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cbrboot avatar image
cbrboot asked

Issue with 3phase quattro 8000 and Enphase solar

Hi,

So first off, the thing i'm trying to accomplish.
I would like to have a 3 phase system connected to the grid and batteries while also using solar to consume from, then charge the batteries and then export to the grid.
At the moment when i turn on off the incoming grid connection to the Quattro's the Enphase system is shutting down and the Victrons will start to make buzzing sounds.

What i have now:
- An Enphase system as the solar, total of ~14KW peak - IQ7+
- 3 x Victron Quattro 8000
- LifePo4 batteries, at the moment 15KW but will be expanded soon to ~100KW with a seperate BMS

How it's setup:
- The solar is connected as it normally should in a residential home in The Netherlands
- It's a 3 phase solar system with each phase connected to 1 Quattro OUTPUT
- The Quattro's are configured as a 3 phase system
- ESS is also configured

The system works perfectly at the moment when there is a grid available or when the grid is not AND it's dark outside (no solar power).
When Enphase start's to produce power it seems like some micro inverters try to startup and produce and then reset and try again resulting in ~20W while it's daylight and there should be 800W of solar.
In all test cases the batteries were at 70% SOC.
The system is also been certified by a Victron installer so as of the setup itself i think that should be fine.

I already tried numerous different settings on the Quattro's but no luck there.
I't even came down to attaching an oscilloscope to see what's happening and altough the frequency is ~50HZ on the OUTPUT the SINUS seems distorted when the solar is connected and the incoming grid is turned off.
I verified this by adding a normal Eaton UPS for powering computers and turning off the grid, solar was active and producing 900W on the OUTPUT.
The OUTPUT had a load on L1, L2 and L3 and the batteries were 70% SOC.
As soon as i turned the grid off, the Eaton UPS clicked it's relay and went in UPS mode and came back because the Quattro's were providing power but the Eaton UPS kept of switching.
It kept bouncing every 1 second from input to UPS mode, as soon as i turned on the grid for the Quattro's the Eaton UPS went to normal operation without bouncing around.

So now the big question, how do i fix this?
This should work, i also verified this before buying and re-checked with the Victron installer.
Does anyone have an idea or experience with the Enphase IQ7+ ?

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter ChargerESSenphase
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shaneyake avatar image shaneyake commented ·
Has the Enphase micro inverters been programmed for Microgrid setup, this has to be done by enphase?


In VE.Configure did you enable ESS with PV inverter?

If you look on the advanced tab in VRM do you see any warnings or see the output frequency jump?

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cbrboot avatar image
cbrboot answered ·

I already contacted Enphase and they say that the IQ7+ is not made for off-grid situations but they will try to help me look into it. That was over a month ago and now they are not replying anymore so i assume they don't care.
Bu do you know for sure there is a microgrid profile that Enphase can provide?

I enabled PV in the ESS setup, started with 14KW total and also tried it with 8KW(max inverter) and neither made any difference.

I can't find the AC output frequency in VRM, i do see the AC input Frequency, that one drops but that's normal because i'm turing off the grid.
The AC output voltage is steady when i turn off the grid.

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shaneyake avatar image shaneyake commented ·
I am using IQ7A, with an ESS system. I had enphase do a custom grid profile for me that frequency shifts with the multi's. It is on the output of my inverter and works when grid or no grid.


Are your enphase inverters all on the same phase? They should be fairly evenly distributed across each phase. You have 8*3 = 24kva of inverter. So should have no problem if all the micro inverters are spread out across all 3 phases.

In VRM advanced on the top right, there is a button called widgets. If you click that you will see all the options for graphs.
VE. Bus system -> AC. Output Frequency is the one you want.

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cbrboot avatar image cbrboot shaneyake commented ·
Yes they said that they did that a few years ago but now the profile is very complicated and basically they need to check it again but i'm having a feeling they don't want to spend time on it.


The inverters are in a 3 phase config and each phase is connected to one of the 3 pases that are coming from the roof. It is evenly distributed on all panels.
Only thing is that the due to the sun it can happen that L3 for example has less production that L2 and L1 but that should be fine i think.

I see the widget now indeed but no weird stuff hapening there as well, pretty stable at ~50hz.

I don't think i'm able to upload a grid profile even if i wanted to i think?

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shaneyake avatar image shaneyake cbrboot commented ·

Yeah, that imbalance is fine.

Wait, so was it working fine in the past?


yes, only enphase can upload custom grid profile to micro inverters.

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jorge avatar image jorge cbrboot commented ·
Hey cbrboot,


did enphase send you the grid profile?

I'm planning exactly the same thing you did!

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