Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

Solar Guppy · April 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

I've looked at this an as far as I can tell this is what happens;

The XW, when online, but not "selling" has about a 20-50 watt window where it probably can't tell the actual direction of power flow. In rapid isonolation cases, the inverter stops selling as it knows its not able to maintain the battery bank voltage and this is directly related to the battery bank size. ( 20-40 seconds depending on the firmware options settings)

To small a battery bank and or to high a sell voltage and the battery's beome useless in averaging out the power peaks ... you have charger controllers that can ramp up in milliseconds to an inverter that's control loop is in seconds, it is REQUIRED to have battery's to be the buffer.

The over voltage is caused by the XW-6048, its online, not selling so a small amount of energy is back feeding into the battery bank. The XW doesn't know it is the cause and with a small or fully charged battery bank and the battery bank voltage rises and XW-6048 HV disconnects.

Two important notes:

First this only happens when you have the XW's internal charger enabled, for Grid tie, just disable the XW charger and you shouldn't see this fault.

Second, this only happens when there are quick, large power changes going into the battery bank ( think partly cloudy weather and large solar arrays )

If you have a properly sized battery bank, and a correct sell voltage, or don't use the internal charger you will never see this.

I've given all this info to Xantrex over a year ago, they have made some changes in firmware and one last note, when using XW-Mppts linked with Xanbus, the XW-6048 gets more information and works to prevent the issue, what I'm saying is it more likely to be an issue with non Xantrex charge controllers ( I've run 6kw GT with Xantrex, Outback and MorningStar controllers )

So recap, never want to see this?

Your battery bank needs MINIMUM of 100ah per kw of solar, the 100ah in the manual is NOT for 6kW operation

Don't have the internal charger enable with going gridtie

Have you sell voltage just above the battery banks resting full charge voltage ( typically 52V)

ggunn · April 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

This has been a really informative thread for me. When I took the position with this company I inherited a partially completed (and somewhat botched) project involving 34kW of PV, six XW6048's and a SMA6000, and a lot of batteries. Thanks! I'm sure I'll have some questions when it gets time to commission all this gear.

Brock · April 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

SG even with the charger off on the XW couldn't the MX-60 in its sweep be pushing the voltage up? I am envisioning an array configured with 5 in series (82v under load) and when sweeping the MX-60 seems to not regulate its output. This sweep only takes a few seconds, but if a battery bank is over full already or undersized for the array wouldn't it just push the battery voltage way up for that few seconds?

aj164 · April 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

I reset the fault with the control panel, and I lowered the 'sell' voltage to 52.8V. I also lowered the max charge rate to 10% (inverter) and 20% (charge controller) -- these had been at their default of 100%.

The main concern - perhaps this deserves its own thread - is that the inverter shuts down all power to the loads when there is a fault, even though grid power (AC1) is present. This is alarming, and it makes the grid more reliable than the inverter: If the grid goes down, it will come back on eventually. If the inverter faults, however, it won't reset.

Is there any way to make sure grid power can get to the loads in the event of an inverter fault (automatically)?

ggunn · April 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

aj164 wrote: »

I reset the fault with the control panel, and I lowered the 'sell' voltage to 52.8V. I also lowered the max charge rate to 10% (inverter) and 20% (charge controller) -- these had been at their default of 100%.

But when you are in sell mode and the PV is producing, doesn't that severely restrict (by 80%) the output of your system to the grid?

aj164 · April 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

ggunn wrote: »

But when you are in sell mode and the PV is producing, doesn't that severely restrict (by 80%) the output of your system to the grid?

Could be. I didn't think of that. I guess the charge controller doesn't necessarily know the difference between charging batteries and selling power, so you may be right. Anyone else know more about this?

RCinFLA · May 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

Solar Guppy wrote: »

Don't have the internal charger enable with going gridtie

As you describe it, sounds like a conflict between reaction time of XW inverter and MPPT algorythm.

My understanding of 'charging turned off' on XW is just a feedback control to PWM on inverter to match the requirement of no net current going into battery as the grid voltage fluxuated. (same as 'don't sell' is inverter PWM feedback adjustment to prevent net current pushed to AC1 grid) The reaction time of this could also effect the battery current fluxuation.

I still think the problem is related to grid presents detection algorythm which is only active during sell mode. I would suspect this could put large current fluxuations to battery. This would also put transient load fluxuations on the charge controller.

aj164 · May 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

So far, so good with reducing 'sell' voltage to 52.8. Max charge rate on the inverter is set to 10%. We did have max charge rate reduced on the charge controller, but it limited sell mode output, so we set it back to 100%.

