Inverter fault

[Mike90250]

I think the Utilities discourage using the grid at night hours to recharge batteries to sell power back to the grid at peak hours.

[Veger70]

Also I have 2 LG batteries 9.80 kWh each
In the morning they are only showing 7.49kWh total to charge both batteries in the morning from 20% to 100%
I would think that it would be closer to 15.7 kWh to charge both 80%
or am I reading to data wrong.

[Veger70]

This seems like expected behavior. If set to “Maximize Self-Consumption”, the inverter will prioritize charging the battery with solar. When the sun starts to set, the inverter will start to discharge the battery to minimize grid import until the battery drops to the backup reserve (20% in your case). I would expect Vivant to have the inverter set this way by default.

So I guess I’m not going to get the ability to access the SolarEdge site. “Maximize Self-Consumption” mode per SolarEdge info is for “charging the battery from the PV/grid when tariffs are low and discharge the battery when tariffs are high” can you explain what i need to look for if I’m with Sonoma Clean Power or would I have to look at PG&E to get the rates? I’m not sure Vivint cares enough to be worried about this but if there’s a better mode to save money I’ll tell them

[soby]

February 11th the tech came out and updated th e software on one LG battery it wasn’t communicating with SolarEdge inverter. Now all is working.
I called to get access to SolarEdge monitoring portal. Customer service informed me that they couldn’t give me access because then they couldn’t monitor the system if they did.....
When the first full day of charging for the system at around 6PM Vivint had the batteries discharge to the grid down to 20%. Is that normal to discharge the batteries everyday for the life of the batteries?



B18250C2-F2DB-49E8-BA0B-096F1BE41DA8.jpeg

This seems like expected behavior. If set to “Maximize Self-Consumption”, the inverter will prioritize charging the battery with solar. When the sun starts to set, the inverter will start to discharge the battery to minimize grid import until the battery drops to the backup reserve (20% in your case). I would expect Vivant to have the inverter set this way by default.

[Veger70]

February 11th the tech came out and updated th e software on one LG battery it wasn’t communicating with SolarEdge inverter. Now all is working.
I called to get access to SolarEdge monitoring portal. Customer service informed me that they couldn’t give me access because then they couldn’t monitor the system if they did.....
When the first full day of charging for the system at around 6PM Vivint had the batteries discharge to the grid down to 20%. Is that normal to discharge the batteries everyday for the life of the batteries?



B18250C2-F2DB-49E8-BA0B-096F1BE41DA8.jpeg

[soby]

Take a picture of the LG Chem and everything between the LG Chem and the inverter. Look at Vivent drawing E2 and find the LG chem on the drawing.
Also, look at page 25 of the LG Chem manual. Is the auxiliary power switch turned on?

Now that I look at the LG Chem manual, I see it has an internal set of circuit breakers. These should all be ON. For the battery that is working, the circuit breakers are obviously on. What about the other battery?

You admit you are a noob and that's why I agreed that having an installer should fix the problem. If you are poking around a piece of high power high voltage equipment and you make one wrong move, you can kill yourself. All of your manuals say in bold letters "must be installed/serviced by qualified personnel".

Even checking to see if the LG Chem circuit breakers are ON will put you near high voltage. I would suggest that you have the vivent installer or any installer, sit down with you to teach you about every piece of equipment in your system if that is your end goal.

I second this. I did some basic troubleshooting but I got uncomfortable quick. Even my electrician warned me not to mess with the DC side of anything. 400V DC is serious business. You have no reason to do this yourself since it's leased. There has to be some stipulation in your contract about uptime and repairs?

[oregon_phil]

Not sure I’m a noob when it comes to this stuff if you could explain what to look for I could take pictures

Take a picture of the LG Chem and everything between the LG Chem and the inverter. Look at Vivent drawing E2 and find the LG chem on the drawing.
Also, look at page 25 of the LG Chem manual. Is the auxiliary power switch turned on?

Now that I look at the LG Chem manual, I see it has an internal set of circuit breakers. These should all be ON. For the battery that is working, the circuit breakers are obviously on. What about the other battery?

You admit you are a noob and that's why I agreed that having an installer should fix the problem. If you are poking around a piece of high power high voltage equipment and you make one wrong move, you can kill yourself. All of your manuals say in bold letters "must be installed/serviced by qualified personnel".

Even checking to see if the LG Chem circuit breakers are ON will put you near high voltage. I would suggest that you have the vivent installer or any installer, sit down with you to teach you about every piece of equipment in your system if that is your end goal.

