[RE-wrenches] DR>FX Compatibility Problem
jay peltz
jay at asis.com
Sun Jun 14 18:22:01 PDT 2009
HI Allan,
How do you know its a overload, I'm with Bob-O. as to low voltage or?
I suspect another issue, either low VDC or a problem inverter, but
I've never had this as a problem with a FX before, only with external
problems.
jay
peltz power
On Jun 14, 2009, at 12:20 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
> Wrenches,
> Here’s one that has me quite stumped, and perhaps one of you
> esteemed Wrenches has an answer or suggestion.
>
> In 2000 we installed a clean, basic budget off-grid system in a new
> remote manufactured home for a client, a single woman who lives
> quite consciously and frugally. The system was 24V, 600W of PV,
> Trace DC175, DR2424 inverter, Solar Boost 50, eight golf cart
> batteries and a Tri-Metric, along with a Sun Frost RF16 and Staber
> washer. The system had worked perfectly for her, and we replaced her
> batteries with same last year.
>
> She called a couple of weeks ago because her life situation had
> changed and she now worked from her remote home using cell phone and
> satellite internet. The new satellite equipment had been troublesome
> and had already been replaced, but would still shut down
> intermittently. Given that she had already replaced the electronic
> equipment with same, I suggested that she finally was facing the
> problem of modified-square wave DR waveform. I said that while there
> were no guarantees, a switch to a sine wave inverter would likely
> cure the problem.
>
> On Friday I removed the DR and installed an Outback FX2524T. No
> other changes, other than longer 2/0 cables. I changed a few
> settings for flooded batteries and her generator using a service-
> truck Mate, but did not sell one with the system. Everything booted
> up properly, job done, let me know how it works out.
>
> Friday evening she called with no power. The red “error” LED was
> lit. I had her reboot the inverter with the DC breaker, and all was
> restored. The only thing she had run was the Staber washer. I
> assured her that the inverter could handle a DC reboot without
> trouble. The next day (yesterday) she left a message that she had
> six times overloaded while completing the wash load with the Staber.
> Everything else was fine.
>
> On Monday she will call for an explanation of what is happening and
> advice on how to correct it, and I won’t have any. What would allow
> a Staber to run fine on mod-square DR power, but overload an FX of
> the same capacity? The Staber was likely ordered with notification
> of the need for a mod-square control board, as they instructed in
> the early days, but I wouldn’t expect it to be incompatible with
> sine-wave AC.
>
> Not having expected this problem, I didn’t go hunting for problems
> such as a ground fault in the washer circuit. I haven’t done any
> troubleshooting, of course, but would like to have some idea what to
> look for. The only anomaly that I noticed was that some of her Tri-
> Metric program settings had changed from what I checked when I
> replaced the batteries: CEF of L98 instead of H97 meant she always
> showed 100%, and a couple of other settings weren’t what they should
> have been. I noted this and reset it, but considered it an
> unexplained glitch, as though a nearby lightning surge had scrambled
> some settings without damaging anything, or she had inadvertently
> pressed the wrong button sequence and changed settings. Now I’m
> wondering about extraneous things: a bad ground? Mice chewing
> through the laundry circuit (although she has cats…)?
>
> What would cause an overload to be detected by the FX that wouldn’t
> have tripped the DR all these years?
>
> All ideas and solutions would be appreciated. I will likely have to
> make a return trip, not under warranty, though.
>
> Allan Sindelar
> Allan at positiveenergysolar.com
> NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
> EE98J Journeyman Electrician
> Positive Energy, Inc.
> 3201 Calle Marie
> Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
> 505 424-1112
> www.positiveenergysolar.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20090614/e8419fd0/attachment-0004.html>
More information about the RE-wrenches
mailing list