Also, despite the equipment being only a few months old, neither the inverter nor MPPT charge controller came with the latest firmware. We will be upgrading the firmware next.

pcguy2u · May 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

For some reason, I have lost contact with this thread, probably because I missed a notification and haven't been to the site since March. And a lot of good info has been posted since then. I apologize for not being in the middle of this.

This morning 5/27/2010 at 8:22AM the inverter experienced the same problem - a series of F49 faults and then nothing. After testing the batteries at the individual cable connections (not the battery posts) and finding everything normal, I tried a series of progressively more involved resets of the system.

The only thing that worked was to turn off the system (holding the power button for a second or two) and all six breakers. The system then came up and I then had to go into the inverter and enable Advanced settings (press Enter, Up and Down arrows all together, simultaneously) and enabled sell once again. This is essentially what has had to happen each time (although not exactly as intended) the system has experienced this problem, and it does seem to do the trick every time.

The weather that has been present with this series of problems has been, at one time or another, just about everything you could expect - sunny and warm, sunny and windy (cool), foggy and rainy.

This moring, while producing only a constant 400+- watts and with a rain storm going on outside, this problem happened again. BTW, the XW AC charger is and has been set to OFF since SG recommended (with other changes) that last year.

It does appear that this problem has to do with a handshake between inverter and the charge controllers and with improperly managed inverter memory variables.

SG, do you know if the latest firmware has specifically addressed this issue and what that version is?

As I have posted to Xantrex and on this thread previously, this wouldn't be an issue if the inverter would handle the Fault and return to operation upon clearing the fault.
Many thanks,
Nick

RCinFLA · May 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

What makes you think it is interlink comm setting changes?

I assume you can run without Xanbus linking the PV controller to XW inverter.
Set XW6048 charger voltage setting below PV controller by about 0.3 vdc.

I still put my money on UL1741 grid presence testing during selling by XW inverter pushing high surge currents to batteries.

pcguy2u · May 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

Not being to Solar Guru like you guys (which is why I'm posting on this forum), I have to guess that we are not disagreeing with one another. I'm just not able to say it correctly.

Thanks again, n

System2 · November 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

I was wondering what the final outcome on this problem was, and particularly on any possible fix as I have the very same problem.
Xantrex 6048, outback MX60 charge controller, 260 ah of battery, and 2600W solar array.
Frequently the inverter will get the fault F49. It use to be sporadic, now it is constant. Clear the fault, voltage ramps up, and 5 to 15 seconds latter it trips. If for some reason it does not get to the point of tripping within 15 to 20 seconds, the voltage drops back down and we are good to go for a while. Now, I am an amateur at this at best, but reading this thread, it does sound to me like there is a time delay during which the voltage increases before it's being "sold" to the grid. Has anybody found a way around this? Is there a new firmware version that makes this go away? Otherwise my PV array essentially functions as very expensive shingles.

pcguy2u · November 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

matu wrote: »

I was wondering what the final outcome on this problem was, and particularly on any possible fix as I have the very same problem.
Xantrex 6048, outback MX60 charge controller, 260 ah of battery, and 2600W solar array.
Frequently the inverter will get the fault F49. It use to be sporadic, now it is constant. Clear the fault, voltage ramps up, and 5 to 15 seconds latter it trips. If for some reason it does not get to the point of tripping within 15 to 20 seconds, the voltage drops back down and we are good to go for a while. Now, I am an amateur at this at best, but reading this thread, it does sound to me like there is a time delay during which the voltage increases before it's being "sold" to the grid. Has anybody found a way around this? Is there a new firmware version that makes this go away? Otherwise my PV array essentially functions as very expensive shingles.

Not too sure if you're out of service at this point - if you are, you can simply push and hold the power button on the inverter and then immediately turn it back on. Doing that requires that you reset selling to the grid because the shutdown causes the inverter to reset sell.

I haven't not heard from anyone at Xantrex on this problem and I also would like to know the answer. For me, it happens from time to time without any relation to weather or temp or moisture???

Intially, before I found out how to get the infinite cycle to stop, I was out of business for weeks and Xantrex was of zero help - in fact at one point, they stood in my way of getting an unrelated hardware failure fixed (more on that if anyone is interested). Suggest you read this thread again, especially the posts that I have made - some of the others are quite technical and may or may not have relevance.

For everyone out there that feels the problem is related to the ratio of the arrays to batteries please note that in Matu's case - 260 ah of battery, and 2600W solar array.

