StorEdge Configuration Question: Meter Installation & Configuration

[v10tdi]

I have a StorEdge 7600A inverter & LG RESU battery installed recently. The original installer flaked out at the end of the job, so I've had to fix a few things (and learn a lot along the way). This concerns the installation of a SE Meter.

So I purchased the SE meter/enclosure and actually read the installation directions (more than once) before attempting the installation. I *think* I've gotten everything wired in and configured correctly. At a minimum, I'm not getting any error messages and the SE web portal is now showing import and export data. That said, there were a couple of questions I had that someone might be able to shed some light on.

Question 1
How do I know if I have the meter wired up to the panel correctly? Specifically, L1/L2 and their respective CTs? According to the wiring diagram, the CTs and power connections need to be paired up (L1 CT and L1 power on specific labeled ports, L2 CT and L2 power on specific labeled ports). It seemed straight forward - but I probably should have checked continuity to be sure (CTs are in main panel, L1/L2/Neutral/Ground are in backup panel) but it's done. I guess I had a 50/50 shot to get it correct - but I'm not usually lucky. Any other way to tell short of opening the panel and physically checking continuity?

Does it matter to the operation of the meter if CT/power pairing is reversed (L1 CT paired with L2 power)?

Question 2
What is the correct CT Amp rating in the StorEdge configuration menu? My panel is 200A service and I have 2 CTs (SE-ACTL-0750-200-NA) that have a label saying 200A. Accordingly, I configured the CTs as 200A in the meter configuration menue and it was accepted.

Question 3
Even having read the directions numerous times, I did forget to change the RS485 bus termination on the inverter. I had intended to change left DIP switch on SW7 to be DOWN (no termination on the inverter), but I forgot that step and left it UP. Well - the meter, battery and inverter all worked when I powered up the inverter and I only realized my mistake later. Now I don't want to touch it - but I'm curious about why it works?

[soby]

1) If the import export data makes sense, just go with it. I've seen videos where the monitoring reports much higher consumption vs generation and it was because the CT was installed in reverse.
2) 200A is 200A.
3) If it's working, it's hard to justify changing anything but you can always try it out and see what changes.

[v10tdi]

I am encountering some unexpected behavior from the meter/web monitoring portal. While the daytime display looked as I expected (cloudy day today), the monitoring portal isn't showing any consumption in the evening - and it definitely should. I'd guess something is not configured correctly. Perhaps the CT values should be configured as 100A instead of 200A? I know I have the CT arrows correctly oriented toward the grid.

Ideas?

NoConsumptionAtNight.jpg

[v10tdi]

For what it's worth, here's what the SE monitoring site shows...note that the Consumption and Self Consumption meter serial number values are blank () while the Purchased and Feed In values have a serial number in them (blanked out by me).

My StorEdge Inverter did not come with a meter if that makes any difference.

ConsumptionPurchasedFeed.jpg

[soby]

This is how mine is configured.

Layout.JPG
If I had to guess, I'd say that the meter isn't configured correctly for "Meter Function" as shown below. What is yours set to? Mine is set to Export+Import.

ExportImport.JPG

[v10tdi]

Thank you for the information!

My meter is configured the same as described in the document you posted - except that the protocol is SE, not WattNode. The installation instructions that came with the meter (v1.2, Feb 2019) did indicate to use the SE protocol. The same protocol is specified in updated installation instructions (v1.4, April 2020). I do notice that the installation instructions for the StorEdge Inverter (v1.5, Feb 2019) say to configure the meter using the WattNode protocol. Lovely.

Another difference that I noticed is that my information display for the device does not show the Manufacturer or Model for the meter. Blanks.

I'll reconfigure using the WattNode protocol and see if that makes a difference.

[v10tdi]

lol - well, the Inverter would not accept the change to the meter configuration from SE protocol to WattNode protocol. After applying the change, the Inverter simply reverted back to the SE protocol.

The attempt at reconfiguring the meter protocol did mess up the "layout" section of the SE monitoring web site. At least temporarily. I'm getting a 500 web error from the site.
SEMonitoringLayoutLogicalError.jpg


Also, the description of the meter in the "logical layout" of the Admin section magically changed from "Purchased Meter" and "Feed In Meter" (pic in post above) to now say "Import Meter" and "Export Meter."

ImportExport.jpg

While I was in the configuration menu I changed the Battery configuration from "Backup Only" to "Max Self-consume" with a "Backup Rsvd" of 80%. The Battery promptly discharged to 80% at about 3.5kW to 5kW rate.The SE web interface showed the battery discharging, but also that we were importing power too. I don't really think we were using that much power this early in the morning. It really seems as if the meter is not reading correctly.

I'll watch the system behavior today.

[v10tdi]

The SE web site 500 error has resolved. I can now load the layout image.

