Charge Station Pro and Home Integration System self-install

[alanack]

How did you do your dc connections in the inverter. Did you use crimp connectors like the existing connections? If so, can you share type and source.
do I need ground wire in the dc conduit ?

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[TheBigBezo]

Did you see this announcement yesterday?

https://enphase.com/ev-chargers/bidirectional

It looks like what I’m looking for and it looks like, unlike the SunRun HIS, it will work with EVs up to 1000v
Hopefully the Lightning will be compatible with the ISO standard for bi-directional charging.

Yah, exactly what I'm thinking. It will be really interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[FlybyWire]

All - First I'd like to say, thank you for all the posts/pics/thoughts on the subject as they have been instrumental in getting our HIS system wired up to this point. (Non-sunrun state and no electricians who have ever done this before.)

We have our system completely wired with a subpanel (critical loads) receiving power through the MID. F150 Says everything is a go and will auto transfer to Intelligent backup power when power is lost. The Acrel meter has all 3 lights flashing green. The sunrun Bi-Directional inverter (BDI) shows up in the app and that power is coming from the grid to feed the critical loads panel, and shows the acrel meter online.

However, when we kill power to the house the FCSP light goes from Blue to Solid Yellow (fault) and never trips over to picking up the load. Has anyone else gotten to this point, seen this failure, or have any idea where to start troubleshooting?

If you have the answer, don't read on, and please share the solution with me....as the rest is entirely my conjecture:

My only two hunches are that either our CTs are messed up, and/or our FCSP breaker is in the wrong panel. We have a 400 Amp service to our house that splits at the meter to two 200 Amp panels. In one panel is the Acrel meter breaker (had to install via a Junction box so that the CTs wouldn't have too far a run to the Acrel meter), and also the breaker for the MID. In the other panel is the breaker for the FCSP.

Note: When we shut off power to the house we killed both 200A feeds at the same time.

On to the CT's: the Current Transformers included in the MID are 200A CTs, the Acrel meter also says it is a 200A meter. The documentation from Sunrun says you must capture the ENTIRE load to the house with the CTs, i.e. run extra CTs in parallel if necessary to capture the entire load. In a call to Delta, they said just using one set of CTs on one panel and it would work. So that is how we have it setup right now. The set of CTs that came with the unit are installed on the panel which has the Acrel breaker and the MID breaker. (FCSP breaker is in the other panel).

In a separate email from the makers of the Acrel meter, they said do not run additonal CTs, due to the 200A rating of the Acrel meter, and if we needed run more CTs that we would need an additional meter.

Now, I'm wondering if somehow the BDI knows that the load to the house is 400A total, and when the power goes out the Acrel meter is only seeing a drop of 200A and therefore not commanding the BDI to engage the intellegent backup power.

Thanks for any help on this!

 

[Maquis]

All - First I'd like to say, thank you for all the posts/pics/thoughts on the subject as they have been instrumental in getting our HIS system wired up to this point. (Non-sunrun state and no electricians who have ever done this before.)

We have our system completely wired with a subpanel (critical loads) receiving power through the MID. F150 Says everything is a go and will auto transfer to Intelligent backup power when power is lost. The Acrel meter has all 3 lights flashing green. The sunrun Bi-Directional inverter (BDI) shows up in the app and that power is coming from the grid to feed the critical loads panel, and shows the acrel meter online.

However, when we kill power to the house the FCSP light goes from Blue to Solid Yellow (fault) and never trips over to picking up the load. Has anyone else gotten to this point, seen this failure, or have any idea where to start troubleshooting?

If you have the answer, don't read on, and please share the solution with me....as the rest is entirely my conjecture:

My only two hunches are that either our CTs are messed up, and/or our FCSP breaker is in the wrong panel. We have a 400 Amp service to our house that splits at the meter to two 200 Amp panels. In one panel is the Acrel meter breaker (had to install via a Junction box so that the CTs wouldn't have too far a run to the Acrel meter), and also the breaker for the MID. In the other panel is the breaker for the FCSP.

Note: When we shut off power to the house we killed both 200A feeds at the same time.

