Ahh forgot the G/N bonding, in the industrial environments I worked in, we never saw that one it was caught prior to hotting up the circuit, but indeed home installations are a crap shoot.
Indeed the home I bought where I now live was like that I had to make sure the G/N bond was solid as it looked more like an afterthought. Now it is a bazen thought... On Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 8:54 PM Michael Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: > You need to verify the wiring from your generator through the transfer > panel. Depending on how it is configured, it is possible the ground does > not make it all the way through when on generator. This can easily be > checked with one of those 3 light circuit testers. I have run into this in > the field using generators. In many generators, the ground and neutral are > not bonded. A UPS will see this as a fault and not accept the power. > > For a building, a transfer panel may be wired a couple of different ways. > For a large "whole house" system, the transfer panel simply switches > between commercial power and a big generator prior to the main service > panel. In that case, the ground-neutral bond takes place in the service > panel and all should be good. In some cases, however, the generator is not > big enough for the whole house. In those situations, there will be a sub > panel for the "priority" circuits. The transfer switch then toggles between > the feed from the main service panel and the generator. Sometimes, the > transfer panel is wired incorrectly and does not provide the G-N bond when > on the generator. > > Most modern generators are pretty well regulated, so the UPS rejecting due > to frequency or voltage is not likely. (Unless it is a cheapo Harbor > Freight or similar generator.) > > Working a lot of field communications activity and back-up power for > critical sites, I have run into this quite often. > > Check the wiring before worrying about power conditioners. > > My $.0002, > > Michael > > > On Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 18:16 Mike C. <[email protected]> wrote: > > > You shouldn't have to buy anything to fix this problem. You should be > able > > to accomplish this by adjusting the governor / idle speed of the > generator > > to the rpm that produces a stable 60 hz signal. > > > > Ideally, you'd have a cheap multimeter to use to quickly and easily dial > in > > the rpm but if not, you could just try playing around with it until the > > battery accepts the signal and starts charging. > > > > On Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 5:56 PM Dick Steffens <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > During the fire event last week we were without PGE power a couple of > > > times. We have a generator connected to the house through a transfer > > > panel which worked fine for everything except the battery backup units > > > we have for our computers. They rejected the power that wasn't a stable > > > 60 Hz. I have now heard that this is not uncommon with some generators, > > > and that there are devices one can use between the wall outlet and the > > > battery backup to maintain clean power. > > > > > > Searching for these online is proving to be challenging. Some people > > > call them inverters. The hits I get for inverters are for converting > 12v > > > to 120v. I tried power conditioner. That seems to be what I need, but I > > > call upon the collected wisdom of this group for confirmation, or a > > > suitable clue stick. > > > > > > The two search hits I looked at are: > > > > > > https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=120+volt+line+conditioner > > > > > > and > > > > > > > > > > > > https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Conditioner-Regulation-LS606M/dp/B00006B83G > > > > > > Further thoughts appreciated. > > > > > > -- > > > Regards, > > > > > > Dick Steffens > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org > > > PLUG mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org > > PLUG mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > _______________________________________________ > PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > -- Chuck Hast -- KP4DJT -- I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Ph 4:13 KJV Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece. Fil 4:13 RVR1960 _______________________________________________ PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
