EG4 18kpv 1 year review living off grid~ More independence with solar power

In this video I talk about the performance of the EG4 18kpv over the last year that I’ve owned it.
Assistant editor Tabitha Stone
Affiliate links:
Links to the 18kpv
Signature Solars link
signaturesolar.com/eg4-18kpv-...
Current Connected’s link
www.currentconnected.com/prod...
Link to the EG4 outdoor power pro batteries
Link to the power pro battery
signaturesolar.com/eg4-powerp...
These are the bus bars I use for the system
signaturesolar.com/12-stud-bu...
This is where I got the heavy gauge wire for my system.
www.amazon.com/dp/B01M35S1J2/...
…………………………………………………………………………
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#solarpower
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#18kpv

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Affiliate links to the 18kpv Signature Solars link signaturesolar.com/eg4-18kpv-hybrid-inverter-all-in-one-solar-inverter-eg4-18kpv-12lv/?ref=mpmddlkx6M9tPo Current Connected’s link www.currentconnected.com/product/eg4-18kpv-hybrid-inverter/?_gl=1%2As6skuv%2A_up%2AMQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg4yr7-jvhQMVtE9HAR1sBQYAEAAYASAAEgLfTvD_BwE&ref=xhJJBPDS

[@a16416]

I have the system as well in Colorado. I’m grid tied but can be self sustained most of the year. My home is all electric as well and I can attest. It’s a great system and a fantastic inverter. 14kw solar, 30kw battery

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Yeah I think it’s amazing how well it performs.

[@easttexascowboy257]

Nice! Still looking at installing maybe a couple of these this fall, along with additional batteries and maybe some more panels. Really good to see this kind of feedback. And congrats on your continued growth of subscribers!

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Yeah you can’t go wrong with these inverters. Those coupled with your lifepower4 batteries will be a good combo.

[@hendersonsobers396]

Thanks for the anniversary video Gavin. Can't believe a year has gone by since the 18K PV has been released. Time really flies.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

It definitely does. So much other stuff has happened this past year. But it almost feels like I just installed the inverter though.

[@AdamDeLay07]

Glad to hear it's still working well!

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Running like a top. 😉

[@AnonymousMiner2]

So close to pulling the trigger on one of these, thanks for the update video

[@stephenfuller2936]

Do it while they have the promo going. The warranty is amazing and customer service has always been amazing for me. I had a 6500ex and now have the 6000xp and will be buying an 18k for another project soon.

[@stevenfrazier8939]

It works and it makes power, amen.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Over simplified for sure. But it’s definitely true

[@stevenfrazier8939]

It has been for us as well. it just works. Did you film your dad's install?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

@@stevenfrazier8939 I just filmed it in a time lapse. He has been really happy with his also. It’s dead silent most of the day for him as well. We upgraded him from a pair of mpp Lv6548’s, which always sounded like jet engines. So that’s a big improvement

[@stevenfrazier8939]

@@GavinStoneDIY I remember you mentioning the sound when you were using the LV6548's. You are a good son to help your father get as off-grid as he wants.

[@ry2456]

@@GavinStoneDIY Is he off grid or grid tie? How much pv? Thanks

[@Roll2Videos]

Love it! Thank you so much, Gavin. I really enjoy hearing good things about this unit I still want one.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

There’s a lot in these gray boxes. The inverter is capable of much more than I do with it. But it does exactly what I need.

[@Roll2Videos]

@@GavinStoneDIY That's great to hear. 👍

[@jeffmotes2129]

Good review. Thanks.

[@ToddLarsen]

My solar arrays have solar array envy. I just realized that you have a channel as well, so I subbed right away. It's great to hear about your 18k unit kicking butt and taking names. We will have one soon, and I'm excited to kick these gremlins to the curb. They have been driving me nuts lately. Thanks for sharing, and as always, keep building 👍

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Yeah I can’t wait to hear about your install. Feel free to email me if you’ve got any questions when you’re getting it set up.

[@zacharybrown624]

Signature solar is the beez neez. Highly recommend those peeps. I have a 18k pv 60kw batts with the 18kpv. Here in Virginia it works.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

They have really been doing great. They had to increase their staff and get things caught up. But now I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback about them.