I've been watching the system on/off for a couple of hours. It seems to me the meter might be underestimating the power flow. For example, I'm running a clothes dryer, computers, lights, ceiling fans, etc. and the web site is showing total consumption of 780W. Seems low to me.

I opened up the enclosure for the meter and it's showing a flashing green light on the bottom (normal) and 2 solid yellow lights. It's my understanding the yellow lights are also supposed to flash. Although it's not entirely clear, the online manual (v1.6, Sept 2019) indicates that if the yellow LED is lit >3 seconds, the powerline frequency is out of spec (<45Hz or >70Hz) - or that the meter is too close to an "unfiltered variable frequency drive."

[soby]

When you cycle through the inverter display to the RS485 configuration, do your settings for MLT look like this?
Meter.JPG

[v10tdi]

Yes.
RS485-1<MLT><02><02>
Representing the battery and the meter.
There is nothing on RS485-2 bus.
image_13680.jpg

TBH, the Meter-Inverter comm seems perfect - despite the solid yellow light on LED 2 & 3 of the meter. Everything is <OK> and there are no errors.

My concern is that the consumption & production values shown on the SE web site seem off. I fully admit that this might just be user error. I might be over estimating the power a clothes dryer, dehumidifier, computers, lights and fans might draw.

Below is today's graph...
image_13681.jpg
The big red spike before 8am is the battery discharging from 98% SOE to 81% SOE when I used the Inverter to enable "Maximize Self-consumption" and a backup reserve of 80% (note the battery SOE dropping in the lower graph).
I subsequently adopted a custom Storage Profile that set Charge/Discharge profile to "Discharge to Minimize Import" with backup reserve of 80% (If PV production < consumption, discharge battery only for self-consumption, not for grid export - but only down to 80% SOE. I have also configured the Inverter to allow only PV charge - no grid.).

I'm going to freeze changes and simply watch the behavior of the system over the next few days. We're supposed to be cloudy/rainy for a couple more days, then some sunshine.

I am curious though...Why would the battery discharge be displayed as "Consumption" on this graph? It was early and not much was running - certainly not 5kW only while the battery was discharging. lol...

[soby]

I'm having trouble understanding what happened at that spike. Simply changing the inverter from "Backup Only" at 100% to "Maximize Self-consumption" with a backup reserve of 80% should not cause a dump of energy out of the battery. The behavior that I would expect is a slow consumption of energy out of the battery to meet your household demand and eliminate grid use until 80% is reached.

Click on that grayed out option for "System Productier my battery discharges, it counts that energy as "System Production" and shows on the graph in dark green separate from "Solar Production" and "Consumption". See the examples below where my battery charged from the clipped energy (>8kW) at peak production and then switched over to "Maximize Self-consumption" with a backup reserve of 50% at 8pm. When the inverter switches over to MSC at 8pm, it only discharges the battery to meet the instantaneous household demand and prevents both import and export of energy to the grid. If the dryer or oven is on at that time, there is a huge spike of both the red Consumption AND dark green System Production. As soon as the battery returns to 50%, system production/discharge ends and it turns red only as the grid is being used to meet household demand.

Something is definitely fishy. If you aren't 100% sure about the CT installations, it's probably time to double check.

Generation.JPGCapture.JPG

[v10tdi]

I'm having trouble understanding what happened at that spike. Simply changing the inverter from "Backup Only" at 100% to "Maximize Self-consumption" with a backup reserve of 80% should not cause a dump of energy out of the battery. The behavior that I would expect is a slow consumption of energy out of the battery to meet your household demand and eliminate grid use until 80% is reached...

...See the examples below where my battery charged from the clipped energy (>8kW) at peak production and then switched over to "Maximize Self-consumption" with a backup reserve of 50% at 8pm. When the inverter switches over to MSC at 8pm...

...Something is definitely fishy. If you aren't 100% sure about the CT installations, it's probably time to double check.

Thank you for your response (again)!

I agree with a bit of a caveat. I would expect a dissipation of energy from the battery that matched my consumption - up to the instant limit of the battery/inverter (10 seconds @ 7kW and 5kW continuous) and until the backup reserve was met. I don't think I was running a load that large at that time, so I'd guess that the battery just discharged to the grid. Not my intention. So that's why I used the web to implement a policy "Discharge to minimize import" - which is supposed to prevent the battery from discharging to the grid.

Yesterday was mostly cloudy, so not much solar energy was produced. The battery maintained an 80% SOE. Today it's been partly cloudy, so I'm getting plenty of PV energy, but the web is showing that the production is "mostly" matching my consumption - which is nuts. Battery is maintaining an 80% SOE. I would have expected the battery to charge up with any PV energy greater than consumption. But that's not happening even when PV energy is high.
...

