[RE-wrenches] EG4 Equipment

Sat Feb 17 12:16:16 PST 2024

Becareful with the EG4s and  AGMs.   Last I checked the EG4s couldn't be
properly programmed to charge at a high enough voltage to properly charge
some of the heavier plated AGM.   Surrette and Full river AGMs need to be
charged at 58.8 temp compensated to -4mv/deg/c...

The EG4s like the Sol Arks and a ton of the Hybrid inverters aren't really
made to charge lead batteries in general... some you can make work, many
you can't.

On Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 10:06 AM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Surrette and Full river AGM's  Been berry berry good to me!
>
>
>
> *Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
> "we go where powerlines don't"
>    <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/>https://offgridsolar1.com/ <https://offgridsolar1.com/>  <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/>
> e-mail  offgridsolar at sti.net <offgridsolar at sti.net>
> text 209 813 0060*
>
>
> On 2024-02-17 9:43 am, Drake Chamberlin via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> I fully agree that off grid solar has taken a major downturn. Once the
> equipment became software based, the reliability dropped. Sure, there are
> nice features available with these cyber enhanced systems, but the cost in
> reliability makes being energy independent off the grid hard to accomplish.
>
> There are good reports on Samlex products. Has anyone tried their new
> 120/240 split phase units? Are they stack-able yet?
>
> As far as batteries go, I'm pretty much in the Lead Head club, especially
> for off grid. That being said, lead acid batteries, especially AGMs have
> gotten really expensive and it seems the quality isn't what it used to be.
>
> What is the best AGM battery these days?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Drake
>
>
> ---
>
>
>
> On 2024-02-16 17:02, 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
> Sun Catcher
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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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>
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