Schneider XW Pro Enhanced Grid Support issues

[Hamish]

According to the release notes for the latest firmware, there are issues with the Enhanced GS. However, the give a "workaround".. which does not work!
I am still using closed loop SOC control, however, they still use voltages to do the actual control of how much power they take from the DC bus and how much they export after supporting the house loads. So what one would think is a completely SOC-based control is not so... it is a hybrid mode. Once the magic trick is known, mainly having the Grid Support voltage be the same as the Float voltage then it works magically. All their instructions say to have it not at Float but at a magic number "64". When I did that it just kept oscillating with the high discharge/charge cycles.

Same problem. More than 12 months invested in this. "Set gsv to FV", set gsv to the magic number 65, enable load shaving but set amperage to zero, enable Equalization but set "equalize now" to disabled, dance around a pentagram while burning lavender incense. I have tried many other rational and mystical parameter settings, but Nothing I have tried works.

My loads are approximately balanced, I have no multicolored LED bulbs in the house, all of my fluorescents have been switched to LEDs, I have no compressor running, my generator is disconnected, and we have sacrificed 12 members of the weasel family on the altar of Schneider. I am done. If you are planning a new solar system, stay away from Schneider.

 

[Hamish]

Like @BentleyJ said, something is obviously wrong here.

If you have GSV set to 65, the system should essentially *never* use the battery, unless it's a legitimate power outage (just to be sure, you never lost grid power, right?)

If you have GSV set to 65, and it used battery power while the grid was connected.. You probably need to involve Schneider support. This is likely not just a "settings" issue.

Schneider support? I've never had anything useful from their support nor the installer.

 

[Hamish]

I have installed a Schneider XW Pro Inverter with their MPPT 100 600 charger and Lithium Smart batteries. I have the latest firmware. The unit works great from a performance point of view, seems quite efficient based upon heat it dissipates and is incredible at handling surges! I have a 6 HP 240 V compressor and it starts it without the slightest hesitation. However, I am also selling to the grid. I wanted to do their Enhanced Grid Support. Meaning… keep batteries charged, use the power from the PV to run the house and sell any extra to the grid. I scoured the documents and the WEB and could not get information for it to work properly… meaning: It would only sell to the grid at the rate of the “max sell amps”! The impact of which was to discharge the battery at a high rate until the batter SOC (or voltage.. depending on mode) would be reached and then it would stop using energy from the PV, the house would be fed from the grid, the battery would then be recharged to above the SOC limit and then the cycle would start all over again! Constant large current cycling of the battery about every 55 seconds.

I called technical support multiple times and all they gave me was the manual information and said it should work… but it did not.

In searching the WEB, I found multiple people encountered this problem but no one including Schneider had a solution! Well, I stumbled upon the solution… They say that the Grid Support voltage should be set to 64 Volts in order to enable the Enhanced mode. That does not work. I have verified this on my system and the exact system of a friend of mine (we bought same equip. at the same time).

The answer is to run it in the SOC mode but have the Grid Support voltage at the float voltage of the charge controller! Then it works beautifully!!! Just a note: the charger settings on the MPPT must be the same values as on the Inverter.

I wasted about 25 hours with this issue and Schneider was no help at all. I believe that at this point I understand the system better than their technical support people.

If any of you struggled with the same issue… I hope this will help you!

For what it is worth, I have NEVER gotten Enhanced Grid Support to work. If anyone has gotten it to work (On-grid with Batteries and Solar) I'd appreciate knowing and seeing a 24 hour Battery Summary Chart. As you can see from mine (attached), it continues to harvest energy from the batteries even when on-grid and plenty much solar. GSV=65, and all combinations of Load share, equalization, Grid Support, etc.
On-Grid
XW Pro 6848
MPPT 80-600 x2
InsightHome ETH MAC: 10:08:2C:85:EC:32
Discover 42-48-6650 Li-Ion x3
220-kW panels x24