"switched over"
So you have multiple Charge/Discharge modes selected for different times of day?

Perhaps this could be the root of my problem. Thus far I have experimented with the "Backup Only" option on the SE monitoring site AND a couple of "Storage Profiles" I created that consist of a single, year-long policy with a single Charge/Discharge Mode (i.e., Charge from PV & Discharge to minimize import). Neither of these policies was doing what I expected.

I just went into the SE Monitoring site and created a new Storage Profile that implements "Maximize self-consumption" Charge/Discharge profile with a backup reserve of 80%. I am now seeing behavior that I was expecting (as your graph, but w/o the clipping parameter). I'll monitor this and see what happens.

...

Well, I am pretty sure, but I don't have a picture. I'll pull off the panel cover later tonight and validate CT orientation. This time I'll take a picture, lol.

...

BTW - It appears SE made a change to the monitoring site today. Specifically, I noticed that the "Energy Manager" heading in the "Admin" section has been renamed to "Storage." I was getting a few web errors on that section of the site.

[v10tdi]

Quick update - my initial impression is that the change I made to the Charge/Discharge Mode of the Storage Profile (MSC, 80% reserve) did the trick. PV is now used for the house charging the battery and the remainder exported. Battery now supplements PV power to minimize import and cycles between 80-100% SOE (as clouds come through and consumption increases or decreases)..

Now that I'm getting expected behavior, I'll watch how this works over the next couple of days.

@soby Thank you for your help and patience!

[soby]

Glad to help. Having recently researched and implemented a setup similar to yours, I'm uniquely positioned to do so.

I'm not seeing a change to the SE web monitoring. My Admin tab still shows this under Energy Manager:Energy.JPG

I do see some changes to what was previously "Storage Profiles" under user accounts. They changed that name to "Storage Policies". They also changed the names of the different modes but it seems like the underlying functions have remained the same.

Modes.JPG
My inverter is running a "Storage Policy" that defaults to "Maximum Self Consumption" but changed to "Charge Excess PV" from 6am to 11:45pm. Previously, that changed back to MSC at 8pm but I hated seeing the dryer or oven pulling 5kW from the battery. It now discharges at 11:45pm when our usage is low to minimize stress on the battery while routinely discharging back down to 50%. I don't ever see a need to change this profile since I intend to only charge the battery from clipped PV above the 8kW AC output capacity of the StorEdge Inverter. If a storm is threatening, I may want to change my battery reserve and that does require changing Storage Policy.

I'm no battery expert but my impression is that you want to minimize charge/discharge cycles. Unless you have an incentive to shift your grid import to a different time, I wouldn't want the battery charging when the sun is out and discharging when clouds roll by. I remember your original goal was to use the battery as backup only at 80% capacity. I think the best way to accomplish that without excess charge/discharge cycles is using the exact same Storage Policy as mine with an 80% reserve. Then the inverter would maintain that 80% and only charge on the rare occasion that you have some clipping. After all, charging from clipped energy is like charging for free because that energy would have been wasted if not directed to the battery. Today has been cloudy so there has been no clipping at all. The inverter is just maintaining my battery at 50%.

[v10tdi]

lol - Yah, it's changed back to the way it was.

I noticed that in addition to the tab/section name change from "Energy Manager" to "Storage," they also changed the text on the tick box from "Set profile from server" to something that included "don't override local settings." That doesn't seem like the context is right. I'd bet they had to roll back the web change due to the errors that were occurring.
SEMonitoringAdminPageError.jpg

For an easy "Storm Mode," you might investigate the "Backup Only" option. Check your inverter config to enable grid battery charge. My thought was that during a storm, I'd take a battery re-charge from wherever I could, grid or PV.

The whole battery life expectancy thing is a bit of a quandary to me, I appreciate your logic. I expect that the clipping times on my smaller PV array will be more limited, but I'll watch.

In my research, I have read that there are several factors that influence the useful like of these lithium batteries...

Operating environment (temperatures): lower end of the operating range is better (~60F)
Depth of Discharge: shallow discharge and recharge is better than deep discharge/recharge
SOE/SoC: lower state of energy/charge is better.

I need to develop some history with my new settings, but my thought is that I will get the equivalent of 50%/daily discharge with a Backup Reserve of 80% (albeit with smaller, but more frequent charges/discharges). The battery will spend the majority of the day (~4pm-9am, 17-18 hours/day or more) near ~80% SOE. In addition to smaller discharges/charges, I have read that a lower overall SOE is better and an 80% SOE is a good trade-off.

One good thing: my LG battery lives in a fairly stable temperature day-to-day...averaging 60F (slightly cooler in the winter when it's not really used, a tad warmer in summer).

I'll develop some data and then reassess my settings.

Thanks again!