By BMS, you mean the Main BMS, the top of the stack. I thought you meant BMS that is inside of each battery. Oh Boy! That’s a pain and is a whole other level!
Maverick Brown Off-Grid Solar Commander since 2006 Maverick Solar Enterprises, Inc. • Solar Commander Remote Power • SunFlow Systems Cathodic Protection [email protected] 512-460-9825 > On Sep 23, 2025, at 1:38 PM, Jason Szumlanski > <[email protected]> wrote: > > You can purchase the BMS and base unit combination for each stack, but it > costs nearly $1,500. I'm not sure if you can purchase the BMS separately from > the base unit, but that probably wouldn't significantly impact the price. At > this point, it's the principle of the matter. Not warranting something like > this is bad business. It can't cost much to fix, and it would be important to > understand what happened for future reference and quality assurance purposes. > I guess they don't care to understand what happened. > > I'm going to run this up the chain before I give up and tell the customer > they're out of luck. > > > 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 Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM Maverick Brown via RE-wrenches > <[email protected]> wrote: >> Will they sell just the BMS instead of having to buy a whole other battery? >> >> I know it should be covered under warranty, but buying a BMS is better than >> buying a battery. >> >> I do have a home grid battery that’s behaved in the same way. I went around >> in circles with tech-support. I even bought $200 worth of cables so I can >> figure out what happened. But I never figured out what happened. And I don’t >> think it’s necessary for a tech-support to take control of my computer in >> order to do something that written instructions should be adequate. >> >> >> Thank you, >> >> Maverick >> >> Maverick Brown >> Off-Grid Solar Commander since 2006 >> Maverick Solar Enterprises, Inc. >> • Solar Commander Remote Power >> • SunFlow Systems Cathodic Protection >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> 512-460-9825 >> >> >> >>> On Sep 23, 2025, at 9:48 AM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches >>> <[email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> It was only a matter of time. HomeGrid is denying warranty on a BMS that I >>> did not install. I can't prove when it was purchased or installed, but the >>> original installer never registered it or connected it to the Internet. It >>> was likely installed just over a year ago, perhaps 18 months. There was no >>> Internet on site at the initial time of installation. What a garbage >>> warranty policy. >>> >>> In this case, the BMS seems to be working behind the scenes. The battery >>> modules are charging and discharging (confirmed with EMS Tools). The >>> problem is that the LCD display shows all zeroes, and the unit will not >>> work in parallel with the three other stacks. It is causing a parallel >>> error and shutting down the whole house. >>> >>> I did exhaustive diagnostics on it with HomeGrid support, and they sent me >>> a "CANalyst-II" tool to try to unbrick or update the faulty unit. All >>> attempts to recover the unit failed, but I can "see" the whole stack of >>> battery modules through the BMS's RS232 port. >>> >>> So they're going to further alienate a customer over a clearly faulty BMS >>> unit that should be replaced under warranty. Not smart. >>> >>> >>> I will reiterate my recommendation against this brand for off-grid use. >>> It's simply not resilient enough and too hard to service/maintain. >>> >>> >>> 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 Tue, Feb 11, 2025 at 9:17 PM Jason Szumlanski >>> <[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 >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>> _______________________________________________ >>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance >>> >>> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org >>> <http://re-wrenches.org/> >>> >>> List Address: [email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]> >>> >>> Change listserver email address & settings: >>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >>> >>> There are two list archives for searching. 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