On 2023/03/21 at 9:37 AM, GreenMan said:

Has anyone opened their unit up to take a look inside ? If so, please can you share some photos. 

There are a couple of photos at the MyBB thread: https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/mecer-sol-i-bb-m1l-inverter-trolley.1218665/page-5#post-30603357

Edited March 22, 20233 yr by TTT

Has anyone in Cape Town managed to have their firmware updated yet. If so, please share who you contacted and where you needed to take the unit. I bought mine through Makro but would prefer to avoid having to explain this issue to them and to rather take it straight to Mustek/their representatives if possible.

1 hour ago, Darren12 said:

Has anyone in Cape Town managed to have their firmware updated yet. If so, please share who you contacted and where you needed to take the unit. I bought mine through Makro but would prefer to avoid having to explain this issue to them and to rather take it straight to Mustek/their representatives if possible.

Yes I have.

If it is a Mecer unit, contact Mustek support in Richmond to arrange. They will be getting the device to update firmware again in a few weeks. Mine took less than an hour to update. 

3 hours ago, Darren12 said:

Has anyone in Cape Town managed to have their firmware updated yet. If so, please share who you contacted and where you needed to take the unit. I bought mine through Makro but would prefer to avoid having to explain this issue to them and to rather take it straight to Mustek/their representatives if possible.

If anyone has some info for upgrade in Port Elizabeth, I would be grateful.

Thanks

 

36 minutes ago, MichaelK said:

If anyone has some info for upgrade in Port Elizabeth, I would be grateful.

Thanks

 

When I took Mine in on 13 March, they said they would have the updating "device" until then end of the day, as it would be going to PE on the 14th, and then this would be sent to another branch after a few days as all branches are sharing one of these mysterious devices. If you have a Mecer unit then contact Mustek PE asap. 

Edited March 23, 20233 yr by trinomic

An update on this ongoing saga. After the unit's firmware was updated, the SOC display does not go into a spiral of reducing and reducing. However now with an 80W load, the SOC goes down from 100% to 0% in 30mins 😠.

I suspected that the SOC display is still broken and ran the unit with the same 80W load. Even though the display showed 0%, the unit ran for 8 hours until the test was stopped. 

So, this shows that the LCD display was NOT fixed properly. Pretty poor show from Mustek, especially after the Mustek technician said he had tested it!

Anyone have this problem with their units after it was "fixed" at Mustek ? Or with the fix for the Kool Energie unit ?

On 2023/03/15 at 10:55 AM, nad_isa said:

So Mine (Kool energy unit) has been running fine for about 2 months. This week i came home during loadshedding and it was off. So there must have been a random shutdown at some point. I switched it back on and it was on 100% and has been working normally since. 

 

I had the exact same issue.  It was connected to the mains and as load shedding started, the inverter turned off.

It has happened twice now, so I suspect something is not right.  I have had a Kool Energy 1.5KW inverter for 6 weeks now.

Mine also has the SOC display issue and is literally showing 0% constantly, but it still works ok.  If it is just a display issue, I am not going to lose too much sleep over it.  However, I am more concerned now that these shutdowns have occurred.  I am going to run the batteries down to 0% and see if that helps and I'll report back.

Has anyone else had the shutdown issue? If so, any fixes?  

4 hours ago, mcjonts said:

I had the exact same issue.  It was connected to the mains and as load shedding started, the inverter turned off.

Mine also has the SOC display issue and is literally showing 0% constantly, but it still works ok. 

There is definitely a shutdown-on-transfer problem with (some of?) these units. 

Can you reproduce it by switching off at the plug? If not I suspect it could be related to dynamics of how the grid ac goes down, e.g. brownout causing overcurrent trip. If so plugging the inverter into one of those fridge surge & undervoltage protector sockets could be a fix. 

Otherwise maybe send it back to have the SoC issue fixed and with any luck the shutdown bug is also resolved in new firmware. 

Edited March 30, 20233 yr by TTT

Hi Everyone

I have a Kool Energy 1.5Kw lithium battery unit. I have 2x Canadian Solar 410 watt panels connected to it in series.

The load on the unit day and night is a router and 2 x laptops, so very light load.

Strangely enough during the day when there is PV power available the unit switches off about 30 minutes after loadshedding has kicked in, however during the night loadshedding the unit does not switch off.

The errors that is received is E06 Battery voltage is lower than shutdown voltage and E10 low voltage of battery.

The state of charge is indicated as 100% in all instances when the unit switches off.

The spec's of the panels are

Optimum operating voltage 31.2 V

Optimum operating current 13.15 A

Open circuit voltage 37.2 V

Short circuit current 14.01 A

The range of input voltage DC of the Kool Energy is 35 - 100 VDC.

Has anyone else experienced this, and what can be done?

Edited April 6, 20233 yr by Silver Shadow

I have the Meccer Kool Energy 1000W 50 AH loose standing unit. It had the same charging problem of dropping 2% after every charge. I sent it back to be repaired. They said it needed a software update. I got it back and it was working fine for a week, but it discharges too fast now. Even with nothing plugged in, the battery will drop 10% after 30min. Likewise, when I charge it, it charges really fast (40% in less than 10min). 

We have the same problem with our Kool Energy 1KvA inverter - it only charges up to 81% and loses 1-2% every day.

The supplier we bought it from, says it will take 21 working days to do the firmware upgrade.

They do not have a loan unit so we will be without the inverter for a month and we bought it in January.

Does anyone know where or who we can contact in the Cape Town area please.

It is just unacceptable that we now have to suffer because of some or other issue.

I just had the exact same problem. Kept reducing around 2% per day. I changed the charge current from 100% to 80% and now its charging to 100% again. Dunno for how long though.

