FORTRESS POWER 865-6848-21 Schneider XW Pro Inverter User Guide

: June 5, 2024
: FORTRESS Power

Table of Contents

FORTRESS POWER 865-6848-21 Schneider XW Pro Inverter
Introduction
Communication Settings
Software Integration
**
Additional Options
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

FORTRESS POWER 865-6848-21 Schneider XW Pro Inverter

Introduction

Battery Datasheets / Manuals: See “Downloads” section of individual product pages
Email: techsupport@fortresspower.com Discord Support: https://discord.gg/kxX6QMjKFw
Phone: 877-497-6937 x 2 Hours : 9:00AM – 6:00PM EST – Use Discord for After Hours / Weekends
Warranty Submittal : https://www.fortresspower.com/warranty/

Step 1 :Getting Started.

Turn each battery on individually while unpacking the batteries and note the voltage of each battery as well as the serial numbers. The batteries must be within +/- 0.5V of each other before commissioning. Turn off the batteries and install in parallel. Install the battery-to-battery communication cables and proceed with system commissioning.

Pro tip:

If the battery voltages are significantly different, wire the batteries in parallel without communication cables and only turn on the lowest voltage battery. Use the inverter or external charger to charge the battery to the voltage of the 2nd lowest battery. Turn the 2nd battery on and charge the battery bank to the 3rd lowest battery voltage. Repeat until all batteries are at the same voltage. Keep total charging voltages under 15A per battery during this process.
If the batteries are just slightly outside the +/- 0.5V range, you can avoid using an inverter or an external charger to balance the batteries by only turning the lowest voltage batteries on (ONLY if within 0.5V relative to each other) and allowing those batteries to balance. Repeat this process with the highest voltage batteries. This brings the lowest and highest voltage battery towards to the middle of the group.
It is not usually necessary to apply a firmware update to Fortress batteries during system commissioning, but our installer firmware update tool can help speed up commissioning times.

Step 2: Update Schneider Firmware

Please refer to Schneider’s step-by-step guide for the commissioning of a system with 1 XW Pro hybrid inverter, 1 MPPT charge controller, and a Gateway/InsightHome/InsightFacility. https://solar.schneider-electric.com/xw- pro-ommissioning-guide/

The first step is to download the latest firmware of all your devices – it is strongly recommend doing so before heading to the site. Find your products in the table below and visit its product page to download the firmware. Scroll down to the Downloads section and click on Firmware. The firmware file is contained in a ZIP file. Unzip downloaded files and extract the .epkg or .xfo file into the root directory of a USB drive.

Communication Settings

Step 1: Hardware Integration

eFlex 5.4kWh

IMAGE 2.1: EXAMPLE OF COMPLETE HARDWARE SETUP BETWEEN 3 EFLEX 5.4KWH AND SCHNEIDER XW PRO. THE SAME CONFIGURATION APPLIES TO INSTALLATIONS OF 1 BATTERY TO 15 BATTERIES CONNECTED IN PARALLEL

Important! Before paralleling each battery, make sure the voltage difference between them is less than 0.5v from one another. Pairing batteries with voltages above 0.5v may damage parts of your battery due to over surge current. If the battery/ies have voltage differences use the inverter or charge controller to charge the battery/ies up to the desired voltage.
Otherwise, place the terminator in one of the communication ports and the communication cable in another.

While batteries are off, connect the communication cables from one battery to another (RS485 ports are common) and end communication with terminator on battery 3 as referred on Image 2.1. Insert the remaining cable from battery 1 to the Rj45 Pinout Converter to terminate the CAN communication from battery to battery.
Plug a Format B Ethernet Cable (not included) to the other side of the Rj45 Pinout Converter.
Cut and strip the end of the Format B cable and connect wire 7 (brown/white) to port 9 of the Insight Home (18 on the Gateway& Insight Facility) and wire 8 (brown) to port 11 of the Insight Home (20 on the Gateway) as described in Image 2.2 & Image 2.3
Turn battery #1 first and wait 5 seconds, then proceed turning battery #2 on, wait 5 seconds, finalize turning battery #3 on.

