July 4, 20196 yr 8 hours ago, Jaco Venter said: My King behaved itself over weekends when the load was much lower. I also found that during peak PV periods the dips were less than early mornings and late afternoons. It sounds like the problem is triggered by load power exceeding PV power. @Gary, is your Solar Balance setting enabled?
July 4, 20196 yr Just to add to the confusion: I'm running the same main and SCC firmware as you, @Gary and I've never noticed this problem. I just went back over my data logs for the last month and I don't see any freezes or pauses. That's main firmware LF1_72.20e and SCC firmware 4.12. Are your lithiums LFP or NMC? i.e. are you running LF1_72.20e or LC1_72.20e?
July 4, 20196 yr Hi Weber Confusion reigns supreme I'm afraid. Yesterday tripping continuously and so far this morning not even one! I'm running LF1_72.20e My batteries are Huawei ESM 48-100A1 (by 2 units in parallel) LFP or NMC?
July 4, 20196 yr You're using the right flavour of the patched firmware. The Huawei ESM 48-100A1 are LFP, i.e. Lithium Ferrous Phosphate (LiFePO₄). https://e.huawei.com/ca/material/onLineView?MaterialID=70fc496df59b48ac86b713c4adc4d269 So we are running exactly the same firmware.
July 4, 20196 yr @Gary have you considered that it might simply be a hardware issue. We had to send one axpert 5kva back that had a bad spikey mppt back to be replaced. Its brother from the same batch had no problems. We only managed to figure this out with proper monitoring and looking at the data. Maybe consider getting ICC and capturing some data. With data a proper analysis can be done and problems sorted. Best wishes and stay strong there in Zim, out hearts bleed for what was once a beautiful country.
July 4, 20196 yr @rootThanks much that's something I hadn't considered. I do a few solar installations here as well and actually have another unit of exactly the same model etc which I purchased a week after this one - its been temporarily installed with a pylon so that they can have lounge lights and tv and Monday due to be installed into the DB. I think I will take that one and try here for a few days. I can't believe I never thought of that thank you. Zim - we're born survivors but it gets a tad tiresome now....
July 11, 20196 yr Has anyone experienced this problem with batteries other than Huawei, I also have same problem and running the Huawei batteries it seems to be a common, or am I wrong I would really appreciate to hear if other brands of batteries are also causing PV freeze on the Axpert King. Thanking you in advance! Edited July 11, 20196 yr by Marc
July 11, 20196 yr Great observation Marc. Curious to see if other members with different batteries experience the same. Greetings
July 11, 20196 yr Ok so a little progress (not good either!) in among'st very busy days.... Took the second inverter that was installed for a client and put it in at my place - exactly the same results, PV dropping out intermittently and particularly when a load goes on or off so we can rule out a one off "buggy" MPPT. Same U1 and U2 firmware initially. Ran this initially on factory firmware (with PV dropping out) then thought I'd update to the LF1_72.20e to see what it did (same inverter same factory firmware version etc etc) - update went all the way through no problem. As soon as I added a load it tripped and wont restart at all and now trips the batteries on restart...any ideas here? Had to obviously replace inverter for client at new cost which is very annoying. I have tried to email MPP solar but their contact us link doesn't appear to be working - trying to order an new control card to see if that sorts....Have email voltronic but don't hold much hope they will reply. Any contact links you guys have? Today my inverter PV musta tripped whilst I was out on site and maid hit the borehole to the extent that at dark I'm at 50% depletion - very annoying since I'm never sure if utility will actually return - remember we only getting (if we're very lucky) 4 to 5 hrs a night of utility power. So I need to find a way forward: Either fit my old 09 error inverter to do the charging which isn't ideal or since I have a dead (new) inverter of exactly same model etc try flashing scc of my inverter back to 4.10 from 4.12 as I can theoretically change scc (since I have a new one sitting in a dead inverter) if that doesn't work and see if this solves the PV tripping out or try changing out the old 3kw scc into my "new" (4kW scc) inverter and see how that works Any input appreciated
July 12, 20196 yr On 2019/07/04 at 5:44 PM, Gary said: My batteries are Huawei ESM 48-100A1 (by 2 units in parallel) LFP or NMC? It took a lot of detective work, but from the manual (free registration required), from phrases like "when the [cell] voltage is in the range of 3.2 V to 3.6 V" and others, I deduce that it's 15S LFP. Would it kill them to actually state things like this? 🤨
July 12, 20196 yr 7 hours ago, Gary said: Ok so a little progress (not good either!) Maybe with your luck, you should buy a lottery ticket! 😮 7 hours ago, Gary said: Same U1 and U2 firmware initially. Which were 72.30 and 04.12? 7 hours ago, Gary said: Ran this initially on factory firmware (with PV dropping out) then thought I'd update to the LF1_72.20e to see what it did (same inverter same factory firmware version etc etc) - But isn't this what you did to the first inverter, and it didn't help any? Quote update went all the way through no problem. As soon as I added a load it tripped and wont restart at all and now trips the batteries on restart...any ideas here? That's pretty weird. With the battery definitely disconnected, can you check for a short across the battery terminals of the inverter with a multimeter? That would tell us if the inverter has short circuited or it's some weird inrush problem with the Huawei batteries. Quote trying to order an new control card to see if that sorts.... I seriously doubt that this will help, unfortunately. But I suppose that there is a small chance that the flash update didn't work properly, and the flash image has corrupted itself such that it goes crazy and very soon after reset it does something that causes it to draw way too much current. Quote Have email voltronic but don't hold much hope they will reply. Any contact links you guys have? Don't I wish! It would be great to have some way to talk to someone technical, and bypass the usual delays. Maybe Weber and I would convince them to fix various firmware bugs then. Quote or since I have a dead (new) inverter of exactly same model etc try flashing scc of my inverter back to 4.10 from 4.12 as I can theoretically change scc (since I have a new one sitting in a dead inverter) if that doesn't work and see if this solves the PV tripping out That sounds like a reasonable option. At the very least, it would inform the community about the compatibility of SCCs that come with 04.12 with 04.10 firmware. There is the chance of bricking your SCC, but as you say you have a backup. But that backup might be able to be brought back to life eventually. I note that Weber found that getting control cards sent out is a painfully slow process (many weeks). Quote or try changing out the old 3kw scc into my "new" (4kW scc) inverter and see how that works This seems like more work, but slightly less risk (you won't be risking hardware that you could be using again). May your luck improve from here on.
