Hi guys, so all was running fine until about an hour ago. I noticed my electricity tripped, then went to the inverter. (Axpert King), and see that its lost PV. 

Any suggestions? 

See attached. 

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by JohanDbn

Just to add. I have 2x pylontech 3000c batteries. They were put in a few days ago. Could it be that the BMS from the pylontech is causing this?

Never had this issue with my previous batteries. I noticed mentioned something about firmware?@Coulomb

46 minutes ago, JohanDbn said:

Could it be that the BMS from the pylontech is causing this?

Yes. I suspect that by default, the voltages are way too high for an Axpert to handle without overshoots.

What main and MCU (remote display) (U1 and U2) firmware are you running?

Edit: also, what is you battery voltage?

Edit 2: it's late here (waiting for possible SpaceX launch)... I would not expect high battery voltage to cause the PV icon to go away though. What is your PV voltage?

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by Coulomb

U1 71.93

U2 02.40

At this moment my PV voltage is 0.

It is stupidly hot in Durban today, and cloudless, if that is of any consequence 

Also, my load was about 400W maximum

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by JohanDbn

4 minutes ago, JohanDbn said:

U1 71.93

Hello, had the same thing & flashed 71.94 that resolved the PV bypass issue for me when the battery SOC reached 100%
related posted earlier by myself:

Is my Axpert King destroying my Pylontech battery? - Batteries - Power Forum - Renewable Energy Discussion

Thanks for that @Proxicon, do you perhaps have the file or a link to it? 

2 hours ago, JohanDbn said:

Thanks for that @Proxicon, do you perhaps have the file or a link to it? 

yes, here on the forum in the download section: AxpertKing5KW71.94.rar - Files - Power Forum - Renewable Energy Discussion

71.94 also solved the issue for me with a King and 1x US-3000 on my folks installation

Our issue was when the battery hit 100%, the PV would cut off but we still have voltage... So it will be interesting to know if this solves you problem too

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by Jay-Dee

How do we update the inverter?

I put 2 Kings in parallel to give me 10kW single phase

Batteries are 4 x US2000 Pylontech (possibly a bit light, upgrading to 4 x US3000 in New Year.

PV input is 9 x 330w poly 72 cell per inverter, wired as 3s. Voc sits at about 120-125, on load is 99-105.

Our temps rarely drop below +5celcius pre-dawn July. (Comments welcome)

Each array of 9 is on the same roof, one immediately above the other.

The system worked faultlessly for a week, (but plenty of error 69) To overcome this, we started switching the utility supply off between 09.00 and 16.30. The reason for this, is that if we run SUB, there is a possibility, with the overcast conditions at present, (it's our rainy season), the batteries may only be at 40-60% at the end of the day, and then we get a power outage with an evening storm. Overnight requirement is about 4-6kWh, to run security lights, cameras, routers and alarm systems.

After about a week, we noticed suddenly no PV input on one of the inverters, but everything else was completely fine.

I've swapped the inverter out, but would appreciate input as to why it is doing that, and can it be resolved, without a return - under warranty

59 minutes ago, SteveHarris59 said:

PV input is 9 x 330w poly 72 cell per inverter, wired as 3s. Voc sits at about 120-125, on load is 99-105.

I'd rewire as 2S4P and 2S5P (see my signature). It's possible that the solar charge controller overheated. They get much hotter with 3S than with 2S.

1 hour ago, SteveHarris59 said:

The system worked faultlessly for a week, (but plenty of error 69) To overcome this, we started switching the utility supply off between 09.00 and 16.30.

I'm intrigued as to what this achieves. I don't disbelieve you, I just don't own a King yet, and don't know how they work in detail, especially with Pylontechs.

1 hour ago, SteveHarris59 said:

After about a week, we noticed suddenly no PV input on one of the inverters,

Presumably it's still under warranty, and it was an early "bathtub" failure. But I'd still rewire the PV so as to run the SCCs cooler.

4 minutes ago, Coulomb said:

I'd rewire as 2S4P and 2S5P (see my signature). It's possible that the solar charge controller overheated. They get much hotter with 3S than with 2S.

I hear you. It's quite common here (in Zimbabwe) to wire in 3s. However, we will be adding 3 more panels to each array next month, and I prepped the combiners to accept 6 strings each, so it will be 2S6P per array/inverter. This will give me an approximate 3960w per mppt on a specced 4000w maximum and an 80A charge controller.

I'm intrigued as to what this achieves. I don't disbelieve you, I just don't own a King yet, and don't know how they work in detail, especially with Pylontechs.