Fortress Power – Schneider XW Pro Inverter Guide

IMAGE 2.4: EXAMPLE OF COMPLETE HARDWARE SETUP BETWEEN 2 EVAULT CLASSIC 18.5KWH AND SCHNEIDER XW PRO.

Closed loop is only compatible for up to 2 batteries connected in parallel. Make sure that each battery are updated to firmware version

Important! Before paralleling each battery, make sure the voltage difference between them is less than 0.5v from one another. Pairing batteries with voltages above 0.5v may damage parts of your battery due to over surge current. If the battery/ies have voltage differences use the inverter or charge controller to charge the battery/ies up to the desired voltage. Otherwise, place the terminator in one of the communication ports (Both TX and RX are common ports) and the communication cable in the other. Set Battery to Master 1.

To pair both batteries, turn them on pressing the pushbutton for about 10 seconds and set both batteries to Slave with Parallel Number 2. Turn them off. While batteries are off, connect the communication cables from one battery to another (RS485 ports are common) and end communication with a terminator to the battery that you will choose to be the Slave.
Turn Both batteries on. Set one of the batteries to Master. Note: The Master battery will communicate directly with the inverter. If paralleling isuccessful, you should hear a clicking sound on both batteries after this step. Insert the remaining Format B Ethernet cable from the Master battery to the Gateway/Insight Home/Insight Facility.
Cut and strip the end of the Format B cable and connect wire 3 (green/white) to port 9 of the Insight Home (18 on the Gateway & Insight Facility) and wire 5 (blue/white) to port 11 of the Insight Home (20 on the Gateway) as described in Image 2.4.

eVault Max 18.5kWh

IMAGE 2.5: EXAMPLE OF COMPLETE HARDWARE SETUP BETWEEN 3 EVAULT MAX 18.5KWH AND SCHNEIDER XW PRO.

Closed loop is compatible for up to 20 batteries connected in parallel. Make sure that each batteries are updated to the
latest firmware version. Important! Before paralleling each battery, make sure the voltage difference between them is less
than 0.5 v from one another. Pairing batteries with voltages above 0.5v may damage parts of your battery due to over surge
current. If the battery/ies have voltage differences use the inverter or charge controller to charge the battery/ies up to the
desired voltage. If using only one battery, set the battery ID to 0, Protocol to 5. Turn the terminator switch to 120 ohms and place the communication cable into the RS485 port. Turn the battery off then on and confirm Battery ID 0, Protocol 5.

For multiple batteries: turn off or open eVault MAX breaker. Turn on the battery: record voltage, set the battery ID and protocol as described below. If the battery voltages are not within 0.5V, the battery that is not in the range should be charged or discharged.
When paralleling multiple batteries, you need to choose which battery will be the master and which will be the slaves. You do this by Setting the Master battery ID to 1 and set the rest in chronological order as describes in Image 2.5. If the install is only a single eVault set battery ID to 0.
Set the protocol ID to 5 on all batteries. This identifies the Schneider communication protocol.
Turn off all batteries. Take note to identify which battery is Master Battery 1
Place the communication cable on the Comm Parallel ports between each battery. The first and last battery in the
communication string need to have the termination set to 120 ohms, the other batteries termination is set off.
Turn on all batteries except master Battery 1. Batteries should have green run light on and red BMS light blinking.
Turn on Master Battery 1. Batteries should parallel within 5 minutes. To confirm that each battery is properly commissioned, each battery’s status light must be solid green.
The batteries are ready to supply power to the inverter(s). For a single eVault Battery install the power on sequence is different from multiple batteries. For a single evault the last step is to turn on the battery to take advantage of the pre-charge resistor. So for a single battery install with the battery off make (turn on) the battery connection all the way to the inverter including the inverter breaker then turn on the battery. For multiple batteries the last connection made is the inverter battery breaker.
Cut and strip the end of the Format B cable and connect wire 3 (green/white) to port 9 of the Insight Home (18 on the Gateway & Insight Facility) and wire 5 (blue/white) to port 11 of the Insight Home (20 on the Gateway & Insight Facility) as described in Image 2.5.
Connect the other end of the Format B Ethernet Cable onto the eVault MAX Identified as ID 1, Rs485 port.

Software Integration

Follow these steps to successfully integrate the battery’s BMS to the XW PRO.

