Your issues are exactly what I had. Same LP4 (six 48v batteries) and rack. 1) fixed my bus bars correctly 2) fixed the SOC% issue. Everything is working nicely now. I did videos on my channel similar to yours (the bus bars were pure crap until I modified and used REAL hardware). I bumped my charge voltages (three Midnite Solar MPPT chargers) to 57.0v (5 mins duration ABSORB and FLOAT to 54.2v. All six go up to 100% SOC with no alarms on the batteries. But, the BMS APP v2.6 on the laptop will show "overvoltage" under multipack on a few batterys. Those faults (of course) go away. One battery has a "CMOS: On" fault that goes away once the specific battery starts to discharge. I think Signature Solar uses us (and our videos) as "product improvement guinea pigs". It isn't just me, several of us I am in contact with who have these and issues.
Lance, Thank you so much! I was having the same problem on 2 Lifepower4 batteries, and Signature Solar was no help. I cranked up the voltage to 58V on my charge controller and bam they reset and took a full charge. I wasted hours in the past trying to figure this out. I did firmware, change the ground to a bottom feed. One would think signature solar would be giving this advice. I guess they just want to sell extra chargers, and not enplane the problem.
Thanks for the Video. My SOC issue started when I lowered the inverter charge voltage to match what the manual said it should be 56.2. From that time, the SOC started drifting on all of the batteries, even though the voltages were all the same. I have EG4 3000EHV-48 inverters. I was able to change setting of the bulk charging (Step 26) to the 58.2. This had the same results as you, all went to 100 percent with the same alarms. After this was done, I have set the bulk charging to 57.0 to see if they stay in sync. Thanks again, your video was super helpful.
I had the same issue using a single eg4 battery with the 3000 EHV48. Cycling the battery does help, but mine was as bad as 62% and wouldn't charge any further. After cycling three times I finally achieved 99% but I couldn't make 100 until I set the bulk at 58.2. 58 volts didn't reset it. I had to enter 58.2. It's my opinion 58.2 is too high so I set it back to 56.4. I'm wondering if my cables feeding the inverter are imbalanced as my ground is a bit shorter because of the breaker I have installed? Anyway this is a good method of resetting the soc on the bms. Hopefully a new firmware upgrade will correct the problem.
Man, thanks a million. I have spent more than 16 hours on hold different times speaking with different people from SS. I have that charger plus the new 100amp yellow one. Why didn't they just tell me this. 5 of my 6 batteries are doing the same 70s charging stop thing. They have told me to drain, reset and do all other things for 3 weeks and nothing worked. If they know this information would have been nice to just tell me. I will do this tomorrow and let you know if it worked for me. The only battery that works perfectly is the first gyll battery that I bought from them. It charges to 100% and works everyday for almost 2 years now never ever a fault with it. The lifepower batteries have a poor BMS system. I've already replaced one BMS.
@@lanceknoechel8945 Thanks. I fixed 5 of my set using this method. Yes, couple has since stared to lag behind again. However now that I know how and what is the solution and the fix I am not stressed anymore about it. Really a pain to have to go thru this but I am already stuck with these batteries.
@@MrDonking1967 Ditto. I've been experimenting with different settings, but don't quite have the modules working like they should. The BMS's in these modules don't really manage as they should.
I don't want you to adjust the parameter settings but those settings are what tells the bms when to read 100 percent charge level. In theory what you did by charging it up to 100 percent it should be calibrated and from then on read 100 percent with your current settings without having to pump the batteries up to 58v everyday
Had the same problem with my 15 K solark, set the charge voltage to 57.5 and all the BMS went to 100 % charge and no alarms. I did try the firmware update and that did nothing. Thanks for the charge voltage tip.
Thank you, set my voltage to 57.4 temporarily on my Schneider charge controller and 3 of my batteries jumped to 100% from 69%, 51%, 50%. Horray. Too bad this isn't in the manual.
Think I'd set that voltage at 56.8 for the bulk charge and let it float for a while after that. Don't know what the EG4 settings are for 100% indication but should be pretty close. That little charger you were using was pushing out max voltage and your errors were from cell over voltage at 3.65 and shut down charging from the bms. Next question is, why does your charge controller stop when you still have battery packs below 100%? You're going to have to dig that out of your controller settings for your charging parameters. Battery packs are going to charge and discharge at different rates best you can do. But as long as the charge voltage remains constant, they can float forever at 100% while the lagging batteries catch up. That's going to be dictated by your float time and something you'll have to figure out for your system as battery banks aren't all the same. The bms decides when charging stops for the pack that's obviously set to 3.65. The controller may be responding to the master sending 100% for a total for the string but not likely?
Is there any other sever rack battery in the market that doesnt have this balancing issues? I don't want to deal with this problem. I rather spend more money.
