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Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 07:30pm 15 Oct 2017
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Still running as per my last post, not of lot of solar happening here ATM as it is raining . Was beginning to think it had forgotten how to rain.
So the brief period of sun that lasted for about 5 minutes on Saturday is the last time we have seen it. So waiting to see some fine weather to see how it all goes then. There has been periods of lighter cloud where the Aero-sharp was been putting out around 2 KW yesterday, but today will be lucky to make 5KWH.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406
Posted: 08:12pm 15 Oct 2017
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Haha, we Melburnians stole your sun when you were not looking.
Beautiful sunny spring weather here.Cheers, Tony.
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 08:44pm 15 Oct 2017
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I am not complaining, the sun will come back, like Victorian tourists except too many of them don't go home. You see them driving around with number plates that say "Victoria the place to be" or the one I think is most hilarious is "Victoria on the move" I guess you can't blame them for liking the Sunshine Coast, much better weather than Melbourne. I remember going to Melbourne once at about this time of the year and it was cold, wet, windy and absolutely miserableThere are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406
Posted: 08:50pm 15 Oct 2017
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[quote]I remember going to Melbourne once at about this time of the year and it was cold, wet, windy and absolutely miserable[/quote] Yes indeed, and a couple of hours later its hot and sunny, then it rains again. All in one day ! Cheers, Tony.
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 02:02am 19 Oct 2017
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Had some brief periods of light cloud today and yesterday, this caused the off grid inverter to trip with overload. I have kept the setting quite low as I am running the OGI via a 100A breaker ATM till a bigger one arrives, I have increased it a little to prevent it tripping like that again. Also I changed the choke to a ring type with 3 turns on it today and that almost completely eliminated the small spikes on the waveform.
I did see it running today with the Aerosharp GTI in equilibrium with the house load, the wave was clean and smooth but at first I thought my contact lenses were playing up as I saw double. It had one wave just slightly offset with the other, just enough to give a very small gap between the 2. It did not seem to cause any fuss, if anything is a bit off in the waveform you can hear it in the Toroid, but it was just humming very softly.
There was a couple short periods where the regulation was kicking in but only briefly as I also had the hot water system on. Forecast is for some sun tomorrow and then back to rain again, anyone would think it is Melbourne.
Edited by Madness 2017-10-20There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
nickskethisniks Guru Joined: 17/10/2017 Location: BelgiumPosts: 458
Posted: 03:18am 19 Oct 2017
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Hello, sorry to hack this topic, anyone that has a good european source for toroidal laminated iron cores?
I will soon open a topic with my "inverter attemps", after reading a few threads I can use some tips about certain things.
Thanks.
(sorry wrong topic, I can't remove this post)Edited by nickskethisniks 2017-10-20
Warpspeed Guru Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406
Posted: 04:00am 19 Oct 2017
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Hi Nick, welcome to the Forum. You cannot totally remove a post, but you can edit it. Delete all your text, and just leave one letter or a full stop remaining. Cheers, Tony.
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 11:27am 19 Oct 2017
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Easy to start a new topic near the top of the page. Clockman is the man you need to talk to, he is not far from you in France.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 01:15pm 20 Oct 2017
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ARRRGGGGHHHHH, spent quite a few hours over the last few days trying to work out why a new control board I had build was drawing heaps of power. The TIP35c transistor turned out to be a TIP36c, one is NPN the other PNP, packet said 35c. Chinese sent me the wrong ones and stupid me did not check.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Clockmanfr Guru Joined: 23/10/2015 Location: FrancePosts: 429
Posted: 10:40pm 20 Oct 2017
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Hi nickskethisniks,
Essayez de contacter 'Rhume' avec un message personnel du forum, il est un membre du forum, il est également de Belgique
Je pense qu'il a une source belge pour les tores toroïdaux.
Try contacting 'Rhume' with a forum personal message, he is a forum member, he is also from Belgium.
I think he has a toroid core material source there in Belgium.Everything is possible, just give me time.
3 HughP's 3.7m Wind T's (14 years). 5kW PV on 3 Trackers, (10 yrs). 21kW PV AC coupled SH GTI's. OzInverter created Grid. 1300ah 48v.
nickskethisniks Guru Joined: 17/10/2017 Location: BelgiumPosts: 458
Posted: 03:00am 22 Oct 2017
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Thank you!
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 09:50pm 24 Oct 2017
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Bought this Aurora 5KW GTI today for not much money, has RISO LOW Error. After googling the error before buying it found lots of search results where it is a ground fault in the PV array or cables. It will not operate with less than 1 Megaohm to ground. However when I got it home and tried it the reading on the display is 0.00 M ohms. I removed the MOV's which a couple of them showed 0.3 M ohm, but without them installed still shows 0.00.
Has anyone else had on of these do the same?
There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166
Posted: 10:50pm 24 Oct 2017
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you could hook it through a galvanically isolated transformer and it should run if the inverter itself is not faulty.
if the megohm meter is not reading anything it seems to suggest it is badly leaking to earth inside the inverter or the meter is not working. I have sent a couple of out of warranty ABB inverters back for repairs for a different fault, it cost about $300 to get them fixed by the company but that is a couple of years ago, things might have changed.
