Starting system design for EG4 18kpv grid tied w/ net metering + battery setup

[wolfmansbrother]

If your batteries were full that may be the "correct" series of events.

The 18kpv will have a setting for when to enable/disable AC coupling. If your battery is above that cutoff, it will frequency shift and shut down the SE inverter (to protect the battery). Not sure if the SE inverter handled it properly, but cutting itself off when above a battery SOC% is the correct way to protect your setup.

Ah, yes... I thought one of them was still 98-99% when I tested this. I had SOC set to 100%. I guess I would have expected the power to shift up/down and the SE just "stay on" but get throttled by Rule 21 from the 18k. In your 18k do you have the "run without grid" option enabled?

 

[y0bailey]

See attached settings.

 

[y0bailey]

Can you screenshot your SE settings? I wonder if it isn't "taking" or adjusting other settings correctly when you mess with it through the web portal instead of SetApp.

There are also a couple of components to the firmware updates on the SE inverter...so maybe they didn't all get updated (or SE support did a crap job, which seems likely).

 

[wolfmansbrother]

yea, let me work on getting screenshots. There's a ton of other settings like reactive power, CosPhi that @robwolff3 called out in his post
I didn't change any of that, but I can confirm my SE retained the Grid Rule 21 setting between power cycles. Also the SE web interface is labeled as "Inverter SetApp" so I have to assume they are one in the same. I just wired in my home office to the critical loads panel today so I can start to draw down the battery overnight. One thing I've noticed though, not sure if it is normal or not - now that my batteries are 100% I am hearing the relays in the 18k click over every few minutes and the LCD shows a few hundred watts going to the batteries, relays click and it stops charging and the "Normal" status LED actually turns off when it's not dumping power into the battery... seems to be in a loop. Need to get the wifi dongle online next.

 

[wolfmansbrother]

yea, let me work on getting screenshots. There's a ton of other settings like reactive power, CosPhi that @robwolff3 called out in his post
I didn't change any of that, but I can confirm my SE retained the Grid Rule 21 setting between power cycles. Also the SE web interface is labeled as "Inverter SetApp" so I have to assume they are one in the same. I just wired in my home office to the critical loads panel today so I can start to draw down the battery overnight. One thing I've noticed though, not sure if it is normal or not - now that my batteries are 100% I am hearing the relays in the 18k click over every few minutes and the LCD shows a few hundred watts going to the batteries, relays click and it stops charging and the "Normal" status LED actually turns off when it's not dumping power into the battery... seems to be in a loop. Need to get the wifi dongle online next.

I have two of the EG4 PowerPro units paired with my 18K

 

[wolfmansbrother]

I ended up wiring my critical loads panel, fed by the 18k into my 30A generator breaker which is interlocked with the main panel disconnect. I ran the house with the main disconnected, back-fed by the CLP via the 18k for 24 hours without any issues. My biggest breaker in my main panel is 30A anyway, no nuisance trips even with running laundry, I'm wicked impressed with this unit. The fans on the 18k did kick in with the drier running, but it's in the garage so I didn't hear anything from inside the house. Oddly enough, we lost power for about an hour early this morning and I only noticed because I heard my neighbor's standby generator running. Lights did flicker very briefly when the grid came back. I also got to see my SE running off grid, and it ran as expected powering the house loads first and batteries second.