Unintentional Posted April 24, 2022 Author Share Posted April 24, 2022 13 hours ago, Halcyon said: Is your BMs errror stop function ticked under battery settings? Apparently if that is on and there is a BMs error the Inverter will shut down and restart. Check that. Yeah, I had that initially but disabled when my BlueNova BMS kept crashing on an old version. BMS is stable now but that setting is still off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sc00bs Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 Hi @Unintentional Check the voltage between earth and neutral when you are disconnected from the grid, there should be 0V difference. If there is a voltage difference then you have a floating neutral and this may be the cause of your issue. I had a problem with my inverter disconnecting from my generator and it was being caused by the earth and neutral not being bonded. I would check it out to exclude it as a possible source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted April 24, 2022 Author Share Posted April 24, 2022 19 minutes ago, Sc00bs said: Hi @Unintentional Check the voltage between earth and neutral when you are disconnected from the grid, there should be 0V difference. If there is a voltage difference then you have a floating neutral and this may be the cause of your issue. I had a problem with my inverter disconnecting from my generator and it was being caused by the earth and neutral not being bonded. I would check it out to exclude it as a possible source. Will do and update here, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted April 27, 2022 Author Share Posted April 27, 2022 Hi all, So thanks to the suggestions here I checked my neutral voltage to earth with no grid - 105V... Also no protection with earth etc. An electrician has installed a neutral earth bond relay for me and that sorted that out. I've also removed the surge protectors around the house and found I had one faulty one, so may have also contributed. I'll advise once we have load shedding if we've resolved the F18 error, in case anyone else picks up this issue. Thanks! P1000 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 On 2022/04/27 at 1:23 PM, Unintentional said: Hi all, So thanks to the suggestions here I checked my neutral voltage to earth with no grid - 105V... Also no protection with earth etc. An electrician has installed a neutral earth bond relay for me and that sorted that out. I've also removed the surge protectors around the house and found I had one faulty one, so may have also contributed. I'll advise once we have load shedding if we've resolved the F18 error, in case anyone else picks up this issue. Thanks! Afternoon, So we just had load shedding again and immediately the inverter F18'd again. Had good solar at the time and around 2700W load. As always after about 2 mins it comes back and all is perfect again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted May 27, 2022 Author Share Posted May 27, 2022 Hi guys, So an update here cause we've had 8 or so bouts of loadshedding with zero issues since I disconnected the CT coil. Very strange but maybe it was trying to energize part of the grid as speculated before. As all my load is on the essentials port, no loss at least. I'm thinking maybe the proximity of the CT to my inverter was part of the issue (super close). I'm updating here in any case in the event someone else picks up this issue. Thanks all, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igubu Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 On 2022/05/27 at 1:18 PM, Unintentional said: Hi guys, So an update here cause we've had 8 or so bouts of loadshedding with zero issues since I disconnected the CT coil. Very strange but maybe it was trying to energize part of the grid as speculated before. As all my load is on the essentials port, no loss at least. I'm thinking maybe the proximity of the CT to my inverter was part of the issue (super close). I'm updating here in any case in the event someone else picks up this issue. Thanks all, Update perhaps? Have a similar issue at a friends house… change wiring, RCD’s etc, neutral/earth bonds with relay all perfect, only thing not changed/removed is the CT… but that is needed to block export, worth a test I suppose? Still fine your side? I’m assuming no CT installed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted July 20, 2022 Author Share Posted July 20, 2022 15 hours ago, Igubu said: Update perhaps? Have a similar issue at a friends house… change wiring, RCD’s etc, neutral/earth bonds with relay all perfect, only thing not changed/removed is the CT… but that is needed to block export, worth a test I suppose? Still fine your side? I’m assuming no CT installed? So yeah - the CT didn't fix it. Worked for 10+ load shedding sessions then started shutting off again. I subsequently turned my main Eskom power off permanently now to subvert the issue and everything has been 100% for the past 3 weeks. When it's cloudy etc for more than a day and batteries start running low I need to turn the power on again but that's like once in 3 months so just going to live with that. I think the inverter is faulty. Wish I could shed more light on this but I've done everything i can think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted October 24, 2022 Author Share Posted October 24, 2022 Hi guys, So ended up replacing Inverter and reverting all changes - no more issues with load shedding if you come across this. I had a very old hardware revision of the 8kw sunsynk, I believe that's related but either way something went wrong with that device. Thanks all, Gareth zsde 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ndou R Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 which type of batteries are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted November 15, 2022 Author Share Posted November 15, 2022 On 2022/11/14 at 11:28 AM, Ndou R said: which type of batteries are you using? All the details are in the first post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillMeyer Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 On 2022/04/19 at 9:19 AM, Unintentional said: Good morning PF! I have a rather strange issue on my ~2 year old Sunsynk 8kW inverter that has me puzzled. My setup seems stable and all functions are working correctly until we have load shedding. 