[RE-wrenches] Enphase Batteries and IQ7+ Won't Restart

[Jason Szumlanski]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is also the case with IQ8
microinverters. The batteries must be able to sustain the load for up to 6
minutes to allow the microinverters to attempt to charge the battery. If
you have loads that exceed the battery output capacity, it could cause the
microgrid to collapse before PV can start charging.

But that is also the case at night - you should not have loads (or inrush
currents) that exceed the combined battery output capability without load
control or manual control of loads.

Here is a link to the document that explains this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_jvHvTqZFs5Tutptaq_jbbl94GOrao7x/view?usp=sharing



Jason Szumlanski
Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956
Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208


On Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 7:52 PM Wayne Irwin via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Hurricane Helene has taught us the hard way that Enphase batteries with
> anything other than IQ8's won't restart.
> The issue is that when the batteries try to restart (at the
> non-programmable time of 9:AM) if there are any significant loads, the
> batteries will not stay on long enough (300+ seconds) for any non-IQ8
> micros to energize. The battery will attempt multiple times, but if there
> is a load, (such as a well pump) the draw from the load will essentially
> prohibit the batteries from energizing the micros long enough to engage and
> produce. The only solution is to have a load controller or turn off all
> loads once the power goes out. Otherwise, during these "attempts to turn
> on" power in the house will momentarily turn on and back off and
> potentially drain the batteries down to lower than the point of which they
> can even attempt to restart. I spoke at length with Enphase upper
> engineering (not tech support) about this today. They now know that most of
> the tech support staff does not know this important information.
>
> Once the batteries are dead, they are very difficult if not impossible to
> jump start with a generator. At the recommendation of tech support we tried
> multiple times with the "approved" inverter generator which ultimatly just
> wasted our time. Even though the controller/switch will accept the gen
> power and pass the energy to the loads, it will not energize the combiner
> or batteries. If your goal is to have an autonomous system with Enphase,
> it's only going to happen with the IQ8's (at this point).
>
> This is a significant issue with retrofitting older systems.
>
> By the way:
> - We've received numerous desperate calls from (orphaned) Powerwall owners
> whose systems also won't turn back on.
> - ALL of our Outback systems were issue free.
>
> I hope this helps some of you. Good Luck out there!
>
> Wayne Irwin
> President
> License #CVC56695
> State Licensed Solar Contractor
> Pure Energy Solar International Inc.
> Wayne at PureEnergySolar.com
> PureEnergySolar.com <http://pureenergysolar.com/>
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> 352 336-3299 Fax
>
>
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