Note: Choose a 19200 BAUD Rate for the eVault Max. Otherwise use a 9600 BAUD Rate for the eFlex and the eVault
Classic.

To confirm that the BMS was successfully integrated into the inverter you will see the image of the battery’s BMS on the
devices section along with the battery’s internal information/parameters.

Under the Setup section >BMS setup choose the battery profile that you are using and the quantity. This will automatically configure your charging settings. Note this will not exempt you from manually programming these settings on the Battery Management Systems section.

A dvanced Setting > Inverter Settings

Charger| Enabled
A dvanced Setting > Charger Setting
Recharge Volts| 52 V

Closed Loop Battery Commissioning

The following uses the Schneider Commissioning Guide with Fortress values https://solar.schneider-electric.com/xw-pro-commissioning-guide/

XW Pro Inverter

Schneider Guide Step 5 XW Pro battery charging configuration

In InsightLocal, Click on Devices in the menu
On the left-hand side menu bar, click on Inverter/Chargers
Click on the inverter icon
Click on Configuration
Click on the Advanced button
Click on Battery Settings
Select Battery Type/Capacity –
For customer battery type, refer to the battery manufacturer’s manual to find the correct information for maximum charge voltage/current

Select system type

Set up your XW Pro according to your system design. Below are common system types. Please click on a tab to see each setting. To zoom the setting, please click on the image.

Grid Exporting
Self-Consumption
Off-Grid
Backup

On the same page, scroll down to the next menu to Grid Energy Management Here are a few key settings.

Grid Support Enable = Enabled
Maximum Export(Sell) Amps > Set according to maximum expected PV power, except when setting up for enhanced grid support (Grid Support Voltage = 64)

Charge Controller Setup

In InsightLocal, Click on Devices in the menu
On the left-hand side menu bar, click on Charge Controllers
Click on the charge controller icon
Click on Configuration
Click on the Advanced button
Click on Charger Settings
Select Battery Type/Capacity

**

Open Loop Settings
**

All Open Loop Settings are programmable with a SCP, Insight Local or/and Insight Cloud. Disregard the communication cable that would go from battery to inverter. Settings for Fortress Batteries with Schneider Inverters

C harger Setting > Custom Setting

| 80% DoD, 6000 cycles
Battery Type| Custom
Charge Cycle| 2StgNoFloat
Bulk Voltage| 54.4 V

Max Bulk Current

| eFlex:55A per battery eVault:100A per battery eVault MAX 150 per battery LFP-10: 70A per battery
Max Discharge Current| eFlex: 60A per battery

eVault & eVault MAX: 160A per battery

LFP-10: 100A per battery

Battery Capacity| eFlex: 105AH per battery

eVault & eVault MAX: 360AH per battery

LFP-10: 200AH per battery

Max Charge Rate Percentage (%)| eFlex:60A per battery eVault:100A per battery eVault MAX 150 per battery LFP-10: 70A per battery

Divided by Total Inverter DC Amperage

Settings with Schneider Charge Controllers

Parameter Setting for Fortress Batteries with Schneider XW+ & XW Pro MPPT 60/80

A dvanced Setting > Charger Setting

eVault & eVault MAX: 360AH per battery

LFP-10: 200AH per battery

Max Charge Rate Percentage*| eFlex:55A per battery eVault:100A per battery

eVault MAX: 150A per battery

LFP-10: 70A per battery

Divide by total CC amp output

Note : The charge controllers can be set to a 3 stage charging cycle, but the inverter should be kept in a 2 stage charging cycle. Doing so, as well as setting the charge controller recharge voltage to be greater than that of the inverter recharge voltage, will prioritize charge controller charging over the inverter charging. Inverter charging is a grid/generator charge which has a lower priority than solar charge controller charging.

Additional Options

Generator Settings (Applicable to all Mode Settings)
20% state of charge is approximately 51.2V-51.4V. 95% charge is approximately 53.7V. A 100% charge 54.4V.

NOTE: Voltages are open circuit resting measurement. The settings that would discharge the battery down to 49V, is too low for Fortress batteries. Fortress batteries should only be intentionally discharged down to 20% SoC or 51.4V and then be recharged by available charging sources.