Hi Jason,
It looks like the limit to Midnite PowerFlo is 257kwh. (16.076kwh/unit*16units
in parallel).
Best,
Amos
Amos Post
Integrity Energy
W 802.763.7023
C 802.291.2188
ienergyVT.com <http://www.ienergyvt.com/>
Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/integrityenergyllp?ref=hl>
> On Feb 12, 2025, at 5:22 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the feedback, Lou.
>
> Yep, they all seem to be borrowing the "delay and deny" tactic from the
> insurance industry. It's an epidemic. Solar module manufacturers are doing
> this, too (I'm looking at you, REC and Silfab, who have given me the D&D
> treatment on two clear-cut warranty issues recently). I will continue to give
> Enphase kudos for having readily available and mostly competent customer
> service reps and a refreshingly liberal warranty process, especially if you
> are experienced and know how to work the customer service reps correctly to
> lead them to the right answer.
>
> Regarding the firmware issues on inverters and batteries, I have high hopes
> for Midnite's AIO and MNPowerflo, given their claims that firmware updates
> are tested, simultaneous, and seamless. This is a far cry from Sol-Ark's new
> policy of refusing to do firmware updates unless a technician is standing by
> on-site. It sounds like Midnite is listening, and the rest are content with
> accepting mediocrity and pushing issues onto installers.
>
> And don't get me started about HomeGrid's pathetic app and registration
> process... That little Gen 3 WiFi antenna gives you such high hopes, only to
> end in huge disappointment. The app doesn't even seem to work.
>
> Jason Szumlanski
> Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
> NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
> Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956
> Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 12, 2025 at 1:08 AM Lou Russo via RE-wrenches
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> The current trend of manufacturers resisting issuing RMAs is concerning. The
> amount of work they want us to do to confirm their problem is staggering
> (Looking at you SolarEdge). With that said, we only have 7 systems with
> HomeGrid batteries. We have had only one issue with them and it was firmware
> related. Unfortunately their firmware upgrade process is a total kludge so
> much so that like Jason, I just let them take over my laptop and let them
> handle it. It really made me appreciate Discover's software and firmware
> update process. We have a lot of Discover batteries out there and like the
> EG4s you can just shut off the bad battery and move on. In addition, if you
> have a battery module that is "dark start low" you can actually "charge" it
> (it's more like spilling electricity) from a good battery in the stack by
> turning off all the loads and charging sources (i.e. the inverter) and all
> the battery modules except one good one and the bad one. After you get the
> low one to a decent state of charge you can fire everything up and put a good
> balance charge on the entire stack. I have found their support to be great as
> well. They also just took their remote battery monitoring out of beta so now
> you can see battery info directly online. Which is nice. I am a big fan of
> having redundant monitoring so we can "trust but verify" the data being
> reported by the various components. I am still bummed they ended production
> of the 42-48-6650, the build quality was ridiculously good. I am little leary
> of their replacement, the 48-48-5120, but it seems to be doing fine in our
> installs. It has only been a year or so, so the jury is still out. But all
> the same features I described above apply.
>
> Aloha,
>
> Lou Russo
> Owner
> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
> Office - 808 345 6762
> Spree Solar Systems LLC
> CT-34322
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches
> <[email protected]
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> For what it's worth, they haven't said anything about internet connectivity
> on these two systems I'm dealing with right now, and they are both Gen 3.
>
> One site has a bunch of firmware discrepancies, and this is the site with one
> module that has all cells low voltage. Not sure if it's even recoverable.
> It's sitting at 39V.
>
> The other site has all the same firmware. This is the one I went to today.
> One of 16 modules (2 full stacks) has one of 15 cells internally that is low
> voltage. To me, that's a clear warranty swap situation, but customer service
> wasn't having it. Disassemble the battery and charge it? That's not a
> solution. It has been escalated. We will see what happens.
>
> Clearly we should be able to take these back to the shop for diagnostics at a
> minimum and get them RMA'd. Requiring the purchase of a Windows laptop and a
> battery charger is not ideal for sure.
