Light flicker ?

mike95490 · May 2014

Going to have to get a o'scope to see what's going on. Noticing the lights (overhead, fridge, oven) have some flicker, with heavy loads, light loads, charging, nighttime. Everything "looks nominal" but it's different then it used to be. Any known issues with the XW inverters doing this ?

Mike

BB. · May 2014

Re: Light flicker ?

Check the voltage drop on each DC/battery connection? Corrosion, loose connections, corroded wire (up insulation)?

-Bill

inetdog · May 2014

Re: Light flicker ?

Well, if the regulation on the inverter used to be good (AC output relatively independent of DC input), which you probably would have checked because of the wide range of battery bank voltages you run through with NiFe, then the problem would have to be on the AC output side of the inverter. But in a common point in the wiring to the fluctuating loads and the flickering lights.

Based on your description of the light level changing with charging, I would rule out the AC side unless you are talking about turning on an AC charger while you have your generator running.

If the DC voltage changes are not seriously worse than they were when your setup was new, I would have to blame it on a failure of regulation in your inverter.

Before you get out the 'scope, I would suggest that you just check the static curve of AC output versus battery voltage at the inverter input terminals.

mike95490 · May 2014

Re: Light flicker ?

DC side looks OK, so I'll go over the Combox logs, and see if there is any correlation. I'm hoping it's not the inverter.

Flicker looks to be about 5 Hz, no generator running, nice sunny days. It's not the same as the lister flicker from the generator, that is very stable, this fluctuates in frequency quite a bit, like the wind is blowing the AC lines.....

mike95490 · June 2014

Re: Light flicker ?

The good news and the bad news

Good news, I found the source of the flicker - loose steel buss bar a licensed electrician installed as jumpers in place of a meter in the main electrical panel. County Inspector OK'd the install. <sigh> One connection was actually arcing and sparking while I was watching, when my irrigation pump kicked on this AM.

Bad news, aside from the meter socket jaws being heated and de-tempered.

I seem to have lost the Xanbus data. Don't know why. Lights blink, but the SCP just shows empty square brackets next to each menu item :
battery [ ]
Gateway powers up from xanbus, but sees no inverter
Combox only sees SCP, no inverter. (which is powering the xanbus)

I'm loath to reboot from cold start, as the XW in the past, has lost all custom settings, which are needed for my odd-ball battery system.

suggestions ? {and my o'scope is dead

}

Light flicker ?

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