[RE-wrenches] Issues with HomeGrid

Fri Feb 14 10:25:46 PST 2025

They discontinued the Conext line. Mo more XWs

On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 9:45 AM Glenn via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Whoa, what did I miss?
> How is Schneider out of the picture?
>
> -Glenn
>
> On Feb 14, 2025 12:28, Michael Morningstar via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> I think I have seen or heard of issues and failures with all of the Li
> batteries at this point. Even my favorite, Discover. So then, what is most
> important to me is good tech support and customer service. Discover has
> been awesome. Midnite has been great too. Discover is releasing a
> 16kwhr battery very soon. Most of my OG systems for several years have been
> Schneider/Discover. With Schneider out of the picture, I started using more
> Victron equipment with Discover batteries. Now there's the Midnite AIO and
> Powerlo16s. I've done several GTBB systems and like that combo for that
> application. Bill's post reminded me of the Rosie/Barcelona. I'm wondering
> what the pro's and cons are between the AIO and R/B for off-grid. Not many
> choices left these days
>
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2025 at 6:47 AM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> I didn't initially realize they have the Powerflo16 outdoor
> wallmount battery. I see you can get that capacity with it now. It's
> disappointing that the stackable 5kWh Powerflo5 is limited to 80kWh (also
> 16 units). Most of my clients build dedicated battery/inverter buildings
> and need massive capacities to run their properties. I am trying to wrap my
> head around how a multi-inverter Midnite AIO might be able to take
> advantage of multiple un-paralleled battery banks to get around this
> limitation. I'm waiting on a call from a Midnite rep to discuss this and
> other questions I have.
>
> 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 Thu, Feb 13, 2025 at 9:00 AM Amos Post via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Jason,
>
> It looks like the limit to Midnite PowerFlo is 257kwh.
>  (16.076kwh/unit*16units in parallel).
>
> Best,
> Amos
>
>
>        Amos Post
>    Integrity Energy
>   W 802.763.7023
>    C 802.291.2188
>     ienergyVT.com <http://www.ienergyvt.com>
>         Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/integrityenergyllp?ref=hl>
>
> On Feb 12, 2025, at 5:22 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the feedback, Lou.
>
> Yep, they all seem to be borrowing the "delay and deny" tactic from the
> insurance industry. It's an epidemic. Solar module manufacturers are doing
> this, too (I'm looking at you, REC and Silfab, who have given me the D&D
> treatment on two clear-cut warranty issues recently). I will continue to
> give Enphase kudos for having readily available and mostly competent
> customer service reps and a refreshingly liberal warranty process,
> especially if you are experienced and know how to work the customer service
> reps correctly to lead them to the right answer.
>
> Regarding the firmware issues on inverters and batteries, I have high
> hopes for Midnite's AIO and MNPowerflo, given their claims that firmware
> updates are tested, simultaneous, and seamless. This is a far cry from
> Sol-Ark's new policy of refusing to do firmware updates unless a technician
> is standing by on-site. It sounds like Midnite is listening, and the rest
> are content with accepting mediocrity and pushing issues onto installers.
>
> And don't get me started about HomeGrid's pathetic app and registration
> process... That little Gen 3 WiFi antenna gives you such high hopes, only
> to end in huge disappointment. The app doesn't even seem to work.
>
> 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 Wed, Feb 12, 2025 at 1:08 AM Lou Russo via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> The current trend of manufacturers resisting issuing RMAs is concerning.
> The amount of work they want us to do to confirm their problem is
> staggering (Looking at you SolarEdge). With that said, we only have 7
> systems with HomeGrid batteries. We have had only one issue with them and
> it was firmware related. Unfortunately their firmware upgrade process is a
> total kludge so much so that like Jason, I  just let them take over my
> laptop and let them handle it. It really made me appreciate Discover's
> software and firmware update process. We have a lot of Discover batteries
> out there and like the EG4s you can just shut off the bad battery and move
> on. In addition, if you have a battery module that is "dark start low" you
> can actually "charge" it (it's more like spilling electricity) from a good
> battery in the stack by turning off all the loads and charging sources
> (i.e. the inverter) and all the battery modules except one good one and the
> bad one. After you get the low one to a decent state of charge you can fire
> everything up and put a good balance charge on the entire stack. I have
> found their support to be great as well. They also just took their remote
> battery monitoring out of beta so now you can see battery info directly
> online. Which is nice. I am a big fan of having redundant monitoring so we
> can "trust but verify" the data being reported by the various components. I
> am still bummed they ended production of the 42-48-6650, the build quality
> was ridiculously good. I am little leary of their replacement,
> the 48-48-5120, but it seems to be doing fine in our installs. It has only
> been a year or so, so the jury is still out. But all the same features I
> described above apply.
>
> Aloha,
>
> Lou Russo
> Owner
> lou at spreesolarsystems.com
> Office - 808 345 6762
> Spree Solar Systems LLC
> CT-34322
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> For what it's worth, they haven't said anything about internet
> connectivity on these two systems I'm dealing with right now, and they are
> both Gen 3.
>
> One site has a bunch of firmware discrepancies, and this is the site with
> one module that has all cells low voltage. Not sure if it's even
> recoverable. It's sitting at 39V.
>
> The other site has all the same firmware. This is the one I went to today.
> One of 16 modules (2 full stacks) has one of 15 cells internally that is
> low voltage. To me, that's a clear warranty swap situation, but customer
> service wasn't having it. Disassemble the battery and charge it? That's not
> a solution. It has been escalated. We will see what happens.
>
> Clearly we should be able to take these back to the shop for diagnostics
> at a minimum and get them RMA'd. Requiring the purchase of a Windows laptop
> and a battery charger is not ideal for sure.
>
> The only good thing I can say is customer service took over my PC today
> remotely and ran diagnostics after installing the required software (which
> isn't a fast process). I was expecting them to say, "yep it's toast and
> we're sending you a new one, valued customer."
>
> No such luck.
>
> Jason
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2025, 6:48 PM Tyrone Houck via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> Yep. And the 10 year warranty is only good if connected to the internet.
> Firmware update of every module is crucial or else there will likely be
> imbalances. You may be able to address it as 1 and shut of the others and
> charge it through the bus but if it's cell voltage is too low it may be an
> rma situation. I have had similar issues especially with gen 2. Zero issues
> yet with any gen 3 modules but the internet thing really struck a nerve as
> they only just recently got their internet monitoring functional.. having
> to go back to every site is a serious pain just to ensure what should be a
> basic warranty. Best of luck and feel free to contact me offsite if you
> have any other questions I might be able to  help with.
> Tyrone Houck
> Oregon Solarworks LLC
> CCB #204937 LRT #076
> 541-787-1366
> tyrone at oregonsolarworks.com
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2025, 3:36 PM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> 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
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> --
>
> Michael Morningstar
>
>
> Morningstar Electric Inc
>
> PO Box 1494
>
> Mount Shasta, CA 96067
>
> 530-921-0560
>
> CSLB 1116835
>
> mjmorningstar at gmail.com
>
>
>
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Michael Morningstar

Morningstar Electric Inc

PO Box 1494

Mount Shasta, CA 96067

530-921-0560

CSLB 1116835

mjmorningstar at gmail.com
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