[RE-wrenches] EG4 Equipment

Fri Feb 16 15:11:11 PST 2024

Howie, I think you should also look again at the Discover rack mount 
system in the link below. Nice 75 year old company that made it's name 
on Locomotive batteries. Their prices are way down around 14 K for 30Kwh 
with heaters. If you have not looked at Lynk2 their gateway closed loop 
into SMA, Schneider, Solark, Morningstar and a few others you should.

The only problems I have with Schneider are pretty easy and get resolved 
because I only use them and take all of the training. Conext Insight is 
a home run for my clients. Schneider also hired me to test their first 
closed loop system with LG back in 2017 and it still is working fine.

https://discoverlithium.com/products/lithium-batteries/aes-rackmount

Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
    [1]https://offgridsolar1.com/ [2]  [1]
e-mail  offgridsolar at sti.net
text 209 813 0060

On 2024-02-16 2:02 pm, Michael Morningstar via RE-wrenches wrote:

> We gave EG4 and Signature another chance after promises from their 
> dealer oriented support department that we could expect better service 
> from them. We had an EG4 BMS crap out a couple months ago after only a 
> few months. Lots and lots of communications with Signature and we still 
> don't have a BMS or replacement battery. It's been a shit show with 
> them. I think we are going to remove them and install 3rd party BMS's 
> and find some use for them. Maybe donate them. We've only had luck with 
> Schneider/Discover pairings in closed loop. A large system we did with 
> Sol-Arks never really worked in Closed loop, despite Discover coming to 
> the site. Most likely it's a Sol-Ark issue, but we've reached Sol-Arks 
> technical expertise limits. Even with Schneider/AES, there have been 
> some issues that are causing me to re-consider Li for offgrid. I just 
> had a conversation this morning with a long time off-grid pro and he 
> said the same thing. It used to be, we'd install a wet lead acid bank 
> and then ten years would pass before hearing from the client when it 
> was time for another bank. Sometimes fifteen years. Our call backs with 
> systems over the last ten years, first with a decline in equipment 
> quality and then the switch to Li are costing us too much money and 
> causing a lot of heartburn for our clients. Rant Over
> 
> On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 12:57 PM Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches 
> <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> I've searched the archives for info pertaining to EG4 inverters and 
>> batteries. The comments have been mostly positive.  I have stayed away 
>> from EG4 until now in part, for the reason the Michael Morningstar 
>> suggested last June - that is, they seemed very oriented to the DIY 
>> market and not real serious contenders in the lasting marketplace. 
>> However, I was at RE+ Boston this week and was quite surprised to see 
>> that the EG4 18k inverter is, for all I could tell, identical to the 
>> Fortress Envy 12k, in both physical layout as well as menu structure. 
>> I have very limited experience with the Envy (having just installed my 
>> 1st one last week, in order to compare it to the Sol-Ark 15). I don't 
>> have any thoughts about it yet, except that the font on the screen is 
>> quite small and the opening screen is not as intuitive as the Sol-Ark, 
>> but that might just take familiarizing myself more to the Envy (and/or 
>> the EG4).
>> 
>> My question is, for folks who have had either the Envy or the EG4 
>> inverters installed for a decent period of time, what is your current 
>> take on their functionality, durability, and for the EG4, the quality 
>> of support? Also, what experience have folks had similarly with the 
>> EG4 LLI batteries? I'm not unhappy with the Sol-Ark or in general the 
>> Fortress eVault Max battery, but there are some attractive things 
>> about the Envy and potentially the EG4 18k, and the price point and 
>> seemingly smart configuration of the EG4 LLI batteries are certainly 
>> eye-catching.
>> 
>> I'm also currently starting to lean toward using Lithium batteries and 
>> inverters from the same manufacturer, as I'm growing weary of the 
>> mismatching firmware updates that are causing somewhat frequent issues 
>> between the 2 components. Although the inverter/battery integrated 
>> units (i.e. Sonen, Tesla, etc.) don't seem ideal, since the market is 
>> so volatile at the moment. If one component fails, I'd like the option 
>> to replace it with a different brand without having to replace the 
>> other component as well. Using the same manu doesn't necessarily cut 
>> down the problems, but it certainly will help in the troubleshooting 
>> process by hopefully having less of the "not my problem" or "we 
>> haven't seen that problem" responses from tech support.
>> 
>> I really don't like making forays into bleeding-edge technologies, so 
>> I'm hoping to gain some experienced insight.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Howie Michaelson
>> 
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> --
> 
> Michael Morningstar
> 
> Morningstar Electric
> 
> PO Box 1494
> 
> Mount Shasta, CA 96067
> 
> 530-921-0560
> 
> mjmorningstar at gmail.com
> 
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Links:
------
[1] http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
[2] https://offgridsolar1.com/
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