[@zacharybrown624]

@GavinStoneDIY are you backup grid tied? Or 100% off grid. How many batteries do you have and how well do they last on cloudy weeks.

[@ry2456]

I really enjoy you and your videos. They helped us plan our off grid system that we are just starting to put together. (18kpv, 2 Indoor Pro batteries to start, 22kw bifacial panels etc.) Some ideas for future videos would be: Explaining more about living with an off grid setup where you live. Describing your weather/seasons and pv harvesting throughout the year for your area. Are there times when you really watch your useage? All the appliances you use etc etc. That way viewers can use your experience to better plan our systems , homes and lifestyles better. What would you do differently? Realistically what would you do/build if starting from scratch on a bare acreage? House, water, heating/cooling, pv, septic, appliances, outbuildings etc........... Thanks again!

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Really good ideas here. My wife has been saying I need to include this type of content in a video. I need to put that on my list. That’s exciting about your system! You’ll love having your own power plant.

[@Trotliners1]

Good job

[@prepsolar787]

awesome I installed one with a power pro battery for my friend here in puerto rico. he has a 5hp well pump and it works great powers the well pump and the house without any problems going on for almost three months now. he is of grid as well

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Nice!. Yeah I’ve talked with quite a few people that are going with solar in Puerto Rico. The 18kpv was a solid choice. It’s a beast when it comes to inductive loads.

[@guitar333]

Hi did you have the units shipped to PR or buy locally?

[@prepsolar787]

@guitar333 I bought the inverter and battery from signature solar and the inverter was ship to me thru ups. battery was ship thru a freight company

[@notme5909]

Cool.

[@ericapelz260]

"It works, and it makes power" is exactly what I want to hear. We're looking to add batteries to our existing microinverter system and refuse to buy anything else from Enphase. The 18Kpv is a very tempting unit.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Yeah it would work fantastic for that. I love the idea of utilizing a grid tie system for a backup system also.

[@uticatechclub923]

Thank you so much for quality content! Do you use string optimizers?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I don’t no. I would probably get a much higher yield if I did.

[@clevilbarnett1995]

Hey great video on your 1st year anniversary. We are doing our first 6 months. A question for you .Where are your CTs located, by your meter or inside the inverter ?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I have mine set up inside the inverter. But typically you’d want them as close to the meter as possible.

[@mikeremillard5414]

Gavin great video new to solar I use an average od 50kw a day with a well pump od 1hp not looking to sell to grid however I would like to pull from grid automaticly when needed is this the unit for me

[@GavinStoneDIY]

This, or 2-EG4 6000xp’s. If you aren’t needing to export to the grid then an off grid inverter like the 6000xp will likely work for you. Plus you have redundancy if one unit goes down you’d still have power. Then again, a lot of people like to have everything in one box. And you really can’t go wrong with the 18kpv. It handles loads extremely well, and runs smoothly.

[@northidahodreaming5657]

Enjoy your videos! Thanks I don't know where you are located, but you obviously have been through winter. I'm in the far north Idaho. How do you deal with low sun, clouds, snow? Generator, grid power? How large is you battery rack...kWh?? You said that you are off grid or running as if off grid....and that you have wood heat. I installed a "critical loads panel" and moved most of the largest loads (heatpumps, oven, dryer, etc.) to this panel. I guess that I'm concerned that come winter I'll have to move some/most of these large loads back to the main service panel (grid) since there will be much less solar. All of the panels are on the roof (30 400watt panels). Anyway, I'll appreciate your thoughts on my winter concerns. Best regards

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I’m in Virginia. So we don’t get the winters you guys do up north. We still have grid power available if we needed it. But at this point we have a large enough battery bank that’s it’s extremely rare. We have close to 90khw of battery now. I haven’t ever used grid to charge the batteries either way. If anything we would switch to grid power to enough sun was available again. We try to prep for cloudy or inclement weather in advance by doing our largest amount of cooking and other energy usage beforehand. I’m assuming you have an 18kpv as well? You could always leave some of those larger loads in the main panel and use some of the grid assist options.

