Hi all, first post hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I have the following setup that I installed myself around 5 years ago. We are off grid and have a WKS Evo 5Kva inverter (same as Axpert King I believe) with 4 Pylontech US2000 Plus batteries, these are supplied by 9, 300 watt solar panels.

Have had a few issues with random shut downs even when batteries are well charged, not sure of the reason for this, but recently kept getting alarms and one battery was consistently at a lower charge than the other 3. It was number 3 in the chain of batteries. I removed it from the system which seemed to solve the alarm problem. On inspection, the battery is swelling, so in the process of either returning to our original supplier or dealing direct with Pylontech.

I bought a replacement Pylontech US2000C and tried to connect it as the master battery, but it would only run for around 15 minutes before switching off. Having read through a lot of posts on here, I am thinking I need a firmware upgrade for the control panel so that the inverter will communicate with the new battery. Side issue of needing to charge the new battery as I left it turned on but not connected after trying to install it, not entirely sure of the best way to recharge it.

Can anyone direct me to what firmware I might need and how to install it. I use Watchpower to monitor the system and if I am understanding correctly the current firmware versions are Main CPU 00071.61 and Bluetooth CPU 00000.21.

I've added a photo of the identification label which clearly has King in the name. Would be good if someone could help to identify which version this is.

Regards, Barry, Extremadura, Spain

Edited April 30, 20242 yr by DustnyLuca
Added photo

Hi all,

An update to this ongoing problem. Sorted out the issue with the new battery, it had gone to sleep to protect itself. Woke it up by connecting to another battery.

Made up a new communication cable using pins 3 and 5 at inverter end and 5 and 7 at battery end, as original cable for the 2000+ batteries seemed to be the problem.

With the 2000c as master and the new bms cable the system kept running and was charging but am still getting the Error 61 code on the inverter but at least it did not shut down after 15 minutes. However I'm getting a much lower report of SOC than is actually in the batteries so I suspect either the cable I made up is not good (my cable tester does not report a connection end to end but my multimeter does) or the firmware in the front panel needs updating.

Still hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction with this problem and get all 4 batteries working together so the wife is not constantly asking if it's OK to use the washing machine or other appliances.

 

Regards

Barry

On 2024/04/23 at 1:13 AM, DustnyLuca said:

Can anyone direct me to what firmware I might need and how to install it. I use Watchpower to monitor the system and if I am understanding correctly the current firmware versions are Main CPU 00071.61 and Bluetooth CPU 00000.21.

I've added a photo of the identification label which clearly has King in the name.

I would have responded earlier if you put the word King in the thread title. "WKS Evo" is not a branding I'm familiar with.

71.61 is quite old. Main firmware is now up to 72.05.  You likely need to update the display firmware as well, since the display firmware deals with communications with the battery's BMS. Display firmware is up to 02.87.

 

This is main firmware version 72.05 for the Axpert King (NOT Axpert King II) 5 kW. Do not use with any other model. Hex file dated 17/Feb/2024. Use at your own risk.

Firmware upload instructions for models with a removable display. (Also use for display firmware updating). Rar password is 111 .

AxpertKING_5KW_STANDARD_72.05 pw 111.rar

 

This is removable display firmware version 02.87 for the Axpert King 1 (NOT Axpert King II) and the Axpert VM III (non-twin, and  not the newer 6 kW or 4 kW models). Do not use with any other model. Use at your own risk. All recent display firmwares including  this one do not depend on the display chipset, so you can update if your present firmware is 102.xx or 02.xx. Hex file is dated 23/Nov/2023.

Remote Panel_Reflash_MCU(02.87).rar

 

Edited May 28, 20242 yr by Coulomb

Thanks Coulomb.

Many thanks for the reply.

I think the 'WKS Evo' branding may belong to the company in Belgium where we bought the system.

I'll have time to have a look at it in a couple of weeks as we have builders here finishing off the outside of the house this week and we're away next week on holiday with a house sitter looking after the cats, so I don't want to risk cocking the system up before we go and leaving the sitter with no power.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.

Barry

Hi Coulumb,

Sorry for taking so long to reply. Combination of not being able to find cables and needing to get a new laptop.

I have a couple more questions before I proceed with the firmware update. I´m not really nervous, honest.

My USB to Serial cable comes up as CH340. Is this OK to use. I have a direct USB to RJ45 that comes up as PL2303GT but the pinouts at RJ45 end look wrong, yellow 3, orange 6 and black 8.

Plus the Serial to rj45 cable that came with the inverter (I´m fairly sure this is the one supplied) has  pin outs as in photo.

Just want to be sure everything is good before I proceed. Alternative is to replace inverter with the latest version, which I´d rather not do if possible, even though it has been troublesome at times.

