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

[jberdner at sma-america.com]

Matt:

Power factor while charging is certainly a very important factor. 
The efficiency while charging is whole other can o worms.
Don't assume the inverter efficiency is the same in both directions.
In my experience the efficiency on most units is usually much lower as
charger than as an inverter. 

If you have any questions, or if I can be of any further assistance,
please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards,

John Berdner

SMA America, Inc.
20830 Red Dog Road
Grass Valley, CA  95945
530.273.4595 (voice)
530.274.7271 (fax) 


-----Original Message-----
From: matthew tritt [mailto:solarone at charter.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 5:27 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: Onan 3.6kw 120vac generator. [RE-wrenches]

Wow! I had no idea the ProSine was anywhere near that efficient! One
hears
such non-flattering things about them usually.

Matt
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Schwartz, Home Power" <joe.schwartz at homepower.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 5:03 PM
Subject: RE: Onan 3.6kw 120vac generator. [RE-wrenches]


> 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
>
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