Recent posts

#31

MNPowerFlo5 / Re: DoA PF5?

Last post by ClassicCrazy - November 04, 2025, 07:03:26 PM

Yes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.

At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.

I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.

It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.

 I think i'm just going to build the other four and forget about communications and run open loop.

Running open loop is fine .
Even if you build your own battery , the good bms like JKBms will let you program it's output in many different outputs to it might work just fine with closed loop. As far as I know the Midnite controllers use Pylon protocol for their battery comms and many bms use or have that as an option. I just use open loop , and after using various lithium batteries, I don't want any bms that I can't get into to see how it is programmed and ability to tweak it's settings. 
Regarding your other batteries or any of them, you can always install a new bms on them if needed. The only issue is if you want a display . But my newest batteries which I built have a very good display that shows everything and  has touch screen but I don't use it since I do all the programming via app, and monitor everything via Home Assistant or Grafana graphing.
I do understand that there is a lot of interest around plug and play aspect of connecting batteries to controller / inverter but often seems troublesome for various reasons some of which you just mentioned.
Larry

#32

MNPowerFlo5 / Re: DoA PF5?

Last post by BlackwaterPark - November 04, 2025, 04:15:19 PM

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CPLOVW?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_DB9AVJD4WGJ80MMD0ZZB&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_DB9AVJD4WGJ80MMD0ZZB&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_em_apin_dp_DB9AVJD4WGJ80MMD0ZZB&titleSource=true

this is the one they told me to buy. Hopefully I don't waste thirty bucks and three weeks wait on a guess that doesn't pan out.

#33

MNPowerFlo5 / Re: DoA PF5?

Last post by BlackwaterPark - November 04, 2025, 04:09:50 PM

Yes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.

At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.

I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.

It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.

Man, that sucks. I thought I was buying into a homogenous all midnite solar ecosystem finally. It's like they are all pushing out half baked tech now. I had the same experience why the Kilovaults...hours of tech support (and to their credit, getting them on the phone and prompt email returns was effortless) and we could never get the two HaB 7.5s to actually communicate with each other like they advertised. Then they went under. I was going to buy another four PF5s by xmas, but now that's pretty much off the table unless I see some results in short order and a more responsive tech support over there. I've installed SoK, EG4, and Pytes all without any issue, but i'm starting to see why so many people are opting to just build their own batteries instead of going through these companies and paying two to three times as much for a product that has issues right from the box. I still have six years of warranty on my HaBs, but of course theres no one to make a claim to now, and i'm not holding any hope that MP will be any different unfortunately. I think i'm just going to build the other four and forget about communications and run open loop. Just out of curiosity, what adaptors have you tried? The guy gave me an amazon link to some $30 Gearmo brand one and said "you can try this one"...that's great, buy one and hope it'll work because there are entirely uncertain?? Fantastic. And to think I was actually contemplating buying the AIO, lol. Thank god I decided on a Rosie and a Hawkes Bay instead.

#34

MNPowerFlo5 / Re: DoA PF5?

Last post by mahendra - November 04, 2025, 02:06:19 PM

Yes, same here.
I have been having some issues with a similar configuration.
We have done several troubleshooting scenarios, but none of them worked.
Attempted to update the PowerFlo firmware using several RS converters, but none worked.

At this point, I am waiting for a new RS converter from Midnite to try again.

I remember when Signature Solar added precharge to the Gyll batteries; they had similar issues. It took a while to for Signature Solar to get that sorted.I am guessing it will take Midnite some time, too.

It is not one of their flagship products; it's actually from China, so all I can say is hang in there.

#35

MNPowerFlo5 / DoA PF5?

Last post by BlackwaterPark - November 04, 2025, 07:16:47 AM

So, I'm having issues with one of my brand new PF5 batteries, and Midnite power is proving fairly useless in their tech support with the very limited interactions I can actually coax out of them. So i'm turning to here. I received 4 such units back in late april, and they sat in my workshop until last month, when my new system was really to launch. When they came in, i powered them up to see their charge status via the led scale, and their voltages, and they read roughly 60% uniformly. I would check every week or two in similar fashion just to make sure, and everything seemed fine. Fast forward to system commissioning time, where they are hooked up to a Rosie and a HB120, and the battery designated as the lead gets hooked up to the rosie with the link in and the cable (battery and inverter tagged one) hooked up in reverse. After finally getting through to tech support at midnite power, he tells me the way to hook them up using the upper left comms port for the incoming from rosie and the link in and outs down the line (I did have that part correct). When we did this and then fired everything up, the Rosie comes to life and shortly thereafter powers back down, and the lead battery goes into fault, flashing the red alarm. We pull ask the coms cable and open the breakers from the other three to isolate the lead battery, and the same thing keeps happening. The battery will stay running with the expected voltage, the Rosie powers up, and after about forty seconds it will power back down, the battery will flash red and then shut itself back down and go dark, and then come back online and just repeat this cycle over and over, making it impossible to do the updating to the rosie and the HB. So I call midnite solar and james (guys got the patience of a saint) walks me though the update process after we've just taken the lead battery out of the mix entirely and are running on the other three. Everything is still in open loop, and the other three batteries are performing as expected, but that first battery is now essentially a paper weight.  The last email I got from midnite power was a link to purchase a third party flash drive adapter of some sort so I can update the batteries, but this wont ship till later this month, and i'm getting crickets from midnite power.

