aquarat

I'm also seeing this behaviour. I recently bought a Pylontech US3000B battery, which I've connected to a Voltronic Axpert King 5K inverter (with a small solar array). I've got connectivity between the battery and inverter working. I came to the forums looking for a battery management strategy that will improve the longevity of the battery pack (I only want it as a backup power source). For now I've set the inverter to only charge the battery pack from solar, with some automation to cut utility power to the inverter after sunrise and restore utility power when the SoC hits 50%. In my case I suspect the battery will probably operate between 50% and 80% SoC during the course of most summer days, but I need to test this. This is my thumbsuck first-attempt strategy but I don't know if this is actually good for the longevity of the battery or if this default Axpert behaviour above is better? RS232 console port is definitely on my investigation list (given that the inverter saturates the RS485 link with data).

I eventually did publish the Must Inverter bridge code after several people asked for it. My Voltronic installation and the integration I created for it has been running flawlessly for some time now. About to take the plunge and upgrade to LiFePo batteries . The lead acid batteries I installed seem to only have around 1.5kwh capacity of their advertised 5kwh after a year of use. Best of luck with your clone

I haven't been to this site in a while haha. My Must inverter burnt out/failed after a while and I replaced it with a Voltronic Axpert King unit. I think the Must unit failed due to me turning on a dodgy setting (setting 09 I think? It's "auto restart on overload" I think). I think the failure is related to the TVS diodes. I've still got the unit, need to get it repaired. Both the Must unit I had and the Axpert that replaced it have some oddities to them. The King offers a lot more control via it's comms system than the Must unit, so I have a NodeRed automation flow that manages the state of the unit based on weather data. It's pretty cool. The King protocol is fairly well documented. It is possible to forcefully manage the Must units in a similar way by having a computer-controlled upstream contactor/big relay, so that one can shut off power to the inverter from the utility. I have this for my King unit, even though it doesn't really need it. My house runs on Home Assistant via a message broker (MQTT). I had and have a bridge between the serial interface on the inverters and my home MQTT server via a tiny Raspberry Pi Zero SBC, which allows me to log telemetry and also control the inverter. All the software is DIY. The graph above is from Home Assistant based on data collected through the bridge I created (the data itself is in a relational database). Someone else has since extended this software to include support for the Axpert Voltronic King units. The Must units have their own serial protocol and the protocol is not documented, however, the software the inverter ships with is very easily decompiled. This is what I did, I decompiled the shipped monitoring app, stuck some boilerplate code on it so it could be run from a command line and would dump all available telemetry to the output terminal in JSON format. I take the output and ship it off to the message broker where Home Assistant picks it up, parses it and stores it in the database. Because the code is the product of decompilation, putting it on something like Github would probably constitute a copyright infringement - that's ironic though given that the product it supports is itself a copyright infringement. I could probably upload it regardless and if they get unhappy they'll just ask it to be removed.

I reconfigured the solar array from 3:2 (series:parallel) to 2:3. This brought the theoretical open circuit voltage from 130 VDC down to 86.8 VDC (Pmax of 105 V to 70 V). The inverter seems to target 62 V as the Pmax voltage. The inverter still continuously cuts out the array if the battery float voltage is set to anything lower than 57.2 V. There seems to be an improvement in power generation of around 33% - so that's nice (this could also be due to renewal of the connectors during array reconfiguration).

Ah that is insightful. On that note, I thought you might find the bus voltage graph for today interesting (along with the PV output). The bus voltage seemingly dropped in sympathy with the PV output during the course of the day. There were no drop-outs; the gap in the afternoon data was due to me refining the bridge software. The inverter also indicated occasional "battery discharge current"... which is odd. I assume this is something to do with 57.2 V being above 57 V probably not great.

