Hello Wrenches
I am challenged recently troubleshooting a Southwest wind whisper controller. It is of the type with a brake toggle switch on the top, and a green and red light indicating charging and braking modes, with a dump load integrated in the unit itself. The optional display we swapped from the original controller. The wind machine is a whisper 100. I noticed the controller was bad during a battery swap. The suspicion was a lightning strike, as a surge arrestor was blown, and the boards front side was cooked. Because of COVID the clients’ budget was really tight the cheapest solution was to replace a like for like used controller which I found from a respected installer who pulled it from a previously working system. The system itself I inherited from an installer who’s work I have been fixing for years, and who’s craftsmanship has proven questionable over and over again. In replacing the new controller, we were extremely careful to perform all test and procedures found in the manual to ensure the new controller wasn’t subject to some malfunction that had cooked the first. We verified the switch positions for 24V on the circuit board and the dump load was wired correctly as well. The AC input resistance and voltage were within reason, and the conductors tested out on the megger as well. That said the associated manual is not very detailed, and the condition that we are dealing with now is that when connected, the newer controller has both the red brake light and the green charging light illuminated on top of the unit and the break is engaged regardless of the position of the brake toggle switch. There are no details in the manual describing this condition. We tried power cycling the unit by disconnecting the battery, and we also tried the reset button on the power board multiple times. The manual goes on to state after repeated attempts using the reset button with no result to contact SWW technical support. I tested the unit on the bench power supply as well. While occasionally on start-up I might get a quick light sequence it always reverts to the same state as mentioned before with the brake engaged and lights on. In the interest of trying to be somewhat concise I did find some strange anomalies during this fun adventure, but for now, the questions I have for you all is if you ever have seen this condition and what might have caused it? Is there a special reset procedure SW Wind had up its sleeve if the reset button didn’t work as stated in their manual? While I completely respect where the original controller came from, could it have been failed out of the box if by chance during their decommissioning the disconnection from either the AC or DC inadvertently happened inversely? More likely though is there a sleeping problem I missed that could have subjected the newer controller to the same issue as the first? If the resistance and voltage test on the incoming AC side prove in spec, can I rule out our issue is coming from the tower side, or is there anything else I can examine? I’ve searched for white papers and called around a fair amount but haven’t found much direction. Anything you all could pass on would greatly be appreciated. Jay Pozner (970) 642-5554 www.nunatakenergy.com NABCEP Certified PV Installer: Cert.#031310-177
_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: [email protected] 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/[email protected]/ 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
