This has also been my experience. I don't know if it's EG4 listening to customers and understanding what we are up against. It might be dumb luck that their batteries work this way. but I have never had an issue with firmware mismatch with EG4 in an open-loop setting, even when the batteries are communicating with each other, just not with an inverter.
It's too bad their batteries don't play nice with Sol-Ark. More accurately, probably, Sol-Ark doesn't play nice with EG4. 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 Thu, Sep 4, 2025 at 10:04 PM Jay via RE-wrenches < [email protected]> wrote: > I had to talk to eg4 today. > I asked them about the necessity for firmware updates on batteries. > They said the batteries will work without correct firmware. They might not > be compatible of communication with the inverter but will work. > > So if you had to add another battery to a few older ones it would work > fine. > Yes best to do a firmware update but not necessary > > > > On Sep 4, 2025, at 3:53 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Ok, I have some information about the latest shutdown of HomeGrid. I just > went out to the island today and spent the entire day resolving the issue > (hopefully). > > First, I want to clearly state how incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, and > patient HomeGrid technical support was today (shout out to Armando Rolden). > I was lucky enough to have all of the right cables with me, and the EMS > Tools preloaded on my Windows laptop, and we worked together to diagnose > and resolve things. > > I'll cut to the chase: there were two potential issues that might have > caused the shutdowns. > > 1. On one stack of batteries we had previously bypassed a pack > (HomeGrid calls the individual batteries a pack). This was months ago and > we did it because somehow it became out of balance, meaning one of the 15 > cells internally had a significantly lower voltage. We do not know why this > happened, but presumably it was not being cycled enough to 100%, which > HomeGrid insists is absolutely necessary to prevent issues like this. The > moral of the story: don't undersize a PV array with HomeGrid, or at least > have an auxiliary charging source to get batteries to 100% at least weekly. > I seriously doubt this was the reason for the recent shutdowns because we > had been running two uneven stacks for months (one with 7 and one with 8) > without any issues. > 2. We added a stack of 8 to the original two stacks a month ago. For three > weeks, everything worked fine. Then we started getting these random > shutdowns. We discovered today that four of the eight packs had a different > software version. This is the more likely reason, in my opinion, that we > experienced issues. Incidentally, the shutdowns always happened when the > batteries were at 100% for a few hours. This points to issues with > differing charge limits between the different software versions according > to HomeGrid. > > > So where does this leave me? I'm hopeful that the software updates and > manual rebalancing of the unbalanced pack will resolve the issues at this > site. But it reiterates that these sytems are not ideal for off-grid > applications when issues like these can take down the whole system. And I > was fortunate that the property was unoccupied today, because I had to shut > down the system many times. We had to un-parallel stacks, reconfigure > things, and re-parallel at the end. I did not have a generator functional > at the time, so I could not keep power on to the home, so we lost Internet, > which made remote support difficult. We had to run off of one stack for a > while to make it happen, so that also required some reconfiguring. > > All of this takes a LOT of time. As I said, I spent all day on this. Part > of the problem was that I called HomeGrid at 9:00 am EST and didn't get a > call back until 11:00 am, but I had already left the site! I had to turn > the boat around to go back. I didn't know how long it was going to take, so > I wasn't going to wait all day, but fortunately they caught me in time. > > The bottom line is I think HomeGrid has a good product. When it works, it > works. But the premium price and the off-grid resilience and serviceability > issues make it unsuitable for my applications. > > If issues persist at this site, I am going to have to run the three stacks > in open-loop. That will not help the intra-stack issues, but it might help > with redundancy by keeping two of three stacks going in the event of a > fault. Of course, there are serious downsides to this, given that the SOC > estimating from Sol-Ark is poor and Voltage mode will need to be used for > the AGS as a result. I really hope that the system will keep humming along, > but I'm sure it is only a matter of time before I'm called back out. > > > Finally, I also need to backtrack on something I said before. You CAN > connect to individual battery packs with a computer and use the HomeGrid > EMS Tools. It requires a differnet RS232-USB cable with a RJ11 connector on > one end. It allows you to monitor the battery pack in real time, but not > perform updates (which requires RS485). However, the battery pack has to be > turned on, and if it is in a stack and has a fault, the stack will probably > error out and not function as a result. So the same problem exists in that > you can't service a pack within a stack while