prosine 2000

System

i recently hooked up my 2500 watt yamaha generator to charge my batteries (4-absolyte pII's) using a 20 amp plug on 10 gauge wire. when i enable the built in charger i sometimes get a "low buss bar voltage" error and it kicks out of charging. sometimes it works fine, sometimes it works for various periods of time. i checked my manual and i could not find this error message in it to see where i may have gone wrong. i am leaning towards a bad ground wire going to the inverter. does anybody out there have any insight as to how i can fix this?

thanks,
bisland9

BB.

Re: prosine 2000

Not sure what Yamaha generator you have--assuming it is a 2,500 watt alternator or inverter type generator, and you have some sort of AC battery charger attached to it? And that charger is connected to your battery bank?

Where is the "low buss bar voltage" error coming from? The Inverter/Generator, or the battery charger? Or something else?

If you are using a battery charger, what brand/model is it? What is its rating?

The "typical" battery charger has a pretty poor power factor (very "spiky" AC input current) which is difficult for a generator to drive well...

If this is a 12 volt battery bank, you may have difficulty running much more than 30-50 amps at 12 volts into the battery bank without exceeding the "VA Rating" (volt*amp rating--which is different than Watts) of the generator (or inverter/generator). Basically, your load could be drawing too much current and overheating and/or saturating the AC windings of the generator (or exceeding the inverter sections VA rating).

All of the above a guess without more information.

-Bill

System2

Re: prosine 2000

thanks for your reply bill:

it is an alternator generator. the prosine 2000 has a built-in charger that you just hook up to. it is a 12 volt inverter. the error is shown on the remote display that came with the inverter. hope this helps.

regards,
bisland9

BB.

Re: prosine 2000

I would look at re-configuring the charger/breaker setup of the Pro-Sine (PDF of Manual here) in case the Prosine has too much load for the generator (running the charger and a load on the Prosine can draw upwards of 24-26 amps (or 2,800+ watts):

Output Current: The maximum output current for the PROsine is 100 amps. You can reduce the total output if you change the Battery Size setting on the Configure Battery menu (see page 4–12) or the maximum AC Breaker Size setting on the Configure PROsine— Basic menu (see page 4–7).

Power Share

The PROsine shares power with AC loads. It senses pass-through current going to AC loads and subtracts this current from 80% of the breaker setting. The current that is left over is available for charging the batteries.
In Charge mode, the PROsine operates from a breaker-protected 120Vac circuit. Therefore the total power for AC loads and charger operation is limited to 80% of the breaker rating (80% is the regulatory maximum permitted for continuous loads). In this limited power environment, the PROsine gives priority to userconnected AC loads (pass-through current).
Example A 30 amp circuit breaker is allowed to have a 24 amp continuous load.
If you have AC loads of 15 amps, the PROsine will give priority to your loads and allow the charger to draw up to 9 amps AC.

Although, reading further through the manual, it would appear that the Prosine is complaining about the battery/battery bus voltage:

Error:
Low Bus Voltage
Invert Lo Bus V
Bypass Lo Bus V

Reason:
Low bus voltage detected

Solution:
Clear the error in the Configure menu and then
recharge the batteries.

If the batteries are fully charged then verify that
the DC cables are the correct size and that all
connections are tight.

If this is the correct error message--appears to indicate that the battery voltage is too low--Reasons might include, "dead" battery, bad electrical connections (loose wiring/crimps/corrosion/battery lug connections), and/or batteries are too small for load or are "getting old" (sulfates reducing battery storage and/or current capacity).

Try placing a DC voltmeter on the battery lugs and right on the DC input connections of the inverter and see you find any strange voltages (below 10.5 or over ~14-15 volts) during various test conditions (inverter charging, under load, etc.).

You can also check the "wire run" from the inverter DC input to battery connection... If you see more than a couple 0.1's of volts--you might have a bad connection somewhere (using a meter to measure voltage drops, when high current is flowing, across every connection/wire length is a very easy way to find wiring faults).

Otherwise, you probably will have to contact Xantrex or try their support tools.

-Bill

System2

Re: prosine 2000

thanks for your input bill

bisland9

BB.

Re: prosine 2000

If you find anything--let us know!

-Bill