@@lanceknoechel8945 I’ll watch that video. I usually set all the different manufacturers LiFePO4 16s batteries about the same at 55.2 to 56.0 with a 2-3 hour absorb and end amps set to 2-5% of amp-hour capacity. The larger the bank, the longer the absorb and lower percentage. Also, Outback is funny in that they increment voltage by 0.4 instead of 0.1 on some settings.
It seems you are just trying to trick the software into showing 100% for what ever voltage that it is set for. The voltage can get high enough to do that but the cells not be balanced. I can't see all your cell voltages but they seem to be fairly well balanced. What you probably would ideally do is change the 100% full parameter to something more like 55.2v . If you watch some Off Grid Garage videos tests cells and bms of various brands in detail . You would probably be better off not relying on the bms reported SOC and get a different meter that shows the SOC of your batteries as a single group so you know if all the power that is being taken out is the same as what is going back in. I have a different brand bms than you do but have seen how unreliable the bms can report SOC if the cells are unbalanced.
@@rpsmith I know someone who had EG4 batteries and the SOC wouldn't reset. He had the settings in the controller that were specified in a sheet that came with the batteries - either it was from Signature Solar or EG4 - not sure. I looked up the manual online and the recommended settings were different than what came with the battery . Once the charger setpoint was changed , then the SOC got to 100% every day like it was supposed to when battery was full. This is the second time I heard of conflicting setpoints for Signature Solar EG4 batteries.
Your issues are exactly what I had. Same LP4 (six 48v batteries) and rack. 1) fixed my bus bars correctly 2) fixed the SOC% issue. Everything is working nicely now. I did videos on my channel similar to yours (the bus bars were pure crap until I modified and used REAL hardware). I bumped my charge voltages (three Midnite Solar MPPT chargers) to 57.0v (5 mins duration ABSORB and FLOAT to 54.2v. All six go up to 100% SOC with no alarms on the batteries. But, the BMS APP v2.6 on the laptop will show "overvoltage" under multipack on a few batterys. Those faults (of course) go away. One battery has a "CMOS: On" fault that goes away once the specific battery starts to discharge. I think Signature Solar uses us (and our videos) as "product improvement guinea pigs". It isn't just me, several of us I am in contact with who have these and issues.
Good and helpful info. Thanx.
100% on lack of clear guidance from Signature Solar.
Lance, Thank you so much! I was having the same problem on 2 Lifepower4 batteries, and Signature Solar was no help. I cranked up the voltage to 58V on my charge controller and bam they reset and took a full charge. I wasted hours in the past trying to figure this out. I did firmware, change the ground to a bottom feed. One would think signature solar would be giving this advice. I guess they just want to sell extra chargers, and not enplane the problem.
Thanks for the Video. My SOC issue started when I lowered the inverter charge voltage to match what the manual said it should be 56.2. From that time, the SOC started drifting on all of the batteries, even though the voltages were all the same. I have EG4 3000EHV-48 inverters. I was able to change setting of the bulk charging (Step 26) to the 58.2. This had the same results as you, all went to 100 percent with the same alarms. After this was done, I have set the bulk charging to 57.0 to see if they stay in sync. Thanks again, your video was super helpful.
I had the same issue using a single eg4 battery with the 3000 EHV48. Cycling the battery does help, but mine was as bad as 62% and wouldn't charge any further. After cycling three times I finally achieved 99% but I couldn't make 100 until I set the bulk at 58.2. 58 volts didn't reset it. I had to enter 58.2. It's my opinion 58.2 is too high so I set it back to 56.4. I'm wondering if my cables feeding the inverter are imbalanced as my ground is a bit shorter because of the breaker I have installed? Anyway this is a good method of resetting the soc on the bms. Hopefully a new firmware upgrade will correct the problem.
Man, thanks a million. I have spent more than 16 hours on hold different times speaking with different people from SS. I have that charger plus the new 100amp yellow one. Why didn't they just tell me this. 5 of my 6 batteries are doing the same 70s charging stop thing. They have told me to drain,
reset and do all other things for 3 weeks and nothing worked. If they know this information would have been nice to just tell me. I will do this tomorrow and let you know if it worked for me. The only battery that works perfectly is the first gyll battery that I bought from them. It charges to 100% and works everyday for almost 2 years now never ever a fault with it. The lifepower batteries have a poor BMS system. I've already replaced one BMS.
How did it go? I also had to replace a BMS.
@@lanceknoechel8945 All charging up 100% since then. It worked.
@@MrDonking1967 I may need to do a follow up video on this. I'm still noticing some hiccups.
@@lanceknoechel8945 Thanks. I fixed 5 of my set using this method. Yes, couple has since stared to lag behind again. However now that I know how and what is the solution and the fix I am not stressed anymore about it. Really a pain to have to go thru this but I am already stuck with these batteries.
