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Ray,</div>
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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.</div>
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Thanks,</div>
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Will</div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org> on behalf of Ray Walters via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, February 11, 2025 6:54 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Ray Walters <ray@solarray.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [EXTERNAL] Re: [RE-wrenches] Issues with HomeGrid</font>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
I had a similar situation with Homegrid, where upon commissioning the<br>
system wouldn't even work, because one battery was lower than the<br>
others. After doing the diagnostics (a 2nd trip) I got the system<br>
operational minus a battery. Then on a third trip, after buying a PC<br>
lap top, and getting their special dongle, I went back, and had to sit<br>
on site for 3 hours charging the one weak battery with the rest shut<br>
off. I didn't have to take it a part though. It seems to be working<br>
now, and this is a stand alone off grid, sitting in a field.<br>
<br>
Tech support was decent, I like that they have a built in heater, and<br>
that its closer to actual 48 v nominal, (one less cell than others).<br>
However, I have not speced any more since.<br>
<br>
To be fair, I've had trouble with most of the LiPO4 offerings so far.<br>
Simpliphi: complete 4 battery failure, customer out of commission for 2<br>
months. Probably due to an XW over voltage.<br>
<br>
Fortress: shutdowns n the middle of the day at 100% SOC due to a<br>
firmware issue. Rotten meat in the freezer. Customer gave up and sold<br>
the ranch.<br>
<br>
Homegrid: as stated<br>
<br>
EG4: complete failure of 2 battery system after a grid outage of 2<br>
hours. System down for months before getting replacements.<br>
<br>
Rubix: so far so good, but instructions not very clear. 24 v offering,<br>
but no heater.<br>
<br>
Midnite Powerflo: I'm about to install 2 systems next week in Puerto<br>
Rico, so we'll see.<br>
<br>
I'm still doing HUP lead acid for off grid, because I know what its<br>
going to do. LiPO4 is just not quite ready for off grid, until all<br>
these manus can get their firmware together, get heating systems built<br>
in, and get the price lower.<br>
<br>
Ray Walters<br>
Remote Solar<br>
<br>
On 2/11/2025 4:35 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches wrote:<br>
> Hi Wrenches,<br>
><br>
> I am regretting some HomeGrid Stack'd off-grid installations right<br>
> now. There is a major flaw in the way these function in an error<br>
> state. For those of you that don't know, these 48V batteries are<br>
> stacked with a single BMS on top, covering up to 8 batteries below.<br>
> Each battery module has a circuit breaker and dip switches to identify<br>
> the battery communication number and location in the stack. Each BMS<br>
> can be paralleled to additional stacks with communication cabling.<br>
><br>
> The issue is when one battery module goes into an error state. What<br>
> will happen is that battery stack's BMS will recognize the error, and<br>
> then shut down the whole stack. This cascades to the other stacks and<br>
> the system shuts down - fails to deliver 48V at the output terminals<br>
> on the BMS of any stack.<br>
><br>
> That is annoying, but what's even more problematic is you can't just<br>
> shut off the offending battery to bypass it. You need to physically<br>
> change all of the dip switches to bypass it and then reprogram the BMS<br>
> to re-recognize the new module count (after taking it out of<br>
> parallel). This is all very time consuming and requires the inverter<br>
> system to be shut down. Even if a battery is not in an error state,<br>
> you can't just turn it off. The whole system goes haywire.<br>
> Once you have it bypassed, you can hook up a RS-232 cable (Mac users<br>
> need not apply) and use their software to gather diagnostics. Customer<br>
> service will then want to do additional diagnostics with the battery<br>
> in the stock, but that is not reasonable in and off-grid system where<br>
> uptime is critical. One of the faulty modules I am dealing with was<br>
> diagnosed as one of 15 cells with low voltage. The "solution" is to<br>
> take it out of the stack and charge it to 100% with an external charger.<br>
><br>
> By the time I'm done with all of the diagnostic nonsense, I can almost<br>
> pay for a new battery with the lost labor. Isn't the whole idea for<br>
> this not to happen with balancing done automatically? It was suggested<br>
> to me that it didn't get charged to 100% often enough, and that is why<br>
> it happened. That isn't an acceptable reason for failure in an<br>
> off-grid system.<br>
><br>
> I hate to say this, but EG4 has a far better 5kWh solution in this<br>
> respect. Each module has it's own BMS. When one fails, you can simply<br>
> turn off the circuit breaker and everything else continues to work. In<br>
> fact, a fault in one BMS doesn't take out the whole stack or stacks of<br>
> battery modules.<br>
><br>
> Back to HomeGrid. When this happens, in my mind this is an automatic<br>
> RMA. They should be replacing these, no questions asked. Especially at<br>
> almost twice the price of EG4. They actually want me to disassemble<br>
> the case of the battery and charge it with an external charger (which<br>
> I don't have) directly from the terminals that are internal to the<br>
> battery case. Totally unacceptable. Whatever is inside that case is<br>
> their problem in my opinion.<br>
><br>
> I am not selling anymore HomeGrid until I get satisfactory resolution<br>
> to these issues. EG4 isn't perfect, but I have actually had pretty<br>
> good success installing some that I sold and quite a few that<br>
> consumers purchased directly. And at almost half the price, it's<br>
> easier to eat the cost of a battery here and there for customer<br>
> satisfaction.<br>
><br>
> Anyone have similar issues with HomeGrid?<br>
><br>
> Jason Szumlanski<br>
> Florida Solar Design Group<br>
><br>
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