My Quattro smoked and stopped working last year while in charge mode from Generac home defense 18kw propane generator. After 5 months of back and forth confirming the installation (and the quattro making a trip to the distributor and back) it was replaced under warranty.
It has just done the same thing again.
Anyone know why this is happening?
I received my quattro in March of 2022. I upgraded my whole system to allow for automatic and remote monitoring and control.
Previously had magnum dimensions MS2812 charger/inverter and P100 Solar charge controller. Also ran a portable generator as a backup.
The upgrade included the Quattro 12/5000/220, Smart solar 250/100, cerbo gx, and the smart shunt. As well as the fixed whole house generator. The quattro was chosen for it high amp charger. I was (and currently am running on a 2800w inverter just fine).
I kept my old battery bank which was 1700ah lead acid rolls batteries. It was 7 years old but still functional if at a reduced capacity.
Everything worked well. The quattro never seemed to go above 160 amps when charging. I chalked this up to the reduced capacity of my batteries.
I purchase 4 x Lifepo4 206 ah batteries in august 2022 and rebuilt my battery bank a few weeks after receiving them. Everything continued to be fine. I decided I wanted a bit more capacity so purchased 4 more in September. They were hooked up in November for a total capacity of 1648 ah.
Both times all batteries were charged individually before being connected.
All batteries are connected to blue sea bus bars with cables of equal lengths.
The first time I started the generator the charge rate only went to 200 amps. Which was a bit lower than expected as that big of a bank should pull 400+. But 200 is still better than 125 from my magnum. Within 20 minutes the quattro sizzled and smoked and started turning on and off repeatedly. (Nov 2022)
Then commenced the months of back and forth With the dealer and a way too large propane bill for having to use my old magnum which takes twice as long to charge.
Got the replacement quattro at last (April 2023) Put it back in but didn’t hook it up as they wanted a cable upgrade. Waited for cables to arrive. Summer came and the charger was rarely required.
Received cables in June 2023 and hooked the quattro back up to the house. Verified install and wiring via pictures with the dealer. Was given the all good. Tech suggested a staged approach so I limited the charge rate to 160 and worked my way up over a few minutes. All good. Shut it down.
August 11. Same thing happened again. Had a long overcast patch and needed to top up. Ran the charger and let the smoke out.
What the heck is going on?
It’s almost like it’s not actually capable of charging above 160-180 amps for any period of time. Never had a problem till the charge rate went above that.
I have emailed the dealer august 11 and resent august 18 but have not had a reply. Might be on vacation or something. I do need a working system before the days get short again though so reaching out here for a possible solution. Otherwise I’m stuck with a $5000 paperweight.
