[RE-wrenches] outback radian question

[Kevin Pegg]

Hi Ray, 

This is a bit of old news for us, goes back probably 8 years ago or so, so this is from memory and have not been able to locate the testing reports we created. 

We conducted extensive testing of the issue, were able to easily replicate it, didn't matter what generator being used. There was some harmonics and "noise" on the line that was specifically caused by the Outback charging circuit.

We presented this information to Outback, and the response was something of the line of "ya we know but don't think it's a problem and so won't be any effort to resolve". Where we work in Canada and the north the winter sun is quite scarce and such being reliant on generators was a reality. And the most problematic loads were furnace boiler control systems that of course the clients needed to run. 

At the time we moved to Magnum units primarily, and then to Xantrex XW once available. The issues were immediately and permanently solved by replacing the inverter with another brand. 

It certainly jaded my opinion of Outback as we had to replace several systems at our cost.

Kevin

-----Original Message-----
From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org]On
Behalf Of Ray Walters
Sent: March 19, 2015 9:05 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] outback radian question


Hi Kevin;

I have both a comment and a question:

Comment) I thought that while charging, the AC loads were simply powered 
directly by the generator, and the inverters were operating strictly as 
chargers.  My experience is that it is almost always an issue of poor 
waveform regulation with the generator.  This is easy to check with a 
Fluke 87 or 89.  Set to quick peak capture, and see what the peak of the 
waveform is.  A clean sine wave of 120 vac will have a peak that is 1.41 
times the RMS, or 169 vac.  I've seen them as low as 135,  or 
alternatively have weird spikes into the 200s.
Of course a scope reading is better, but not everyone can afford those.

Question) Which inverter did you switch to that cured the problem?

Thanks,

R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760

On 3/18/2015 9:20 PM, Kevin Pegg wrote:
> This sounds like the exact same issue with the FX and VFX inverters. Meter the power quality while under charge - nasty. We found a lot of computerized control systems on furnaces and boilers would either reject the power and not power up, or would behave erratically, some would be ok if you powered it up before generator on, some not. They were fine on inverter, fine on generator, but under charge bad.
>
> Ended up swapping out a lot of inverters since customers were not so keen on certain loads not operating properly when under generator charge.
>
> Kevin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org]On
> Behalf Of jay peltz
> Sent: March 18, 2015 5:32 PM
> To: RE-wrenches
> Subject: [RE-wrenches] outback radian question
>
>
> HI All,
>
> My question is. are there any known issues with the Radian interfacing with a generator?
>
> I have a customer with flickering lights.
> The lights are LED ( some dimmer/some on/off)
>
> The generator supplier says that there are lots of problems with the Radian.
> I've not heard this and don't believe it.
>
> symptoms:
> radian alone:  no flicker
> generator alone: no flicker
> generator/charging flicker.
> different generator: no flicker.
>
> So there is no doubt its the generator.
>
> I'm trying to get more information to go back to the customer.
>
> Thanks
>
> jay
>
> peltz power
>
>
>
>
>
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