the rest of the stack > functions normally. > > > P.S. If you work with HomeGrid with EMS Tools, make sure you record the > password for the software interface for future reference. If you can't > reach HomeGrid, you will need it to even open up the software. It's not a > standard default password. > > > > I hope this helps others! > > > 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, Sep 3, 2025 at 1:18 PM Jason Szumlanski < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Nothing like a coincidence... >> >> A client on an island with three stacks of 8 HomeGrid batteries has just >> called me to report that the entire system is down. All of the battery BMS >> module displays are dark. I have mySolArk data from three inverters there >> that show the batteries were topped off and just idling along with solar >> covering the load at 5:00 pm last night when the power suddenly went out, >> killing the Starlink connection. I'm going for a boat ride tomorrow to >> check it out. Ugh. >> >> I will report my findings. Not sure if it's a battery or inverter issue, >> but the customer's handyman reported nothing on the battery screens, which >> seems strange to me. Even an error should not turn the display off, as far >> as I recall. >> >> P.S. No power loss notifications from Sol-Ark is a frustrating loss of >> functionality. I heard a rumor on Facebook that they are fixing this >> in mySolArk this month, but I'm not holding my breath. >> >> >> 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 2, 2025 at 4:31 PM Jason Szumlanski < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> We have some stacks of HomeGrid out there in various capacities, from >>> the smallest with five in a stack, up to four fully populated stacks of >>> eight. In total, I oversee around 150 Stack'd batteries, including many >>> that I installed and some that were installed by others. I will say that >>> they are easy to install, have a nice bold visual interface, look good, and >>> perform up to expectations. They communicate flawlessly with Sol-Ark 15k. >>> However... >>> >>> I believe there is a fundamental design flaw in this stackable battery >>> architecture. Here is why I am no longer offering HomeGrid in a nutshell: >>> >>> - When one battery in a stack has a fault, the entire stack faults >>> out, which renders the stack non-functional until you either: >>> 1. Remove the battery from the stack or turn the circuit breaker >>> off, and: >>> 2. Reconfigure all of the dip switches to remove the battery from >>> the communication loop, then: >>> 3. Reprogram the master BMS to recognize the new stack members >>> and their positions. >>> - If you have multiple stacks, you have to do all of the above, and >>> in addition: >>> 1. Remove a battery from each additional stack to balance them, >>> then perform all of the above steps on each stack. >>> 2. But before you reprogram each master BMS you have to take the >>> stacks out of parallel communication, then reprogram the parallel >>> stacks >>> before operation again. >>> 3. Making each stack equal is per HomeGrid support, but in >>> practice, I don't know if it is necessary, especially if you are >>> losing one >>> of eight (12.5%). If you have smaller stacks, this might be a bigger >>> issue. >>> - To diagnose a battery issue with a laptop and cable and get >>> warranty support, you can only do that with the master BMS because each >>> battery does not have a comm port. That means you have to have the entire >>> stack non-functional while you perform diagnostics, which is not ideal >>> for >>> off-grid settings, especially if there is only one stack. >>> - If a battery fails to balance and becomes depleted, causing a >>> fault, there are no simple terminal bolts to connect an external charger. >>> I'm not sure how you would even accomplish a manual charge without >>> opening >>> up the case. >>> >>> The EG4 server rack batteries work in a fundamentally different way. >>> Each battery has an independent BMS. When there is an alarm in a stack or >>> stacks of batteries, the entire battery bank does not fault out. You can >>> physically take a battery out of the stack without changing any dip >>> switches on the other batteries. You can shut one down or experience >>> a fault on one battery without any others shutting down. I have tried this >>> with the LifePower4 batteries, even when there are multiple communication >>> strings of 16 batteries connected to a communication hub. The rest of the >>> batteries just keep on working, which is the way it should be! The >>> communication hub will just show zero values for the battery that is >>> missing from the stack. I cannot confirm if this is the case with the LL >>> batteries, but I suspect it would be. In a way, this is like having the >>> batteries in an open loop in terms of resilience, with all of the benefits >>> that closed-loop battery communications offers. I have had a small variety >>> of battery issues with EG4, and not once has the whole bank of batteries >>> been affected by one battery's issue. >>> >>> Side note about another server rack option: I can confirm that Pytes >>> Ebox V1 batteries in a communication stack will shut down all batteries if >>> one has a fault, at least confirmed by one situation I had. This is despite >>> each battery having it's own BMS and console port to communicate with the >>> batteries. The situation in my case was a battery