[RE-wrenches] Fortress Shutdown?

Tue Aug 27 15:20:49 PDT 2024

I have both controllers set to the Fortress recommended absorb settings 
of 54.4 vdc for 2 hrs.  Its always possible that there was voltage over 
swing or something.  I did check that the voltage on the controllers was 
within a0.1 vdc of the battery voltage at the Fortresses. I'm now using 
a pair of Midnite Hampton Bay Controllers.  They're rated to 90 amps, 
but I set them down to 85 A output, just to provide some head room.  I 
don't mind the very occasional clipping.  The array is two strings of 
Jinko 425s, 10 per series string, so 4250 w per controller.

I wonder if the voltage that causes trouble for Fortress might have 
changed due to the possible lightning surge?

Ray

On 8/27/2024 3:46 PM, jay wrote:
> I have a buddy in tech support at Fortress.
>
> I asked him and he said that elevated absorb volts above 55.2 could 
> cause this situation.
> And then the power cycle would reboot the BMS.
>
> I am presuming its open loop, and the fact you mentioned that there 
> was more PV and then the shut down sure might be connected.
> You might check the charge voltages/time to make sure they are correct 
> and I can’t remember if the classic has battery sense wire connections.
>
> jay
>
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>> On Aug 27, 2024, at 2:51 PM, Ray Walters via RE-wrenches 
>> <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>> The SPD was on one of the PV inputs before it came into the house.  
>> There were two Classics, each fed with its own PV input and SPD.  It 
>> actually caused an underground splice to fail (high resistance) which 
>> I replaced the splice and restored full voltage, and both Classics 
>> were working fine.  Just seems unlikely ( but not impossible) that 
>> the surge would make it past the Classic without damage, but then 
>> damage the Fortress BMS in an otherwise imperceptible manner. That is 
>> our current best theory at the moment though.   I added an SPD on the 
>> 48 v buss, before this latest total shutdown.
>>
>> Ray Walters
>>
>> On 8/27/2024 2:35 PM, Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches wrote:
>>> When I have had someone lose an SPD (I assume it was on DC buss) 
>>> there is often latent damage (shows up later) to many of the 
>>> devices.  In a Hi Rel mode, it is recommended to replace it all. 
>>> Most offgrid is not that critical but try telling that to someone 
>>> with rotten food.
>>> The freezers and reefers are often full of spoils that smells never 
>>> go away. YUK !
>>>   
>>> *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 text 209 813 0060*
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2024-08-27 1:02 pm, Ray Walters via RE-wrenches wrote:
>>>
>>>> Greetings All;
>>>>
>>>> I have Fortress Battery installation with a pair of E Vault 
>>>> batteries set up in a Master/ Slave arrangement.  Its been working 
>>>> fine for over a year, but the customer just had a complete shutdown 
>>>> of the batteries which left multiple freezers, and refrigerator 
>>>> with rotting food. When he rebooted the batteries by turning on/off 
>>>> the main breaker on each, they both come up and showed 100% SOC on 
>>>> the Master, and 98% on the other.    There were no fault codes.   I 
>>>> just recently installed a larger PV array, and so the system has 
>>>> been reaching full charge every morning.
>>>>
>>>> I have multiple calls in to Fortress, but not hearing anything back 
>>>> from them at all.  We did have a lightning surge event a few months 
>>>> ago, that damaged a Midnite SPD (first ever for me), and took out 
>>>> the control board on the generator. One VFX inverter has an LED 
>>>> out, but we only use two inverters of the Quad stack, so I just 
>>>> switched to another inverter.  All other equipment appeared fine: 
>>>> Midnite controllers, rest of the Outback VFX quad stack, and never 
>>>> any issues seen with the Fortress batteries.
>>>>
>>>> The other odd thing, is since he rebooted the batteries, the system 
>>>> is working fine, and recharging to 100%  by 9:30 am as before.    
>>>> Is it possible the Fortress BMS were damaged and are now having an 
>>>> intermittent shutdown issue?  I did ask him to temporarily 
>>>> disconnect the comms between batteries, in case it is a bad BMS on 
>>>> one, it will isolate it from the other.
>>>>
>>>> This is a tough one to figure out, since it hasn't happened again, 
>>>> and there are no fault codes.  The Mate 3 shows a low frequency AC 
>>>> code, but that's usually just from the generator shutting down. Any 
>>>> help, ideas, experiences, would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Ray Walters
>>>> Remote Solar
>>>>
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