SwitchVanDam

Hi all, I am struggling to figure out what I am doing wrong or if my inverter is just broken. I have a Sna5000 luxpower inverter and it has 2 x dry contact relays at the bottom, 1 for the generator and 1 for low battery warning and battery float voltage reached. I have gone through all the settings on the inverter and on the web settings there is no place to active the dry contacts but when I take my multimeter I am not getting any continuity between any com, NC or NO. Is anyone here using these contacts and how did you get it to work? I have a sunsynk at my shop and is spoiled by it's CT's that gives it the ability to export excess solar power to non essential loads without exporting to the grid. So basically what I want to do with the dry contacts is to add the non essential loads via a smart changeover to the inverter load up until the gen relay clicks so that the non essential loads does not deplete my battery.

Hi @TaliaB I have increased my charging voltage, discharge cut-off and EOD voltage. Thanks for the suggestions. Can you please just double check what I have now. Now I just need advice on how to move the load to UPS even when GridA is available.

@Scorp007I am using Nenergy Lifepo4 batteries (2x24v in series) they don't have CAN or RS485 communication abality so yeah set them up as Lead acid and works great. I hear you regarding the reactive power and pf but my issue is the mismatch between the voltage protector and the inverter stats, if it was reactive power why does the inverter not show a negative watts amount at GRIDA? It shows 0watts I would really like to hear from @PsyCLownas he started this thread way back and maybe he has found the solution.

Thanks for the reply @Bobster. I know about the essential and non-essential loads setup as my Sunsynk at the shop works like that but the sna5000 lux does not work like that as it does not have an external CT clamp. So from Eskom the +live wire goes through the eskom meter then through my earth leakage then my voltage protector (the one that shows usage when it shouldn't) then through a breaker directly to the inverter gridA input. No other loads connected to that line. Same as @PsyCLowntests shown at the start of this thread the inverter shows zero watts imported from grid but in actual fact it does use grid according to the voltage protector and a clamp meter, and it's not a constant 1amp that one can say it's consumed by the inverter, it increases as the load increases as shown by my photos when I ran the microwave that drew 8amp from the inverter grid drew 3amp.

Thanks @TaliaBfor the info on the batter voltages as I thumb sucked those that I have but yeah always willing to optimize. Issue I have with the Lux setup is I installed it to save on my eskom bill but currently yeah I am saving but I am saving more when I manually switch the eskom breaker of each morning and switching it back on when I get home from work.

This is my current settings and I am using 2 x nenergy 24v batteries connected in series and have 2 x strings of 5 x 550w panels coming in

While this 8amp load was running the inverter was showing the following on its screen. No arrow from grida

I am not smart enough to without a doubt say I know where the power is going but I definitely know that the inverter is lying. Did a quick test this morning where a switched on a moderate load and the usage on my eskom watcher increased from 1amp to 3amps but the inverter is in self consumption mode. As you can see on the attached pictures the 3phase monitor is what is coming in from Eskom and the single phase monitor is what is going out of my inverter to my loads

@PsyCLownI have the exact same issue, I thought there was something wrong with my settings but now you have confirmed I am not mad. Have you maybe found a solution to this usage? Is there not a way to let the inverter move the load from LOAD to UPS even when gridA is available? Otherwise I was thinking of installing a relay on the dry contacts that can disconnect GridA when the battery is in float stage and connect it again when not.

So it seems like everyone agrees. Supply to inverter should be before the earthleakage. Secondly. Does everyone agree that my pv panels are okay taking into mind what happend? Also noticed that when I switch of the dc breaker of the panels and measure dc volts between + or - of the pv panels and earth I get close to 200v and while I am holding the meter there the volt decrease to around 20v Is this normal?

Okay lets say there is a fault inside the inverter and somehow there is a leak to its metal body and you as a human touch that metal body you are going to get a shock or not?

Ahaa okay that looks cool. Thanks. I will give it a try

Yes you are correct I have 2 seperate curcuits for essential and non essential loads. But my issue is what protects my inverter? Should there be a fault inside the inverter with all those relays and switches what is going to trip before everything goes up in flames? We also have allot of lightning storms and I am of the opinion that the earthleakage provides some sort of protection against it

Thanks for your reply. Yes the lights flicker for a brief moment during changeover. I thought that was normal and that the inverter changeover was just a ms to slow.

Thanks for the reply and advice. I just want to challenge your advice, if you are correct by taking the supply before the earth leakage why is there a signal island mode function? If supply is taken before the earth leakage then there can be a permanent earth neutral bond on the inverter load and nothing would trip and also then no use for such function. Isn't there maybe a diffent fault that I should search for that would be the better solution or am I just being stubborn? Thanks again for your reply, I am just trying to get clarity and not just follow any advice without understanding it.