[RE-wrenches] More Sunny Island power problems

Chris Mason cometenergysystems at gmail.com
Sat Aug 16 12:46:59 PDT 2014


Mute the UPS.
I am always amused by the AV attitude that their equipment is so delicate
it could not sustain the slightest ripple. I worked on the road for many
years and we had to use what ever power we could get. I've seen Crown
amplifiers last a lifetime despite such hardships, because they are
properly built. If the equipment is worth all the money they charge, how
come it is more delicate than the average TV and amplifier?


On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 3:03 PM, William Miller <william at millersolar.com>
wrote:

> Friends:
>
>
>
> I met with the AV crew yesterday.  They are completely unwilling to run
> the system without a UPS.  I have some choices:
>
>
>
> 1.    See if we have a real problem, and if so, how bad is it?
>
> 2.    Temporarily disable the Sunny Boy inverters to see if eliminating
> the Frequency Shift Power Control (FSPC) makes the UPS happier.  I have
> done this and am waiting for results.
>
> 3.    If the above creates good results, consider removing the Sunny Boy
> inverters and rely on direct DC battery charging, maybe by using
> Morningstar MPPT-600 charge controllers.
>
> 4.    Find out if the inverters, generator or both are causing a problem.
>
> 5.    If it is the generator, have it repaired or try to reprogram the
> Sunny Island inverters to disable transfer and utilize battery charging
> only.  Has anyone done this?
>
> 6.    If it is the inverters, have them repaired or select another
> product.
>
> 7.    If I am confident that power quality is adequate, mute the UPS and
> ignore it.
>
>
>
> I will let you know how this progresses because I think there is interest
> and others have experienced similar problems.
>
>
>
> William
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: Gradient Cap_mini]
> Lic 773985
> millersolar.com <http://www.millersolar.com/>
> 805-438-5600
>
>
>
> *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Steve Jefferson
> *Sent:* Friday, August 15, 2014 11:11 AM
>
> *To:* RE-wrenches
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] More Sunny Island power problems
>
>
>
> Afternoon William,
>
>
>
> The communication is there to send the signal to the Sunny Boys to go into
> off-grid mode, when the grid fails.
>
> Frequency shift still occurs when current is not needed from the SBoy’s.
>
>
>
> I typically would not recommend that a UPS circuit be placed in the
> protected loads panel.
>
> The UPS is looking for grid issues, and I think the frequency shift
> feature would probably fall under that.
>
>
>
> As for the SI frying the UPS, it is my opinion that the UPS failed. It
> should have disconnected and started to provide backup power to its loads
> when the SI started to shift the freq.
>
> That’s its job.
>
>
>
> I Still think it is a good idea to examine the SI data, maybe you can
> figure out if the SI was in Freq shift mode when the UPS failed.
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> SMA America, LLC
>
> Steve Jefferson
>
> Service Line Supervisor
>
> 3925 Atherton Ave
>
> Rocklin, CA 95765 - 3714
>
> U.S.A.
>
> Tel:  +1 916 625 3185 (direct)
>
> Fax: +1 916 625 0871
>
> Mobile: +1 916 622 4253
>
> Email: *Steve.jefferson at SMA-America.com <Steve.jefferson at SMA-America.com>*
>
> www.SMA-America.com <http://www.sma-america.com/>
>
>
>
> [image: cid:image001.png at 01CF1CFA.FE18BEB0]
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQWzPuyqhzo&feature=youtu.be>
>
>
>
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>
> *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
> <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>] *On Behalf Of *William Miller
> *Sent:* Friday, August 15, 2014 9:55 AM
> *To:* 'RE-wrenches'
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] More Sunny Island power problems
>
>
>
> Mac:
>
>
>
> I will review the data.  Thanks!
>
>
>
> William
>
>
>
> [image: Gradient Cap_mini]
> Lic 773985
> millersolar.com <http://www.millersolar.com/>
> 805-438-5600
>
>
>
> *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
> <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>] *On Behalf Of *Mac Lewis
> *Sent:* Friday, August 15, 2014 9:46 AM
> *To:* RE-wrenches
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] More Sunny Island power problems
>
>
>
> William,
> As far as I understand, the communication is supposed to take away the
> need for frequency shift. Have you pulled the data off of the Sim card and
> looked for frequency shift?
>
> On Aug 15, 2014 10:24 AM, "William Miller" <william at millersolar.com>
> wrote:
>
> Friends:
>
>
>
> A Sunny Island mini-grid system I am maintaining also does not play nice
> with a UPS unit.  So much so that the system reportedly fried a Furman UPS
> unit yesterday!
>
>
>
> This should not be!  The UPS unit is supposed to protect downstream
> equipment and should be able to protect itself as well.
>
>
>
> I need to rent some high quality power monitoring equipment to monitor
> voltage, frequency and distortion.  I need one three phase unit in the
> power building and I need something more compact for the AV equipment
> room.  Does anyone have a recommendation for models that might work in this
> scenario?
>
>
>
> The thought occurred to me that the system by which the Sunny Island
> varies line frequency may be problematic for sensitive electronics.  I have
> connected the Sunny Island master to the Sunny Boys with RS485 and
> programmed the Sunny Boys for off-grid.  Can this allow the two systems to
> communicate to regulate PV charge without relying on frequency shifting?
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> William
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: Gradient Cap_mini]
> Lic 773985
> millersolar.com <http://www.millersolar.com/>
> 805-438-5600
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Chris Mason
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™
Solar Design Engineer
Generac Generators Industrial technician

www.cometsolar.com <http://www.cometenergysystems.com>
264.235.5670
869.662.5670
Skype: netconcepts
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