I had a Radian blow up a light bulb when first commissioned. It
literally exploded the bulb. The bulb had worked fine with grid power
minutes before.
Testing the inverter voltage showed no problems. It worked fine after
the initial issue. It remains one of those uncomfortable issues.
At 09:50 AM 6/15/2016, you wrote:
Hi All;
I'm in the process of finishing a grid tie with battery backup
system, and besides the many pitfalls of this type of work, I
destroyed a Tripp lite surge suppressor when I turned on the system.
The system has a pair of the new Outback VFXR 3524 inverters wired
in 120/240 series config. with Mate 3.
I measured before and after, and the output was a steady 120vac (240
between them), frequency was 59.99 to 60.00 Hz.
I also measured THD at about 2.5%, which is much better than the
grid here ( about 5%)
The system was in off grid mode, running several lights and other
loads, when I switched on the breaker to the office. Immediately
the slave inverter shut down with an AC short circuit error.
Upon examining the computer equipment, I was greeted with the
classic "smoke let out of the box" scent, and traced it to the
Tripplite surge suppressor. This morning, I opened it up to
examine, and one set of capacitors had blown. The Triplite (which
I'm not that familiar) has several outlets each with an inductive
coil and cap, each is labeled with a higher level of protection.
The one that blew was labeled 120 dB ( or max) protection.
So the question is: Did this just blow randomly, or is there
something with the Outback power output that isn't right?
I don't have an Oscilloscope, but I could better isolate the various
harmonic Distortion to its separate components to see if maybe there
is a harmonic spike somewhere the Tripplite didn't like?
I didn't notice what was plugged into that outlet, but I will check
today. The actual equipment is just the usual home collection of
ink jet printers, and lap tops. The Tripp lite however looks pretty
high end ( and old) and was immediately my suspect, as soon as I
looked under the desk. The model is Tripp Lite Isobar Ultra 8, and
is apparently still available.
https://www.tripplite.com/isobar-8-outlet-surge-protector-12-ft-cord-3840-joules~ISOBAR8ULTRA/
This is venturing outside my normal area of expertise and into the
Murky world of what's actually inside those electronic gizmos.
As always, thanks in advance for all your sage advice,
--
R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760
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