When I try to connect PC to inverter using Watchpower, the com port shows up but not the inverter when using what I think is the supplied cable.

I used to be able to get Watchpower to connect to the inverter with an older USB to serial adapter, but it will not talk to Windows 11 on new PC, message says, this is not a Prolific PL2303 please contact your supplier.

I feel I need to get Watcpower to connect to the inverter before I try to proceed.

Hope you can advise.

 

Regards Barry

4 hours ago, DustnyLuca said:

My USB to Serial cable comes up as CH340. Is this OK to use.

Just try it.

4 hours ago, DustnyLuca said:

I have a direct USB to RJ45 that comes up as PL2303GT but the pinouts at RJ45 end look wrong, yellow 3, orange 6 and black 8.

No, Voltronic needs a non-standard cable, with connections to pins 1, 2, and 8.

4 hours ago, DustnyLuca said:

Plus the Serial to rj45 cable that came with the inverter (I´m fairly sure this is the one supplied) has  pin outs as in photo.

Yes, that looks like 1, 2, and 8. So that's almost certainly the correct cable.

4 hours ago, DustnyLuca said:

I used to be able to get Watchpower to connect to the inverter with an older USB to serial adapter, but it will not talk to Windows 11 on new PC, message says, this is not a Prolific PL2303 please contact your supplier.

This is a major pain. Some people in China made an unauthorised copy of the original chip, and now thousands of people around the world have to replace their adapters because those illegal chips made its way into thousands of adapters. As far as we knew, those adapters were genuine. You may have to replace that adapter, though you might be able to find a driver on the internet that works around this issue.

4 hours ago, DustnyLuca said:

I feel I need to get Watchpower to connect to the inverter before I try to proceed.

That's a good idea. If Watchpower doesn't work, then the reflash tool almost certainly won't work. Just remember to exit Watchpower with the system tray (not the close window button) before starting the reflash tool. Otherwise, the needed COM port will still be in use.

HI, me again.

 

Progress I think, but also another question.

 

Sourced a genuine PL2303 cable and got instant communication via Watchpower.

But Watchpower was also giving an error message of Line Fail every few seconds, inverter not showing any error on panel.

Batteries only at 91% charge despite full sun all day and very low load of around 270 watts, as we have been out all day and the inverter is charging intermittently from the solar panels but not taking the batteries to 100% like it used to. This has been happening on and off for a few weeks now. Am beginning to suspect there may be an issue with another one of the batteries.

 

So, will the update to latest firmware sort out these issues and should I go ahead with the update so that I can add the new PYL 2000C battery?

Do I possibly have an issue with the inverter or is it a battery issue?

Have also had system shut downs in the morning,over the last few days under heavy load even when the system was around 50%, this has not happened previously unless the system was approaching the low 20´s in percentage terms. I haven´t changed any of the system settings.

 

Sorry for so many questions

 

Hope you can give me a few pointers.

 

Regards

 

Barry

 

 

 

19 hours ago, DustnyLuca said:

Batteries only at 91% charge despite full sun all day and very low load of around 270 watts,

Are you using a cable between the King's display and the BMS of the battery? If not, the inverter will not be aware of the true state of charge of the battery. It will guess based on battery voltage, and will assume that it's a lead acid battery.

Are all the battery level LEDs on when the inverter stops charging?

19 hours ago, DustnyLuca said:

So, will the update to latest firmware sort out these issues and should I go ahead with the update so that I can add the new PYL 2000C battery?

There are several known issues with your very old firmwares, so updating those is the first thing to do.

5 hours ago, Coulomb said:

Are you using a cable between the King's display and the BMS of the battery? If not, the inverter will not be aware of the true state of charge of the battery. It will guess based on battery voltage, and will assume that it's a lead acid battery.

Yes, have cable and has usually been reporting correctly.

Are all the battery level LEDs on when the inverter stops charging?

Yes, occasionally one of the batteries only has 5 lights. Have downloaded BatteryView now so will run that to see if there are any issues.

There are several known issues with your very old firmwares, so updating those is the first thing to do.

Will get the firnware updated in the next day or so. It´s summer fiesta time here at the moment, wife is a local councillor, so she gets me involved in helping set things up in the village. 

 

Will let you know how I get on

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Barry

 

Hi Coulomb,

I´ve been having problems responding to the thread, One of the admins suggested using a different browser and it seems to work in Edge.

I wanted to thank you for all the time you have taken to answer all my many questions and to let you know that I have managed to update both firnware´s and the inverter is now communicating properly with the new Pyl 2000C battery as the master. Charging to 100% how it always used to do.

I can relax a bit more now I am not having to keep an eye on what my wife is turning on first thing in a morning.

 

Many thanks

Barry