[RE-wrenches] [EXTERNAL] Re: Issues with HomeGrid

[White, Will]

Ray,

Have you tried Discover batteries? I'm two months into a system upgrade at my house with Victron and Discover and after working out some initial programming issues, it's been working flawlessly.

Thanks,
Will

________________________________
From: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> on behalf of Ray Walters via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2025 6:54 PM
To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Cc: Ray Walters <ray at solarray.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [RE-wrenches] Issues with HomeGrid

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.



I had a similar situation with Homegrid, where upon commissioning the
system wouldn't even work, because one battery was lower than the
others.  After doing the diagnostics (a 2nd trip) I got the system
operational minus a battery.  Then on a third trip, after buying a PC
lap top, and getting their special dongle, I went back, and had to sit
on site for 3 hours charging the one weak battery with the rest shut
off.  I didn't have to take it a part though.  It seems to be working
now, and this is a stand alone off grid, sitting in a field.

Tech support was decent, I like that they have a built in heater, and
that its closer to actual 48 v nominal, (one less cell than others).
However, I have not speced any more since.

To be fair, I've had trouble with most of the LiPO4 offerings so far.
Simpliphi: complete 4 battery failure, customer out of commission for 2
months.  Probably due to an XW over voltage.

Fortress: shutdowns n the middle of the day at 100% SOC due to a
firmware issue.  Rotten meat in the freezer. Customer gave up and sold
the ranch.

Homegrid: as stated

EG4: complete failure of 2 battery system after a grid outage of 2
hours.  System down for months before getting replacements.

Rubix: so far so good, but instructions not very clear. 24 v offering,
but no heater.

Midnite Powerflo: I'm about to install 2 systems next week in Puerto
Rico, so we'll see.

I'm still doing HUP lead acid for off grid, because I know what its
going to do.  LiPO4 is just not quite ready for off grid, until all
these manus can get their firmware together, get heating systems built
in, and get the price lower.

Ray Walters
Remote Solar

On 2/11/2025 4:35 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches wrote:
> Hi Wrenches,
>
> I am regretting some HomeGrid Stack'd off-grid installations right
> now. There is a major flaw in the way these function in an error
> state. For those of you that don't know, these 48V batteries are
> stacked with a single BMS on top, covering up to 8 batteries below.
> Each battery module has a circuit breaker and dip switches to identify
> the battery communication number and location in the stack. Each BMS
> can be paralleled to additional stacks with communication cabling.
>
> The issue is when one battery module goes into an error state. What
> will happen is that battery stack's BMS will recognize the error, and
> then shut down the whole stack. This cascades to the other stacks and
> the system shuts down - fails to deliver 48V at the output terminals
> on the BMS of any stack.
>
> That is annoying, but what's even more problematic is you can't just
> shut off the offending battery to bypass it. You need to physically
> change all of the dip switches to bypass it and then reprogram the BMS
> to re-recognize the new module count (after taking it out of
> parallel). This is all very time consuming and requires the inverter
> system to be shut down. Even if a battery is not in an error state,
> you can't just turn it off. The whole system goes haywire.
> Once you have it bypassed, you can hook up a RS-232 cable (Mac users
> need not apply) and use their software to gather diagnostics. Customer
> service will then want to do additional diagnostics with the battery
> in the stock, but that is not reasonable in and off-grid system where
> uptime is critical. One of the faulty modules I am dealing with was
> diagnosed as one of 15 cells with low voltage. The "solution" is to
> take it out of the stack and charge it to 100% with an external charger.
>
> By the time I'm done with all of the diagnostic nonsense, I can almost
> pay for a new battery with the lost labor. Isn't the whole idea for
> this not to happen with balancing done automatically? It was suggested
> to me that it didn't get charged to 100% often enough, and that is why
> it happened. That isn't an acceptable reason for failure in an
> off-grid system.
>
> I hate to say this, but EG4 has a far better 5kWh solution in this
> respect. Each module has it's own BMS. When one fails, you can simply
> turn off the circuit breaker and everything else continues to work. In
> fact, a fault in one BMS doesn't take out the whole stack or stacks of
> battery modules.
>
> Back to HomeGrid. When this happens, in my mind this is an automatic
> RMA. They should be replacing these, no questions asked. Especially at
> almost twice the price of EG4. They actually want me to disassemble
> the case of the battery and charge it with an external charger (which
> I don't have) directly from the terminals that are internal to the
> battery case. Totally unacceptable. Whatever is inside that case is
> their problem in my opinion.
>
> I am not selling anymore HomeGrid until I get satisfactory resolution
> to these issues. EG4 isn't perfect, but I have actually had pretty
> good success installing some that I sold and quite a few that
> consumers purchased directly. And at almost half the price, it's
> easier to eat the cost of a battery here and there for customer
> satisfaction.
>
> Anyone have similar issues with HomeGrid?
>
> Jason Szumlanski
> Florida Solar Design Group
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
> Pay optional member dues here: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HSFQw1SO$
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Change listserver email address & settings:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5Hc01XR9V$
>
> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HWp0MUjN$
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HfmF1NPV$
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HeF5er0M$
>
> Check out or update participant bios:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.members.re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HeNShbFH$
>
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance

Pay optional member dues here: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HSFQw1SO$

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org

Change listserver email address & settings:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5Hc01XR9V$

There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HWp0MUjN$
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HfmF1NPV$

List rules & etiquette:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HeF5er0M$

Check out or update participant bios:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.members.re-wrenches.org__;!!KPww_GFiJXw!eb0-TQjzz6nRMy4rCtXw02FQ-rdFqQkEoV9FD8Cn79i1Eh2YSk60QfTZwZ57rBALpeLbLxAVLAVWJy65qnelSuq5HeNShbFH$

________________________________

Please be advised that this email may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify us by email by replying to the sender and delete this message.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20250213/68eb9228/attachment.htm>