I previously found that certain loads cause the 18kPV to fault out with a "Vbus Over Range" error, despite being completely off grid and not being connected to any PV. Specifically, my UPS was causing it, but I learned that certain other loads would do it as well. Anything with a low power factor turns out. Hair dryers that use a half wave rectifier for the low setting, a coffee maker with digital controls, and a laser printer are also items that caused the problem. It wasn't just that particular inverter, as those same loads caused a second 18 kPV to do the same. It wasn't a wiri g issue as I read some people suggesting in similar posts. I connected the loads directly to the inverter to test with the same results.
So somewhere along the way I plugged in a watt-hour meter that showed me the power factor. And all of the various loads that caused the fault had a terrible PF. So it dawned on me to go down that rabbit hole. Long story short, I experimented with some capacitors across the inverter output to correct the PF... And it WORKS! I found that 160 uF of capacitance works for the UPS or hair dryer, but not both. 240 uF takes whatever I throw at it now. Two hair dryers, the coffee maker, the UPS, the laser printer. All of it works now.
Of course, the capacitors have about 21 amps flowing across them, but it is all reactive current, so the inverter doesn't even register it. It takes almost no power from the battery to keep that 21 amps bouncing in and out of the caps, so as far as I'm concerned it is a win.
Maybe this will help someone else. I know there was one guy that had a problem with a laser printer here as well. Maybe EG4 can implement a fix. Maybe they can send me a free battery or two for solving this problem😁
