product ever again. Just bought a Morningstar 600V SCC from Eco Direct. It’s been around almost 10 years, so should be good. I like companies that don’t come out with a “new product” every month and forget about the old ones. You can’t get parts, updates, tech support or any other type of customer service once they move on to the next best thing from China. Sound familiar?

 

[TOU47]

I found an LED bulb type that flickers only when my Harvest Right freeze drier is running.

Not to derail but I'm really curious about freeze drier use on of grid solar.

We too have one... just building a home now & are on off grid solar. We really want to use the FD when compete. With 21kw of bifacial panels I'm not worried about producing enough juice to run it...during the day. I am wondering how much battery storage I'm going to need. I have 4 EG4 Lifepower4's now (NOT enough) & planned on adding 6-8 more...or 2 of the new PowerPros.

Has ANYONE used one off grid? What is your set up?
Thx

 

[sunsurfer]

Not to derail but I'm really curious about freeze drier use on of grid solar.

We too have one... just building a home now & are on off grid solar. We really want to use the FD when compete. With 21kw of bifacial panels I'm not worried about producing enough juice to run it...during the day. I am wondering how much battery storage I'm going to need. I have 4 EG4 Lifepower4's now (NOT enough) & planned on adding 6-8 more...or 2 of the new PowerPros.

Has ANYONE used one off grid? What is your set up?
Thx

I had a freeze dried herb/greens business before I went off-grid. Not a harvest right dryer but similar power requirements(actually less). I decided it was not economical to run it off-grid.

Its a major power usage and the investment dollars to get the battery/solar covered may be to high to recover with food cost. It might be cheaper to just sell it and buy freeze dried food depending on how much you want. I would find someone close by with grid power that can host it for you.

 

[PreppenWolf]

We have a Harvest Right Home Pro. We love it and we have no issues running it on our solar.

Freeze drying is a energy intensive process. If you're doing it to make money you should do it on the grid. If you're doing it to be self reliant it's a non-issue.

Most people also aren't ready to drop $5k on a personal freeze dryer, so....

 

[sunsurfer]

We have a Harvest Right Home Pro. We love it and we have no issues running it on our solar.

Freeze drying is a energy intensive process. If you're doing it to make money you should do it on the grid. If you're doing it to be self reliant it's a non-issue.

Most people also aren't ready to drop $5k on a personal freeze dryer, so....

and another $5K in batteries to run it over night

 

[TOU47]

I had a freeze dried herb/greens business before I went off-grid. Not a harvest right dryer but similar power requirements(actually less). I decided it was not economical to run it off-grid.

Its a major power usage and the investment dollars to get the battery/solar covered may be to high to recover with food cost. It might be cheaper to just sell it and buy freeze dried food depending on how much you want. I would find someone close by with grid power that can host it for you.

Thank you. I hear you...I think we will definitely have to coordinate it's use. Daytime power generation I do not think will be a problem...night-time is the concern considering everything seems to take 36-48 hours.