>
> The only good thing I can say is customer service took over my PC today
> remotely and ran diagnostics after installing the required software (which
> isn't a fast process). I was expecting them to say, "yep it's toast and we're
> sending you a new one, valued customer."
>
> No such luck.
>
> Jason
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2025, 6:48 PM Tyrone Houck via RE-wrenches
> <[email protected]
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> Yep. And the 10 year warranty is only good if connected to the internet.
> Firmware update of every module is crucial or else there will likely be
> imbalances. You may be able to address it as 1 and shut of the others and
> charge it through the bus but if it's cell voltage is too low it may be an
> rma situation. I have had similar issues especially with gen 2. Zero issues
> yet with any gen 3 modules but the internet thing really struck a nerve as
> they only just recently got their internet monitoring functional.. having to
> go back to every site is a serious pain just to ensure what should be a basic
> warranty. Best of luck and feel free to contact me offsite if you have any
> other questions I might be able to help with.
> Tyrone Houck
> Oregon Solarworks LLC
> CCB #204937 LRT #076
> 541-787-1366
> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2025, 3:36 PM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches
> <[email protected]
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> Hi Wrenches,
>
> I am regretting some HomeGrid Stack'd off-grid installations right now. There
> is a major flaw in the way these function in an error state. For those of you
> that don't know, these 48V batteries are stacked with a single BMS on top,
> covering up to 8 batteries below. Each battery module has a circuit breaker
> and dip switches to identify the battery communication number and location in
> the stack. Each BMS can be paralleled to additional stacks with communication
> cabling.
>
> The issue is when one battery module goes into an error state. What will
> happen is that battery stack's BMS will recognize the error, and then shut
> down the whole stack. This cascades to the other stacks and the system shuts
> down - fails to deliver 48V at the output terminals on the BMS of any stack.
>
> That is annoying, but what's even more problematic is you can't just shut off
> the offending battery to bypass it. You need to physically change all of the
> dip switches to bypass it and then reprogram the BMS to re-recognize the new
> module count (after taking it out of parallel). This is all very time
> consuming and requires the inverter system to be shut down. Even if a battery
> is not in an error state, you can't just turn it off. The whole system goes
> haywire.
>
> Once you have it bypassed, you can hook up a RS-232 cable (Mac users need not
> apply) and use their software to gather diagnostics. Customer service will
> then want to do additional diagnostics with the battery in the stock, but
> that is not reasonable in and off-grid system where uptime is critical. One
> of the faulty modules I am dealing with was diagnosed as one of 15 cells with
> low voltage. The "solution" is to take it out of the stack and charge it to
> 100% with an external charger.
>
> By the time I'm done with all of the diagnostic nonsense, I can almost pay
> for a new battery with the lost labor. Isn't the whole idea for this not to
> happen with balancing done automatically? It was suggested to me that it
> didn't get charged to 100% often enough, and that is why it happened. That
> isn't an acceptable reason for failure in an off-grid system.
>
> I hate to say this, but EG4 has a far better 5kWh solution in this respect.
> Each module has it's own BMS. When one fails, you can simply turn off the
> circuit breaker and everything else continues to work. In fact, a fault in
> one BMS doesn't take out the whole stack or stacks of battery modules.
>
> Back to HomeGrid. When this happens, in my mind this is an automatic RMA.
> They should be replacing these, no questions asked. Especially at almost
> twice the price of EG4. They actually want me to disassemble the case of the
> battery and charge it with an external charger (which I don't have) directly
> from the terminals that are internal to the battery case. Totally
> unacceptable. Whatever is inside that case is their problem in my opinion.
>
> I am not selling anymore HomeGrid until I get satisfactory resolution to
> these issues. EG4 isn't perfect, but I have actually had pretty good success
> installing some that I sold and quite a few that consumers purchased
> directly. And at almost half the price, it's easier to eat the cost of a
> battery here and there for customer satisfaction.
>
> Anyone have similar issues with HomeGrid?
>
> Jason Szumlanski
> Florida Solar Design Group
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