SW firmware upgrade flourescent flicker [RE-wrenches]

[Jerry Caldwell]

The system that we're having this issue with is a
California pre-GTI install with an anti-islanding
software upgrade, and is the only system of our many
Trace installs that has had this problem to my
knowledge.

For what it's worth, the guys at Xantrex are being
very responsive.  As it turns out, the flicker only
happens when the inverter is selling power to the
grid.  The customer noticed this on an intermittantly
cloudy day.  When dark clouds covered the sun, no
flicker.  When full sun came back so did the flicker. 
The flicker only occurs on loads on the backed up
subpanel. He also changed out one of his compact
flourescents for an incandescent and noticed the
flicker still occurred.

The shame is that the utility forced us to change the
software on all these perfectly working pre-GTI
systems to protect against a scenario that hasn't ever
occurred in the real world, and is highly unlikely to.

Jerry Caldwell
Light Energy Systems
510-205-2798

--- "Kirk Herander, VSE" <kirk at vtsolar.com> wrote:
> I have seen this quirk for years in many pre-GTI
> inverters. It most often
> happens once the bulk charge voltage is reached. You
> can hear the inverter
> buzz fade in and out in time with the light flicker.
> There are many
> different qualities of compact fluorescents, perhaps
> some with better
> filtering. Maybe that's why it occurs on some
> systems and not others, in
> addition to loading differences.
> 
> Vermont Solar Engineering
> Kirk Herander
> North American Board of Certified Energy
> Practitioners
> Certified Solar PV Installer(TM)
> Xantrex Certified Dealer Charter Member
> NYSERDA-eligible installer
> Vermont Solar and Wind Partner
> 
> PO Box 697
> Burlington, VT. 05402
> www.vermontsolar.com
> www.backeastsolar.com
> 800.286.1252 - 802.863.1202
> fax 802.863.7908

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