Anyone have a similar experience with these? Or maybe some insight into it? Honestly, I hate to say it but I've had FAR better experiences with EG4, SoK, and the now defunct Kilovault tech support, and even some chinese brand batteries than I'm getting from the guys over at midnite power. It almost as if they couldn't care less about their product.

#36

The Rosie / Re: Rosie - Grid Support

Last post by Wizbandit - November 03, 2025, 08:37:30 PM

"Charge" report is busted in that menu, opps...

Hi, thank you for the reply.

Gen is 6kW so breaker set to 23A

Generator Status:

State Running 0:02:28
Start Manual
Stop No Reason
239V 60.0Hz
Input 2.4 kW
Charge  0 W
Load  2.3 kW

So it is passing through but not charging?

Jim

#37

The Rosie / Re: Rosie - Grid Support

Last post by aaapilot - November 03, 2025, 04:09:11 PM

I have suggested a "Generator Support" Mode to use battery power to assist running loads that exceed the generators' output capability but I'm told that's a whole new  bunch of code work so don't expect it any time soon.

I just would like to say that I believe a "GENERATOR SUPPORT" Mode would be a really great thing to add and for offgridders like me, it would be a game changer. I don't know any other inverter that has this. It would effectively allow any sized generator to be utilized, even just a 2kW unit. It would power loads and charge the batteries all at once (I assume).

If they already have the Grid Support code, to add Generator Support shouldn't be a great issue I'd have thought (I am an embedded systems programmer).

My 2p worth

You CAN power your loads and charge the batteries at the same time, done it on many occasions, just you can't have AUTOMATIC generator control, have to do it manually.  You just can't do it in Generator mode.  The Generator mode provided wider parameters for voltage, frequency, etc., but a descent generator shouldn't have any problems with tighter numbers.  Just toggle between grid and gen to see the parameters it will allow. I have utility power connected, but don't power my loads with it very much, use batteries mostly and charge them daily with a Hawkes Bay Controller. I run my AC IN thru a ON-OFF-ON switch, up for utility and down for generator input.  On a cloudy day, I either connect my Honda EU2000 or Honda EU3000 gen to the outside plug, throw my switch to the gen position, and fire it up.  Just adjust the Breaker size down to fit the generator, as Wizbandit said, and you are good.  I do this on a monthly basis just to exercise the generators and to keep the process fresh in my mind if really needed.  Note my generators are 120V, but the Rosie handles it w/no issues.

Dave

#38

The Rosie / Re: Rosie - Grid Support

Last post by Groton Vermont - November 03, 2025, 10:30:50 AM

I have suggested a "Generator Support" Mode to use battery power to assist running loads that exceed the generators' output capability but I'm told that's a whole new  bunch of code work so don't expect it any time soon.

I just would like to say that I believe a "GENERATOR SUPPORT" Mode would be a really great thing to add and for offgridders like me, it would be a game changer. I don't know any other inverter that has this. It would effectively allow any sized generator to be utilized, even just a 2kW unit. It would power loads and charge the batteries all at once (I assume).

If they already have the Grid Support code, to add Generator Support shouldn't be a great issue I'd have thought (I am an embedded systems programmer).

My 2p worth

#39

System Design and Layout / Re: MidNite Classic 250 Divert...

Last post by ralph day - November 03, 2025, 06:53:19 AM

No hydro experience either, but I do have a Clipper for my bergey wind turbine.  works great!

Handy when a known wind storm event is coming when trying to sleep.  I can just go to the aux clipper function and turn it "on" until the next morning.

#40

System Design and Layout / Re: MidNite Classic 250 Divert...

Last post by ClassicCrazy - November 02, 2025, 09:28:37 PM

I don't have any experience with hydro, but I have experimented with using Aux2 to SSR  to power AC water heater element. Using Waste Not mode with  solar input what it would do is send excess power above the absorb or float  to the load. It does this by pwm the ssr relay and that way would limit the load to always keep the Absorb or Float voltage .
I have also experimented with running a resistive load bypassing the PV input to the resistive load. The pv input was wired in parallel with the controller input . I used a contactor for this and the way it worked would be if the contactor was on all the power went to the resistive load. So batteries full, then power went to resistive load . I didn't have an ssr on that , or the igbt block that I used on my other water heating setup. For this setup I was using a Hawkesbay controller and the aux settings weren't working right in initial firmware for that.
I have a couple videos I made - not sure if they will be of any help to you but I will put the links on here in case you want to take a look at them.
I have a few videos about the hot water system. I used an igbt block to handle the high solar DC input but a few year later after it failed i went to a contactor ( didn't really need pwm at that point )
https://youtu.be/1Vjfv_GMH94
https://youtu.be/s7trVpHLts4
Larry