I experimented a bit more today: it seems to start disconnecting/connecting the PV array when the float voltage is set to a value lower than 57.1 VDC. I'm guessing that it can't bring the voltage from the array close enough to the normal float voltage, so it just drops the array (in simplistic terms). I originally based the wiring of the panels on wanting reduced current and the Must Power clone unit, which indicated that up to 130 VDC was acceptable (the panels don't seem to get above 121 VDC open circuit) - whoops. I'm really not in the mood to rewire them haha . Thanks for the insights/verification of my unit's config^

It was a somewhat rushed purchase due to load shedding. I have a generator, but naturally it makes a noise (despite it being "silenced), so I don't run it at night/early morning. The generator output is also unstable. We had existing solar panels with *very* dodgy grid-tie inverters installed circa 2012 (DIY/self-install). These micro-inverters generated a ton of RF noise. The King is mostly great because it smooths out the generator output (in online mode), utilises the existing PV array and provides a load-shedding backup. It's definitely on my to-do list to upgrade both the batteries and panels. The batteries to something LiFePO4 based probably, I just need to research the topic properly. and here I was thinking I was doing the right stuff to make them last longer So this machine is really odd. Maybe I've got the config wrong: If I set the float voltage to 56.4 V, the unit does the PV array on/off continuous cycling thing. If I set the float voltage to 59.2 V, it connects the array and powers the load with the PV power. This is obviously not a sustainable configuration. I've noticed the bus voltage shifts from ~390 V to 410 V when it's conforming power from the solar array. It may be related to "battery_recharge_voltage" and "battery_redischarge_voltage" (this is the equivalent of stop discharge when grid is available/stop charge when grid available). I've quoted the current configuration below if you don't mind checking over it (I've removed the obvious config options - the defaults are first): ================ Settings ================== Parameter Current Unit Default Over_Temperature_Restart enabled Overload_Bypass enabled Overload_Restart enabled Power_Saving disabled ac_input_voltage 230.0 V ac_output_active_power 5000 W ac_output_apparent_power 5000 VA ac_output_current 21.7 A ac_output_frequency 50.0 Hz 50.0 ac_output_voltage 230.0 V 230.0 battery_bulk_charge_voltage 59.4 V 56.4 battery_float_charge_voltage 59.3 V 54.0 battery_recharge_voltage 57.0 V 46.0 battery_redischarge_voltage 57.0 V 54.0 battery_type User AGM battery_under_voltage 45.0 V 42.0 battery_voltage 48.0 V charger_source_priority Utility first Solar + Utility input_voltage_range UPS UPS machine_type Off Grid max_ac_charging_current 10 A 0030 max_battery_cv_charging_time 900 s max_charging_current 010 A 60 operation_logic Online Mode automatic output_mode single machine output single machine output output_source_priority Solar first Utility first pv_power_balance PV input max power will be the sum of the max charged power and loads power (the dip towards the end of the graph is the MPPT system engaging after setting the float voltage higher)

Ah interesting! Is there any way of dumping the current firmware without opening the machine? (I don't want to break the warranty, like I did with the Must Power unit... long story, I was trying to clean it) I'm *mostly* not planning on adding fancy batteries currently (sticking with VRLA(?) mostly for backup). It mostly works, it seems, it just sometimes disconnects the array, waits a few seconds, reconnects and repeats continuously until the sun goes down. It generally doesn't seem to be as efficient with solar conversion as the dodgy MUST POWER unit I had - but the MP unit may have had inflated numbers. haha @ "of course". How are you doing the firmware patching? As in, are you trying to read, understand and modify the firmware machine code directly (as opposed to compiling from source)? That's not for the faint of heart/headache material. no worries My setup is fairly basic, but I will probably expand the size of the PV array before next summer. Unfortunately my house's roof(s) are poorly oriented for solar. I'm using a set of 4x 12V 102Ah silver-calcium lead acid batteries from National Battery in series. I phoned them and they gave me a figure of 59.2 V (series) for bulk/absorb, 54.4 V float and 45.6 V lowest permissible voltage. My unit seems to go to the float voltage prematurely regardless of the absorb timeout setting, but I need to test this, I'll do this tomorrow There's a metric from the inverter called "Time until the end of float charging"... but it emits values that don't really make sense. I've attached a graph of the output over the last 24 hours (ignore the 'm' unit, that's part of my HA unit config).

