Eg4 18kpv/powerpro battery problem- always drawing battery 1.2a, even while on grid

I have another thread with some issues, but no one has chimed in. I called Tech and we are trying to figure things out. After an hr with them and hoping we fixed it, still no change.

Here is problem 1 I want to start with!

Looking at the indoor battery screen, it is always constantly discharging 1.2a (avg 63w) while inverter is on grid. While looking at the app/internet/lcd everything shows on grid and 0w coming from battery to loads. They said the inverter does draw power, I understand that, but why pull from battery while connected to grid!?!? Sounds minimal, but in a 12 hr period I lost 6% SOC.

I have no solar, just running as UPS. Tech enabled Battey Backup which charges to 100% and keeps it there and auto switch when grid failure (exactly what I want) but with this constant draw, we are in a constant loop every 10 min charging from 99% to 100%. Then 10 min passes and battery (always in discharge) knocks it down 1% and we are back to charging, over and over and over. So I turned that off

help?

Second issue (let’s solve problem 1) on grid disconnect highest setting is 90%. My inverter WILL NOT go back to grid until I hit 90%.

I want to say it’s the “power backup” that is enabled on the web interface. If I recall correctly when it was enabled on my system I have had a constant draw on my battery of 0.7 to 0.8 amps since then. I haven’t bothered to test if I disable that setting, but I need to have it enabled to provide battery power backup in grid down situations. Not that I have those but once in a while. Maybe worthwhile to check. @Markus_EG4 any ideas?

One thing I can tell you it is not a battery specific problem. Rather something on the AIO side.

I have noticed this too with DIY battery and LXP SNA 5k. EG4 units are also based on the LuxPower units. So we both are observing the same behaviour.
Here is my HA history showing constant power draw during daytime with Solar and grid both available. And note the SOC dropping every half an hour.


I'm not too bothered with this as long as the reason behind it is convincingly explained to me.
It might be possible that this has something to do with grid export.

@shvm thanks for the response and taking the time to post that picture.
I looked into what @EZPZ said and I believe he is correct. I disabled the “Power Backup” and battery finally went into standby and had 0 draw. So yes this setting draws ~63watts from the battery. This is a bummer for people that don’t have solar (not many people on here), but is needed for auto transfer. I tried grid failure and it didn’t switch at all when this was disabled.

I have a SA 15k, and the Victron Shunt is reporting a constant 0.40 draw on the battery, but the SA shows 0.0a from the battery.
Yes, it is really 0 when it is 0. I have two shunts for two separate batteries. When I disconnect one battery, the shunt shows 0.0a, and all the power comes from the connected battery. When both batteries are connected, the draw is split between the two.

Thanks for that information also!

drps10 said:

@shvm thanks for the response and taking the time to post that picture.
I looked into what @EZPZ said and I believe he is correct. I disabled the “Power Backup” and battery finally went into standby and had 0 draw. So yes this setting draws ~63watts from the battery. This is a bummer for people that don’t have solar (not many people on here), but is needed for auto transfer. I tried grid failure and it didn’t switch at all when this was disabled.

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I live in an area with frequent power-cuts so I can't even imagine this disabled.

shvm said:

I live in an area with frequent power-cuts so I can't even imagine this disabled.

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It won’t switch over if you disable this. I tried to leave seamless switch enabled but that help any. So it looks like we have to accept the battery draw if you want it to act as an ups.

My MPP AIO also has ridiculous idle draw, my solution was to implement an external ATS to turn on the AIO, which is off most of the time. All UPS have an idle draw, to energize the relay. The external ATS idle is around 2-watt, much more palatable.

DIYrich said:

I have a SA 15k, and the Victron Shunt is reporting a constant 0.40 draw on the battery, but the SA shows 0.0a from the battery.
Yes, it is really 0 when it is 0. I have two shunts for two separate batteries. When I disconnect one battery, the shunt shows 0.0a, and all the power comes from the connected battery. When both batteries are connected, the draw is split between the two.

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That .40A or 20W sounds about right.
The Inverter needs to be in a Hot standby mode so that the moment the AC power or PV power glitch out it can take over within that 5ms time frame.

summit said:

My MPP AIO also has ridiculous idle draw, my solution was to implement an external ATS to turn on the AIO, which is off most of the time. All UPS have an idle draw, to energize the relay. The external ATS idle is around 2-watt, much more palatable.

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Wow, that is low. I might have to look into that!

drps10 said:

Wow, that is low. I might have to look into that!

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my current set up is mainly for house UPS, so hopefully intermittent. Because the AIO is nominally OFF, it's turned ON by the external ATS, thus about ~20-sec delay to boot up. So not seamless, but good enough

robby said:

That .40A or 20W sounds about right.
The Inverter needs to be in a Hot standby mode so that the moment the AC power or PV power glitch out it can take over within that 5ms time frame.

Click to expand...

EZPZ said:

I want to say it’s the “power backup” that is enabled on the web interface. If I recall correctly when it was enabled on my system I have had a constant draw on my battery of 0.7 to 0.8 amps since then. I haven’t bothered to test if I disable that setting, but I need to have it enabled to provide battery power backup in grid down situations. Not that I have those but once in a while. Maybe worthwhile to check. @Markus_EG4 any ideas?

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This is a pretty spot on assessment. For the 10ms transfer time, the battery has to be ready to go in the event of a power outage. With the battery backup feature though, you can make sure that the battery is always charged in the event of a grid outage. It seems like this is what you are wanting, but also, not discharging from the battery.

drps10 said:

Second issue (let’s solve problem 1) on grid disconnect highest setting is 90%. My inverter WILL NOT go back to grid until I hit 90%.

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With the on grid disconnect, were you wanting it lower or higher?

Hi! If you'd like to dm me your name and email, I can get you connected with an associate to look into this!

EG4_Jarrett said:

This is a pretty spot on assessment. For the 10ms transfer time, the battery has to be ready to go in the event of a power outage. With the battery backup feature though, you can make sure that the battery is always charged in the event of a grid outage. It seems like this is what you are wanting, but also, not discharging from the battery.


With the on grid disconnect, were you wanting it lower or higher?

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I am wanting it higher. I was able to search on this forum and found the work around. I am now using volts instead of SOC to get it where I want. It is working as I'd hoped. If I use SOC, it will charge the battery and then run it down to 90%. I now have it set to 55v, and soon as it's done charging, it will stay on grid power and not try to run the battery down.

This kind of makes sense to me.

Without PV, it is logical for the AIO to draw its load from battery. If it were drawing from grid, and the grid went down, it would have no power to keep itself alive, and switch to battery.