Flouw

1. i have the inverter set to USE. 
2. only have essentials connected, i run from UTI from sunset to around 22:00. base loads that time is varying as the fridge goes on and off. but it consumes 6/7% per hour. solar assist helps me to maintain the battery. i choose to cycle the battery, as it makes space to harvest PV. the next day- i need to add another battery, as mine is fully charged by 10:00 in the morning already, and the PV system is then just idling. 
3. i set the float and bulk the same, as the float bug is a reality if your voltage doesnt go low enough, especially charging on PV. it only charges to float voltage. BUT, once the PV drops, it tops it off from Utility till it reaches the SOC maintainer. that is why i raised the float to where i want it to be.
the 3.4v resting voltage is exactly that. resting voltage. and what i have learned with the LiFePo4, Voltage doesnt tell you much.
i use to think my battery is almost empty after 4 hour load shedding, lights on, TV on. fridge running. till i fitted the Smart Shunt. then realized after a 4 hour outage, that my battery was still at least 50%. 

my previous inverter didnt have the bulk timed charge function. and the floating bug is pretty much in all the inverters/batteries that cant communicate. im not running  a big system. so i dont have to fast charge (less than 2 hours), so i set the bulk the same as float. 27.6 is safe. and its not in the upper curve of the voltage, so it wont run away with the PV system. 
i would not even use the equalization function, as i dont see the need for lithium. the esener battery BMS is apparently an active balancer, so it always balances. not only from a certain voltage. i cant give more details, as i have yet to open one to see. but i set my batteries to charge at 28.2v for 12 hours once a month. and it seems to be OK with that, lithium will only absort the power it needs, and you cant overcharge them, unless you over voltage them. do not charge them to the absolute max, and keep them there, they need to settle, otherwise it gets bloated and gas's
i do have PV on the roof yes, that charges and supports all the essentials the whole day, and at night i let the battery run down to 40% SOC by 06:00. which ever comes first, as PV starts producing from there, although not much, but has enough power left for another 4 hours untill either PV is enough, or Eskom is back online if its rainy. 
Solar assistant helps maintain the battery, has that function. so if the battery drains faster than the graph, it switches to grid untill everything catches up. i dont charge from Eskom at all. unless the weather is really bad. 
 
IF i had to install a system again, as an backup, or for someone else, and dont have the capability to read SOC, i would again set the bulk and float to 27.6. and forget about it. 
ill do some tests on a lower voltage for bulk and float, to see when the "floating bug" starts setting in. 

my previous inverter didnt have the bulk timed charge function. and the floating bug is pretty much in all the inverters/batteries that cant communicate. im not running  a big system. so i dont have to fast charge (less than 2 hours), so i set the bulk the same as float. 27.6 is safe. and its not in the upper curve of the voltage, so it wont run away with the PV system. 
i would not even use the equalization function, as i dont see the need for lithium. the esener battery BMS is apparently an active balancer, so it always balances. not only from a certain voltage. i cant give more details, as i have yet to open one to see. but i set my batteries to charge at 28.2v for 12 hours once a month. and it seems to be OK with that, lithium will only absort the power it needs, and you cant overcharge them, unless you over voltage them. do not charge them to the absolute max, and keep them there, they need to settle, otherwise it gets bloated and gas's
i do have PV on the roof yes, that charges and supports all the essentials the whole day, and at night i let the battery run down to 40% SOC by 06:00. which ever comes first, as PV starts producing from there, although not much, but has enough power left for another 4 hours untill either PV is enough, or Eskom is back online if its rainy. 
Solar assistant helps maintain the battery, has that function. so if the battery drains faster than the graph, it switches to grid untill everything catches up. i dont charge from Eskom at all. unless the weather is really bad. 
 
IF i had to install a system again, as an backup, or for someone else, and dont have the capability to read SOC, i would again set the bulk and float to 27.6. and forget about it. 
ill do some tests on a lower voltage for bulk and float, to see when the "floating bug" starts setting in. 

i use a Axpert type inverter. and the battery setting is on USE. as i can set the float and bulk to whatever i want. and the bulk does have the timed bulk charge function aswell (not the equalize charge function).
also no comms between inverter and battery.
 
i also had alot of questions, and sat with multimeters and and and for days and hours. 
so i just bought a Victron smart shunt and a Raspberry, in loaded Solar assist. yes there is still flaws. but atleast i can try resolve this myself while i am not home, as i work out of country for weeks at end. 
 
even after installing the monitoring stuff, giving me a better idea of what is going on, and and and. i still run it on 27.6v. of bulk and float. 
and i play around ever so often with different settings to see what effect it has. 
again, i cycle the battery daily, so it doesnt sit at 27.6v the whole day, probably for 4 hours or so, and then solar decreases to where it starts using battery again.

