Flouw

did you connect the panels in series or parallel?

OK... i could not wait any longer. so i connected the panels in parallel. tested the voltage - all in spec as per the panels. connected the panels to the inverter. and its doing its job. now to fiddle and play around with settings to find a happy medium.

Good day. im adding on to my journey. Inverter: Mecer, SOl-I-AX-3M24. i have sourced some solar panels. - 2 x 320w panels. the plan is to run them in parallel, as the VOC on my inverter is 75v. VOC per panel is 40.2v. so here is the strange part, that i have noticed some weeks ago actually, but never thought much of it, as no PV was connected. the little solar panel icon on the screen is not present. didnt think much, as there is no PV connected. however. on startup, the panel will display, and then go away after a while. the same time, im unable to scroll through the screens and see the secondary firmware for the PV side. to clear up my poor explanation: on startup, solar panel indicator shows, and i can see the firmware when scrolling, through. the PV shows 27v briefly, even though no PV connected. after a short while, maybe one minute, the voltage drops to zero, the panel icon disappears and i cant see the firmware anymore either. is this an faulty MPPT controller? firmware issue? or no issue at all? would like clarity on this before connecting PV. @Coulomb - perhaps you have come across this?

i had the very same unit for approximately 48 hours. nicely removed it and took it back. on paper, they seem to be very nice units. BUT... VM model, fans run permanently. massive buzzing comming from them and could hear it through all my appliances aswell. i didnt even get that far to connect PV, as this was majority the reason for purchasing it. 24v, with big enough PV and bypass to run all my essentials and some. to my advantage, i asked them for almost 2 weeks to wire up a demo unit for me to see and test. they did not do it. so i asked all my questions verbally, and they where answered, satisfying all. yet, when i got home, the unit did not perform as promised. the technicians are a little all over yes. first they told me its not pure sine, but modified sine, thats why its buzzing. - could very well still be the fact, i never tested with a scope. Then their techs told me they buzzing noise was because of a bypass line/circuit that was blown and that i overloaded the unit. luckily i had the app connected for the approximately 48 hours i owned it, and showed them the history that it never exceeded 700w output. the refund was agreed on. i waited 14 days, and on the last day when i was already fuming, they offered a replacement unit, installed at their cost. i asked if its still going to buzz, and fans run permanent. and are they willing to cut open the metal mesh over the fans to reduce the noise. and they where dumbstruck that there where metal mesh over the fans. i refused, and demanded the refund. i wont be purchasing from them. and glad i got it refunded before even getting to firmware issues. OH, and the inverter is meant to have the correct charging algorithm for lithium without BMS.

i dont have a Growatt inverter. i have an Mecer. the battery voltage will go to whatever you set it to. set Bulk to 28.2v, float to 27.2V. this should be more than enough as a start point. and you can always make small adjustments at a later stage, according to my knowledge, the growatt inverter has fans running permanently. it will ramp up during heavy loads while being supplied from DC. and will also ramp up while charging. once the charging is completed, the fans will calm down, but will never switch off. this is according to what i have heard.

you need to set the inverter according to your and battery requirements. if you read the whole thread, you will be able to see the settings/changes made to the inverter to give the the desired settings. float voltage and bulk voltage being the most important to set up with your lithium battery

what is your setting on?

is there a setting 04? and what load is on the output on the AC when you do kill the input? you also say "acquired," so he got it for free, or bought it second hand? perhaps a faulty/damaged unit? run through all the settings. if its setting related, im sure you or we will see it once revealed.

and cant you set the charge current on the battery BMS?

i dont have the Plus model, but have the setting, and mine is not a Clone, its the Mecer unit

the only way for me to get the voltage above 28.4 is with equalize function. otherwise it just charges to 27.6v, and stays there. and my concern is that the voltage is too low to activate the internal BMS for balancing. perhaps with PV installed, it will actually charge properly, instead of just from utility that never goes to the higher bulk set voltage.

My bulk is set to 28.4 aswell. with float on 27.6V. as i said. my battery never actually reached 29.4, unless i do equalize. i have attached a amp meter while charging,, and on 27.6v it use to absorb about 10 amp for 20 minutes or so after the fans stopped. ive tested with volt meter, my inverter is out by 0.2v. which i can live with. (confirmed with 2 x different volt meters.) if possible, could you post a photo of your inverter specs? im trying to wrap my mind how you have 2000w odd PV connected to the Plus model that can only take 1500w according to my findings on google. your system is pretty much what im after, only issue i have currently is the 600w capability of my current inverter. hence me lookin at upgrading. something with SUB function, to benefit even more from the panels.

what are currently connected? and what would you have added if it was a 5/8/10/12kw system running off batteries. so, whatever you use, you need to replace once power comes back, "plus vat" for efficiency losses.

the setting number 04 in some models. - Power saving mode enable/disable,, If enabled, the output of inverter will be off when connected load is pretty low or not detected.

thank you very much for sharing. would also be interesting to know your charge, float and bulk settings. since these inverters are not really meant/designed for Lithium. as ive mentioned in another post that my inverter seems to bulk charge to 27.4V only. and then the fans switch off. perhaps with PV connected it will actually go to 28.2v on bulk.

i own a 24V lithium Esener Battery. running on a 24v 3KW system. although im very happy with its current performance. im thinking of adding a second one, this will double the capacity, and hopefully with enough PV during the day, i can remove that non essential section from Utility completely. so my next question, IF i have to reconfigure the batteries in series, and run a 48V system with a new/different inverter. would i require a separate battery balancer. since the esener batteries dont have any BMS coms. the manual received with the battery does say you can run them in series. Do i require a battery balancer when using lithium?

you will have to share more details of your setup. what inverter? battery? panels? last but not least. your current settings.

