SW4024 and Pizzo Ignitors [RE-wrenches]

matthew tritt solarone at charter.net
Sat Jan 4 10:31:02 PST 2003


When I said "ignitor" I was referring to the oven glow bar ignitor. These
resistance heaters draw huge amounts of juice, which is why this type of
oven should be avoided in any R.E. system. Because the SW is capable of
nearly double it's rated output (for short periods of time) it would have an
easier time of powering the glow bar than a 4 kW genset would, especially
when there is battery charging going on.

Regardless of what the SW manual says about the charger being circumvented
when high loads are present, I have never seen this actually take place in
the field. I always sell clients on at least a 6 kW generator if the
inverter in use is a 4 k SW to allow for motor starting loads, if just the
generator is running, or if the batteries are being charged by the inverter.
Either way, it's the same problem. Also, the little 4 k Onan does not enjoy
a very great power factor, which is another reason to go with bigger
gensets.

The cheapest solution is to find a nice, old O'Keefe and Merrit range for
them. A $350.00 stove sure beats a $3,500. genset!

Matt
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Miller" <wrmiller at slonet.org>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 12:04 AM
Subject: Re: SW4024 and Pizzo Ignitors [RE-wrenches]


> Colleagues:
>
> While this might be a nice pitch to sell a generator, I don't believe it
> follows logic.  The SW has a feature that prioritizes AC input power (grid
> and generator) over battery charging.  To wit, from the SW manual:
>
> "The SW Series Inverter/Charger includes the ability to automatically
> "back-off" the battery charger to prevent overloading a generator or
> tripping a circuit breaker when other AC loads are being operated through
> the inverter."
>
> In other words, the inverter always directs power to the loads as a first
> priority, and whatever is leftover is diverted to battery charging.  The
> only scenario that would indicate the generator is too small is if it's
> total output could not power the stove (and other loads).  I doubt the
> generator lacks the ability to power a piezo electric igniter by itself.
I
> checked specifications on the Whirlpool website, and they do not list the
> actual current draw of any of their gas ranges, but it can't be that much.
>
> If the generator is grossly overloaded, other charging problems would be
> occurring.  If either the generator output voltage or frequency are too
> low, the inverter is probably the most sensitive load, I suspect, and it
> would not be charging dependably.  How about changing out the piezo
> generator?  They can't be too expensive.  Let us know...
>
> William Miller
>
>
> At 06:53 PM 1/3/2003 -0800, you wrote:
> >Scott,
> >
> >My bet is that the genset isn't powerful enough to both run the ignitor
and
> >charge batteries at the same time. A bigger generator is the answer (if
your
> >customer doesn't want to buy another stove!) I find old stoves for my
> >clients all the time which use a standing pilot or a match! (The old ones
> >are better anyway.
> >;-)_
> >
> >Good luck
> >
> >Matt
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "scott" <scott at backwoodssolar.com>
> >To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
> >Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 2:48 PM
> >Subject: SW4024 and Pizzo Ignitors [RE-wrenches]
> >
> >
> >> Any comments on this query? Many thanks.  Scott
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> I have an off-grid house powered by solar, an SW4024, and an Onan 4kw
> >> generator (everything bought from you except the generator).  My
> >oven/stove
> >> is a current model Whirlpool (I think) propane stove with electronic
> >> ignition.  The lighters are pizzo spark ignitors, not glow plug
heaters.
> >>
> >> I've got a very odd and annoying problem that I can't figure out and
was
> >> hoping you might have some ideas.  When running the generator (SW4024
is
> >> charging the batteries and passing the generator power through to the
> >> house), the ignitor for the oven will not operate.  The stove-top
burners
> >> work fine.  When the generator is off and I'm running the SW4024 on
> >> batteries, the oven usually works fine, but with certain other
appliances
> >> turned on the oven still sometimes doesn't work.  In particular, when
we
> >run
> >> our christmas tree lights the oven ignitor won't work.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> William Miller
> Miller Power and Communications
> PO Box 50, Santa Margarita, CA 93453
> Voice :805-438-5600 Fax: 805-438-4607 VMail: 805-546-4875
> email: wrmiller at slonet.org
> http://millerpowerandcomm.com
> License No. C-10-773985
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