EDIT(ive added a screenshot of the setting)
also known as power sensing. if the current draw is very low, the inverter swithces off
 
 
what mecer model is it? and there is a "power saving" setting that you need to disable. 
 
check the manual. im not 100% sure what is is called. 
Power saving.
Standby.
or something like that
 

EDIT(ive added a screenshot of the setting)
also known as power sensing. if the current draw is very low, the inverter swithces off
 
 
what mecer model is it? and there is a "power saving" setting that you need to disable. 
 
check the manual. im not 100% sure what is is called. 
Power saving.
Standby.
or something like that
 

strange yes. as the general public is still struggling to get 545w panels for under R3200

i had the same inverter. and used lead acid batteries. they where also of age, and didnt last very long. 
 
the way i see it. the mecer units are rather an UPS, than an inverter. their intended use is to keep the equipment running in the event of an power outage. till you can switch off the equipment or till a generator kicks in. yes, if you have an lithium battery connected, the can run for hours. yes f you have enough battery capacity they can also run for hours. BUT. their charging capabilities are not good. if you rush 20a charge into them, they charge to the voltage setting for a very short duration. and then goes to trickle charge. hence, no absorption. i have monitored the charging with a shunt. it reaches the max voltage, and the amps drops off shortly after and the voltage then reduces to a float voltage. and charges with 1/2 amps only. that way it will take forever to reach full charged capacity. much longer than what we have between load shedding. 
 
the very same happens with the Axpert type inverters on lithium battery when charging with a higher amperage. once charging hits the set voltage, it drops to float voltage very quickly and no absorption time. most of the times the charge algorithm is also not triggered if the voltage doesnt drop low enough. thats why i have set float voltage and absorption voltage to 3.45v per cell. that was it will reach 99% SOC, although it charges a little longer. it wont over charge, and wont experience the premature float bug as they call it. 

cant wait. Tax man did nothing for me this year, perhaps i get "lucky"

cant wait. Tax man did nothing for me this year, perhaps i get "lucky"

cant wait. Tax man did nothing for me this year, perhaps i get "lucky"

you wont have so much loss due to cable lengths. 
i personally think the panels are connected 2P2S perhaps. 
even at a very bad angle, the VOC should not be much lower. as soon as you start producing the volts might drop very quickly - no stamina. 

no. the Mppt does not draw anything from the battery. 
the Mppt takes a little time to react to load changes, and therefore uses the battery as a "cushion" for a second. 
so when the loads reduce, the Mppt might run the battery voltage past set value until it can react and stabalise. To control the voltage, it will consume a little from the battery again after load is settled to get the voltage back to set value. ive seen up to 11amp drawn from the battery after the voltage run up when i disconnect heavy loads. this is only for few seconds. 
 
the consumption from battery is indicated in A. the first photo you posted shows that 1A is being drawn from the battery. the display being "dumb", does not show decimals, and could in fact be 0.6amp being drawn, but the display will round it to 1A. and this could very well be the inverter trying to maintain the set voltage. 
 
Photo 01 - Battery Voltage, and consumption of 1 amp, that could be anything from 0.4 amp to 1.4amp, rounding off)
Photo 02 - Battery Voltage and inverter output. (whether the power comes from the PV panels, or the battery, that measurement is made on the DC to AC Inverter)
Photo 03 - isn't this the same screen as nr 02? load changed slightly since previous photo. 
Photo 04 - PV power input and AC voltage output.
Photo 05 - AC input frequency, and voltage output. 
 
 
i hope this makes more sense now. 

according to the photos you posted. 
the one where it shows 28v, and 737w Output. 
that is not your batteries output. but the inverter output. 
PV supplies the DC to DC converter, DC does to the batteries, and from there it supplies the DC to AC inverter. 
the one picture shows 1A, this could very well be how much is drawn from the battery, and this is not constant. 
 
i have similar display, and hooked up to various monitoring items. and been staring at them for weeks now to see the trend and understand how they function and react. 
if and when the PV panels produce for instance 800w, and your load is 800w. (for arguments sake, knowing it wont be an exact match as there is losses)
and your load drops to 300w. then the excess amps runs into the battery until the MPPT can respond and reduce its output (raise the volts and reduce the amps). that will let your battery volts run up slightly, and since you are on the higher end of the voltage curve of lithium, it ramps the volts rather quickly. 
- my inverter then draws current from the battery to reduce the voltage back to the set float/charge setting it is currently in and settles. hence why you will get amperage draws from the battery, even though its fully charged, and the PV is providing more than enough. this is only until the voltage settles again. 
 
so what i am saying, you are misunderstanding the display.  

change your battery type to USE. 
set the bulk and float voltage yourself. 