Thank you for the response. i have a Mecer 3kw inverter, but not the plus model. limited to 600w solar. - which i have not connected as yet. so running without solar at this stage. what is your experience on fans? high, low loads etc. does the fans run permanently during the day with PV coming in? ive been disregarding some inverter models as a potential replacements due to fans running constantly. as my unit is dead quiet when in bypass mode. and fans only runs when charging, and when loads above 230w while on battery. the fan noise is however acceptable on this unit. im concerned that that when i put PV on this inverter, that the fans might run regardless. and then ive been disregarding other units as potential upgrades due to this fact. Luxpower seem to have fans running constantly aswell when there is PV input. and frankly, i can afford any thing more than that anyway. so if the fans will be running, regardless of what i do, i might just go to a lower/cheaper tier that has decent monitoring interface, im also happy to stick to 3/3.5kw on 24v.

i owned a similar unit for a total of 32 Hours before removing it and returning to the supplier. the constant fans is a issue. i wont be able to wait for 2 years after warrantee before i can change fans. and then the buzzing noise. they initially said they cant hear it when i returned it. and the conversation went back and forth for about 2 hours. after a few accusation, and this and that. they reckoned the bypass line was blown, and the cause for the buzzing. how true it is, i dont know. i opted for a full refund as their sales person was not clued up on what he was selling me. and promised me certain things that is also incorrect. EDIT - the unit im referring to is not Kodak branded, and the supplier is not SegenSolar. yet it is a Voltronics unit.

i cant seem to find a post with your full setup. i also have a 3kw inverter, and 1 x Esener battery. are you running 24v or 48v? parralel or series with your 2 batteries? what inverter with a decent solar array?

What firmware/model inverter do you have? Most of the Axpert inverters dont have a setting 15 in the menu. What is it related to?

my 2c. based on my own experience (3kw 24v inverter with 2.56kw battery - no panels) all lights and plugs connected, except the kitchen and laundry plugs (anything with a element) daytime load shedding is not an issue. (we work from home most of the time aswell) so the little bit of electricity used by the laptops is minimal, and no lights on either during daytime. my fridge is also connected to the essentials. and we do 4 hours comfortably. the only time i have wished i had panels, is when its laundry day and we have LS. then i connect the washing machine aswell, with the cold weather, clothes takes longer to dry, and if you wait till 10 to start washing, it never dries in time to iron before LS starts again. the amount of PV ill have to have on the roof to run tumble dryer and/or an iron doesnt make financial sense. so im installing 600w only only on the roof to help daytime LS relief on the battery. night time LS. kids are home, lights are on, TV is on, computers on sometimes when working late. still. 4 hours LS comfortably. i have used a microwave aswell on the backup to heat my food. - the esener battery has a 1c rating, so its fine with the high discharge for 2minutes. hooking warm blankets on aswell i cant say what will happen. dont know what the rating is. in short, what im saying. im happy with the 3kw rating. more than that will need serious battery during LS. the 5kw kit mentioned will be able to do exactly what the 3kw can do. and you can always expand later with panels. growatt inverter is noisy (fans running) and i believe Luxpower does the same.

i wish i could answer your question. BUT. since you can switch the inverter off, and it will still charge with PV, it might be safe to assume that it could still charge even after the low battery cut off. are you going to attempt the scenario and give us feedback?

Thank you for the clarification. Next question. Does the fans run constantly? Are they loud? Does the unit emit a permant buzz like the voltronic VM models? Or is this a MKS model with proper fan algorithm. With fans switching off on low currents?

my take on this. get a dual output inverter. run everything through the inverter, and put the non essentials on the main AC output. as this one can be adjusted to drops off when utility drops. or when a certain SOC is reached. the second AC output will be for essentials. AXPERT Twin comes to mind. the other work around... and i personally prefer this idea, as the inverters are full of issues and niggles and firmware issues, unless you splash out on very expensive blue stuff. install an inverted capable of handling everything in your home. and put the non essentials through smart switches after the inverter. Create a load shedding condition on your app. this way you can switch off the non essentials at night when there is no PV and utility drops, to protect the batteries. this way you will harvest all the PV you can, during daytime. battery will be charged full most of the time. and your battery will carry you on the essentials during night time. this is pretty much what i am doing now, exception being the oven and geyser that will not be connected. i am installing a second 100L geyser (before the main geyser) with a 1500w element to push extra/wasted solar energy to the geyser during the day. the idea behind this is to use the 2nd geyser as a cheaper storage medium. and if i dont use it, it doesnt affect the rest of the system. (still toying with the idea to install both elements on the same geyser)