October 1, 20232 yr Hello everyone, I recently moved to a farm, it has a full off grid system. We are running on 2 mecer 5kva inverters and 8 gel batteries plus the solar panels. we are having an issue of running out of power around 8-9 pm. Please help me how to make it last longer?? Maybe can I change something in the settings?? thank you!!
October 2, 20232 yr ... and 8 gel batteries plus the solar panels. we are having an issue of running out of power around 8-9 pm. Sadly, the most likely situation is that settings that have been running for years have murdered the battery. Lead acid (gel included) does not like to be deeply discharged. What is the low battery cutoff setting? Or is the battery type setting flooded or AGM? In these cases, the low DC cutoff voltage is pre-set, and the pre-set value is far too low for frequent load shedding or running completely off-grid.
October 2, 20232 yr Hello everyone, I recently moved to a farm, it has a full off grid system. We are running on 2 mecer 5kva inverters and 8 gel batteries plus the solar panels. we are having an issue of running out of power around 8-9 pm. Please help me how to make it last longer?? Maybe can I change something in the settings?? thank you!! Your batteries can generally provide as much power as they have,whether you use it in an hour or a night. Settings changes won't really "fix" that Are they getting fully charged? How many discharge cycles have they had? Their dept-of-discharge? Very easy to damage them. Could also be 1 (or more) bad batteries in the pack - your bank is as strong as the weakest battery
October 4, 20232 yr Author But 2 weeks ago the batteries were fine, just when we sent the inverter for repairs we started having this issue..
October 4, 20232 yr But 2 weeks ago the batteries were fine, just when we sent the inverter for repairs we started having this issue.. You're not answering the questions Either the batteries are running flat,or something is set very wrong
October 4, 20232 yr Sounds like in repairs they have defaulted all setting so best is post the float , bulk and low cut of volts . Also what battery type has been set in. Gel and lead acid need to soak for hours on float charge to fully charge. It does not mean it's on bulk or float volts that the battery is fully charged . Some inverter depending on what battery type is set in will stop charging the moment it reaches float charge leaving the battery at say around 60% this percentage will also depends on charging amps as to high charge amps will force the volts to bulk volts to quick but leave the battery at a low charge level so also charging with low amps is better for gel and lead battery .
October 5, 20232 yr Author Please how do I change the float?? It seems like that’s the problem, batteries not charging 100%
October 5, 20232 yr Please how do I change the float?? It seems like that’s the problem, batteries not charging 100% Please take pic of the inverter so we can see what mecer is installed
October 5, 20232 yr Please how do I change the float?? The float and bulk/absorb/CV voltages are affected by settings 26 and 27 respectively. But you can only change these if setting 05 (battery type) is set to USE (for USER adjustable battery voltage settings). To change a setting, usually you would use monitoring software, but these vary widely and you have not mentioned any. So you can change settings from the front panel. The details for that depend on the exact model, that's why we wanted to see a photo. Usually, a long press on the enter (⏎) key (i.e. hold it down for 3 seconds or until something happens). Use the arrow keys to get to setting 05; if not USE, change it to USE. Continue to settings 26 and 27 with arrow keys. To change a setting, use the enter key to start editing it; then up or down keys to scroll through the available selections. Press enter on a selection to choose that selection, or the escape key to abandon editing. Use escape at the end to exit settings mode. It's easier that it sounds from the above when you are actually doing it. Edit: With paralleled machines, changing most settings will cause that setting to be sent to all the other machines. However, a few battery related settings (especially charge current) can be different on each machine, so it's a good idea to check the settings on both machines until you're used to it. Edited October 5, 20232 yr by Coulomb
October 5, 20232 yr Author Thank you for your willingness to help 🙏 this is the inverters specs. So what should I change for 26 and 27? I don’t have any software btw…
October 5, 20232 yr this is the inverters specs. Thanks. So my instructions for changing settings stand. So what should I change for 26 and 27? That actually depends on your battery. Can you post a photo of the front of one of the battery modules?
October 5, 20232 yr Unfortunately most lead acid batteries only last 2 years or so in an off-grid installation. Long life Flooded lead acid batteries are better at 4 years or so. The best is Lithium batteries paired with better inverters eg Victron Energy, Deye/Sunsynk
October 5, 20232 yr Lead acid 2 years if you lucky . You can try these setting 05) battery type: use 26)bulk charge 58v 27)float charge 54.8v 29) low cut of volts 48v Max charge amps 25amps Hope I have the right Manuel . Anyone please correct some of the volts if you think my volts setting is not right as we trying to help . If your inverter still only last to 8-9 pm then you must consider new batteries but lithium not lead or gel Or You must consider reducing the load at night as I don't recall you say what your load is in the evenings On my 5.5 kw inverter and only 5.25kw lithium . With one fridge running and PC ,tv and light our load is around 450w till 10pm when we go to bed and my battery last the night till the solars start generating power. Edited October 5, 20232 yr by GMAC
October 6, 20232 yr Author I tried the settings you sent, made it worst… I ran out of power at 18:30…
October 6, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, Miguelb said: I tried the settings you sent, made it worst… I ran out of power at 18:30… 🙈 these setting are safe setting that will give most amount of cycles and years . You could try dropping 29) to 46v And increase 27) to 55.2 v The question then is what's your load and does the inverter float the batterys all day or shut down when it reaches float volts . I hope the batteries are not damaged to to over charging or under discharging .
October 7, 20232 yr 15 hours ago, Miguelb said: I tried the settings you sent, made it worst… I ran out of power at 18:30… It's highly likely your batteries are kaput.
October 7, 20232 yr There are other posts on this forum of people complaining about the quality of those Omnipower batteries. Do a search around.
October 14, 20232 yr Author Hello friends, so I ended up changing the batteries, got a lithium one from LBSA. Got it installed yesterday and the power went off at 22:30! It was very frustrating since my consumption at 8:30 when I last check was at 200 watts! please help what can be the issue??
October 14, 20232 yr 38 minutes ago, Miguelb said: Hello friends, so I ended up changing the batteries, got a lithium one from LBSA. Got it installed yesterday and the power went off at 22:30! It was very frustrating since my consumption at 8:30 when I last check was at 200 watts! please help what can be the issue?? Did the new battery charge and at what rate and how long could it charge until all switched off?
October 14, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, Miguelb said: Hello friends, so I ended up changing the batteries, got a lithium one from LBSA. Got it installed yesterday and the power went off at 22:30! It was very frustrating since my consumption at 8:30 when I last check was at 200 watts! please help what can be the issue?? Can you be more specific on the battery? What size? What model? For 2x5kVA inverters I would expect it is at least 10kWh? Do you have comms working with the battery and inverter or are you in USE mode, if in USE please share your settings.
October 14, 20232 yr 10 hours ago, jumper said: Can you be more specific on the battery? What size? What model? For 2x5kVA inverters I would expect it is at least 10kWh? Do you have comms working with the battery and inverter or are you in USE mode, if in USE please share your settings. Some good questions but perhaps one need to know what load was actually connected and duration. Battery make and model is essential as you pointed out.
October 15, 20232 yr Author Battery is LBSA, 5 kwh, 53v. settings 29 - 44 27 - 54 26 - 56.4 13 - 54 12 - 47 11 - 20 a 2 - 20 a battery is switching off when reaching 52.5 v approx and is not switching back on in the morning. any ideas of what could be the issue?
October 15, 20232 yr That's a tiny battery for two inverters. Any reason why BMS Comms isn't hooked up?
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