[@benfaubion]

Do you have a video with a diagram how you set it up? I’m curious what your connections from the meter coming in to the unit look like, and then going out to your subpanel..

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I have a double pole 70 amp breaker feeding the unit. And the output goes to a double pole 70 amp breaker in a sub panel.

[@sjbill1793]

Hey. Maybe you can help me with a question about the WiFi dongle for the 6000xp. I don't have internet available at the moment at my homestead. I'll be getting maybe Starlink in the future, but need to get a setup to power everything first. If i don't have internet, how can I do firmware updates, change settings, or monitor things with the 6000xp? Thanks

[@GavinStoneDIY]

You can always change settings on the inverter itself. But it does have a local connection option. Do have cellular service there? Signature Solar has a cellular dongle you can purchase as well. That’s what I’ve been using. If you’re not, you can download the firmware on your phone, and upload it via the “local connection” option on the dongle.

[@exs13]

Great Video! You stated that the batteries are fully charged by 11am, what is your average SOC in the morning after overnight usage? Thank you.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

In the spring I usually am around 75-80% SoC in the morning. So we don’t really have far to charge. It’s a slow climb after a day or two of rain though.

[@JimPrice-zs5hh]

Gavin, Thanks for the videos! I see you have an option to show the battery details in the on line tool. I have looked and can't find that option . Can you share what firmware you are on for the 18K and for the batteries? Thx JP

[@GavinStoneDIY]

The 18kpv firmware 1A1A is the latest. But I’m still on 1919. And whatever the latest battery firmware is. This applies to the LL V2 and above, and pro battery versions. If you have them then you should be able to get the same data on the EG4 monitor site.

[@JimPrice-zs5hh]

Yeah I’m on 1A1A and have 3 PowerPro batteries all on Z02T17. CAN: 07 Lux RS485: P01 EG4

[@hollywoodj500]

Gavin Stone, you haven't done any AC coupling with that inverter? what is the set up for the AC coupling with this inverter?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

The generator port is meant for smart loads and AC coupling.

[@thaddeustroyer]

With the 6500ex at certain inverter output, usually low output, the house lights will "flicker". Once the output increases, like turn on more lights or using vacuum or toaster the flicker stops but returns when the output drops again. Have you noticed any flickering in your lights at low output?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

No I haven’t. The only flicker I’ve seen occasionally is when a large inductive load kicks on. But that’s typical of any inverter. This inverter is way ahead of the 6500’s on design and functionality.

[@thaddeustroyer]

@@GavinStoneDIY thanks. Good info and great review.

[@brentfrank7012]

I’m curious, did you actually have the power company turn you off and remove the power lines or are you still hooked to the grid but just not using it?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I might make a video on my solar input and usages. I still have grid available if I need it. But I have the beaker turned off. I did have to use it last winter during a week of rain we had. My wife has kept track of the days we’ve had to use grid. The meter fee is fairly low so it seemed like cheap insurance to keep us connected. Since we’ve added more to the battery bank we haven’t needed it though.

[@bhbaker220]

How much battery capacity do you have? How many days have you used a generator or the grid to charge the batteries? About where in the U.S. are you located?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I’m in Virginia. I have around 1700ah of batteries. So we had to supplement with grid a few days last winter. We still have the grid available as a backup as well as generator. We just don’t typically need to use them. The winter months typically have less usage for us because of the woodstove. So we are able to last multiple days with very little sun.

[@clevilbarnett1995]

My 18 k EG4 inverter randomly sends 0.1 of current to the grid. Is there a fix for this?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

It depends on how you have things set up. If you have it set to off grid mode it will not send any power back to the grid.

[@SD-it8nj]

Do you need DC power optimizer on your 18Kpv and what’s the warranty on that battery?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I don’t use optimizers on my panels no. The warranty on the outdoor power pro batteries is 10 years. The same with the indoor models.