@@MrDonking1967 Ditto. I've been experimenting with different settings, but don't quite have the modules working like they should. The BMS's in these modules don't really manage as they should.
I don't want you to adjust the parameter settings but those settings are what tells the bms when to read 100 percent charge level. In theory what you did by charging it up to 100 percent it should be calibrated and from then on read 100 percent with your current settings without having to pump the batteries up to 58v everyday
Had the same problem with my 15 K solark, set the charge voltage to 57.5 and all the BMS went to 100 % charge and no alarms. I did try the firmware update and that did nothing. Thanks for the charge voltage tip.
With EG4 communications it handles all the charging requirements, it takes it up over 58.0v for just a second and all batteries show 100% each time.
By “EG4 communications” are you referring to Sig Solar’s new hub, or closed loop communications with the inverter?
That's good information to know.
Closed loop with the inverter
Thank you, set my voltage to 57.4 temporarily on my Schneider charge controller and 3 of my batteries jumped to 100% from 69%, 51%, 50%. Horray. Too bad this isn't in the manual.
Think I'd set that voltage at 56.8 for the bulk charge and let it float for a while after that. Don't know what the EG4 settings are for 100% indication but should be pretty close. That little charger you were using was pushing out max voltage and your errors were from cell over voltage at 3.65 and shut down charging from the bms.
Next question is, why does your charge controller stop when you still have battery packs below 100%? You're going to have to dig that out of your controller settings for your charging parameters. Battery packs are going to charge and discharge at different rates best you can do. But as long as the charge voltage remains constant, they can float forever at 100% while the lagging batteries catch up. That's going to be dictated by your float time and something you'll have to figure out for your system as battery banks aren't all the same. The bms decides when charging stops for the pack that's obviously set to 3.65. The controller may be responding to the master sending 100% for a total for the string but not likely?
I would like to know how to set up the software so that I can see all of my batteries
I was wondering the same thing.
Where can I get a copy of the BMS test software? Can we get a copy of it?
eg4electronics.com/backend/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/BMS-Test-Windows.zip
Is there any other sever rack battery in the market that doesnt have this balancing issues? I don't want to deal with this problem. I rather spend more money.
Very helpful video. I have the same batteries. How long do you have your absorption time set for?
Been dealing with this as well. I know of no way to up the voltage on my EG4 18kv.
Can you put the 18kv into manual mode?
What Absorb time do you normally use? Also, are you using End Amps setting?
Very good questions. I will be doing a follow-up video on that.
@@lanceknoechel8945 I’ll watch that video. I usually set all the different manufacturers LiFePO4 16s batteries about the same at 55.2 to 56.0 with a 2-3 hour absorb and end amps set to 2-5% of amp-hour capacity. The larger the bank, the longer the absorb and lower percentage. Also, Outback is funny in that they increment voltage by 0.4 instead of 0.1 on some settings.
@@maverickmacgyver Thanx for the info. I have outstanding request from SS on this topic, but your input is helpful for me playing with the settings.
I set my absorption to 57volts and float at 54.4 and i have no problem
I have to do basically the same thing every few months.
It seems you are just trying to trick the software into showing 100% for what ever voltage that it is set for. The voltage can get high enough to do that but the cells not be balanced. I can't see all your cell voltages but they seem to be fairly well balanced. What you probably would ideally do is change the 100% full parameter to something more like 55.2v . If you watch some Off Grid Garage videos tests cells and bms of various brands in detail . You would probably be better off not relying on the bms reported SOC and get a different meter that shows the SOC of your batteries as a single group so you know if all the power that is being taken out is the same as what is going back in. I have a different brand bms than you do but have seen how unreliable the bms can report SOC if the cells are unbalanced.
Seems the batteries are fully charged but the BMS is not reporting that fact! Looks like a BMS firmware or settings problem.
@@rpsmith The bms has a setpoint for voltage and maybe also current that it needs to see before it reports 100% SOC.
@@LarryKapp1 -- I assume his charger is set to the voltage that EG4 specified. So if that is true, than the BMS or its default settings are at fault.
@@rpsmith I know someone who had EG4 batteries and the SOC wouldn't reset. He had the settings in the controller that were specified in a sheet that came with the batteries - either it was from Signature Solar or EG4 - not sure. I looked up the manual online and the recommended settings were different than what came with the battery . Once the charger setpoint was changed , then the SOC got to 100% every day like it was supposed to when battery was full. This is the second time I heard of conflicting setpoints for Signature Solar EG4 batteries.
@@rpsmith Also what I don't like about the Signature Solar EG4 batteries is that their software won't let you look at or change the bms setpoints.
Set you Bulk voltage to 56.5v.
The lifepower4 bms will calibrate to 100% whenever any cell reaches 3.555V or 0% when lowest cell reaches 2.700V