Trouble shooting Trace 2512 [RE-wrenches]

[sunwise]

Hey Max,

Sounds like you need to look at it and figure where things got screwed
up regarding AC out and AC1 connections on the Trace.  Perhaps the
critical loads sub-panel got wired to the main panel when the work was
recently done.   The loads dedicated to the Trace should be in a
separate sub-panel and wired to the AC Out only, with #6 conductors.
The AC1 should be wired to the mains panel with #6 and go to a 60 amp
breaker.  There should be no other feeding of the sub-panel from the
main.  

The 60 amp breaker and #6 conductors are sized to allow full current
pass-thru for when the loads in the sub are being powered by the grid.
Also, because the loads dedicated to the trace are usually very critical
in terms of power supply, it is usually recommended that an inverter
bypass switch be included in the system as well.  That way if the Trace
should go down, and perhaps even need to be shipped for repair, the home
owner can simply throw the switch and power the sub-panel directly off
the grid.

Good luck -- Kurt Nelson

-----Original Message-----
From: Max Balchowsky [mailto:max at seesolar.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 12:34 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Trouble shooting Trace 2512 [RE-wrenches]

I received this e-mail last week - I just got back in town and am going
to contact this person to go troubleshoot her system. I've not had much
time with trace equip and would welcome any comments on her situation
before I go to the site........

Max 
See Systems
760-403-6810

I have added a new 100 amp service on the house. It was brought into the
outdoor meter and panel and has the required shutoff for my solar panels
at the outside. The electric comes in through the attic to my house sub
panel. This panel originally had a 60 amp and a 20 amp breaker in it, so
far as I recall, and I added 3 more breakers fairly recently. The solar
panel electric generated drops down into a service disconnect box, then
to a Trace C60 controller, then to the 250 DC disconnect, then to the
(4) - 220 amp hr 6 Volt sealed batteries wired for 12 Volts, and to the
inverter. The inverter is wired to the subpanel and also to it's own
service disconnect box. The subpanel is wired over to the main panel so
that is where the solar panel energy is fed back into the grid if the
sun is shining on the panels sufficiently. The solar panels are 12 Volt
- 6 100 WATT Photowatts and two 105 WATT Photowatts, made by the French
Company Matrix. The inverter is a Trace SW2512, which passed all of
DWP's tests after it was installed. I got my rebate last year ok, etc.
There was no islanding and it was capable of the inter

Here's what happened. My system was put in over a year ago and has
operated pretty much fine (to the best of my knowledge). However, I
added three new breakers to my house electrical panel which already had
one 20 amp breaker and a 60 amp breaker which goes to the three subpanel
breakers that are fed by the solar system. I also rough wired in for
some new outlets and lights when I added the new breakers. These weren't
drawing any electric until yesterday. That's when my plumber moved my
electric washer and gas dryer and installed one duplex receptacle for
these appliances to one of the new outlet locations. I turned off the
breakers, but then he said the wires were still live, so I turned off
the solar system too. When I turned things back on, I noticed the
Overcurrent Error light on. I followed directions to use the red and
green buttons to navigate to the Inverter menu and select to have the
Inverter be off. That cleared the Overcurrent Error light, but made the
Error light go on. I read that I needed to go to the Error Menu to find
the problem. I did that and the Error is that "AC source wired to
output". I'm not sure of what this means. 

Could it be that when I added breakers to the house panel, somehow
something was wired improperly for my system? or could I have shorted
something out and now that is creating the problem? We did run the
washer awhile yesterday to make sure that it worked and drained and so
forth, and I'm sure it generates a large load on the system. I thought
it is on a separate dedicated circuit, but maybe something isn't set up
right somehow. I have to grade midterms right now and won't really get
much free time very soon since school resumes Monday for another 8
weeks. can you schedule a visit to solve my problem. Do you think I've
damaged my inverter system??

Susan

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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