[RE-wrenches] Delta LAs

[Mick Abraham]

Citel products do have a listing mark but this is European style CE, not
American style UL/ETL. Citel is reputedly working on American certification
but one would be advised to not hold one's breath.

The Citel products which mount to a DIN rail have an LED indicator which
goes dark once the surge elements have been sacrificed. Also some of their
units have an auxiliary switch which can remotely indicate a blown
condition. This is in the form of dry contacts..a normally open and a
normally closed one, so various indicator circuits can be designed around
that. The contacts have a low amp AC rating and also a (lower amp) DC rating
but I do not remember the numbers at present.

Jolliness,

Mick Abraham, Proprietor
www.abrahamsolar.com

Voice: 970-731-4675


On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 12:43 PM, R Ray Walters <ray at solarray.com> wrote:

> You could buy several ground rods for the cost of one Delta.
> Ground Impedance is the real issue. Both the Delta and the Polyphasor need
> a good ground to work.
> While I haven't seen much of a correlation between Deltas and reduced
> lightning damage, (lots of system damage with and without)
> I have found that well grounded systems (tied to a steel cased well) have
> never had a problem, even with direct strikes to a wind turbine (did lose
> the $40 turbine rectifier, but nothing else)
>
> I now own a clamp-on ground impedance tester, and the results were
> miserable. Some electrodes were over 800 ohms to ground! (code requires
> under 25 ohms)
> I'd spend more time and money reducing ground impedance, and then if it
> makes you feel good inside, throw the little "lightning faeries" in, if the
> AHJ isn't looking.......
>
> If its really lightning country, and a really expensive off grid system, I
> use Polyphasor, but they have their own issues. (very expensive, no UL
> listing, loose internal connections, nuisance tripping, need a large J-box
> to mount them inside, etc.)
> I haven't tried the Citel stuff, but it looks to be listed, and mounts on a
> DIN rail. After installing a couple hundred Deltas, I'd try something else
> at this point.
>
>
>  R. Walters
> ray at solarray.com
> Solar Engineer
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 14, 2010, at 10:22 AM, Kristopher Schmid wrote:
>
>  My thought here is that nothing will protect the equipment from a direct
> strike, but a near strike that may induce a significant surge may be
> absorbed by the LA and protect the equipment.  I like the feedback so far.
> It would not break my heart to stop using them altogether.:-}
>
> Kris
>
> Legacy Solar
> 864 Clam Falls Trail
> Frederic, WI 54837
> 715-653-4295
> solman at legacysolar.com
> www.legacysolar.com
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> *From:* re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:
> re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On Behalf Of *August Goers
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 14, 2010 10:39 AM
> *To:* RE-wrenches
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Delta LAs
>
> All -
>
> I guess my thought is a little off topic, but are lightning arrestors even
> worth using at all? My logic has always been that if lightning does indeed
> strike that it's likely going to blow the arrestor and and inverter. We
> don't have much of a lightning issue issue in the Bay Area so I don't have
> any direct experience.
>
> Best,
>
> August
>
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 6:29 AM, Kristopher Schmid <solman at legacysolar.com
> > wrote:
>
>> It is quite ironic that just a week after I posted a question to the group
>> on testing the integrity of lightning arrestors, I had one apparently
>> faulty
>> out of the box.  The manifest of this was interesting: when the AC LA
>> (LA302R) was connected in parallel on the AC input to a SB3000 inverter,
>> there was 125vac neutral to L1, 125vac neutral to L2, and 1Vac L1 to L2.
>> SMA tech support suggested the LA as the issue and sure enough, it was.
>> Attempting to test good and faulty arrestors with an ohmmeter gave the
>> same
>> result - off scale open.
>>
>> Any thoughts or comments from the group?
>>
>> Kris Schmid
>>
>> Legacy Solar
>> 864 Clam Falls Trail
>> Frederic, WI 54837
>> 715-653-4295
>> solman at legacysolar.com
>> www.legacysolar.com
>>
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>
>
> --
> August Goers
> VP, Engineering
>
> Luminalt Energy Corporation
> 1320 Potrero Avenue
> San Francisco, CA 94110
> O: 415.641.4000
> M: 415.559.1525
> august at luminalt.com
>
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