July 17, 20196 yr Ok So reflashing the SCC with 4.10 doesn't work - comes up on the screen as U2 00 00 and doesn't register a PV input. Only hope appears a manufacturer update. I have 5 of these machines out there all doing the same thing...
July 21, 20196 yr Hi all. I came across this forum while searching for info on this problem I'm having with my Axpert VM 5K inverter. I am glad to have found this great source of information, thanks to all the contributors. It seems what I am experiencing is a common problem, with minor differences. I don't know whether it will just add to the confusion, or shine some light on the problem, I thought I should share my experience. Here's my setup: - Axpert VM 5K inverter - 12 x 270W panels - 4 x BB BPS200-12 VRLA batteries Every time I've noticed this PV drop issue was around noon, when there was a high power demand from the panels. PV power drops to zero, the system runs on batteries for a while until the battery voltage drops and the system switches to line mode. This happened at least three times when I was near the inverter. I heard a short beep and when I checked, I saw that the PV power was zero. Sometimes this issue is self resolving, after about 30 seconds the PV power starts increasing slowly and in about 60 seconds everything is back to normal. However, in one case I noticed that the inverter did not recover and after some time the solid solar panel icon on the screen started blinking. I waited about a minute and after seeing no change I had to disconnect the solar panels to resolve the problem. When I first encountered this problem, my dealer suggested it could be related to panel Voc and the changed the configuration from 4 x 3 to 6 x 2 but this didn't help. Some people have suggested this might be related to Huawei batteries, but my experience suggests otherwise. Cheers, Özcan
July 21, 20196 yr Totally unrelated to the above post.... My Mecer 5kva - 4Mw SCC kept on tripping the 40A circuit breaker over the last 2 days and...on feeling them I noticed they were quite hot to the touch...not unbearably hot... but hot... So last evening I change the cb with a Gewiss 2 pole cb and voila...no tripping today. Holding thumbs but I am almost sure this was the problem. (the 40A cb,s that i installed was from a salesman that did not know his @ss from his elbow....at least they lasted 2 years)
July 22, 20196 yr 9 hours ago, DaveSA said: please post your inverter settings Also if possible whether it's a VM II or a VM III, and the month of manufacture (from the small sticker on the side).
July 22, 20196 yr 16 hours ago, DaveSA said: Can you please post your inverter settings so we can compare to others with same issue
July 22, 20196 yr 7 hours ago, Coulomb said: Also if possible whether it's a VM II or a VM III, and the month of manufacture (from the small sticker on the side).
July 22, 20196 yr 145 V Max, 3000 W: it must be an Axpert VM5000-48. I'd forgotten that there is a "VM 1" model. It seems to be genuine (not a clone), just not a reseller I've seen before. February 2018 seems rather early for the "dips and freezes" problem; my impression is that this problem has surfaced in the last several months of this year, say February 2019 onwards. So perhaps your problem is unrelated, @Ozcan.
July 22, 20196 yr Author HI All. Thanks to all the contributors to this. Here is the detail on my inverter. I cant read anything into it, but if its useful to you then here it is: Mine was installed in Oct 2018. Not sure of the manufacture date unfortunately. Lowering the charge and float voltage settings as discussed early on in this thread seem to have reduced the occurrences of freezing, but not resolved it. Rgds Peter
July 22, 20196 yr 4 minutes ago, Coulomb said: 145 V Max, 3000 W: it must be an Axpert VM5000-48. I'd forgotten that there is a "VM 1" model. It seems to be genuine (not a clone), just not a reseller I've seen before. Axpert inverters are sold under the brand name TWI in Turkey. 6 minutes ago, Coulomb said: February 2018 seems rather early for the "dips and freezes" problem; my impression is that this problem has surfaced in the last several months of this year, say February 2019 onwards. So perhaps your problem is unrelated My problem seems similar to those mentioned under this topic. The difference is, I've been experiencing this issue always around midday and not any other time of the day like some users. I am not monitoring this system 24/7, so may be this happens at other times as well and goes unnoticed. Every time this issue comes up is when the power demand from the solar panels is maximum and the inverter is supplying power from the batteries as well.
July 22, 20196 yr 9 minutes ago, Ozcan said: I've been experiencing this issue always around midday That seems opposite to what some others have been reporting, but maybe they just had different load patterns. More problems with higher loads does seem to agree with the others.
July 29, 20196 yr Any progress with this issue? Or are we all just holding thumbs for new firmware to resolve this?
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