Trace PS2512 drop out problems [RE-wrenches]

[Darryl Thayer]

Good luck with your problem.  My only thought is you
are in a brownout situation and the transfer relay is
not fully pulling in.  Do you hear a chatter from the
relay in the PS2512?  I do not have any PS installed.
However I have many others in poor power situations
and do not have a problem.  One home business system
has many grid problems, yet the outback has never
missed.  
Daryl

--- "Richard Perez, Home Power magazine"
<richard.perez at homepower.com> wrote:
> Hello Wrenches
> 
> Quoted below is a problem that an Home Power reader
> is having with 
> his Trace PS2512. I am at a loss as to how to help
> him. Perhaps one 
> of you Wrenches have solved this problem.
> 
> Richard
> Home Power
> 
> At 12:10 -0700 12/16/2003, Jim wrote:
> >We've been fighting with a problem involving a
> Trace PS2512 
> >inverter. I thought perhaps you might offer some
> insight into what 
> >is causing the problem and what (if anything) we
> can do about it.
> >
> >Our Moab, UT office experiences power interruptions
> lasting anywhere 
> >from under a second to several hours. While
> relatively infrequent, 
> >they can be quite costly to our programming effort.
> So, using my 
> >experience at Ray Mesa Power & Light, we built a
> grid-tied 
> >uninterruptible power supply for our software
> development 
> >environment. Currently, the system relies entirely
> on the grid for 
> >charging -- although we anticipate adding solar to
> it next year.
> >
> >The system (dubbed "MOAB", Mother Of All Backups --
> see attached 
> >photo) consists of a Trace PS2512 and about 675 AH
> in a 12v battery. 
> >It's sourced from a single 30 amp circuit breaker
> thru the inverter 
> >and back to a secondary breaker panel with two
> smaller circuits: one 
> >for our server room and one for the programming
> office. We calculate 
> >the system will carry us for about 8 hours under
> worst case 
> >conditions. All in all, it works as intended. When
> we pull the 30 
> >amp breaker, the inverter kicks in with no visible
> interruption -- 
> >not even a screen flicker. Cut-over is seamless and
> never fails; 
> >we've never had a computer go down in this
> situation.
> >
> >On the other hand, we have had several instances in
> which the office 
> >fluorescent lights barely flicker, the inverter
> kicks in and 10 out 
> >of 12 computers in the programming office instantly
> go dead. The two 
> >computers that seem to ride through (both Macs) are
> always the same 
> >two. Other nearly identical Macs on the same
> circuit leg as well as 
> >all PC's always go down.
> >
> >We have called Xantrex tech support and although
> they admit to 
> >having had the problem reported, they are unable to
> offer either an 
> >explanation or a solution. They claim that there is
> no firmware 
> >upgrade available (the unit is 18 months old) and
> don't know what to 
> >suggest. I hinted that maybe they could furnish
> some means for us to 
> >perform line monitoring to see what was actually
> triggering the 
> >problem -- they didn't bite. We had already
> tightened up the grid 
> >voltage limits in the hopes of catching the outage
> as early as 
> >possible -- no help. Xantrex suggested since
> tightening the grid 
> >voltage limits doesn't seem to work, maybe we
> should try widening 
> >the limits. Since there's nothing to lose, we'll
> probably try it but 
> >I'm hardly optimistic.
> >
> >We have discussed adding small consumer grade UPS's
> throughout the 
> >office to provide short term ride-through but this
> defeats the 
> >intent of our original $3000 investment. It just
> seems illogical to 
> >us that the inverter is able to cut-over without so
> much as a 
> >flicker when power is cut entirely but can't seem
> to handle short 
> >blips.
> >
> >Have you heard of this problem? Do you have any
> idea what causes it 
> >and if so, any suggestions for dealing with it?
> 
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