[RE-wrenches] Utility Transformers (was Outback Grid Problems)

[Joel Davidson]

Ray,

I think Daryl is on to something. I would suspect a line problem 
(under-sized feeder, bad connections, failing transformer, trees rubbing 
wire, someone else on the feeder with noisy or large intermittent loads, 
etc.). Utility transformers can degrade for a long time before they fail. In 
similar cases I called in a trouble report but did not tell the utility 
about RE system so they wouldn't blame the customer's equipment. Instead, I 
told the utility that my customer's computer or tv was acting like (high or 
low voltage or whatever) was on the line so I put my voltmeter on the line 
and measured (low or high) voltage and would they please check out the 
feeder circuit and transformer. Almost every time the field workers found a 
line problem, repaired it and the customer's problems cleared up. It's worth 
the call.

Joel Davidson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <penobscotsolar at midmaine.com>
To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 12:32 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Grid Problems


> Ray, Believe me when I say I have gone through all the exercises described
> so far by our esteemed colleagues. I think you will find the problem is
> with the customers transformer. I continue to make impressive amounts of
> kwh since the swap out last week.
>
> Daryl
>
>
>
>
>> Battery bank is in great shape, is brand new HUP set.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> R. Walters
>> ray at solarray.com
>> Solar Engineer
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 31, 2010, at 6:19 AM, tump at hughes.net wrote:
>>
>>> Ask the customer to ck the cells for bubbling during the charging period
>>> to make sure the cells all are good OR Isolate the battery banks to make
>>> sure there isn't a dead cell the OBs are trying to charge. BB1 one day,
>>> BB2 the next & so on.
>>> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: R Ray Walters <ray at solarray.com>
>>> Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:42:58
>>> To: RE-wrenches<re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>>> Subject: [RE-wrenches] Outback Grid Problems
>>>
>>> We currently have a Grid Tie system with a pair of Outback inverters
>>> that are regularly dropping out of sell mode, and letting the arrays
>>> spend all day charging the battery bank.
>>> It seems to do this several times a week, and the customer is losing
>>> substantial production, and gassing the batteries too much.
>>> It will reset itself the next day, or the customer resets it by turning
>>> off the inverters manually.
>>> The system is 24 v, with an old array of 1800 watts running through 2
>>> FM60s, and a new array of 2800 watts running through another pair of
>>> FM60s.
>>> The battery bank is HUP about 4100 Ah @ 24 v (3 strings of 1375 Ah each)
>>> Big battery, I know, but the customer is an electrical engineer, who
>>> wanted maximum storage capacity.
>>>
>>> Outback tech support has not resolved the issue, and this has turned
>>> into several service calls, and customer frustration.
>>> We've tried running the controllers through the HUB, and also
>>> independently, and that doesn't make a difference.
>>> I have numerous Outback GT installs dating back to 2003, and have never
>>> had a problem like this.
>>> Any help or advice would as always be greatly appreciated.
>>>
>>> Thank you in advance fellow Wrenches,
>>>
>>> R. Walters
>>> ray at solarray.com
>>> Solar Engineer
>>>
>>>