Commissioning SunPower SunVault for AC Coupling

SunPower SunVault AC Coupled (BCS) Commissioning Guide

This is for on grid where you will connect AC1 to a breaker panel that is behind a Schneider BCS.

It is always a good idea to look at Schneider documentation but I know it’s overwhelming. Here is a cheat sheet that we use.

Some physical wiring notes:
1. Make sure AC1 Line 1 is in phase with AC2 Line 1 on the primary inverter. If you have swapped wires somewhere you will get an error in the inverter.
2. Make sure AC1 Line 1 on the primary inverter is the same as AC1 Line 1 on secondary inverters
3. Make sure you have wired up the BCS properly
a. Cat5 wire from Wattnode to Insight Facility for monitoring energy in and out of grid
b. 4 strand ~18awg wire from BCS Contactor board to AUX terminal of primary inverter
c. AC Sense wires from bottom right of BCS where fuses are to the AC2 input of primary inverter (recommend removing fuses until a later step to make sure they don’t blow if the inverter tries to charge batteries via this line)
4. If using a Node Red device provided by Beene Brothers run insight facility ethernet to onboard ethernet of Node Red. Then the Node Red usb to ethernet dongle should have a line up to your switch/router for internet.
5. AC1 of each inverter runs back to a breaker panel on the backed-up loads portion of the BCS
6. Disconnect the short grey RJ11 cable that runs from the SunPower Multi I/O to the BTS port of the inverter. After doing a factory reset of the inverter you will get a battery temp alarm f.44 if you don’t remove the cable.
7. Yellow Xanbus runs from insight facility to inverter. If adding an inverter then remove the Xanbus terminator from that inverter and insert a standard cat5 cable to run to the next inverter. If you have an insight facility in the second cabinet ignore it, each system will only use one Insight Facility.
8. If running multiple inverters run a standard cat5 cable from the AC Sync port (next to Xanbus) of the primary to the secondary continuing the chain for up to 4 inverters. There are NO terminator plugs for this AC Sync function.
9. All batteries are daisy chained for communication, so if you have more than one cabinet the third battery in cabinet 1 does not get a terminator plug in link-out, instead link-out gets a cat5 cord over to battery 1 of the next cabinet. Up to 16 batteries can be connected in this manner.

Phase 1: Battery Installation & Initial Power-Up

– Install Battery 1 First:
– Connect 48V Cables:
– Action: Connect the pre-installed 48V cables with Amphenol connectors from the cabinet into their corresponding color receptacles on the batteries.
– Connect Multi I/O to Battery 1:
– Action: Plug the orange cord coming off the Multi I/O into the “PCS/Host” port of the first battery.
– Install Terminator Plugs & Daisy Chain:
– Battery 1: Insert a terminator plug into the “Link-In” port of the first battery.
– Subsequent Batteries: Connect the “Link-Out” of the current battery to the “Link-In” of the next battery in the chain.
– Last Battery: Insert a terminator plug into the “Link-Out” port of the very last battery in the bank.
– Power On a Battery:
– Action: Press the power button on any one of the installed batteries.
– Observation: All batteries should begin flashing as they initiate their startup sequence.
– Confirmation: The top light on each battery should settle into a solid green. The other lights will indicate the State of Charge (SOC). If the batteries are new off the shelf from us they should all come up. If some batteries are at a higher SOC they could stay blinking green until the lower ones are charged enough to be closer.
– Inverter Status: The inverter display should show “STB” (Standby).

Phase 2: Schneider Insight Gateway Reset

– Factory Reset Gateway:

Video on resetting gateway in case it helps, this is a Conext unit but it acts just the same as the Insight Facility: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nNF3ovoS6F0
– Action: Press and hold the power button on the Schneider Insight Gateway until you hear four consecutive beeps.
– Release: Release the button. The gateway will reboot into a factory reset state. Booting can take 2 minutes, it will give you a single beep when it’s done booting.
– Access Gateway Wi-Fi:
– Action: Gently push the gateway to the side to dislodge it from its DIN rail.
– Locate Credentials: On the bottom of the gateway, locate the SSID and password for its wireless network.
– Connect: Connect your device (laptop/phone) to this Wi-Fi network.
– Access Gateway Web Interface:
– Action: Open a web browser and navigate to 192.168.100.1.
– Login: Use the default credentials:
– Username: Admin
– Password: Admin123
– Change Password: Immediately change the admin password to something secure and unique.

– Update Firmware: At the top left of your screen check the firmware version, make sure it’s 1.18 Build number 33. If not, then download this to your laptop https://www.se.com/us/en/download/document/Gateway-InsightHome_FW_v1.18/
– Action: Visit your downloads folder, right click the insight firmware, extract all. Open the new folder and rename the epkg file to something shorter like FW.epkg.

