Onan 3.6kw 120vac generator. [RE-wrenches]

[Joe Schwartz, Home Power]

<x-flowed>
Hey Hugh,

>At 3:09 pm -0700 17/9/02, jberdner at sma-america.com wrote:
>>Matt:
>>
>>While low cost generators may have bad power factor but you also have to
>>look at the power factor of the inverter when charging.
>
>this statement puzzles me.  Power factor is determined by the load, 
>and not the generator (no?).

Exactly!

>
>>  In my
>>experience the US inverter chargers present a low power factor load to
>>the generator.  This means the inverter / charger is asking for current
>>at the wrong time (out of phase with the voltage).  Low power factor
>>loads make it very difficult for the lower cost generators to deliver
>>significant power through the charger to the battery.
>
>When I measure the power factor of a Trace SW loading a generator it 
>is pretty near to 1, but still it is clear that something is going 
>on, because the voltage is pulled down and the engine is working 
>hard.  I wonder if my power analyser really takes account of the 
>waveform distortion between input voltage and the current drawn. 
>They are in phase OK, but the shape of the current wave is weird. 
>Not all on the peak like a DR, but more flattened out.

Using a Fluke 43B Power Quality Analyzer, with the SW in charge mode, 
I see power factor values between 0.75 to 0.85 depending on the 
charge rate. The power factor further degrades when the batteries are 
close to full, and the charge rate is really low.

The AC chargers in the PROsine series inverters have power factor 
values between 0.98 to 1.0 - stylin'!

Joe
-- 

Joe Schwartz - CEO and Technical Editor
Home Power magazine
joe.schwartz at homepower.com
www.homepower.com

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

==^================================================================
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================


</x-flowed>