I think the inverters earth strap has to be installed before the complete DC circuit can be tested for leakage with a megger. maybe there is a poor earth to that board.Edited by yahoo2 2017-10-26 I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not...
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 11:46am 25 Oct 2017
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Thanks Yahoo,
I have only had a very quick look at it so far, I think the fault is somewhere past the DC input relays.
I was testing with it connected to the grid with earth connected, I am very wary of connecting GTI's to my off grid inverter after the recent episode I had that killed several PCB's.
Update
Got the PCB out, there is a burnt connection on an AC relay, I repaired this but still no improvement looks like it might be going in the too hard basket.
Edited by Madness 2017-10-27There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166
Posted: 07:12pm 25 Oct 2017
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I see you have deleted the question but i will answer it anyway.
How would I rate it compared to the zeversolar?
they were a good inverter in their day, rated top 4-5. ABB will still repair them. zeversolar is a newer cheaper cut down version of the SMA inverter also rated top 5.
for a installer and repairer the three things that matter are warranty- age of the inverter company support cost of repair
The ABB inverter is worth sending back for factory repair out of warranty up to a few hundred dollars after that they just cut the losses and fit a new Fronius.
In the city, fronius can change out modules onsite and it is a same day repair. The company support their repairers, they have double the warranty and they always have modules in stock. Plus their inverters work at a huge range of voltages so it is an easy quick retrofit/ upgrade without destroying corroded racking bolts and channels to change the rooftop configuration.
Even the best of the rest dont even come close to Fronius as a company. So yes the ABB aurora is a good quality inverter and are worth repairing if you can swap them out and afford to wait.
I know I sound like a Fronius fanboi but if someone is paying new prices the Total Cost of Ownership over 15 years just smashes anything else. There is daylight between them and the next best for service.
how you figure that into DIY territory and second hand stuff??? I dont know! But that is the perspective I see for newer grid inverters. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not...
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 07:46pm 25 Oct 2017
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Thanks for the answer, I deleted the question as I thought best not to put you on the spot. In the past I repaired white goods and stopped making any recommendations on brands. After having told my sister what brand of washing machine to buy she did that and the manufacturer had just started making them in China which I was not aware of. It failed seriously 3 times under warranty and I was in the dog house.
I will ask around some of the solar companies here if they have any dead Aurora's I might get lucky and make 1 out of 2. I rang several places today that say they repair them on their websites however, they don't repair them now.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686
Posted: 07:57pm 25 Oct 2017
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They are all just inverters.... and they all fail for whatever reasons.
Seen plenty of dead SMA and Fronius, and I think they replaced thousands of them in Brisbane back early on. That tells me they stand behind their product no matter how good or bad it was.
Warrant and service is immaterial here, and with your chosen set up, probably moot too.
So cheap and nasty is probably the best route for your endeavor.
I think I have seen more SMA than any other dead ones here... don't know why, and not interested either come to think of it.
Never seen a dead aerosharp, inspires die easily though.
I recently got a zever 5kw unit, but that was a professional install down in "town", not here on the farm. No idea how it is going, have not seen it since it was installed.
I had no say in any of it, so did not bother to research it either. Will fix it in the future if I need to.
I expect you will get to the bottom of the Aurora, it will be in the power stage there somewhere, it usually is..... same with your zever. It looks like you have plenty of choice there so thats what I would go with.... keep buying $10 blown up ones until you get to fix them all up.
If you were doing a proper grid install, it would be different.
Name brands seem to fail perfectly well just like the no names, but their service in normal circumstances will probably be better.... to justify the stupid prices they ask.
" she did that and the manufacturer had just started making them in China"... yep it happens. Just fixed a Sony TMR-RF4000 wireless head phones for a lady here...Sony.... made in china as well.... just like everything else.
...........oztulesEdited by oztules 2017-10-27Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 09:02pm 25 Oct 2017
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Well I just had a win, the IGBTs for the Zeversolar arrived. Put them in and turned it on connected the grid, no bangs just a faint click of the relay and back in business. I did check everything around them including the 3120 driver chips but everything else was all the same measurements on every set of drivers.
Connected it to my inverter via a 20A breaker and alls well. Perhaps there may have been something wrong with it from day one that I got it. Before it would trip a 20A breaker on connection every time, that was why I had a 63A on it.
Although the Aerosharp worked for me when it got to full power it squealed like a stuck pig, it had me ducking for cover with my shell shock. Edited by Madness 2017-10-27There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686
Posted: 09:25pm 25 Oct 2017
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Good work there Mad... best solution I think..... now for the aurora
.........oztulesVillage idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 09:38pm 25 Oct 2017
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So much for that, the Zeversolar has crapped itself again, fortunatly no other damage, just tripped the 100A breaker currently on the big inverter.
Oh well back to the squealing pig.
Looks like I better replace the drivers like someone said I should.Edited by Madness 2017-10-27There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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