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

August Goers august at luminalt.com
Tue Jul 19 06:43:07 PDT 2016


Dan,



I went through what sounds like a similar situation with a XW+ recently.
Ours had the Schneider charge controllers, not Outback, so I’m not sure how
the two would interface in your situation.



You should be able to update firmware through the SCP, call Schneider
support for help. You basically log into the SCP via a web browser and then
download the firmware and update the XW.



Schneider tech support was confused internally about what charge/float
settings to have us setup for a standard grid tied battery backup system.
The first setting they recommended was called two-stage and long story
short, it allowed the battery to drain before charging it back up again. We
switched the setting to three-stage and now the batteries remain topped of
and ready for an unexpected power outage.



As others have mentioned, it is the normal setup to have the protected (or
critical) loads fed through the XW. However, during normal on-grid
operation this is simply an AC pass-through and it shouldn’t discharge the
batteries.



There are other settings you’ll need to get right as well. As William said,
be prepared to talk on the phone for a while with tech support and make it
really clear to them how you and the owner *want* the system to function.
If it’s like most normal grid tied battery backup systems, the owner wants
the batteries topped off in case of an unexpected power outage (this
charging comes from the AC side when the grid is up) and then wants to feed
all the PV energy to loads and back to the grid just like a normal grid
tied inverter.



Best,



August

Luminalt



*From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
Behalf Of *Dan Fink
*Sent:* Monday, July 18, 2016 6:12 PM
*To:* RE-wrenches
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Conext XW+ always feeding critical loads
subpanel from battery bank



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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