In my opinion, while the trigger of the events is unknown, the real problem is that the unit doesn't correct itself and does not identify that the fault no longer exists. Unless you power off the unit which requires manual intervention and is a royal PIA.

BTW, how old is the unit you have?

aj164 · November 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

So far, the problem was solved by upgrading to the latest firmware and adjusting the voltage thresholds as mentioned in this thread. A side-effect of the new firmware is noticeable 'hunting': cycling slowly around charging and discharging the battery pack. Nonetheless, the inverter has not faulted since.

The ratio is 105A-H battery pack (AGM technology) to 3200W PV.

pcguy2u · November 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

aj164 wrote: »

So far, the problem was solved by upgrading to the latest firmware and adjusting the voltage thresholds as mentioned in this thread. A side-effect of the new firmware is noticeable 'hunting': cycling slowly around charging and discharging the battery pack. Nonetheless, the inverter has not faulted since.

The ratio is 105A-H battery pack (AGM technology) to 3200W PV.

What is the firmware revision that you are using?

How often did you previously encounter the F49 problem?

How long has it been since you installed the firmware/had the problem recur (assuming that it hasn't happened again since the new firmware)?

Could you explain a bit more about the "hunting" - what does that mean in terms of every day use?

Sorry for being specific, but if this is a long term fix, I definitely want to get it installed - just don't want to spin my wheels again.

Thanks, Nick

mike95490 · November 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

matu wrote: »

I was wondering what the final outcome on this problem was, and particularly on any possible fix as I have the very same problem.
Xantrex 6048, outback MX60 charge controller, 260 ah of battery, and 2600W solar array.
Frequently the inverter will get the fault F49. It use to be sporadic, now it is constant. Clear the fault, voltage ramps up, and 5 to 15 seconds latter it trips. If for some reason it does not get to the point of tripping within 15 to 20 seconds, the voltage drops back down and we are good to go for a while. Now, I am an amateur at this at best, but reading this thread, it does sound to me like there is a time delay during which the voltage increases before it's being "sold" to the grid. Has anybody found a way around this? Is there a new firmware version that makes this go away? Otherwise my PV array essentially functions as very expensive shingles.

First, your small battery bank is half the mininum suggested size. A small bank will quickly overvoltage if the selling pauses.

System2 · November 2010

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

Thanks for the replies. The system is about 3 years old.
I will see if I can get the firmware upgraded and change the voltages.

System2 · February 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

I have the exact problem described in this Forum. I sent the following message to a Xantrex customer service person on 2/3/2011. I am still waiting for a response:

Dear XXXXXX,
It isn't useful to have a new firmware build with no release notes to let me know whether the new build addresses my problem or not.

The problem is exactly what is being described in the forum at:

http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=5986&page=8

My battery bank capacity is small relative to the array power, yet the battery capacity is not out of spec. This is a grid tie solar system with battery backup. Specifically what I have is this:
Batteries:
4 x 12V 183A-hr batteries connected in series
Panels:
18 x 1SolTech 230W panels (18 x 203.1W ptc = 3655.8 W ptc)
Inverter:
XW6048
Charge Controllers:
2 x MPPT-60's

The symptoms are endless loop of F49 Battery over voltage faults, repeating over and over and over again. If I attempt clearing the fault, then the inverter gradually crescendos with a louder and louder buzzing sound accompanied by a steadily climbing voltage on the battery terminals. Note; I am measuring the voltage on the battery posts, and the voltage is evenly distributed across the batteries. I have short oversized cables (4/0) with tight connectors. Also the BTS is connected to the negative lead. My hand-held volt meter has a relatively slow response time and cannot track the voltage accurately, but the voltage raises above the High Batt Cut Out voltage threshold before the inverter's A/C charger shuts off and the voltage drops back to the steady state battery voltage and the buzzing stops. Shortly afterward the same sequence of crescendoing buzz and voltage rise repeats itself. This happens a total of two or three times before the inverter shuts off, our house goes dark, and the F49 Fault is raised (with red LED on front of inverter).

Here are the steps I have taken as a workaround:
1.) Lowered Grid Supp volts (AKA sell voltage) to 50.8 V
2.) Disabled A/C Charger
3.) Reduced Max Charge Rate on A/C Charger to 10% (in case I ever enable A/C charger again)

When problem occurs I do this to workaround and get house back on-line again:
1.) Turn main breaker connecting to utility grid off
2.) Reset fault on inverter and allow house to run on battery power (for ~1 minute)
3.) Turn on main breaker connecting to utility grid

Sincerely,
teyring

Solar Guppy · February 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

FYI

Xantrex does not monitor or reply to emails for support

If you want the issue to stop, you'll need to at least double your battery capacity.