Hi all Please help: can I install the "Beta Version of Patched Firmware 71.80d for PIP-5048MK/Axpert King 5K" on my machine (details below)? I've got a machine that says "Model: SOL-I-AX-5KP" on the side. It's branded Mecer. Solar charger is rated at Max 145 VDC, rated current 80A. As far as I can tell it is a genuine Axpert King 5 kW machine. I purchased it a few days ago to replace a dodgy CB Solar clone unit (Must Power PH1800). Current firmware versions (app): Main CPU: 71.90 Bluetooth: 0.24 SCC CPU1: 1.10 and firmware versions on display: V1: 71.90 V2: 02.40 V3: 00.24 V4: 01.10 The machine mostly works, it just exhibits the premature float voltage charge mode bug (I'm using it with Lead Acid batteries) and it also sometimes gets into a mode where it continuously connects and disconnects the solar array (6x270w panels installed in 2012). The PV continuous connect/disconnect behaviour seems to only occur, so far, if the inverter is turned off and back on when the sun is out (a slow ramp in voltage doesn't seem to trigger the behaviour). Separately, for those who like Linux and run Home Assistant/MQTT, I've taken an app written for the older Axpert model inverters and modified it for use with my King unit (based on a protocol spec PDF). It is a headless app that comfortably runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero W and bridges the inverter to MQTT, allowing Home Assistant to read stats from the inverter and even more critically allows apps to write commands to the inverter (think NodeRED in HA). I'm still testing it and ironing out some minor bugs but I'll package it up neatly when it's ready. The COOLEST part of this is that the Pi Zero W comfortably runs off the OTG port on the inverter - so one cable allows the Pi to both get power from the inverter and query the inverter via the virtual USB serial port. Any suggestions regarding firmware would be great

A STAR inverter? interesting, do you have a link so I can get a better look at it? Ah yes, that's Grafana, although it looks like you're missing data? I run Grafana separately and can graph any metric Home Assistant logs - so I dump everything into a database via HA and then pick through the data when I need to :). My inverter behaves very weirdly - I can't get it to stop charging the battery haha. It'll use solar to charge the battery at 10w and then dumps the rest of the power. The only way to get it to use the full solar output is to kill the Eskom supply. Sometimes it magically sends solar to both the battery and the house supply with Eskom attached, but I have no idea what logic drives that state.

Hey Luminous So I should have mentioned that the inverter's LCD display indicates two main states when it comes to the battery: power goes from the PV array either solely into the battery or both into the battery and the house power supply (downstream from the inverter, 230VAC). Sometimes it decides to both charge the battery and power the house, but sometimes it only charges the battery - this is unaffected by it having an oversupply of energy and the battery being flat or full. ^ On the left is how the LCD indicates power being delivered to both the battery and house. On the right it's just going to the battery. The Inverter came with a dodgy mini-cd with a Panda on it. On it was an application called PowerMonitor.exe. My unit has both RS485 and a USB port. Underneath the USB port is actually an RS485 adapter, so they go to the same place ultimately. I currently query the device via USB. Is your unit also a Must Power PH1800-like unit? PZEM-004 looks like a current transformer+ADC? I'm additionally using a Shelly EM, which is CT based (it reads from two CTs). The Shelly is cheap, WiFi enabled, does MQTT, is small, measures voltage, reactive power, power and can do all of the power readings in reverse (say, if you're generating power). It's pretty amazing. Below is how I've represented it in Home Assistant.