 

kool energy 1kw unit.

Update on my 1.5kw unit. after the "update" the battery % issue (dropping 1 percent each day) was gone......... but now in last week, the bat % went to 0 and got stuck there....... luckily somebody on the whatsapp group had a fix..... just press the silver battery button out and back in....and hey presto battery % is back....no longer 0...... also note the silver battery button on your unit may be faulty....i had that problem.... it did not click in and out....they also fixed that for me after taking it in.....

Edited May 8, 20233 yr by Craig Dyer

Same problem with my DeepCool 1KW. Batt showing 0%. Unplugged incoming power to it and anything plugged into the DeepCool unit. Turned off front DC switch. Held the silver reset button at the back for about 7 seconds and released which turned the unit off. Waited 20s then turned the unit back on with the power button. Percentage returned to 90% which was correct as it wasn't fully charged

I couldn't turn the unit back on immidiately after the reset which is why I waited 20s

On 2023/05/08 at 12:57 PM, Craig Dyer said:

Update on my 1.5kw unit. after the "update" the battery % issue (dropping 1 percent each day) was gone......... but now in last week, the bat % went to 0 and got stuck there....... luckily somebody on the whatsapp group had a fix..... just press the silver battery button out and back in....and hey presto battery % is back....no longer 0...... also note the silver battery button on your unit may be faulty....i had that problem.... it did not click in and out....they also fixed that for me after taking it in.....

Same with mine since the software was updated. Noticed recently it has dropped to 0% and got stuck there. Pressing the battery button resets it to correct reading again. 

3 hours ago, trinomic said:

Same with mine since the software was updated. Noticed recently it has dropped to 0% and got stuck there. Pressing the battery button resets it to correct reading again. 

Hi.  Sorry if I am being stupid, but I do not know where you guys see the battery charge % so specifically. I have looked through (the pretty useless) manual, and the only place I seem to be able to see the battery charge is in the little battery “block” where the line goes up and down when it is on charge.

 

please can someone assist me?

19 hours ago, DebbieB said:

Hi.  Sorry if I am being stupid, but I do not know where you guys see the battery charge % so specifically. I have looked through (the pretty useless) manual, and the only place I seem to be able to see the battery charge is in the little battery “block” where the line goes up and down when it is on charge.

 

please can someone assist me?

You should be able to press the up and down arrows to change display values (without first pressing the menu button)

4 hours ago, trinomic said:

You should be able to press the up and down arrows to change display values (without first pressing the menu button)

Thank you.  I have found it.  My battery % says 22% and I have had it on charge for 24 hours without any load on it.  (we have a generator)

.

Edited May 22, 20233 yr by trinomic

On 2023/02/13 at 3:19 PM, VeeKay said:

Hi All,

I have been following this thread, very helpful I must say and it gives me some relief that I am not the only one having this issue.

I have had mine for literally a month, and it started droping on the first 2 weeks. Last week it got to 0%, and literally just shot back to 98% overnight.

Has anyone here owned the unit for over a 6 months?

I am relectant to return the unit as that means I now have to face loadshedding for God knows how long, anyone know of any better alternative options?  I am looking at the Eco Flow units, does anyone have first hand experience with them? I hear they overheat😥

Hi There

I have an Ecoflow unit and they dont overheat. They are brilliant units. On the River Pro version one I run a complete live stream rig with Computer screen, 2 x cameras, Wifi Router and a video switcher for 5 hours. The cool thing is that with their app you have complete control over the unit, what charge rate you want and  what the max charge level you want to charge to. Basically these Mecer units run a a very basic Screen, you cannot interface with the unit at all

 

On 2023/06/14 at 9:15 AM, Crazy Kaktus said:

Hi There

I have an Ecoflow unit and they dont overheat. They are brilliant units. On the River Pro version one I run a complete live stream rig with Computer screen, 2 x cameras, Wifi Router and a video switcher for 5 hours. The cool thing is that with their app you have complete control over the unit, what charge rate you want and  what the max charge level you want to charge to. Basically these Mecer units run a a very basic Screen, you cannot interface with the unit at all

 

You are aware the Ecoflow use lithuim ion batteries and not lfp( lithuim ion phosphate). The cycle count is only guaranteed for 800 discharge/charge cycles. 

HI, I have followed the thread on Kool 1.5kW unit with interest as mine recently displayed similar problems - unable to charge to 100% (currently going up to 95%) and the DC ports not charging. @Craig Dyer I saw that your unit was the same - all problems now solved with the replacement unit?

I have a question about how to optimally manage these units (once I get mine replaced or fixed, hopefully) - is it possible to use them intermittently with load shedding only (i.e. use them during load shedding, and then recharge to 100% and switch off until the next day's loadshedding) or should one keep them on charge always. Please advise from your knowledge/experience?

Hi all. My inverter (Koop energy 1kW) goes on when the power is on and shows 0% charging.  As soon as loadshedding starts, it trips and will not switch on at all. Please can someone help me troubleshoot. This unit is only a few months old- barely 3 months and cost me about R15k so I am shook.

 

On 2023/07/14 at 4:53 AM, Tumelo29 said:

Hi all.

Welcome to the forum.

On 2023/07/14 at 4:53 AM, Tumelo29 said:

goes on when the power is on and shows 0% charging.

Can you post a photo of the LC Display? That might tell is if it is detecting AC input for example.

What sort of battery do you have?

Is there an indication of battery voltage or state of charge?

On 2023/06/15 at 8:46 PM, TaliaB said:

You are aware the Ecoflow use lithuim ion batteries and not lfp( lithuim ion phosphate). The cycle count is only guaranteed for 800 discharge/charge cycles. 

Not all of them I’m running an EcoFlow Delta Pro which is LFP