Hello from Maine

All in good time, I'm sure. I'm just happy everything appears to be working with this major overhaul and upgrade. Lots of programming to do tomorrow, but for tonight, I'm happy to let the gs6 do it's job right out of the box (unless there something critical I'm supposed to do at the vet start up...).  My led lights aren't acting like they are at a rave anymore, so that's good. Well pump kicking on didn't even register.. Usually the lights dim a little, but now I have no idea when it's running or not.

Shouldn't be.  All the inverters are at least briefly tested before shipment.

Inverter transformer should be pretty near silent at small to moderate loads; any significant buzzing/humming from the inverter could be of concern.

No flickering?  If so, that's good.  There's a lot of science to throttle regulation, and trying to self-dampen any oscillations...

You'll probably get a brief flicker in the lights when the pump kicks on and trips off...but the lights should stay the same brilliance when it's on vs when it's off.  I'm pretty happy with the AC feedback system on the Rev. C control board...it's very stable and accurate.

Can't seem to get the inverter to charge my batteries? Everything is connected up, but no current going into batteries.

I'm thoroughly confused... So, I couldn't get the unit to initiate a manual charge, so instead I put on auto and set the threshold above the current battery voltage. This seemed to have worked, and now the power light is flashing blue, and the fans are on, there's a charge going to the batteries (as I can see on the batteries themselves that they are receiving a charge), the inverter is making a funny noise underneath the fan noise, and at 50% charge amps, I'm getting about 23a DC as read by my clamp meter on the main battery lead.  But on the app, nothing is registering on the AC input meter, nothing is registering on the DC charge meter, and it says that that charger is disabled? That can't be right... Right?

Mea culpa...I haven't actually "hooked up" the meters on the webapp thing.  The inverter is functioning properly, just the webapp isn't reading the data correctly.

The webapp is due a major redesign when I can get enough other things taken care of...

Should be a light squeal/hum, and fairly smooth.  (Shouldn't be random noise.)

Ah, ok... Between the app readings and the flashing blue light, I was thinking something was amiss there. Is the power button supposed to be rapidly flashing blue while ac pass through is occurring, and/or charging?

36 minutes ago, BlackWaterPark said:

Is the power button supposed to be rapidly flashing blue while ac pass through is occurring, and/or charging?

Yes.  The RGB power button LED is intended as a "mode indicator at a glance":

• Green: Inverter Mode
  • solid on: Inverter Running
  • flashing = Power Save Off State
  • irregular flashing = Slave Mode, Waiting for Sync Input
• Blue: AC Mains Mode
  • solid on: AC Pass-Thru (input -> output), no charge
  • fast flash: Bulk Charge
  • slow flash: Float Charge
• Red: Error
  • mix with Green = yellow flash = alarm
  • mix with Blue = purple flash = alarm (!)
• Off: System Off (even if it's physically powered on)

If you'd like to check that the charge function is working properly (i.e. that the transformer noises are normal), you can go to the Diagnostic Info screen (OUT tab, DOWN 4...past CMD, SCOPE, RESET -> DIAGNOSTIC) and scroll all the way to the bottom of that page.  "Throtle" (yes it's misspelled due to space limitations) should be relatively steady, not wildly jumping all over the place.  Same for a few "pages" up, the "AC In V/A" and "AC Out V/A" 2nd column numbers should be pretty stable.  If they aren't, there might be something worth looking into.

I'll get software updates as soon as I can.  Actually I'm right now running transformer core tests on some transformers I've got laying around, trying to determine what's the ideal core voltage...weighing magnetization losses vs wire losses...

55 minutes ago, Sid Genetry Solar said:

Actually I'm right now running transformer core tests on some transformers

On Christmass Eve, sir!?!  That's dedication right there.  Merry Xmas to you guys.

Maybe I'm bored 🤪.

Really haven't felt like doing anything all day...

