Good advice Michael! I had one that the grid code got set by FW and
reverting did not help. Had to start fresh.
I certainly would try the revert as it is so much easier. There just
is too much grid firmware being changed and it does
not need to be done offgrid. I beg people and Schneider, like Eric to
just have an offgrid FW as a choice
Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
[1]https://offgridsolar1.com/ [2] [1]
e-mail [email protected]
text 209 813 0060
On 2024-04-25 11:18 am, Michael Morningstar via RE-wrenches wrote:
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
<[email protected]> 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
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Michael Morningstar
Morningstar Electric Inc
PO Box 1494
Mount Shasta, CA 96067
530-921-0560
CSLB 1116835
[email protected]
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