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PaulH

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  1. Dear Coulomb - please HELP with similar issue:-

    I am entirely off-grid.  Current system = 9 x 275W panels + 5kW Synapse (Axpert) off-grid inverter + 4 x 2.4kW Pylontech batteries + 6.5kVa back-up generator.  When needing to boost the battery bank using the genny, my inverter much of the time (a lot lately) won't take the charge.  Or it does for a while and then after a few minutes 'kicks it off'.

    I would like to charge the bank at a rate of 40A but this is hardly ever possible.  Sometimes when this problem occurs I'll need to drop the incoming charge down to 10A for the Inverter to accept it.  Then I'll raise it gradually to 20A, and then to 30A but then usually after a few minutes the Inverters disengages the charge and I have to drop it to 20A again or even 10A and start the process again.  I am tearing my hair out having to spend so much time in front of the inverter checking & adjusting settings.

    Also the inverter almost always disengages the generator charge when the house's water pressure pump switches on...

    Any suggestions please?

    1. Coulomb

      Coulomb

      Quote

      Current system = 9 x 275W panels + 5kW Synapse (Axpert) off-grid inverter

      Actually, a Synapse is an Axpert-like clone or work-alike, so I don't know much about them at all.

      Quote

      Then I'll raise it gradually to 20A, and then to 30A but then usually after a few minutes the Inverters disengages the charge and I have to drop it to 20A again or even 10A and start the process again... Also the inverter almost always disengages the generator charge when the house's water pressure pump switches on...

      That tells me that your 6.5 kVA generator isn't voltage regulating very well. It's probably a model without a built-in inverter. Inverter-chargers, especially Axperts and it seems Axpert work-alikes, really prefer the instant voltage regulation of generators with inverters built in.

      Your best option might be to sell that generator, and buy an inverter based model to replace it. It might be possible to just adjust some mechanical settings on your existing inverter, or just get the governor serviced, but I suspect it won't solve the problem.

      If your Synapse has a menu option similar to the Axpert AC input voltage range, make sure it's set to the widest possible voltage range (called APL on Axperts; setting 03). It might be possible to fit some sort of soft start device to your water pump, so that it doesn't suddenly impose a 1+ kW load on the generator, which it can't respond to fast enough mechanically. I have no idea where to get such a thing, in South Africa or elsewhere, but perhaps start with pump suppliers or Ebay. You might have to chase down other heavy start loads, such as fridges, freezers, power tools, etc.

      The core problem is that Axperts and work-alikes insist on synchronising to the AC-in waveform. When a sudden load causes the generator voltage to temporarily collapse, the waveform is severely distorted, and the inverter doesn't know how to synchronise to that. So it rejects the AC input.

      It would be nice if there was a "generator friendly" setting whereby it ignored short burts of synchronisation loss, and only rejected the AC-in if the voltage waveform was out of specification for say 1 second. But that option does not exist.

    2. PaulH

      PaulH

      Thank you so much for your reply.

  2. Dear Forum - HELP Please! I am entirely off-grid. When boosting my battery bank (4 x 2.4kW Pylontechs) using my back-up generator my Synapse 5kW inverter much of the time (a lot lately) won't take the charge. The generator is a 6.5kVA unit. I would like to charge the bank at a rate of 40A but this is hardly ever possible. Sometimes when this problem occurs I'll need to drop the incoming charge down to 10A for the Inverter to accept it. Then I'll raise it gradually to 20A, and then sometimes if I'm lucky to 30A but then usually after a few minutes the Inverters disengages the charge and I have to drop it to 20A again or even 10A and start the process again. I am tearing my hair out having to spend so much time in front of the inverter checking & adjusting settings. Also the inverter almost always disengages the generator charge when the house's water pressure pump switches on... Any suggestions please?
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