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

Tue Oct 1 14:22:43 PDT 2024

The issue with the loads is a good point.
According to my conversation with Enphase: because the IQ8's will form their own microgrid with sunlight, once the batteries attempt to restart at 9AM the micros will immediately connect and produce. That said it would seem that in any case there must me a load controller incorporated.
Here's the link:  load-and-solar-circuit-control-using-iq-system-controller-auxiliary-contacts-tech-brief (enphase.com)<https://enphase.com/download/load-and-solar-circuit-control-using-iq-system-controller-auxiliary-contacts-tech-brief>

Does anyone from Enphase want to chime in here?

Wayne Irwin
President
License #CVC56695
State Licensed Solar Contractor
Pure Energy Solar International Inc.
Wayne at PureEnergySolar.com
PureEnergySolar.com<http://pureenergysolar.com/>
SolarChargingStation.com<http://solarchargingstation.com/>
352 377-6527 Office
352 336-3299 Fax

The Sun Is Always Shining!

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________________________________
From: Jason Szumlanski <jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2024 2:34 PM
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Cc: Wayne Irwin <pureenergysolar at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase Batteries and IQ7+ Won't Restart

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<mailto: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/>
SolarChargingStation.com<http://solarchargingstation.com/>
352 377-6527 Office
352 336-3299 Fax

The Sun Is Always Shining!

The content of this message is Pure Energy Solar Confidential. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this message in error, any use or distribution is prohibited. Please notify me immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message from your computer system. Thank you.

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