Inverter fault

[oregon_phil]

Solar Edge has an inverter checklist (inverter with LG chem battery)

StorEdge™ Wiring Guide & On Site Checklist for North America (storedge_wiring_quick_guide_and_on_site_checklist _na.pdf). Vivent should at lease follow this document.

It seems to be pretty thorough. It must be OK since Solar Edge posts this for installs.

[Ampster]

I agree with @oregon_phil, you need a system level troubleshooter. This list of issues is long and growing. An additional one, is the system is reporting 6.1 kWh of production from 6PM to 8PM. My south facing system shut down at 5:30PM 15 miles away. That is confirmed by your screen shot taken at 5PM which shows no production and battery discharge of about 3kW. A system level troubleshooter should be able to tell if a current sensor is placed wrong or misconfigured. The data is also inconsistent and contradicts one another.
I am still not clear if battery percentage changes from hour to hour. That 6.1 kWhr reported production after sunset had to come from somewhere? It is clear from the screen shot the battery was discharging.
Do you have any way to verify what your PGE meter is seeing? I looked and I don't think hourly detail is available from the website. It takes a day for the daily detail to be updated and that is only Net.
The only good news is that if your lease agreement requires you to pay for system generation, your payments should be lower. If so does it specify DC generation or AC generation? That could be significantly different in a DC coupled battery system like yours, since much of the DC generated would go to charging the batteries and never get inverted to AC. That may be an explanation for some of the data we are seeing which is inconsistent with what we would expect.

[Veger70]

Here are the pictures of my system I believe I have the smart meter as well as two backup panels


035C8061-ADE6-418F-8BD9-0E53E4229FD8.jpegEE6B4BEB-DDB9-4CE7-B370-B720F9DF338C.jpegBB34F44B-263D-4D09-9A10-075933497AD0.jpeg

C2F8337E-AF2C-41BF-8035-5262DDDB1E85.jpeg

[Ampster]

The box labeled Smart Energy Management meter confirms there are CTs that measure current and report loads and production. Reviewing the earlier pictures I see the CTs attached before the main panel breaker. Still unknown is whether they are configured correctly. I am not clear about the devices labeled Backup Load Panel? Typically it would look like a grey electrical panel with breakers. Those breakers should be labeled with the circuits names you described earlier. Perhaps those boxes are the autotransformers that feed the load panel(s). Is there a load panel on the inside of your garage with those circuits?

I also see the Inverters look like they have screens like mine. Can you scroll through those and correlate any data with the Vivent display? I assume that is where you got the error codes you reported earlier?

[oregon_phil]

What is inside the backup load panel?

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Veger70, how you state the problem to Vivent will define their solution as you have found out. Solar Edge has a checklist, but you should make a list of questions that you want answered from Vivent. If you tell Vivent how to fix the problem, then responsibility shifts to you as Vivent works through issues. In essence, you need to come up with a specification of your system requirements as you understand them from your original point of view.

Basic problem: One system doesn't work correctly. One system does work correctly.

Potential Solution: After much bantering and discussion regarding your system with the service tech, gently ask Vivent how they commission new systems of this complex nature. Oh, Solar Edge has a checklist. Can vivent produce the checklist for the system that does not work correctly? No? What do you think, since we are having problems with System X, can you start working down the checklist to verify correct installation/commissioning? What do we have to lose?

And finally, after System X works: Can we verify that both systems are working correctly together before you leave? I don't want to waste anymore of your time. Make sure you get all your questions answered before the service tech leaves.

System integration issues are often the most difficult to resolve. But Solar edge has a commissioning document that is current and is being revised. Your components are from reputable companies. Compared to other "exact" installs of your equipment, there are differences: the inverter, the battery, the person wiring the equipment, the person commissioning the equipment, etc.

[Veger70]

They could be the transformers
is this what you would expect a backup breaker panel looks like?

D6BFBD35-BFBE-4B3B-BEDA-2C8E77E32EF2.jpeg

[oregon_phil]

No that isn't what you have. To find out what is inside of the backup breaker panel box it is simply looking inside the box if you are comfortable with doing that. I have to assume you are not comfortable with AC power and/or high voltage DC power so I respect that. It's better to be alive and wondering than dead and knowing.

I haven't jumped back into this thread for a long time. Instead of shotgunning potential solutions that aren't working, you really need a systems troubleshooter. Do you know somebody that can fill that job description for you?

[Veger70]

Ok I’m not going to open them but I believe by the ink making at the top, that these are the backup breakers in pic 2 with the emergency shutoff next to it, and the transformer in pic 1. My brother informed me there was 4 breakers in each 1D9FD27B-1A9D-4AD6-AC8E-804E0E593760.jpeg4805F13D-1AA6-4BEC-B93B-29C333586B53.jpeg

[oregon_phil]

Recruit your brother to help you figure this out.

[Veger70]

What is it that you want to confirm Phil? The batteries are definitely connected to the house because after the batteries are fully charged the house consumption from the grid drops to 0.

[Ampster]

Ok I’m not going to open them but I believe by the ink making at the top, that these are the backup breakers in pic 2 with the emergency shutoff next to it, and the transformer in pic 1. My brother informed me there was 4 breakers in each .....

Yes those are your backup load panels. The labels on each of the four breakers on the inside would tell you which circuits would be backed up.

[oregon_phil]

I'm not used to being so blunt, but here it goes. You are too focused on this or that problem/issue when the entire system needs to be evaluated. Inverter works? Check. Green light is on, but is it working? Battery works? Green light is on but is it working? Why reinvent every part of the wheel when Solar Edge already has invented the "commissioning a StorEdge checklist"?

You need someone knowledgeable in systems troubleshooting.

Your brother knows more about your system than you do. Ask your brother to be the focal point for Vivent troubleshooting.

[Veger70]

I'm not used to being so blunt, but here it goes. You are too focused on this or that problem/issue when the entire system needs to be evaluated. Inverter works? Check. Green light is on, but is it working? Battery works? Green light is on but is it working? Why reinvent every part of the wheel when Solar Edge already has invented the "commissioning a StorEdge checklist"?

You need someone knowledgeable in systems troubleshooting.

Your brother knows more about your system than you do. Ask your brother to be the focal point for Vivent troubleshooting.

I know you didn’t know this but I’m handicapped, my brother is my eyes and legs but I’m the brains. I’m the one reading the SolarEdge manuals and having him take pics. I know Inflection doesn’t come across in text but I wasn’t irritated when I asked why you wanted to know, I was trying to understand your thinking before asking my brother to open the box.

Did you want to check that the breakers weren’t tripped? Got it. I hadn’t thought of that. I was thinking that If the slave inverter isn’t in slave mode it could explain the issue.

[Veger70]

That would only affect the battery ability to feed the house not whether it could charge/discharge to the grid right?

[Ampster]

That would only affect the battery ability to feed the house not whether it could charge/discharge to the grid right?

Yes that is the assumption I would make, based on the wiring diagram.