[RE-wrenches] active vs apparent power readings with solar

[August Goers]

Hi All - Yea, I'm suspecting some sort of reading / measurement error. The
system has SunPower AC modules with Enphase IQ7 microinverters and I
believe the electrician measured the readings down by the utility meter,
although I'm not certain. You can see from the bottom of the datasheet that
the power factor setting is 1.0 or adjustable between 0.85 inductive or
capacitive.

[image: image.png]

*August Goers*





On Fri, Apr 28, 2023 at 12:20 PM Christopher Warfel via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> I think the power factor will be very close to one for split phase.
> What's the inverter specs say w/r to this?  Chris
> On 4/27/2023 5:10 PM, August Goers via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> Hi Wrenches,
>
> We have a residential site with grid tied solar where there is an
> electrician involved who has gotten into taking site readings and thinks
> there is a power factor problem. My gut on it is that there is some sort of
> measurement reading error, and that the power factor should be around 1.
>
> The electrician is using a Fluke 3540FC power monitor and has provided a
> spreadsheet comparing active power to apparent power and calculating power
> factor. See below (you might have to open the image and zoom in to read
> it). This measurement was taken with a PV system running, presumably
> sending some power back to the grid.  Note that the phase B active power
> measurement is negative (PV exporting to grid) and that the apparent power
> is positive. This nets in a power factor that is crazy low of 0.05.
>
> Does anyone have experience about whether a meter like this can properly
> measure these readings - maybe there is a setting error or it can't deal
> with negative readings?
>
> [image: image.png]
>
> Best,
>
> August
> Luminalt
>
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> --
>                                          Christopher Warfel
>                      ENTECH Engineering, Inc.
> PO Box 871, Block Island, RI 02807
>                                                             401-466-8978
> <http://entech-engineering.com>
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