EDIT: spoiler alert: after taking a bunch of measurements with a variac, followed by a LOT of number crunching, I've come to the conclusion that an updated transformer design for the 12kw inverter SHOULD be able to mathematically increase inverter efficiency from 88% to 91%.  That's almost unheard of in the LF inverter market...and if we can keep the 0.7A @ 55v no load current, that's also completely unheard of in the LF inverter market.  (Not sure on that latter one...it might bump up to 60W or so if we're unlucky.)

Considering almost all the LF inverters I see are coming in at around 85% or so efficiency (for the bigger names at that) while most Chinese LFs are a fair bit lower (and terribly inefficient at small loads), I'd say you've got something there. Hell, most quality HFs top at around 94ish, while the shit ones like growatt, mpp, etc are outright lying about their efficiency numbers.  You get those units power factor corrected in the charging, combined with the features already in place, and there is no equal on the market that I can see, especially as so many companies are switching over to all in ones, which a good portion of the market doesn't want.  

I'll admit, the interface was a bit overwhelming at first, till I got used to it. There's a lot there, and as I probed deeper, I started appreciating all the little nuances and considerations built in, with enough safety walls to tell you to back off if you don't know what your doing (me, half the time).  I'll tell you though, the one thing I wasn't very enamoured with was the positioning of the AC terminal blocks, as I found my face smushed up against my wall trying to see the input holes, while feeling around with my fingers.  I may have cursed a little.  8/3 Romex is already a pain in the ass to work with as is. But I suppose I would have had an easier go of it on second thought had I just made an those connections prior to mounting the unit.

Today, I've got to figure out why I couldn't initiate a manual start yesterday, and look at those settings you were talking about to see if everything is as it should be when charging.

Yes, it's Christmas, but I figured I could look at the forums 😉

So I need to do some rethinking of the "Command menu" battery charge options.  It's not your fault for being confused, it's mine for not writing it in the most efficient way possible....

Basically, with 1.1r5 to initiate a manual charge, you first need to set the ATS state to AC (power button should turn blue, internal relay click and the inverter switches to AC Input.)  THEN specify whether you want the Bulk or Float charge setting (with 1.1r5 these are just 2 different voltage setpoints).  And lastly, finally specify charge On.

I will revise this on 1.1r6.  The ATS state line will only be present IF there's a qualified AC input connected.  I probably will remove the Charge "On" option, leaving it "Off  Bulk  Float"--i.e. selecting either Bulk or Float will automatically turn Charge On.  In addition, the Charge Bulk/Float commands will also initiate an ATS transfer.

Unless you have better suggestions?

Also to be added is proper "multistage" charging, where it'll go from Bulk -> Float (or Disconnect, per config) after the CC->CV triggered timer expires.  Adding PFC charge is in there--obviously, the more things I add, the longer it'll take, but the better off everyone will be!

Assuming during charge?

Indeed. Don't really know what much of it means, but I'm guessing the Xformer in gas to do with the battery voltage or something.  I've got it set at 67% charge amps, but measuring the negative lead directly out of the inverter registers only about 32 amps, which to me seems low.  Maybe I don't understand how it works, but my math would be 67% of a possible max of 30a (@240vac) would be 4,820w, shaving 20% from that (shooting low on the conversion losses) would leave us with 3,859 w going out, which should amount to (3859÷54) about 70amps DC, right? I feel like I'm missing something here. Also, don't feel the need to answer anything on Christmas, lol... I'm not sure what's more ridiculous here... Me posting here or you actually answering...

It's a mathematical calculation of transformer primary voltage for inverter mode; in charge mode, it is a completely useless value.

Yah...in 1.1r5 the "charge amps" is a completely arbitrary scale/limit, not even closely based on AC input current.  Code was carried over from the A.1/B boards which did not have an AC input current sensor.

I've measured charge efficiency around 60% from 120vAC...which is quite pathetic.  Hopefully the PFC firmware upgrade will bring this at least to 70%, if not 75%.  (Once I get the function rewritten!)

I need to properly scale/calculate and code things in 1.1r6 so the functions behave more as expected.

Hey, it's pretty quiet on the forums right now...I'm not to Sean's level of customer interaction where he has to shut his phone off for weekends, holidays or any time he needs some time to himself.  Or I wouldn't be responding.