80% of the time when load shedding hits my inverter will cut power for a minute or two then restore as if nothing has happened. The display sometimes says F18, sometimes it shows nothing but always shuts us down then comes back up fine and will function until the next bout of load shedding. It never happens again after the initial load shedding cut hits no matter what I do load wise. I've tried tripping the AC manually many times to see if it does the same but it does not, ONLY happens on load shedding specifically. It happens at night with no solar, haven't seen it happen in the day. When this happens my load can be at 2kw or under 200W, same result. My setup is as follows: Sunsynk 8kW - I've tried many settings but always seems fine on AC failure so I'm assuming it's not one of my settings(?) All my load is on the Essentials port. I rarely exceed 5kW 5 x 5.2kwh BlueNova lithium batteries 18 x 365W CanadianSolar on MPPT1 9 x 465W JASolar on MPPT2 Geyser is on Aux and does not run at night ever (Sonoff controller there) All other features seem perfect - export to grid, generation and storage. Thanks for any help. I had a similar problem the past 2 days. Tripping whenever Eskom comes back on. F18 - HW_Ac_OverCurr_Fault. Turned out it was the breaker / trip switch from Eskom to Inverter that was weakened and when replaced everything was back to normal. Likely after loadshedding the rush in current, Eskom surge power that weakened the switch over time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 9 minutes ago, BillMeyer said: I had a similar problem the past 2 days. Tripping whenever Eskom comes back on. F18 - HW_Ac_OverCurr_Fault. Turned out it was the breaker / trip switch from Eskom to Inverter that was weakened and when replaced everything was back to normal. Likely after loadshedding the rush in current, Eskom surge power that weakened the switch over time. Very interesting - mine was only on down not up for loadshedding... in the meantime I had moved houses and the issue followed me so I'm still not 100% sure what the cause was here. I'll check that switch though just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillMeyer Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 14 minutes ago, Unintentional said: Very interesting - mine was only on down not up for loadshedding... in the meantime I had moved houses and the issue followed me so I'm still not 100% sure what the cause was here. I'll check that switch though just in case. Might also want to look into Earth Neutral Bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waynesworld Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Hi There, We are having the same issue on a couple of our installations recently. Has anybody got to the bottom of the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 Hi, I'm not 100% sure but changing my BMS to voltage based install seems to have helped for SOME reason. What batteries are you using Waynesworld? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 On 2023/01/03 at 2:09 PM, BillMeyer said: Might also want to look into Earth Neutral Bridge. Yeah, also thought it may be this but didn't help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hein Schroeder Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 (edited) https://www.sunsynk.org/forum/sunsynk-fault-codes/f18-hw-ac-overcurr-fault-1 South Africa - 08 Feb 2023: - Have an 8.8 KW SS inverter installed on 28 Jan 2023, with 11 KW JA 460W Solar Panels (24 panels - 4 strings of 6 panels per string with 2.76 Kw per string), with a 3 Kw Grid-Tie inverter connected to AUX, and 2 x SUN-BATT-15.97 Batteries (battery comms working 100%). All working 100% day and night. Any excess PV generation is Exported to the Grid. Upgraded the Firmware on 30 Jan 2023 to M 6.0.2.2 / S 2.4.1.7 / C E.4.2.6. However, on some occasions the moment when we have load-shedding - (and my load is below 8Kw in each instance), when load-shedding kicks in, I get the F18 fault. Initial 3 times to date (F18 happened 3 out of say 25 load-sheddings to date) got it resolved to start-up again (without F18 error), by either switching of the DC Input (all 4 strings) or switching of 2 of the 4 strings. This F18 error only occurs on some load-shedding events, at the start of load-shedding and during the day when PV generation is higher - between 5Kw to 9Kw (Happened so far between 10:00 AM - say 16:00). Today it happened again at 15:43, and even after switching of all DC input (Inverter Panels and AUX Grid-Tie), F18 errors keeps popping up after each auto restart. Had to resolve to switching the SS inverter off fully after 10 restart attempts (all ending up with F18), until load-shedding has finished. Started them all up and all running 100%. No peaks in any of the graphs. HZ stable at around 50Hz, Load and Grid at app 4Kw to 7KW, Voltage Stable. No spikes, none. I am at odds end. Requested for another firmware upgrade today again (if there is a newer version). 