[Veger70]

This may be a really stupid question, but your schematic shows one DC disconnect for each system between the battery and the StoreEdge SE7600A-US. Are both DC disconnects in the same position?

Not sure I’m a noob when it comes to this stuff if you could explain what to look for I could take pictures

[Veger70]

Depending on how long the battery without any lights has been unpowered, it may still be salvageable with an LG Chem service visit or it may be a total loss. My original battery was a total loss because my installer let it sit too long in their warehouse and it self-discharged too much. It had to be completely replaced.

Vivant will have to deal with the logistics of the battery troubleshooting/repair.

Since you don't have SolarEdge monitoring, do you have any monitoring? SolarEdge monitoring would tell you if the battery was discharging too much and when it disconnected. You will never have complete control of the battery use but you should have a right to the monitoring to confirm that it is behaving as intended per your lease contract.

Not sure Vivint has an app which shows battery charge and discharge status but because there is a communication error I can’t explore it

[soby]

We have 2 batteries and 2 inverters I believe one battery per inverter.
I’ve attached the plans however I believe the installer modified them because originally the plans weren’t attached to the breaker panels so we couldn’t run the house off them. we had them attached the batteries to the downstairs panels.

one battery.has green on indicator and the other is black I’m assuming not powered https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link...625b#pageNum=2

Depending on how long the battery without any lights has been unpowered, it may still be salvageable with an LG Chem service visit or it may be a total loss. My original battery was a total loss because my installer let it sit too long in their warehouse and it self-discharged too much. It had to be completely replaced.

Vivant will have to deal with the logistics of the battery troubleshooting/repair.

Since you don't have SolarEdge monitoring, do you have any monitoring? SolarEdge monitoring would tell you if the battery was discharging too much and when it disconnected. You will never have complete control of the battery use but you should have a right to the monitoring to confirm that it is behaving as intended per your lease contract.

[oregon_phil]

This may be a really stupid question, but your schematic shows one DC disconnect for each system between the battery and the StoreEdge SE7600A-US. Are both DC disconnects in the same position?

[Veger70]

How many batteries and inverters do you have and what is connected to what.

Troubleshooting of that error code can be found on Pg 97 of this pdf: https://www.solaredge.com/sites/defa...de_with_LG.pdf

Is the green ON light visible on the black strip of the battery like this picture? https://greempower.com/wp-content/up...?fac0a6&fac0a6. If not, the battery may be toast. If you are leasing, the owners of this system need to get notified immediately.

We have 2 batteries and 2 inverters I believe one battery per inverter.
I’ve attached the plans however I believe the installer modified them because originally the plans weren’t attached to the breaker panels so we couldn’t run the house off them. we had them attached the batteries to the downstairs panels.

one battery.has green on indicator and the other is black I’m assuming not powered https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link...625b#pageNum=2

[soby]

I don’t have access to SolarEdge monitoring platform yet.
the error code is Battery communication error 3x6b

How many batteries and inverters do you have and what is connected to what.

Troubleshooting of that error code can be found on Pg 97 of this pdf: https://www.solaredge.com/sites/defa...de_with_LG.pdf

Is the green ON light visible on the black strip of the battery like this picture? https://greempower.com/wp-content/up...?fac0a6&fac0a6. If not, the battery may be toast. If you are leasing, the owners of this system need to get notified immediately.

[Veger70]

I have the same StorEdge Inverter and LG Chem battery setup so I'll help if I can.

How does this lease work? What do you get and what does Vivant get in this contract?

Do you have access to SolarEdge monitoring? Can you share the public monitoring link? What tabs are shown at the top (ie Dashboard, Layout)?

The battery backup function for each inverter functions through a backup loads panel. These backup loads are the only loads powered up during an outage. Do you know what is backed up?

There is a black squishy button below where the screen is that turns on the screen and cycles through information. What information does it tell you as you cycle through? Mine gives battery info on the last window before it loops back to the beginning. There is also a battery test you can perform if need be.

I don’t have access to SolarEdge monitoring platform yet.
the error code is Battery communication error 3x6b

[soby]

I have the same StorEdge Inverter and LG Chem battery setup so I'll help if I can.

How does this lease work? What do you get and what does Vivant get in this contract?

Do you have access to SolarEdge monitoring? Can you share the public monitoring link? What tabs are shown at the top (ie Dashboard, Layout)?

The battery backup function for each inverter functions through a backup loads panel. These backup loads are the only loads powered up during an outage. Do you know what is backed up?

There is a black squishy button below where the screen is that turns on the screen and cycles through information. What information does it tell you as you cycle through? Mine gives battery info on the last window before it loops back to the beginning. There is also a battery test you can perform if need be.