I suppose what I didn't say was that we then consciously manage our battery levels, to ensure that we have maximum battery at the end of the day, rather than rely on the inverter/pylontech BMS to manage it. Using the Solar MD system is significantly superior to the Pylontech system, especially for managing battery levels and SOC.

Presumably it's still under warranty, and it was an early "bathtub" failure. But I'd still rewire the PV so as to run the SCCs cooler.

Still under warranty. Ironically, the client had a failure with a new Kodak (Solis 4.6) which the agents were unable to resolve, so we opted into this system as a compromise solution, more attuned to the needs of his installation. He is very tech savvy, and is not afraid to experiment a little.

 

1 hour ago, SteveHarris59 said:

Voc sits at about 120-125

To be pedantic: VOC stand for open circuit voltage.  Your panels are always connected to the SCC, so you are not measuring VOC.  You need to look at the spec sheet of your panels, and then calculate the VOC correcting for the lowest full-sun temperatures you have.  That may well be over the 145V limit.

 

1 hour ago, SteveHarris59 said:

After about a week, we noticed suddenly no PV input on one of the inverters, but everything else was completely fine.

Was that permanent (a failure) or did it come back (a trip or reset)?  If the latter, upgrade your main firmware to 71.94 - it seems to help quite lot.

I run a setup similar to yours, and also had it 3S at first, with lots of SCC trips and resets.  Converted to 2S - everything runs cooler and better.

Hey guys, 

So it turned out to be the MPPT, i replaced it and all seems fine. 

One more question... 

I have an Axpert King and 2x3000c batteries. I got the cable from Centurion Solar as well, but I see a fluctuating difference between battery discharge and load of up to 100W. What can cause this?

See attached. 

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by JohanDbn
Spelling error

On 2020/12/16 at 3:24 AM, JohanDbn said:

I have an Axpert King and 2x3000c batteries. I got the cable from Centurion Solar as well, but I see a fluctuating difference between battery discharge and load of up to 100W. What can cause this?

It's a combination of estimation (battery current isn't measured directly by the inverter), self consumption (around 50 W), inefficiency of the inverter (higher with higher loads), and the fact that the various items on ICC's display are from command responses perhaps several seconds apart.

Edited December 18, 20205 yr by Coulomb
apostraphe missing

We have just had the solar fitted but our last 2 bills have been 126 euros can some one tell us if this is normal for me it seems that we are not running of solar ???

On 2020/12/09 at 4:20 PM, Proxicon said:

Hello, had the same thing & flashed 71.94 that resolved the PV bypass issue for me when the battery SOC reached 100%
related posted earlier by myself:

Is my Axpert King destroying my Pylontech battery? - Batteries - Power Forum - Renewable Energy Discussion

Hi, having the same issue on the 3kW King. Will 71.94 work on the 3kW or is it just for the 5kW King?

On 2020/12/09 at 7:13 PM, Proxicon said:

yes, here on the forum in the download section: AxpertKing5KW71.94.rar - Files - Power Forum - Renewable Energy Discussion

Hi, having the same issue on the 3kW King. Will 71.94 work on the 3kW or is it just for the 5kW King?

Edited April 22, 20251 yr by GerritH

On 2025/04/23 at 12:34 AM, GerritH said:

Hi, having the same issue on the 3kW King. Will 71.94 work on the 3kW or is it just for the 5kW King?

The 71.xx and 72.xx King 1 firmwares are for the 5kW models only. The 51.xx and 52.xx are for the 3kW Kings. Possibly 52.01 uses the same firmware source code as 72.01, but compiled for the 3kW model, just using slightly different #define statements.

What would be the updated features, functions or bug fixes on 52.01

On 2025/04/30 at 4:39 PM, GerritH said:

What would be the updated features, functions or bug fixes on 52.01

You're asking for release notes. Since the advent of the clones a decade ago, Voltronic have not produced anything like these, sadly.

Some of the early King firmwares had significant bugs, and it seems that 52.01 is fairly recent (a bit over a year old at this point), so I think you'll find it considerably better than say version 51.80.

One of these bugs was when the battery was fully charged by solar, the firmware decided that there was no further need for solar, and didn't use any to support the load. I vaguely recall several other weirdnesses to do with solar power.

Yeah release notes would be helpful.

Will have to see what the difference will be once I update both inverters.

My major issue I have is when setup up in parallel the AC grid charge seems to only be able to go to 20A Max (10A each) where each one is capable of 60A each when setup as Single inverter and has been working like that for a while.

Hoping that the update will fix that issue.