RCinFLA · February 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

Lowering the sell voltage puts you in an operating point where the battery impedance is a bit lower (a larger AH battery also gives you a lower battery impedance). Problem with permanently operating at 50.8v float is your batteries will eventually sulfate.

The grid presence testing during sell periodically checks to see if a grid is present by trying to resist the grid which is a very low impedance source. If grid is present then any 'resistance is futile' and, for all practical definition, the grid is an immovable object.

This testing can be done by trying to wobble the phase of the inverter or trying to raise or lower the inverter AC voltage. Both methods cause current surges through the system. If the grid voltage jumps around alot in your location it can also cause surges as the inverter tracks the variations.

If the inverter tries to lower the AC voltage then the surge will push current into the battery. If inverter tries to raise voltage then the surge will load the batteries. If inverter phase wobble is attempted there is a battery current push and pull during each half cycle of the sinewave voltage.

Each method has its pro and cons with regard to unit getting faked out and making the wrong decision on grid presence because of possible load power factors or momentary grid voltage variations that commonly occur.

I think the phase wobble is probably best method. I would think a software change could solve this problem. Difficulty with making a method change is it could cause Xantrex to have to get units recertified for UL1741 compliance, which they probably want to avoid.

pcguy2u · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

RCinFLA wrote: »

A minimum detectable event on XW is usually at least a half cycle to full cycle. Like when grid goes down or a spike on grid due to lightning hit.

If you are absolutely sure it only happens in sell mode, I wonder if there is a spike happening on the grid at the point of failure. Not high or long enough to trip the grid overvoltage detection but long enough to cause an short backwash overcharge to battery where the XW reaction time cannot compensate. The D.C. battery voltage detection maybe faster then the A.C. out of range detection.

There is a little push to grid / push to A.C. load that happens normally as the grid line voltage goes up and down slightly in normal operation (without actually sell activated) and the XW compensates for the variance with a little reaction time delay.

Wonder if anyone else has seen this fault show up.

One other thing I noticed playing with AGM charging. It seems their impedance is a bit higher when floating above 13.5 vdc. I noticed I can throw 2 amps at a fully charged 100 A-H AGM that was just on 13.8 vdc float and immediately pull it over 14.5 vdc. This seemed faster rise then on a 100 A-H flooded battery I tested. There might be some truth to having too small a battery set on XW (outside of service discharge time), with maybe AGM's causing even more sensitivity to a short overcharge spike.

Have been reading this thread once again to determine if there is anything that provides new insight based upon what is currently happening.
- Have had many fewer incidents (2 in 1+ years) of this problem since making the
change re sell voltage (have it set to 51.8V) and turning off the AC charger.

- Recently a recurrence of the problem was preceded (seconds before) by “Fault 29 L1
Overvoltage” – this seems to coincide with the above bold type comment above
about voltage spikes. This is the first time that has shown up.

- Have found that the problem can be cleared consistently by powering down the unit
and resetting the sell to grid which is turned off when the 6048 is powered off.

Here is a new piece of info re this problem – for a long time now, even before the 6048 was installed, both UPS battery backups for my wife’s an my PC’s have warned of a voltage problem occurring at a little passed 8AM on occasion – far more frequently than the F49 problem. Up until this most recent issue in the second bullet above, the F49 problem has occurred at other times or at least I have never noticed it. However, the F29 warning has occurred fairly frequently along with F25 A1 Over Frequency and always without F49, and has never been part of the problem. I spoke with several PG&E folks, including an engineer for this area and the engineer suggested that I should “have my Fluke meter serviced”, even though I pointed out to him that four devices have trapped this issue at a given point in time. It was like water off a ducks back – go figure.

Have never heard from Xantrex about a fix for this, but in my mind, the issue is primarily that of the required manual intervention. The fact that the unit does not recognize that the problem has been dealt with and no longer exists should be an easy software fix. Anyone have an update on this?

BB. · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

The L1 voltage fault could be a poor neutral wire connection between the load and the pole transformer. A neutral failure will cause an over voltage on one phase and an under voltage on the other.

A quick and dirty check, monitor the voltage between neutral and ground at the gt inverter. If you see a huge jump in voltage (more than 5-10 volts?), then you may have a poor neutral or ground to neutral connection in the main panel.