Hi all I'm new, so I apologise in advance if this post is wrong/misplaced/etc. I recently bought a CB Solar Synapse 4.0+ Inverter. It looked like an Axpert unit, but as I've since discovered it is actually made by a company called MUST POWER in China. My entire house is automated (self built system) and long story short I reverse engineered their Windows app to communicate with the inverter using a Raspberry Pi Zero - so I now have all the inverter status data in my Home Assistant system. I've put a JSON dump of the output I'm getting from the inverter at the bottom of this post if anyone is interested. About 9 years ago I installed 1.6kw-worth of solar panels on my roof - I've now connected them to the new MP unit as it can do solar very efficiently. The theoretical best-power voltage of the resulting panel configuration currently is around 106 V. The inverter is rated to a maximum of 145 V. Currently, the panels generate around 700w of power on a sunny day, so I probably need to recheck the old connectors and see if they need replacement. The cable from the panels to the inverter is 40m long, which doesn't help. I have 4x 12V 102AH batteries in series attached to the inverter. Questions: 1. I've noticed that the inverter loves spending its time charging the batteries. It'll use 0.01kw of solar power to charge the batteries and dumps the rest of the power. If I cut the utility power temporarily, it then uses the solar power to run both the house loads and charge the batteries. This sounds like a firmware bug? It seems to do this regardless of the USER DEFINED battery voltage configuration (initial voltage 59.2v, float 54.4v). Anybody have any experience with this? Can I upgrade the firmware? 2. The inverter has a grid-tie function where it can feed power back into the grid. It is enabled by option 9 I think, but on my unit that option is missing. I doubt the unit lacks the hardware to do this, I suspect it's a firmware restriction or setting somewhere... If anyone has any general input/advice it would be great. Thanks { "_accumulatedBuyPower": "210.3", "_accumulatedChargerPower": "21.6", "_accumulatedDischargerPower": "20.2", "_accumulatedGridChargerPower": "21.6", "_accumulatedLoadPower": "204.6", "_accumulatedPower": "12.1", "_accumulatedPvSellPower": "0", "_accumulatedSelfUsePower": "5.9", "_accumulatedSellPower": "0", "_accumulatedTime": "01:14:06", "_acRadiatorTemperature": "52", "_acVoltageGrade": "230", "_battCurrent": "25", "_batteryRelay": "Connect", "_batteryVoltage": "48.9", "_battPower": "1262", "_battVolGrade": "48", "_busVoltage": "385.4", "_chargerCurrent": "5.1", "_chargerPower": "251", "_chargerWorkstate": "Work Mode", "_chargingState": "Absorb charge", "_combineType": "0000", "_controlCurrent": "7.7", "_dcRadiatorTemperature": "39", "_dcRelayState": "Connect", "_chargerId": 4, "_earthRelayState": "Disconnect", "_errorMessage": "", "_externalTemperature": "-54", "_gridCurrent": "0", "_gridFrequency": "0", "_gridRelayState": "Disconnect", "_gridVoltage": "0", "_hardwareVersion": "1.02.02", "_inverterBatteryVoltage": "48.6", "_inverterCurrent": "7.7", "_inverterErrorMessage": "Inverter grid under