[RE-wrenches] Conext XW+ always feeding critical loads subpanel from battery bank

Mon Jul 18 18:12:17 PDT 2016

It has SCP.

Dan Fink
Adjunct Professor of Solar Energy Technology, Ecotech Institute
IREC Certified Instructor™ for:
~ PV Installation Professional
~ Small Wind Installer
Executive Director, Buckville Energy
NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers™
970.672.4342

On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 7:02 PM, Maverick Brown <maverick at mavericksolar.com>
wrote:

> Dan
>
> Does it have System Control Panel (SCP)? If not, it's a must.
>
> It's like having an Outback inverter with no Mate or a big LCD TV with no
> remote.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Maverick
>
>
> Maverick Brown
>
> Maverick Solar Enterprises, Inc.
> SunFlow Systems
> Office:     512-919-4493
> Cell:        512-460-9825
>
> Sent from an iPhone.
>
> On Jul 18, 2016, at 7:57 PM, Dan Fink <danbob88 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks you for your help. I'm a poor off-grid guy. This should be a
> learning experience then....the one time I visited the system around
> 10:AM,, both CCs were in Bulk, and no grid blackout the night before.
> Methinks I should also borrow a programming dongle from a colleague for
> this one....
>
> Dan Fink
> Adjunct Professor of Solar Energy Technology, Ecotech Institute
> IREC Certified Instructor™ for:
> ~ PV Installation Professional
> ~ Small Wind Installer
> Executive Director, Buckville Energy
> NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers™
> 970.672.4342
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 6:27 PM, Maverick Brown <
> maverick at mavericksolar.com> wrote:
>
>> Dan
>>
>> Barring some non-factory-default settings, they are not likely running on
>> battery power at night.
>>
>> When the grid is up, the inverter will go silent at night (asleep) [with
>> --- three dashes on its LED display]. That's good.
>>
>> During the day, the inverter will "prevent" the battery voltage from
>> going above its sell voltage (unless some other mode is on like Grid
>> Support or Standby, etc.) The charge controllers will attempt to Absorb &
>> Float, but the inverter will offload the energy by keeping the voltage at
>> the Sell setting. I generally set Sell to the recommended Float Voltage++.
>> I set the charge controller float to 1.0v higher and Absorb as appropriate.
>>
>> There is a lot more to unpack here.
>>
>> Flooded batteries will consume a good amount of power just to maintain
>> float.
>>
>> As a defense against sulphated plates forming, I program the inverter EQ
>> button for a heavy Absorb / mild EQ and instruct the customer to press it
>> (every other month opposite month from watering??)
>>
>> Are you getting 20-25 kWh per day in production?
>>
>> PS having the inverter always feed the critical loads panel is exactly
>> it's intended use.
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Maverick
>>
>>
>> Maverick Brown
>>
>> Maverick Solar Enterprises, Inc.
>> SunFlow Systems
>> Office:     512-919-4493
>> Cell:        512-460-9825
>>
>> Sent from an iPhone.
>>
>> On Jul 18, 2016, at 6:50 PM, Dan Fink <danbob88 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Maverick; it's 6.0 kW of PV, 2 Midnite Classic 200s, Conext XW+ 5548, and
>> 8 Crown Embassy VRSLA 6CEA390 for 390 amp-hours, 48v. Concerns me to be
>> cycling those batteries every night when it's not supposed to happen as per
>> the permit package.
>> "Notes - Battery Backup: During an outage, an automatic transfer switch
>> in the inverter opens the grid interconnect, isolating the inverter from
>> the utility to prevent back-feeding the local power lines. The inverter
>> then draws from the battery bank to provide AC power to the backup
>> sub-panel. Battery power is only used to provide power to the backup
>> sub-panel. The Battery inverter only sells energy to the grid from the
>> solar array when available and not from the battery bank. The battery
>> backup inverter is UL 1741 and IEEE 1547 compliant."
>>
>> Dan Fink
>> Adjunct Professor of Solar Energy Technology, Ecotech Institute
>> IREC Certified Instructor™ for:
>> ~ PV Installation Professional
>> ~ Small Wind Installer
>> Executive Director, Buckville Energy
>> NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers™
>> 970.672.4342
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 5:23 PM, Maverick Brown <
>> maverick at mavericksolar.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dan
>>>
>>> Does the inverter go silent at night? (---) on the inverter display?
>>>
>>> There are lots of settings that can influence sell amount.
>>>
>>> What type and size is the battery bank?
>>>
>>> What is the solar size?
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>>
>>> Maverick
>>> Cell:        512-460-9825
>>>
>>> Sent from an iPhone.
>>>
>>> On Jul 18, 2016, at 5:56 PM, Dan Fink <danbob88 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Installer went out of business, all I have to troubleshoot with is an
>>> as-built 3-line that "may or may not be right." The charge controllers are
>>> a pair Midnite Classic 200s. Customer complained that system selling only
>>> 2/3 of what was predicted back to the utility; that appears to be because
>>> everything out of his critical loads subpanel is running off the battery
>>> bank all night, every night, grid or no, so it takes 1/3 of the day to get
>>> the batteries charged up again every day and start selling to the grid.
>>>
>>> I have very little experience with the XW+ thus my question for the
>>> folks here. My plan for next week is to show up, make my own as-built
>>> 3-line, and recommission the inverter. Anyone else seen this sort of thing
>>> before? Hard to believe that an electrician would mis-wire or not wire the
>>> bypass, I'm thinking software setting.
>>>
>>>
>>> Dan Fink
>>> Adjunct Professor of Solar Energy Technology, Ecotech Institute
>>> IREC Certified Instructor™ for:
>>> ~ PV Installation Professional
>>> ~ Small Wind Installer
>>> Executive Director, Buckville Energy
>>> NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers™
>>> 970.672.4342
>>>
>>>
>>>
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