generator sending out higher hz

zulupaul

hi when my generator comes on ,it is sending out current which locks onto the invertor at the correct votage ,but it shows on the invertor that it is at 54 hz instead of the normal 50hz,i have a sensitve boiler that cuts out due to this is there anything i can do to lower the hz,thanks in advance ,paul

john p

Re: generator sending out higher hz

have a generator feeding into an inverter???? HOW
a sensitive boiler??????? it not like bad words used near it???
Icant see any other way a boiler can be sensative,,,,,,,it is just a heating element it wont know or care if the frequency is anywhere from 40 to 70

Is there something about everything in this posters questions and text im totally missing???

zulupaul

Re: generator sending out higher hz

yes the generator feeds the batteries whemn they drop below a certeian voltage throught he invertor ,the boiler is a gas ,and its circuit boards do nt accpet any thing other than 50-52 hz

waynefromnscanada

Re: generator sending out higher hz

zulupaul wrote: »

yes the generator feeds the batteries when they drop below a certain voltage through the inverter. The boiler is gas, and its circuit boards do not accept any thing other than 50-52 hz

OK, I can understand that your boiler may be sensitive to power supply frequency (Hz), but I'm having trouble understanding the rest of the story.
Can you give us the make and model # of both the generator and the inverter?
Sounds like (maybe) the inverter is a combination inverter / charger, and when supplied with generator power, it charges the batteries, and would also have a load transfer relay that would feed generator power right on through to any AC loads that may be present, bypassing the inverter output. If this be the case, I suspect your generator is at fault, and unless it is of the inverter output type, it's simply running at the wrong (higher) RPM, which should be mechanically adjustable. If it's an inverter type generator, well that's another story.

john p

Re: generator sending out higher hz

I still not understand that there can be anything on a circuit board that could be frequency sensitive on a controlling board for a gas fired boiler???
all active electronic components only work on DC !!!!

john p

Re: generator sending out higher hz

Wayne if the generator is charging the batteries ,;its output must be DC so it cant be feeding AC direct to the load and bypassing the inverter..?????????????????

zulupaul

Re: generator sending out higher hz

hi its a xantrex sw4548e invertor with a pramac p11000 genny , and basically youve hit the nail on the head ,when solar drops and battery voltage goes down the invertor calls for more power via the genny which puts 16 amps through the invertor to the battery and the rest through to the house supply ,ive tried adjusting the rpm ,but the invertor looses the genny as the voltage doesnt sync with the invertor ,so i have to turn it back up so it syncs but the hz go back up to 53/54 hz .so as you say it sounds like a fault on the genny ,paul,any ideas

zulupaul

Re: generator sending out higher hz

its the invertor that goes up to 53/54

stephendv

Re: generator sending out higher hz

You're on the right track adjusting the rpm of the generator - slow it down to 51Hz ish without load. The voltage is not usually user adjustable as it's set in the automatic voltage regulator (AVR). What is the voltage of the generator when the SW doesn't allow it to connect?
If the generator is outputting a reasonable voltage (215 - 245V) , then you could change the SW's range of accepted voltages to include it.

waynefromnscanada

Re: generator sending out higher hz

Strange though, the specs listed here www.aaaffordablesolar.com/505.html say the inverter has generator "pass through", which to me means it would be the generator and not the inverter powering AC loads when the genny is powered up. But I'm not familiar with that particular inverter. Hopefully someone else is.

icarus

Re: generator sending out higher hz

Non inverter gennies regulate Hz by reguating speed. As has been suggested check the speed, and adjust the no load Hz/speed to couple Hz over 50. (Also check the rpm of the genny, I can't remember the rpm for 50 cycle, for 60 is 1800, or 3600, or even 900)(1500 for 50?)

Icarus

RandomJoe

Re: generator sending out higher hz

john p wrote: »

I still not understand that there can be anything on a circuit board that could be frequency sensitive on a controlling board for a gas fired boiler???
all active electronic components only work on DC !!!!

I've run across a few control boards in my career that were (quite unnecessarily, in my opinion) sensitive to frequency fluctuations. The worst was a programmable HVAC controller that would simply lock up if the frequency deviated by just a few tenths of a Hz! Just about useless in buildings with generators.

In some cases I know the panels used the AC frequency to run the clocking for the ICs. Not sure if that's what all of them were doing. One particularly old building automation panel actually had a separate circuit board in the power supply section that was called a "Line Time Clock" that had 120VAC fed in to a tiny IC via some huge power resistors, the IC output a 5V pulse train synced to the AC waveform that ran the main motherboard. If it died, everything stopped - and the things died often. How that tiny IC could pull that much current without frying itself I don't know, but it was normal to find the PCB charred under the power resistors, and in some cases they would desolder themselves and fall out!

Surely a silly way to do things nowadays, but at least in the HVAC industry many manufacturers seem to take a very long time to "modernize" circuit designs...