frequency\n", "_inverterFrequency": "50", "_inverterHardwareVersion": "1.01.01", "_inverterMachineType": "PH1800", "_inverterMaxNumber": "0000", "_inverterNumber": "0000", "_inverterRelayState": "Connect", "_inverterSerialNumber": "FFFFFFFF", "_inverterSoftwareVersion": "2.15.19", "_inverterVoltage": "229.6", "_inverterWarningMessage": "", "_loadCurrent": "7", "_loadPercent": "33", "_loadRelayState": "Connect", "_machineType": "0708", "_mpptState": "MPPT", "_nLineRelayState": "Disconnect", "_pGrid": "0", "_pInverter": "1377", "_pLoad": "1341", "_pvRelay": "Connect", "_pvVoltage": "96.9", "_qgrid": "0", "_qinverter": "1140", "_qload": "938", "_radiatorTemperature": "48", "_ratedCurrent": "80", "_ratedPower": "5000", "_serialNumber": "FFFFFFFF", "_sGrid": "0", "_sInverter": "1787", "_sload": "1638", "_softwareVersion": "1.16.23", "_transformerTemperature": "51", "_warningMessage": "", "_workState": "OffGrid", "_inverterId": 4, "Id": 0, "ChargerId": 4, "InverterId": 4, "RecordTime": "0001-01-01T00:00:00", "MachineType": "0708", "SerialNumber": "FFFFFFFF", "HardwareVersion": "1.02.02", "SoftwareVersion": "1.16.23", "PvVoltageC": "4000", "BatteryVoltageC": "4000", "ChargerCurrentC": "4000", "ChargerWorkEnable": "1", "AbsorbVoltage": "50", "FloatVoltage": "54.8", "AbsorptionVoltage": "58.4", "BatteryLowVoltage": "34", "BatteryHighVoltage": "60", "MaxChargerCurrent": "80", "AbsorbChargerCurrent": "10", "BatteryType": "1", "BatteryAh": "200", "RemoveTheAccumulatedData": "0", "ChargerWorkstate": "Work Mode", "MpptState": "MPPT", "ChargingState": "Absorb charge", "PvVoltage": "96.9", "BatteryVoltage": "48.9", "ChargerCurrent": "5.1", "ChargerPower": "251", "RadiatorTemperature": "48", "ExternalTemperature": "-54", "BatteryRelay": "Connect", "PvRelay": "Connect", "ErrorMessage": "", "WarningMessage": "", "BattVolGrade": "48", "RatedCurrent": "80", "AccumulatedPower": "12.1", "AccumulatedTime": "01:14:06", "InverterMachineType": "PH1800", "InverterSerialNumber": "FFFFFFFF", "InverterHardwareVersion": "1.01.01", "InverterSoftwareVersion": "2.15.19", "InverterBatteryVoltageC": "3FEB", "InverterVoltageC": "3F95", "GridVoltageC": "FFFF", "BusVoltageC": "FFFF", "ControlCurrentC": "FFFF", "InverterCurrentC": "FFFF", "GridCurrentC": "FFFF", "LoadCurrentC": "FFFF", "InverterOffgridWorkEnable": "1", "InverterOutputVoltageSet": "230", "InverterOutputFrequencySet": "5000", "InverterSearchModeEnable": "0", "InverterDischargerToGridEnable": "0", "EnergyUseMode": "2", "GridProtectStandard": "2", "SolarUseAim": "1", "InverterMaxDischargerCurrent": "13", "NormalVoltagePoint": "54", "StartSellVoltagePoint": "57.8", "GridMaxChargerCurrentSet": "15", "InverterBatteryLowVoltage": "45", "InverterBatteryHighVoltage": "60", "MaxCombineChargerCurrent": "15", "SystemSetting": "0100000000000000", "ChargerSourcePriority": "0", "WorkState": "OffGrid", "AcVoltageGrade": "230", "RatedPower": "5000", "InverterBatteryVoltage": "48.6", "InverterVoltage": "229.6", "GridVoltage": "0", "BusVoltage": "385.4", "ControlCurrent": "7.7", "InverterCurrent": "7.7", "GridCurrent": "0", "LoadCurrent": "7", "PInverter": "1377", "PGrid": "0", "PLoad": "1341", "LoadPercent": "33", "SInverter": "1787", "SGrid": "0", "Sload": "1638", "Qinverter": "1140", "Qgrid": "0", "Qload": "938", "InverterFrequency": "50", "GridFrequency": "0", "InverterMaxNumber": "0000", "CombineType": "0000", "InverterNumber": "0000", "AcRadiatorTemperature": "52", "TransformerTemperature": "51", "DcRadiatorTemperature": "39", "InverterRelayState": "Connect", "GridRelayState": "Disconnect", "LoadRelayState": "Connect", "N_LineRelayState": "Disconnect", "DCRelayState": "Connect", "EarthRelayState": "Disconnect", "AccumulatedChargerPower": "21.6", "AccumulatedDischargerPower": "20.2", "AccumulatedBuyPower": "210.3", "AccumulatedSellPower": "0", "AccumulatedLoadPower": "204.6", "AccumulatedSelf_usePower": "5.9", "AccumulatedPV_sellPower": "0", "AccumulatedGrid_chargerPower": "21.6", "InverterErrorMessage": "Inverter grid under frequency\n", "InverterWarningMessage": "", "BattPower": "1262", "BattCurrent": "25" }