[@benfaubion]

Ah ok, so you must have the 70 amp breaker in your house subpanel, and then you have another critical loads panel in addition to that? If that’s the case, did you need a critical loads subpanel in addition to your whole house subpanel for some reason? Someone suggested you can just have it connected at the a 70 amp breaker from the panel, and not even need the critical loads subpanel. How did you get your two hvac systems running with just the 70 amp breakers?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

You technically don’t need a critical loads panel with this inverter because it can interact with the grid. But I already had all of that setup from the previous system. The hvac doesn’t really pull that much amperage if your install an easy start on them. At least for the air conditioning. The heat does pull a lot of amperage, but I don’t use that because I have a wood stove.

[@mars617]

Have you every dropped the battery to a point where the inverter shuts down? If u have, how did you trick it into dark starting to charge

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I have done that with the 6000xp yes. The PV coming in the next morning kicked it back to life.

[@mars617]

@@GavinStoneDIY I was wondering if I should have a few panels connected to the PV DC/DC side of the EG4 18kPV. Right now I am AC coupled. Have batteries to shut down at 20% . I have never depleted them that much and am wondering what happens next

[@redrollback]

How many volts input on each of the 4 inputs?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I have around 500v input on input #1 and #2. Input #3 has 280v I believe. Those are my arrays. But if you’re asking what each input is capable of as far as voltage, it’s 600v max on each independent input.

[@diySolarPowerFunWithRay]

Cool. Would you say it's more quiet than a 6000 XP?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

They have different tones. But they are similar noise level at full PV input. But considering the 18kpv only turns its fans on at 6kw or over, it’s definitely all around quieter yes. And if you were to add 2 XP’s to reach the same output power as the 18kpv then it’ll certainly be quieter.

[@diySolarPowerFunWithRay]

@@GavinStoneDIY cool. Thanks. 👍

[@nathandeboer7974]

Curious what batteries you’re using that are showing individually on the 18kpv remote screen? I have lifepower4 units and they don’t show(they just work)

[@ZeusMail]

Same here too. Great question.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I’m using the outdoor EG4 power pro models. But you can also get the same info using the lifepower4 models. As long as you have the communication hub.

[@nathandeboer7974]

@@GavinStoneDIY the info is available in the hub but would be nice on the remote screen. Thanks

[@GavinStoneDIY]

@@nathandeboer7974 it’s available on the remote screen as long as you have the hub. It just takes a firmware update on the batteries and hub. Check EG4’s latest firmware updates.

[@nathandeboer7974]

@@GavinStoneDIY unfortunately not on mine. Have latest firmware on everything

[@jeffmoestaygyi.1248]

How big is your battery system?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

A little over 1700ah of batteries.

[@JerHAMM]

What do you have for batteries?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I have a rack of 6 100 ah lifepowr4 batteries. 2 EG4 outdoor power pro batteries, and 2 DIY batteries. So a little over 1700 ah of 48v batteries

[@JerHAMM]

@@GavinStoneDIY hey, thanks brother, I greatly appreciate you responding

[@SD-it8nj]

How many solar panels do you have in total? And which manufacturer do you use?

[@GavinStoneDIY]

I have 30 400watt bifacial sunwatt panels. And 6 450 watt sungold panels. Honestly I’m not too picky on panel manufacturers.

[@SD-it8nj]

@@GavinStoneDIY good morning Gavin, which one do you recommend solark 15k or eg4 18k? How about battery and for whole house how many are safe? Thanks!

[@GavinStoneDIY]

@@SD-it8nj I haven’t not personally tested the Solark. They are fantastic units though from what I’ve seen. I have tested the 18kpv quite extensively though. So that’s why I recommend that. As far as batteries it depends on when you needed to install them. But if I was designing my system again I would use the eg4 indoor Power Pro models. They are awesome. Built in fire suppression and they save space over a battery rack. signaturesolar.com/eg4-wallmount-indoor-battery-280ah-51-2v-indoor-heated-ul1973-ul9540a/?ref=mpmddlkx6M9tPo

[@SD-it8nj]

@@GavinStoneDIY one quick question! Do do really need EMP Hardening? Is it necessary to have and do you have it? Thanks

[@keything8487]

obligatory comment ..... here

[@GavinStoneDIY]

🙋🏻‍♂️