On to the CT's: the Current Transformers included in the MID are 200A CTs, the Acrel meter also says it is a 200A meter. The documentation from Sunrun says you must capture the ENTIRE load to the house with the CTs, i.e. run extra CTs in parallel if necessary to capture the entire load. In a call to Delta, they said just using one set of CTs on one panel and it would work. So that is how we have it setup right now. The set of CTs that came with the unit are installed on the panel which has the Acrel breaker and the MID breaker. (FCSP breaker is in the other panel).

In a separate email from the makers of the Acrel meter, they said do not run additonal CTs, due to the 200A rating of the Acrel meter, and if we needed run more CTs that we would need an additional meter.

Now, I'm wondering if somehow the BDI knows that the load to the house is 400A total, and when the power goes out the Acrel meter is only seeing a drop of 200A and therefore not commanding the BDI to engage the intellegent backup power.

Thanks for any help on this!

Although this is not causing the present issue (since you killed both 200A breakers), the FCSP should be powered from the same panel powering the MID. Basically, your backup system would look just like a standalone 200A service. The other 200A panel would be totally out of the picture as far as the HIS is concerned.

 

[FlybyWire]

Update for the group. Got it working tonight! I'll post pics for others trying to figure it out in a few days. Bottom line, my electrician had a couple things wrong in the FCSP. A ground had been run from the inverter but not actually connected, and two comm wires had been used instead of the 14 AWG wire for the "backup battery IN" connection.

 

[Pitbull2o08]

nice. Im missing the little green plugs for the cat wires. Do you remember if your charger had all these installed?

 

[bpmccain]

I am just in the process of installing the HIS. Truck is scheduled for delivery in a couple of weeks, and I live in an area that SunRun doesn't service.

We have the BDI and the WHB installed, but the WHB box is beeping three times, and I can't find any documentation referring to this.

Does anyone have a more detailed installation manual beyond what was included on the first page of this thread?

EDIT: I was able to get the beeping to stop by activating the BDI through the M Professional App. This part all seems to be running - now just waiting for my Charge Station Pro and the truck.

 

[NealG]

I recently purchased the FCSP and HIS. My house has only a 50 Amp circuit available, not the recomended 100 Amps. Can I still use the charger to charge my F150? Will it be about to power the HIS if I set the Maximum Current switch appropriately?

I don't want upgrade my breaker and service.

We contacted Ford Support. they insisted that in order for the HIS to work everything needs to be powered by a 100 Amp circuit. This doesn't really make sense to me. First of all I set the Max Current dial to 4, and I am already able to charge the truck at 8 Kw. And, since I am not concerned about the discharge power rate , I don't see why this level should not work. After all when the power is out it doesn't matter what the amperage was when it was on.

 

[Maquis]

I recently purchased the FCSP and HIS. My house has only a 50 Amp circuit available, not the recomended
100 Amps. Can I still use the charger to charge my F150? Will it be about to power the HIS if I set the Maximum Current switch appropriately?

Setting the charge rate lower has no effect on backup power.

 

[world2steven]

......

If anyone has clarification on above or more info please add to discussion. . I'm trying to get a tesla solar system installed at the same time so figuring out how HIS could potentially interact with that is another area I'm researching if anyone is doing the same. I'd like to have at least one Tesla powerwall and use the F150 as the energy backup storage of 10 powerwalls. There is a $70K bonus of storage potential in the Lightning if we can figure out how to untap it!

 

[world2steven]

Can an HIS/CSP be AC-coupled to an existing inverter like a PowerWall or Sol Ark and still retain the capability for home power backup?

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Can an HIS/CSP be AC-coupled to an existing inverter like a PowerWall or Sol Ark and still retain the capability for home power backup?

It can be coupled with a SMA Sunny Island. Not sure on the SolArk.

You can likely get it to work with a powerwall but it would be a custom solution.

 

[world2steven]

It can be coupled with a SMA Sunny Island. Not sure on the SolArk.

You can likely get it to work with a powerwall but it would be a custom solution.

The HIS would be connected to the generator port of the Sol Ark. Would the HIS need a signal from the MID to begin supplying power?

 

[deltacap]

Is there any way to get the truck/FCSP to output HVDC without using the Sunrun equipment? Is turning this output on controlled by the truck or the FCSP?

 

[deltacap]

Yah, exactly what I'm thinking. It will be really interesting to see how it plays out.

The white paper for the Enphase V2G system suggests a system that is quite a bit more versatile than the Ford HIS system. I hope it is compatible with the F150L.

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