I had rain water come down from the weath-head or roof flashing which caused corrosion in my main panel.

-Bill

RCinFLA · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

You might want to test the neutral connection with a large 120 vac load at an outlet as close to the breaker box as possible.

If you have a four wire plug at an electric dryer outlet you an alternately put two or three hairdryers loads on either side to neutral and check the AC voltage drop with load.

The XW6048 is like a center tapped transformer on the mains. It will try to moderate any L1-neutral-L2 voltage imbalance, like an auto-transformer would. For charging and selling it shouldn't be creating any more or less neutral line current or phase current imbalance as it acts like a 240 vac load or source for these two functions respectively.

I doubt a poor neutral connection would be source of F49 issue.

I would try to put a data logger on the battery current shunt to see how much battery current fluxuations you are getting. I would not be surprised if you see +/- 60 to 80 amps battery current surges occurring when grid testing is being done by XW. Question is whether they last long enough to overvoltage alarm the battery line.

pcguy2u · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

I have run a load test on the 240 with my table saw and the 120 voltages are the same and exactly 1/2 of the 240.

More confusing is this ongoing issue as to what might be happening at 8:03AM most mornings - F25 and F29 occasionally in conjunction with that, but the UPS's go off everytime and I can trap it readily with my Fluke. 6048 must be less sensitive, I guess.

There isn't anything in the house on a timer except a small DC motor connected to a wall wart and my media room wire closet. Neither come on at that time.

In the neighborhood, the only odd thing is we have the water company 4 phase treatment plant two transformers down line. They say there is nothing on a specific timer - everything is dynamic.

BB. · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

RC,

Good catch on the xw hybrid inverter trying to support a bad neutral connection back to the pole transformer.

-Bill

pcguy2u · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

RCinFLA wrote: »

You might want to test the neutral connection with a large 120 vac load at an outlet as close to the breaker box as possible.

If you have a four wire plug at an electric dryer outlet you an alternately put two or three hairdryers loads on either side to neutral and check the AC voltage drop with load.

The XW6048 is like a center tapped transformer on the mains. It will try to moderate any L1-neutral-L2 voltage imbalance, like an auto-transformer would. For charging and selling it shouldn't be creating any more or less neutral line current or phase current imbalance as it acts like a 240 vac load or source for these two functions respectively.

I doubt a poor neutral connection would be source of F49 issue.

I would try to put a data logger on the battery current shunt to see how much battery current fluxuations you are getting. I would not be surprised if you see +/- 60 to 80 amps battery current surges occurring when grid testing is being done by XW. Question is whether they last long enough to overvoltage alarm the battery line.

No data logger, but I could trap the range of DC at the batteries with a Fluke multimeter?? Not sure what that would prove though, I was on the phone with Xantrex support on at least two occasions when the F49 was in progress and we had the SCP set to show the meters for the two controllers. Clearly the DC voltages were on the rise and moving quickly just before F49.

RCinFLA · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

pcguy2u wrote: »

I was on the phone with Xantrex support on at least two occasions when the F49 was in progress and we had the SCP set to show the meters for the two controllers. Clearly the DC voltages were on the rise and moving quickly just before F49.

How much time did you see the voltage rise?

Lowering the float voltage might help as it should lower battery Rs to surges.

You might also tightening up the ACin acceptable min and max voltages to see if one of those trip an alarm first. If you end up seeing a lot of AC overvoltage alarms with a setting of, say 252 vac, it may point at power company.

pcguy2u · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

RCinFLA wrote: »

How much time did you see the voltage rise?

Lowering the float voltage might help as it should lower battery Rs to surges.

You might also tightening up the ACin acceptable min and max voltages to see if one of those trip an alarm first. If you end up seeing a lot of AC overvoltage alarms with a setting of, say 252 vac, it may point at power company.

F49 occurs In just a few seconds, from normal to fault.

The 6048 voltage limits are set to 106/132 (212/264) and the HZ are 55/65. The HZ is more liberal than my out of range trapped readings of 58 and 62, and so I've never seen this one as a fault on the inverter. Also, I don’t recall the trapped High voltage readings on the Fluke meter, but I know I would have remembered anything remotely approaching 132VAC.

The issue with PG&E is that they really don't care and suggest that the HZ can not vary since it is generated system wide and is a stable value that is used to keep all companies in sync over the grid.

Fact is, I believe that something locally is effecting both the voltage and the HZ and I'm not sure how that may be involved in the F49 thing.