11 Feb 2023: I also see that the inverter is running at 52Hz, in islanding mode?, (from 16:07 to 16:47, for 30 minutes) and then it drops down to 50Hz. (Even when the inverter is set to 50Hz). This also happened at Load shedding on 09 Feb 202, at 16:04. It jumped to 51Hz and stayed there for 30 minutes, before going back to 50Hz. My max HZ for Grid Settings has already been increased to 53Hz. Switching off the DC Panels inputs, stops it from restarting after load-shedding has kicked in. Switching 1 (lowest production of app. 1 Kw (16:40 in the afternoon)) of 4 strings runs fine, but when any remaining strings are switched on, it keep tripping again. After the below 30 minutes of 52Hz has passed, and the inverter Hz has dropped back to 50Hz, I have no issues on switching on the remainder 3 strings and PV input of more than 4KW. Edited February 11, 2023 by Hein Schroeder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hein Schroeder Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 SOLVED AFTER BRAINSTORMING AND TESTING: After ticking “MI Solar Not Export?” under “Auxiliary Load” settings, the inverter started throttling PV power input so that it is not higher than Load and Battery Kw draw. No more switching on/of/on/of…. of the inverter in island mode when PV generation was > than usage. Appears that a Grid-tie inverter input as AUX and solar export switched on (export to grid) and loadshedding kicks in, causes inverter to not throttle PV and Micro Inverter input lower to match Load and Battery charge - thereby causing constant inverter restarts. Something the hardware software is not programmed to take care of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newton Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 On 2022/04/19 at 9:19 AM, Unintentional said: Good morning PF! I have a rather strange issue on my ~2 year old Sunsynk 8kW inverter that has me puzzled. My setup seems stable and all functions are working correctly until we have load shedding. 80% of the time when load shedding hits my inverter will cut power for a minute or two then restore as if nothing has happened. The display sometimes says F18, sometimes it shows nothing but always shuts us down then comes back up fine and will function until the next bout of load shedding. It never happens again after the initial load shedding cut hits no matter what I do load wise. I've tried tripping the AC manually many times to see if it does the same but it does not, ONLY happens on load shedding specifically. It happens at night with no solar, haven't seen it happen in the day. When this happens my load can be at 2kw or under 200W, same result. My setup is as follows: Sunsynk 8kW - I've tried many settings but always seems fine on AC failure so I'm assuming it's not one of my settings(?) All my load is on the Essentials port. I rarely exceed 5kW 5 x 5.2kwh BlueNova lithium batteries 18 x 365W CanadianSolar on MPPT1 9 x 465W JASolar on MPPT2 Geyser is on Aux and does not run at night ever (Sonoff controller there) All other features seem perfect - export to grid, generation and storage. Thanks for any help. On 2022/04/19 at 9:19 AM, Unintentional said: @Unintentional The same issue occurred this week on a 5kw Sunsynk that i installed connected to a Hubble Am5 and 2off strings 5 x 545w Canadian solar panels Total 10 panels Only when loadshedding ends and AC returns the inverters trips and then after a short time it switches on to normal again and everything is fine. Essential load average between 400W - 600W So i can not see that there is a overload on the Load side of the inverter. It might sound crazy, but i have discovered that if i disconnect the earth that is connected to the solar panels the problem goes away. I have to give it a couple of days just to make sure that the problem has resolved. Because it has been intermittent and i have replaced the inverter with a new one to see if it is a problem on the inverter but 2 inverters do the same thing. I am out of ideas so if the earth does not resolve the issue, i dont know where to look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renewable guy ZA Posted March 13, 2023 Share Posted March 13, 2023 On 2022/04/19 at 10:04 AM, iiznh said: Post some screenshots of your settings too. https://www.sunsynk.org/post/understanding-fault-codes Do you have anything connected with large inrush currents? Maybe a pump? Do you limit the current draw from the battery? Can't be a pump or loads,if it was the case it would only happen during loadshedding n not when you mimic loadshedding. Inverter has an issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickus Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Hi was just wondering if you solved you problem with the F18 fault code as my inverter has now started doing the identical problem. Regards Vickus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted March 20, 2023 Author Share Posted March 20, 2023 22 hours ago, Vickus said: Hi was just wondering if you solved you problem with the F18 fault code as my inverter has now started doing the identical problem. Regards Vickus Hi, So after changing: Houses Inverters (Had 2 new ones, did the same) Every setting I thought was relevant I didn't win until I set my batteries to Voltage based control. Still have BMS in etc to control charge rates but now I'm 100% sorted. Not sure why that worked but give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wozza Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 On 2023/03/20 at 9:13 AM, Unintentional said: Hi, So after changing: Houses Inverters (Had 2 new ones, did the same) Every setting I thought was relevant I didn't win until I set my batteries to Voltage based control. Still have BMS in etc to control charge rates but now I'm 100% sorted. Not sure why that worked but give it a try. Have the same issue would you mind sharing your battery values….for the 8kw unit….do you have the BP or the DU batts ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unintentional Posted June 8, 2023 Author Share Posted June 8, 2023 13 minutes ago, Wozza said: Have the same issue would you mind sharing your battery values….for the 8kw unit….do you have the BP or the DU batts ? Hi, I'm running the BP units. Below settings sorted me out - no more F18 to date even with TONS of LS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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