Go back to V1.11. I had the same thing happen with an XWPRO and a Central Maine Diesel with a DynaGen controller. Frequency and Peak to Peak was less than perfect and the inverter, IF it would qualify the power, sounded like a garbage disposal. Eric B at Schneider suggested reverting back to the old firmware and that did the trick. Like yours, my client is pissed and wants me to replace the inverter because he thinks it was compromised. He might be right. A colleague of mine ran into the same issue which was fixed with old firmware.
BTW, no one in tech support, after many calls ever suggested using the old firmware. On Thu, Apr 25, 2024 at 10:51 AM Ray Walters via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > That sounds like a generator problem. I've seen many gen sets put out a > horrible waveform under load, when battery charging. The waveform, (if you > have an O-scope) usually has a spike on the front of the wave, and then the > wave flattens significantly after. The peak should be 169 v on a 120 vac > RMS sinewave. I've seen it as low as 135v on crappy generators that are > over loaded. THD is a great thing to check, but also check your peak > voltage, if you have a quick capture feature on your meter. > > It also could be related to altitude, gen sets can perform badly when they > can't get enough air. You didn't mention gen set model, or whether the > frequency was a solid 60 hz. I've seen bad things happen when the > frequency got out of spec too. I'm guessing a bad voltage regulator on the > gen set. > > Ray Walters > Remote Solar > On 4/25/2024 11:24 AM, Kevin Pegg via RE-wrenches wrote: > > Hi Wrenches, > > Curious if anyone else has seen this issue. > > New XW Pro off-grid system installed Dec 2023. Pretty standard config for > us, XW Pro, 5 kW PV, 50 kWh UnigyII battery, 8 kW high quality diesel > generator. This system ran fine all winter long – powering customer’s big > RV they were living in while the house is built, Shop, computer controlled > outdoor wood boiler, domestic loads + 3 person construction crew. Gen ran > daily on auto start as we don’t get much sun Dec – Feb. No issues reported. > > Couple weeks back I did a new system check up. All performing well, happy > client. Part of that service I upgraded the XW firmware from 1.09 to 2.04, > and insight from 1.16 to 1.18. Gave the system a quick check, ran gen. Lots > of sun now, batteries full so didn’t do a long generator test. Yes I set > the region codes for off-grid. > > A week later, while I was out of town and it was not so sunny so gen > running, client and their electrician called me in a panic. Two smoke > detectors had literally melted, as well as several dimmable LED fixtures > all failed. Electrician replaced the burned up devices, only to have the > same thing repeat a few days later. Talking with them it was only when the > generator was running there were issues. Told them to lock out gen and I > will get there when I can. > > Once back I attended site, fired up gen, and could hear the inverter > sounding terrible during gen charging. Lights flickering bad, and I > personally verified the smoke detectors beeping and getting warm and the > house smelled like burned plastic. I hooked up my power quality analyser > and could see the THD gradually building to over 36%. Gen voltage was at > 125/250V a bit high, so adjusted that, but no change. By reducing the > charge rate on the XW Pro to 50% was able to get the THD down around 12% > and less light flicker. But it’s still too high. Image attached shows THD > with gen on original programing, then at reduced charge rate. > > Have now gone from a happy client to a pissed off client threatening legal > action for endangering their lives & a bill from the electrician. Ugh. > Having a hard time explaining this to the client why a system previously > working fine went sideways so badly. Old guy blames the “darned computer > stuff” and he’s not wrong with that opinion. > > At another site, similar config but larger system with dual XW’s that I > upgraded to 2.04 firmware remotely few days ago and now the two inverters > are literally fighting each other under generator charge – one load > building to +6 kW and one (minus)6 kW. > > Sure makes me reluctant to upgrade firmware on systems that are working > fine. > > Any suggestions? > > Kevin > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & > settings:http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other:https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette:http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios:http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > -- Michael Morningstar Morningstar Electric Inc PO Box 1494 Mount Shasta, CA 96067 530-921-0560 CSLB 1116835 mjmornings...@gmail.com
_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other: https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