that had no "Barcode" >>> programmed into it, which was causing a parallel communication fault and >>> shutting down the whole stack. In this case, physically bypassing the >>> battery with the issue with a Cat5 coupling worked fine. There are no dip >>> switches to set, and the master battery reconfigures the communication >>> stack automatically. With Pytes' support, I was able to manually code in >>> the Barcode to the BMS with a console cable, and the problem went away. I >>> am not sure if all varieties of faults would have the same effect with >>> Pytes EBoxes, but this communication issue definitely caused the whole >>> stack to fault out. >>> >>> >>> The phenomenon of the new breed of LFP batteries lacking >>> reliability/redundancy inspired a blog post that I did just a couple of >>> weeks ago: >>> https://floridasolardesigngroup.com/homegrid-stackd-batteries-the-redundancy-fallacy >>> >>> >>> A couple of other notes on HomeGrid: >>> >>> - They do not have any way to connect conduit to the BMS. You >>> wouldn't want to anyway, especially with rigid conduit, since you might >>> need to remove the BMS for service. The BMS should be at the bottom, in >>> my >>> opinion, for this reason. You can only run positive and negative battery >>> cables out of the provided strain relief glands in free air, and it >>> requires that the batteries be about 4 inches away from the wall. There >>> is >>> no suitable way to protect 100% of the battery cables. >>> - Along the same lines, if you ever plan to expand the system, make >>> sure you leave enough battery cable length to reach a higher level. >>> - The lack of busbars is a really nice feature (until you get into >>> larger systems). >>> - The discharge rate supports the maximum input for a Sol-Ark 15K >>> with, I believe, just three batteries. >>> - I love their "busbar pair" designed specifically for the Sol-Ark >>> 15K. I order a pair with every inverter, regardless of what battery I am >>> using (although I am not actively selling Sol-Ark right now). >>> - You can't monitor the condition of individual batteries with Solar >>> Assistant, or any other tool remotely to my knowledge. You can't even >>> monitor the condition of paralleled stacks. >>> - The "app" for the batteries is mind-bendingly useless – unless I'm >>> really missing something. >>> - For some firmware and hardware versions, over-the-air updates are >>> not possible, and HomeGrid will need to send you an update tool. To be >>> fair, I think this is also the case with EG4 and some other >>> manufacturers. >>> - Once we received a shipment where three of eight batteries were in >>> the right boxes, but there were no guts in the batteries at all! It was >>> just an empty steel battery shell. We had to send them back to our >>> supplier. The boxes actually said 13 Kg on the labels rather than 52 Kg, >>> but nobody at the factory caught it. Strange. >>> - HomeGrid Support is very competent, I would say among the best in >>> terms of knowing their products inside and out, but it's 50/50 whether I >>> get someone on the phone or get a call back in a timely manner that >>> allows >>> me to complete a service call. They are willing to schedule assistance if >>> you have an off-grid situation that requires help. >>> >>> >>> Is this a vote for EG4? Not necessarily, but it's hard to argue with the >>> price and the superior reliability/redundancy aspects of the LifePower4/LL >>> batteries. One battery fault should not shut down an entire system unless >>> there is a legitimate safety hazard. It's possible that these are UL issues >>> that require system shutdowns, but EG4 appears to have overcome the >>> problems I've seen with other manufacturers' products. >>> >>> Like others mentioned, I prefer to go with the 14.3 kWh / 16 kWh sealed >>> batteries. I feel they have better build quality (other than my recent rant >>> about rust on the MNP PowerFlo16), and keeping components sealed up better >>> just makes sense to me, especially in challenging environments. Of course, >>> if you want more modularity in terms of expansion options and less impact >>> if a single unit goes down, 5 kWh units might be a better option. There is >>> no right or wrong option, I guess – sometimes it just comes down to >>> priorities, space, mounting options, and price. >>> >>> >>> 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 2, 2025 at 10:41 AM Christopher Warfel via RE-wrenches < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Wrenches, I went through the archives and read the comparison >>>> between >>>> these two. The HomeGrid manual was in such a mess (or my pdf reader >>>> was >>>> defunct), that I started looking at other options. If anyone has a >>>> strong opinion of either of these two, or something better, I would >>>> appreciate. We traditionally install small systems, and this would be >>>> one (@15kWh). I would prefer to use a racking system with the BMS as >>>> part of the packaging. Solark 12kPV multimode. Thank you, Chris >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Christopher Warfel, PE >>>> ENTECH Engineering, Inc. >>>> PO Box 871, Block Island, RI 02807 >>>> (401) 447-5773 >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance >>>> >>>> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org >>>> >>>> List Address: [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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