JVS

FNB.

Just to close the loop, I got the inverter repaired as the insurance rejected the claim. The battery just needed a charge. One month later it's up and running again. I can't seem to access it via USB anymore but it was fine when I got it back so maybe we just dislodged something during the installation. In the long run I'll probably get somebody to move everything inside the house as the insurance refuses to cover it while it's outside in a shed.

My Axpert got wet during the storm over the weekend and shut down completely. I've done a complete power down on all source and started up again, pressing the breaker reset button as well, but the inverter is confirmed dead. I could see water on the power switch after opening the bottom panel but I'm not sure where else. My best guess is that the circuit board to the left of the power switch was shorted out. The battery still powers on but the alarm light is showing. I've logged a claim with my insurance and the electrician who came out to do the assessment pointed out that the battery also needs replacement. I'm still awaiting the outcome of the assessment, but I would like to know if these inverters are repairable, and would it be worth it to do so? I was surprised that the battery got damaged as well as there was no water close to it, or to the contacts on the inverter side. Would the circuit board shorting out also cause damage to the battery, and would the battery be worth repairing? I'm hoping the actual cells are still ok and just needs some new circuitry.

I left it on SOL overnight, which drained the battery to about 50.9V before the PV input stopped completely, at which point it switched to AC without draining the battery further. After load shedding at midnight it went back to AC, and this morning when PV picked up, it switched back to battery again. This is more or less what I want, thanks. I did notice in the logs that it switched back and forth during the night once or twice. Is setting 12 the same as "Back to charge Voltage"? I've really only used Watchpower instead of changing settings directly on the inverter. U1 seems to be on 72 30. U2 is on 04 12. I've never really played with the firmware and when we moved in the system was running in utility mode, so was only set up as a backup during load shedding.

I've attached an image of the lable printed on the side. It's been rebranded to Voltex. I'm currently using Watchpower over USB on an old Netbook. While the battery percentage indicator is not that great, I generally use the voltages instead. There is some sort of data cable going between the battery and the inverter as well. In the long run I'll add another battery and at some point a more flexible inverter, but for now this will have to do.

Thanks, I'll try that. I always thought Solar would keep Utility switched off no matter what. My options are Utility, Solar, or SBU. Ideally I want solar during the day, utility at night and battery for load shedding. Not counting bad weather or cycling the battery for early morning savings just before sunrise. At least until I can get another battery and keep it on battery for the night.

That's a great idea! It would certainly add some flexibility. I recently bought an Astute for something else, but I haven't used it yet. I just need to check if it can carry my full utility load.

I had a look but it seems like my inverter doesn't have a SUB mode. I've resorted to switching manually from SBU to utility only, each evening, for now. While load shedding is low I've set my charge mode to solar only, so that it doesn't use utility to recharge and wait for PV instead, while running the house on utility.

I've corrected the bulk and float voltage settings to 53.8V (thanks all) and I'm now getting a stable 35+A charge from PV in midday. After sunset it stays on battery as per my SBU setting until it reaches the 'back to charge' voltage and switches over to AC, and starts charging. What I've noticed now that instead of keeping the battery full for the night on AC, it switches back and starts discharging again. My 'back to discharge' voltage is set at 55V, which it's no longer supposed to reach. It keeps on switching between AC and battery when the battery is full, and when the back to charge voltage is reached. Is this the nature of SBU, or is there a way to keep it on AC without switching to battery, till PV starts taking over? I haven't seen it doing this until I fixed the float and bulk voltages. Thanks again.

So I've corrected the bulk and float voltage settings (thanks all) and I'm now getting a stable 35A charge from PV in midday. After sunset it stays on battery as per my SBU setting until it reaches the 'back to charge' voltage and switches over to AC. What I've noticed now that instead of keeping the battery full for the night on AC, it starts discharging again. My 'back to discharge' voltage is still at 54V, which it's no longer supposed to reach. Due to stage 6 shedding, I keep my 'back to charge' voltage at 51V, but now it keeps on switching between AC and battery about every 20 minutes. Is this the nature of SBU, or is there a way to keep it on AC without switching to battery, till PV starts taking over? I haven't seen it doing this until I fixed the float and bulk voltages. Thanks again.

Agreed. This is what baffles me. I've set my Watchpower to 1s refresh rate, and as soon as it hits 31A it cuts off both the solar charging and solar input power, and switches to battery. I can even hear it switching if I stand next to it. Then when it recovers, it ramps up the amps again, and falls back again. Rinse repeat. When I set it 20A it stabilised.

Thanks. I saw this but wasn't sure if I should use this or the values printed on the battery lable.

The odd thing is that it wasn't just cutting solar charging, but the full solar input and running on battery instead, in the middle of the day with clear skies. When I set the charging to 20A the normal solar input also recovered.

Thanks, if I look at the logs the battery has peaked at 56.4V yesterday, so I'll definitely turn this down. Looks like it was set to AGM mode rather than user mode.

Having recently moved into a place with an Axpert MKS 5KW inverter and a Hubble AM-2 5.5KW battery, I noticed this thread while going through the settings. On the battery sticker the float and equilised voltages are shown as 52.6Vdc and 53.6Vdc respectively, but the inverter has been set to 54V and 56.4. Should I change this to match the battery sticker? The other issue I had was that the PV charging was set to max 60A, but when I enabled SBU (it's been running in utility mode all along) the inverted started dropping the PV input by mid-day. I then changed this down to 20A to get a stable PV charge. The inverter is supposed to be able to handle 80A solar charge, but I'm not sure if this is due to battery limitations or incorrect settings. Any input appreciated, thanks.