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
 

Hi Tim. 
 
System is treating me well thus far. 
I have not tried the microwave as yet. But my wife did run the hair dryer for a few minutes to dry the kids hair one evening after bath time. 
 
The 4 hour load shedding isnt a problem either. Fridge connected permanently now. Tv and essentials running comfortably. At the end of the 4 hour the battery is reading 26/26.1V. Dipped to 25.8V one evening while some extra computers and playstation etc all was running. Being unaware we had a mssive power outage.
 
I am however looking at another inverter with bigger solar capability. And saw the newer Growcol unit. Also 24v. 3.6kw. But has a massive 4000w solar input capability. Still doing homework on it. Looks like a voltronic copy.
 
Winter is going to have us on our knees with load shedding. 
So i need to weigh up. Another battery. Or solar panels....

Good day
 
i thought ill introduce myself formally, and start a topic so i can add information and experiences on a regular basis.
LOADSHEDDING is the main reason/cause for me joining, and the main reason i have a backup system. 
started off with a small Mecer UPS, fit for a computer with two small 12v batteries that i used to keep the router going. batteries died as they where about 9 years old. then connected them to 2 x 105Ah Royal batteries that was destined to be thrown out as they where past their 50% lifetime (from a massive server UPS system) they lasted for some time, and I wanted to add more batteries, (i had 6 in total) the small UPS did not have the capacity to charge the bigger batteries, as it only has a 2A charging capability. took almost 10 hours to charge the 105Ah batteries after a 2 hour load shedding. 
purchased a 2400va Mecer LOBO unit. served me well. added 2 more batteries, had to balance charge the batteries every couple of days, as i did not have equal length cables or a Battery balancer connected. 
My Neighbor's lighty is a sparky, and he helped to connect the inverter to the DB in essential and non essential circuits, and connected the inverter to power lights, TV and router. the setup did very well for about 11 months, when i realized the batteries are deteriorating even further. wanting to install a LifePO4, and knowing the current inverter was not suitable to maintain the battery properly. 
luck would have it, down the road from me, a friend decided to upgrade his system, as he works from home (IT) and his rigs are power hungry, and load shedding is hampering his work. he offered me the Mecer 3KVA for a reasonable price, including the manuals, invoice and balance of warrantee (purchased from Mustek themselves)
purchased the inverted. installed and connected the old 105Ah batteries. 
next day jumped in to strip out the DB, identify all the circuits and rewire it accordingly.
2 pole breaker to supply the inverter,
2 pole breaker for the supply to the non essential
Earth leakage to all essential breakers
i dont have a changeover switch. but i am able to isolate the inverted if and when i need to work on it.
 
following week i went out to purchase the Esener LifePo4 battery. since the inverter doesnt have any communication ports, its no use buying a battery with ports. ill just have to monitor the battery myself. 
 
no solar panels installed as yet - only have 600W MPPT capability, which should be enough to carry the base load during the day, and charge the batteries a little not to cycle them during load shedding. 
 
i have ordered a Junctek shunt/monitor through Amazon. no idea when it will arrive. in the meantime i installed a 100a shunt and Volts/Amp meter from Communica for me to track charging amps going to the battery to try figure out what is happening. 
 
i will post my charging findings. aswell as my current settings im playing with in terms of Bulk, Float and equalize. 
 
 

@charl perhaps connect one panel only, and see if its actually charging then. perhaps the inverter is blocking out everything as its overvoltage. 
 
the 90VOC is an absolutely max, and as Coulomb has mentioned on another post, the controller will actually start blocking out below that, and blow up at 80Voc
 
just a test, before forking out money on a new stand alone controler

Agree with you. 
 
Hence me saying one single panel. Or 2 smaller panels in parallel. That should keet the VOC low enough

im Sure he means you can install them as (2p2s) (or is it 2S2P)
 
but yes, what he means is you will install two panels in series, and connect those two series panels in parallel. 
you can read my comment from earlier, you cant exceed the VOC. putting two in series will exceed the max VOC. 
to save on cabling, connections and mountings - and in general panel costs. just install 2 larger panels (2x350w) in parallel. 
or just buy 1 x 650w and get it over with. thats what im going to do. 1 x 6xxW panel, and it makes it rather easy to add another in future when i expand. realistically, calculate your solar needs during the day. and go from there.