<div dir="auto">Becareful with the EG4s and AGMs. Last I checked the EG4s couldn't be properly programmed to charge at a high enough voltage to properly charge some of the heavier plated AGM. Surrette and Full river AGMs need to be charged at 58.8 temp compensated to -4mv/deg/c... <div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">The EG4s like the Sol Arks and a ton of the Hybrid inverters aren't really made to charge lead batteries in general... some you can make work, many you can't. </div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 10:06 AM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif">
<div id="m_3807050592829876076signature">Surrette and Full river AGM's Been berry berry good to me!<br>
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<pre><strong><span style="font-size:small">Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
<a href="http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a style="color:blue;font-size:11px;font-family:'Lucida Grande',Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:400;background-color:#ffffff" href="https://offgridsolar1.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:12pt">https://offgridsolar1.com/</span></a><a href="http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>
e-mail <a href="mailto:offgridsolar@sti.net" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">offgridsolar@sti.net</a>
text 209 813 0060</span></strong></pre>
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<p id="m_3807050592829876076reply-intro">On 2024-02-17 9:43 am, Drake Chamberlin via RE-wrenches wrote:</p>
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<p><span style="font-size:12pt">I fully agree that off grid solar has taken a major downturn. Once the equipment became software based, the reliability dropped. Sure, there are nice features available with these cyber enhanced systems, but the cost in reliability makes being energy independent off the grid hard to accomplish. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt">There are good reports on Samlex products. Has anyone tried their new 120/240 split phase units? Are they stack-able yet? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt">As far as batteries go, I'm pretty much in the Lead Head club, especially for off grid. That being said, lead acid batteries, especially AGMs have gotten really expensive and it seems the quality isn't what it used to be. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt">What is the best AGM battery these days? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt">Thanks,</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt">Drake </span></p>
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<p id="m_3807050592829876076v1reply-intro">On 2024-02-16 17:02, Michael Morningstar via RE-wrenches wrote:</p>
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<div dir="auto">We gave EG4 and Signature another chance after promises from their dealer oriented support department that we could expect better service from them. We had an EG4 BMS crap out a couple months ago after only a few months. Lots and lots of communications with Signature and we still don't have a BMS or replacement battery. It's been a shit show with them. I think we are going to remove them and install 3rd party BMS's and find some use for them. Maybe donate them. We've only had luck with Schneider/Discover pairings in closed loop. A large system we did with Sol-Arks never really worked in Closed loop, despite Discover coming to the site. Most likely it's a Sol-Ark issue, but we've reached Sol-Arks technical expertise limits. Even with Schneider/AES, there have been some issues that are causing me to re-consider Li for offgrid. I just had a conversation this morning with a long time off-grid pro and he said the same thing. It used to be, we'd install a wet lead acid bank and then ten years would pass before hearing from the client when it was time for another bank. Sometimes fifteen years. Our call backs with systems over the last ten years, first with a decline in equipment quality and then the switch to Li are costing us too much money and causing a lot of heartburn for our clients. Rant Over</div>
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<div dir="ltr">On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 12:57 PM Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:</div>
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<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Hi All,</div>
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<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">I've searched the archives for info pertaining to EG4 inverters and batteries. The comments have been mostly positive. I have stayed away from EG4 until now in part, for the reason the Michael Morningstar suggested last June - that is, they seemed very oriented to the DIY market and not real serious contenders in the lasting marketplace. However, I was at RE+ Boston this week and was quite surprised to see that the EG4 18k inverter is, for all I could tell, identical to the Fortress Envy 12k, in both physical layout as well as menu structure. I have very limited experience with the Envy (having just installed my 1st one last week, in order to compare it to the Sol-Ark 15). I don't have any thoughts about it yet, except that the font on the screen is quite small and the opening screen is not as intuitive as the Sol-Ark, but that might just take familiarizing myself more to the Envy (and/or the EG4).</div>
<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">My question is, for folks who have had either the Envy or the EG4 inverters installed for a decent period of time, what is your current take on their functionality, durability, and for the EG4, the quality of support? Also, what experience have folks had similarly with the EG4 LLI batteries? I'm not unhappy with the Sol-Ark or in general the Fortress eVault Max battery, but there are some attractive things about the Envy and potentially the EG4 18k, and the price point and seemingly smart configuration of the EG4 LLI batteries are certainly eye-catching. </div>
<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">I'm also currently starting to lean toward using Lithium batteries and inverters from the same manufacturer, as I'm growing weary of the mismatching firmware updates that are causing somewhat frequent issues between the 2 components. Although the inverter/battery integrated units (i.e. Sonen, Tesla, etc.) don't seem ideal, since the market is so volatile at the moment. If one component fails, I'd like the option to replace it with a different brand without having to replace the other component as well. Using the same manu doesn't necessarily cut down the problems, but it certainly will help in the troubleshooting process by hopefully having less of the "not my problem" or "we haven't seen that problem" responses from tech support. </div>
<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">I really don't like making forays into bleeding-edge technologies, so I'm hoping to gain some experienced insight.</div>
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<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Thanks,</div>
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<div dir="ltr">Howie Michaelson</div>
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<div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Sun Catcher</div>
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