Aside from that, the F49 issue really wouldn't be a problem if the 6048 didn't require manual intervention to fix each (well, almost all) incident. What actually happens is that it checks to see if the condition continues to exist (it does this three times within 90 seconds), if the condition is still present, it will no longer check and will go to a permanent fault mode. The only cure is to power off and back on - every time I have done this, the problem is no longer present and everything goes back to normal.

I happen to have noticed the above (re the three times) because on the last occurrence, that F49 fault was preceded by a lone F49 message 6 minutes earlier. In that case, I assume that the fault cleared itself within 90 seconds or so – just another variable. Five minutes prior to that, there was a F29 (AC over Voltage) fault - all of this occurring just after 8AM on 1/29/11. Can't be sure the F29 is related because this is the only F49 condition (out of 8-10 in 3 years+-) that occurred at that time???

Re the 8AM thing - the issue happening at about 8:03 most mornings (previously discussed in this thread) also creates F25 (Over Frequency) just as frequently. BTW, that problem is synched to Daylight Saving Time, as it occurs at the same time, regardless of the time of year.

Should I change the AC and HZ acceptable ranges? If so, what do you suggest? If the F49 problem is related, then it is possible that changing them will avoid the F49 condition.

Here is the text from the solution for both F25 and F29:

No action required. The inverter stops selling and disconnects from the grid. When the fault clears a 5 minute timer begins count down. The inverter does not sell again until grid voltage and frequency are within range for 5 minutes.

It could be one of those damned if you do and damned if you don't situations.

Solar Guppy · March 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

There is no point on changing the UL1741 settings, the grid has occasional issues, to be expected. I have logged over the years many grid events, its not perfect and never will be. The XW-6048's dropping its load on a UL1741 fault shouldn't happen.

I would suggest you update the XW-6048 firmware as it now supports AC coupling which would seem to suggest it can properly handle repeated UL1741 faults and stay running. There is another thread somewhere here that lists the most recent firmware versions

System2 · April 2011

Re: Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

It has been a harrowing experience as many of you are aware...even hard on a marriage (since my wife opposed solar in the first place). I've had many F49 over voltage faults since my last post. They tend to come in clusters and on a couple of occasions in order to recover I have had to both disconnect from the grid, and run on battery power for 5 to 10 minutes (to lower battery charge), and sometimes even completely power off inverter and charge controllers forcing power cycle reset on the system.

A few more details on our system:
Gel Batteries:
Gel, 4 x 12V (183A-hr over 20 hrs.) MK Brand(Dekka) model S4D-SLD-G connected in series
Panels:
18 x 1SolTech 240W panels (18 x 209.6W ptc = 3772.8 W ptc)
Inverter:
XW6048 120/240 Single Phase
Charge Controllers:
2 x MPPT-60's
XW System Controller
865-1050
XW Automatic Gen Start
865-1060XW
Backup Generator
Generac Guardian model 5883 10 kW Natural Gas

I upgraded the firmware on the XW6048 to the latest, firmware image version "865-1000.01_07_00.BN0003.xf0". A couple of notes of warning on doing the upgrade. You must have a computer with Windows XP OS; I had to borrow one since I run only Linux and Mac OS. You must rent ($40) or purchase ($150) a piece of special hardware from Schneider called a "dongle" (which provides a USB to Cat-5 ethernet ("Xanbus") translation). On the XP computer you must install a special software driver, plus you must install the XW Config Tool software application. The computer must associate a current date timestamp with the firmware image. My borrowed computer did not maintain the current date timestamp and tagged the firmware image with a date timestamp sometime back in 2001 which caused the XW Config Tool application to ignore the firmware image file (I waisted sooOO much time troubleshooting this

).

The new firmware image has a new feature called "Enhanced interactive mode". Read about this in the latest version of the XW-Hybrid-Inverter-Charger_Operation-Guide available from Schneider. I am hopeful that this is the feature that will solve all of our problems. With this new feature and having Gel batteries I have set:
charge cycle to 2-stage-no-float,
AC Charging to disabled,
Grid Support voltage=Bulk=Absorb,
Sell to Grid mode enabled, and
High Battery Cut Out voltage raised to 2.2 V above the Grid Support Voltage.

I believe that setting the Grid Support voltage so high is risky given the low battery storage to production capacity ratio [183 Amp-hr./3772.8 W ptc], however, I figure I'll go for it and adjust the Grid Support voltage to a lower value later if unsuccessfufl.

Todd

Xantrex XW6048 - fault F49 - DC over voltage

Comments

Categories