– Action: Inside of Insight Facility Visit Setup > Firmware Upgrade and click “Upload Package”. Find the FW.epkg file you edited earlier and let it upload and then reboot the Insight when prompted.

– Update Firmware: Under Devices > XW Pro device look off to the right and verify the firmware version is 2.04.00bn29. If not, then download the firmware: https://www.se.com/us/en/download/document/XW-Pro_120-240V_FW_V2-04_BN29/
– Action: Visit your downloads folder, right click the xw pro firmware, extract all. – – Action: Inside of Insight Facility Visit Devices > XW Pro > Firmware > and click “Upgrade”. Find the firmware file you downloaded earlier and let it update and reboot.

– Factory Reset Inverter Settings:

Devices > Inverter > Configuration > Advanced > Controls > Reset = Reset all settings to factory
– Apply: Click “Apply” and allow the inverter to complete its reset process.

Repeat above for all inverters

Phase 4: Inverter Configuration & Online Operation

Leave inverter in standby mode while setting up all of the below settings. Will give you a good baseline for an AC Coupled install. I am assuming you have grid tie solar and running a Node Red for controlling the charge rate and mode of the inverter/batteries.

For each battery (Devices > Sunpower v1.2 > Configuration)

Device Identification > Device Association = (Appropriate House battery bank)

Device Identification > Device Number = (Make sure each battery has a different number assigned)

Global Settings:

Setup > Time setup = (Set time zone then hit calendar and click “today” and “done”)

Setup > Modbus Settings > Baud rate = 19200 (for both)

Setup > Modbus TCP Settings = Enabled

Setup > Smart Energy Manager > XW Pro Export Power Control > Config Enable = Enabled

Setup > Smart Energy Manager > XW Pro Export Power Control > Export Limit = 0

Setup > Smart Energy Manager > XW Pro Export Power Control > Trip Power = (Set this to a higher number than you will ever be able to produce from solar, like 15,000 watts)

Devices > WattNode > Configuration > Device Association > Grid – Split Phase (Or Grid – Split Phase with AC PV if you have the extra CT installed to monitor solar production)

Devices > WattNode > Configuration > AC PV CT Rating = 100A

Devices > WattNode > Configuration > Grid CT Rating = 200A

For each inverter (Devices > Inverter > Configuration (Turn on advanced at top right)):

Controls > Charger = Enabled

Controls > Sell Enable/Disable = Enabled

Charger Settings > Recharge SOC = 6%

Battery Settings > Battery Type = Li-Ion

Battery Settings > Charge Cycle = External BMS

Battery Settings > SOC Control Enable = Enabled

Battery Settings > Low SOC Cut Out = 20%

Grid Energy Management (Grid Support) > Grid Support = Enabled

Grid Energy Management (Grid Support) > Grid Support SOC = 25%

Power Control Settings > EPC Enable = Enabled

Multi-Unit Configuration > Unit Configuration = (Split Phase Primary or Secondary as appropriate)

External Contactor Settings > External Contactor = Enabled

Battery Management System Settings > BMS Communication Loss Triggers Fault or Warning = Warning

Battery Management System Settings > Comms Lost Battery Charge Current Limit = 140

Battery Management System Settings > Comms Lost Battery Discharge Current Limit = 250

Battery Management System Settings > Charge Overcurrent Offset = 5

Associations > Battery Association = (appropriate battery bank)

Device Identification > Device Name = (Can name primary/secondary as needed. Under Advanced Device Settings you can turn on Identify Enable to see which inverter you are configuring currently)

Verify that under Device Identification > Device Number each inverter has a unique number.

Time to start up!

Re-install the fuses in the BCS for the AC Sense lines that you removed previously.

Make sure the BCS is set to off-grid mode (white switch behind clear cover is turned clockwise to the right)

Devices > Operating (Located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen)

After booting the inverters perform this:

Setup > Device Detection > Detect Devices = Set range 1-5 for both and select “Detect”. Should detect 1 device (watt node inside of BCS)

Devices > WattNode > Configuration > Meter Settings > Device Association = Grid – Split Phase (use Grid – Split Phase with AC PV if you installed a third CT clamp in your watt node to monitor grid-tie solar)

Normal boot will be inverter showing operating, very quickly you will hear the contactor in the BCS flip to grid. The inverter(s) will then start a 300 second count down. Once this is done if the batteries have enough charge they will go into grid-sell mode to support the grid. If the Node red device is connected and powered on it should detect when power is flowing out to the grid and switch the inverters to Constant VI (charging) mode and charge fast enough to keep the meter around 0 watts.

Additional notes:
Sometimes the CT Clamps are installed backwards in the BCS so even if you pointed the arrows of the CT clamps the correct direction they will read backwards when looking at the dashboard of the insight local screen. If you turn off your solar and watch the dashboard make sure you are seeing power come in from the grid not outbound. Swap directions as needed.