New Lux Power LXP-LB-US 12k / GSL-H-12KLV-US with 200A AC Passthrough Current (US Market)

[Hedges]

My inverters specify several inches for cooling. They are convection cooled plus fans when hot.

Electronics with surfaces that might overheat due to a fault could have a gap to flammable materials specified.

 

[Sticky1]

I have herd of issues starting inverters on battery. looking around the forum.... Does anyone know if the

EG4 LifePower4 Lithium Battery | 48V 100AH | Server Rack Battery | UL1973, UL9540A​

(their basic battery) will work with the lux 12K

OR

SOK SK48V100-NCBT – 48V 100Ah Base User Serviceable Rack Battery​

Any comments on which might be better?

 

[mufasa]

I see some 3k+ price from China before shipping, and see some likely US stock for around 5k..
Where did everyone get their LXP-Lb-US 12K? And what is the difference between gen1 and gen 2?

 

[Sticky1]

Finally started up the 12k. 1st string fired up at 370 vdc, 2nd fired up at 250vdc. Both strings are The same, pv and wiring. Is this normal? I would have expected both around 370. The 12k is programmed as follows

 

[Sticky1]

No shading
Tigos not set up yet…? Mabe

 

[fafrd]

No shading
Tigos not set up yet…? Mabe

Same orientation and tilt?

Same wire gauge and similar currents and wire lengths?

 

[Hedges]

New or used panels?

Ratios of voltage, wattage, current are all different, so I can't attribute it to different number of panels in a string.

Is this battery only, and is battery near full? Switch on some loads to be sure.

 

[Sticky1]

Same orientation and tilt?

Same wire gauge and similar currents and wire lengths?

Yes

 

[Sticky1]

Same orientation and tilt?

Same wire gauge and similar currents and wire lengths?

Yes

 

[Sticky1]

Yes

Two strings of 10 all the same make model same wire same wire runs everything

 

[Sticky1]

Same orientation and tilt?

Same wire gauge and similar currents and wire lengths?

Yes same tilt same everything

 

[Sticky1]

New or used panels?

Ratios of voltage, wattage, current are all different, so I can't attribute it to different number of panels in a string.

Is this battery only, and is battery near full? Switch on some loads to be sure.

All new
Battery SOC 100%

 

[Sticky1]

This morning’s picture

 

[Sticky1]

Also does anybody know if Lux makes a cellular communicator for the dongle I can’t use Wi-Fi

 

[Hedges]

All new
Battery SOC 100%

Draw down the battery, to ensure all power available can be used.
In the off-chance it decided to draw from one string, not the other.

All things being equal, maybe connections aren't equal, and something is heating up.
Or a panel is bad (although brand new; I would have suspected damaged one if used.)

Is anything running hot? MC4 connectors, wires?
Insulated parts you could test by feel. IR thermometer can check temperatures. IR cameras can show hot spots, and can show face of PV panel array.

If you had module-level power electronics, you could read them, see if any panel had low voltage (all in a string will have same current.)

Shutting off everything, or disconnecting PV if there is a switch (so no current flowing), disconnect/unplug one PV string and test one string at a time, see if they give different results. Swap PV string to other input.

Double-check number of panels in series, see if you connected more to one string than the other, or shorted some in a loop and left fewer in the string.
Although, none of your numbers indicated different number of PV panels with both strings operating at same MPPT (would have been same current, different voltage, unless Vmp was below MPPT minimum.)

Beyond that, you would have to test individual panels or divide and conquer with shorter strings to find the odd panel. Tedious to make and break so may connections. Always interrupt current before unplugging.

Individual panels can be tested for Voc and Isc. That alone doesn't catch all bad panels. A PV panel tester will measure Vmp and Imp. I used a resistive load (space heater) and found a couple bad (17 year old) panels with different V(load) and I(load) from the rest.

 

[Quattrohead]

They are two different spec mppts, remember number one can take way more amperage than two and three so they could be tracking somewhat differently. It would be interesting to swap the panels from number one to number three and see if two and three track together then.
I have also seen on mine when the batteries are just about full where it will throttle down 1 or 2 PV inputs but still keep going on the others full tilt.

 

[Hedges]

As Quattro said, the MPPT inputs have different specs. That's probably the reason, although it's not clear to me any of your strings should be getting clipped.

https://luxpowertek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/LXP-LB-US-12k-specification.pdf

"MPPT voltage range 120-480"
"Input current 25/15/15"

I have also seen on mine when the batteries are just about full where it will throttle down 1 or 2 PV inputs but still keep going on the others full tilt.

There you go.

Draw down the battery, to ensure all power available can be used.
In the off-chance it decided to draw from one string, not the other.

 

[Sticky1]

I checked the voltage at the box on the roof and they are the same within a few volts at the inverter. I also moved string one to string three; no difference at the inverter.

 

[Luxpower_Gilbert]

I checked the voltage at the box on the roof and they are the same within a few volts at the inverter. I also moved string one to string three; no difference at the inverter.

Try to discharge your battery or put a big load on the inverter… pv production is base on the battery state and the load…

 

[Sticky1]

When the voltage gets down to 49 V in the battery the battery kicks off goes into trouble and it de-couples from the inverter. what is the suggested low-voltage? if I’m supposed to have 48 V is that what you mean by discharging it fully? I am assuming that it’s actually de-coupling in the inverter when it reaches that voltage