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Posted

Good Day

I have a problem with my generator does not charge my batteries.

My system consist of 18 x 330w panels, 2x 5Kva voltec Inverters, 6 x 3.5Kva Pylontech batteries

I have connected my generator on the AC input on my master inverter, but for some or other reason it does not want to charge the batteries, the generator is a 6Kva petrol Torx 6000E generator.

Any help will be appreciated, I am running the system now for a year and a half, most of the time the solar is sufficient, but when it is raining and cloudy, I need to run the generator for power, and just think it will be better if I can charge the batteries up with the generator when there is not enough sun.

Thanks

 

 

Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, Kobus680718 said:

I have connected my generator on the AC input on my master inverter, but for some or other reason it does not want to charge the batteries

* Does the AC-in icon (sine wave in a circle) come on?

* If on, is it on solid or flashing? Flashing indicates that the inverter is rejecting the generator's output quality.

* Are you using Uti output source priority?

* Is utility charging enabled? For example, what is setting 16 (charger source priority)?

Some generators' output simply aren't clean enough or stable enough for Axpert inverters to accept. Sometimes you can get enough stability by placing a small load (~200-800 W) on the generator before connecting to the inverter. This seems to settle the engine speed, and hence the generated AC frequency, so that the inverter accepts the input and starts loading the generator itself. Once that happens, you can usually disconnect the temporary load.

Edit: I've now added FAQ question 7 to cover this.

Edited by Coulomb
Posted

Yes the AC icon comes on and flashes, the settings is right on 16, I did put a load on it, kettle, Iron, and my cut-off machine, no success, will it help if I buy a 48v li-ion battery charger and charge the batteries with the charger from the generator. Thanks for the help I appreciate it.

Posted
10 minutes ago, Kobus680718 said:

I did put a load on it,

I hope by "it" you mean the generator, before connecting the loaded generator to the inverter.

10 minutes ago, Kobus680718 said:

will it help if I buy a 48v li-ion battery charger and charge the batteries with the charger from the generator.

Yes, that way you can run loads and charge the battery with generator power, just leaving the AC-in to the inverter unconnected. You'd probably want a moderately powerful charger, say 2000 W.

Posted
On 2020/08/10 at 11:17 AM, Kobus680718 said:

will it help if I buy a 48v li-ion battery charger and charge the batteries with the charger from the generator

If you find such a thing, please let me know.  I have spent quite a lot of time looking for one (at a reasonable cost), without success.  I finally bought a spare inverter to use as a generator charger - by not using the AC out it takes a steady load from the generator and that avoids the problem of inverter rejecting the AC due to slew rate issues.

This is particularly annoying, especially with the King.  On the King you have a setting "Bypass forbidden" (moot if you run them in parallel, bypass is disabled anyway).  When bypass is not available there is no need to have stable AC in, as the AC is simply rectified to provide DC to the system.  But even then, they impose strict standards on incoming AC....

Posted
On 2020/08/09 at 11:48 AM, Kobus680718 said:

Good Day

I have a problem with my generator does not charge my batteries.

My system consist of 18 x 330w panels, 2x 5Kva voltec Inverters, 6 x 3.5Kva Pylontech batteries

I have connected my generator on the AC input on my master inverter, but for some or other reason it does not want to charge the batteries, the generator is a 6Kva petrol Torx 6000E generator.

Any help will be appreciated, I am running the system now for a year and a half, most of the time the solar is sufficient, but when it is raining and cloudy, I need to run the generator for power, and just think it will be better if I can charge the batteries up with the generator when there is not enough sun.

Thanks

 

 

This sounds like your Generator is not producing power @50 HZ if it does not the inverter will not allow it to charge the batteries had a similar problem witn an Axpert clone setup a few years back struggled a lot untill we got the Generator to run at 50HZ stable ended up using a AVR that stabilized the Generator output at 220v 50HZ however I could be wrong  in your case I don't know if the newer Axpert Clones have compensated for that problem.

Posted

I am busy with a company in Randburg finding out about the  Power Master PMDBC 2248 22A 48V Battery Charger, it looks like it will do the job, will give feedback on the group as soon as I have more info and maybe can test it first.

Thanks for all the feedback so far

Posted
2 hours ago, Calvin said:

as the AC is simply rectified to provide DC to the system.

There is a proper power factor correction stage, it's not just diode-capacitor. That means a boost converter that has to try to follow the voltage envelope with a similar current envelope, so that the power factor is close to unity. I believe that's why there are still checks on the waveform, voltage amplitude, frequency, frequency stability, and so on.

  • 1 year later...
Posted

Hi Kobus

Don't know if the post is still open, but I have a related problem. My set-up is similar to yours, but I don't have the generator yet. To avoid the problem, what would recommendations be on what my best value generator options are - I'm thinking around 7,5-9 kVA, electric start. Question is conventional or inverter generator ?

 

Posted
7 hours ago, Jon Heeger said:

Question is conventional or inverter generator ?

I have no idea about generator models, prices, etc. But to me if a roughly equivalent inverter model is about 20% dearer, or less, then it's the one to go for. For peace of mind and minimising of hassle. Especially if the inverter is an Axpert (however named), since it's well known that they are picky.

Unless you're just charging the battery via a separate charger, and not connecting the generator to the AC-in terminals of the inverter. But that's an extra expense and potential bottleneck.

Posted
On 2020/08/11 at 12:00 PM, Kobus680718 said:

I am busy with a company in Randburg finding out about the  Power Master PMDBC 2248 22A 48V Battery Charger, it looks like it will do the job, will give feedback on the group as soon as I have more info and maybe can test it first.

Thanks for all the feedback so far

This is not as easy as it sounds.

That charger's voltage is too high. Pylontechs have a 15S cell configuration so the nominal charge voltage is 52.5V. 

That charger datasheet - 1474982717_PM-DBC-2248D.pdf (power-solutions.co.za)

Also the max power from that charger is about 1 kW. You have a total of 21 kWH of battery. So... if they are at 50% SOC you will need to run the generator for approx 10 hours to charge them to full ! 

So you need a more powerful charger and one that can be configured for your Pylons i.e. have its CV and CC values set - typically what a charger designed for Lithiums will be able to do.

 

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