[RE-wrenches] Most dependable Lithium - inverter setup

[Jason Szumlanski]

Although I only have a handful of Midnite systems up and running, I will
say that the Powerflo16 battery to AIO setup is dead easy. No dip switches
(YAY!) No discovery process. They just work. I really like it. The downside
is that the app is very limited in terms of visibility into the individual
battery capacities. The only real way to determine if they are all working
is to view the aH capacity figure that is displayed inconspicuously in the
app. They include comm cables with each battery for both inverter to
battery comms (special pinout, only needed for the master battery) and a
straight-through Cat5 cable for interbattery communication. Oddly, the AIO
defaults to PYLON protocol, so the first order of business is to change
that to
"Midnite" in the battery settings. And as I mentioned in another thread,
Midnite doesn't seem to send the right aH capacity to Solar Assistant (I am
working with SA support on a workaround).

Pro tip: I don't think it is documented, or certainly not well documented,
but you only need to turn on the master battery. All others should turn on
in sequence, as long as the circuit breakers are all on first.

On my first installation, I purposefully broke the communication daisy
chain temporarily to see what happened, and everything kept working. There
was no inverter shutdown, parallel fault, etc. The AIO simply renegotiated
the new quantity of batteries in the chain and displayed the new aH rating
for the quantity of batteries still in the comms sequence. That is a huge
benefit over other batteries and inverters that go into crisis mode and
shut down when communications are lost.

EG4 works great after the initial setup, but it's not as simple and
straightforward as Midnite. You have to dig into the menus to configure the
protocols on both the batteries and inverters. I believe I have called for
support on every single installation for one reason or another, but found
the support to be very easy to reach, knowledgeable, and efficient. Again,
this is based only on a handful of installations.

I would not call my opinions statistically significant, but I have no
problem recommending either setup.



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 Sat, Sep 13, 2025 at 11:25 AM Drake Chamberlin via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Having followed the battery - inverter discussions with interest, it seems
> like a lot of communication problems are encountered.
>
> It seems like the least problematic setups are Midnite batteries and
> inverters. EG4 setups seem to be getting good ratings also, with the
> possibility of having short lived inverters.
>
> Would you say that this is an accurate assessment?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Drake
>
>
> *Drake Chamberlin*
>
> *Athens Electric LLC*
>
> *Ohio Electrical Contractor’s License 44810*
>
> *NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional*
> --
>
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