[RE-wrenches] GTWB outage monitor question

[JRQ]

Allen,

If it's a backup system, the batteries aren't going to draw a significant amount of current until the grid goes down. If you can find a DC relay that triggers after, say, 2A or 3A, install it on the battery conductors. The relay should come on, then, when the grid goes down, but not when the battery bank is in float charge-mode. It will stay on for sometime after the grid comes back up, but that won't compromise its alerting function, and it could even be useful to the customer to have a sense of the whole discharge-charge cycle for his system. This is assuming that your batteries aren't also remote from the home.

Jeffrey Quackenbush


________________________________
 From: Allan Sindelar <allan at positiveenergysolar.com>
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> 
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2012 11:18 AM
Subject: [RE-wrenches] GTWB outage monitor question
 

Wrenches,
For a grid-tied-with-backup system that is still in the design
    stage, we have a customer request for a signal to let them know when
    an outage occurs and they are running on backup power, so that they
    may turn off unnecessary loads and "go into backup consciousness".
    The problem is that the entire home would be on backup, with the
    GTWB system tied into a meter and main disconnect location away from
    the home, rather than the more typical main panel/subpanel approach
    at the home. Any relay-based alarm based on loss of grid AC would
    not likely trigger, as the switchover is too quick. Any ideas for
    simple solutions, please?
Allan

-- 
 Allan Sindelar
Allan at positiveenergysolar.com
NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician
Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Positive Energy, Inc.
3209 Richards Lane (note new address)
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
505 424-1112
www.positiveenergysolar.com 

 
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