Inverter Settings

Just a quick screen shot of the settings I have on my inverter. 

Solar Inverter

Well don't I feel like a dope. Our inverter had gone off line last month and it had a frequency error code. I had checked every possible place to check including the breaker panel. I did not look close enough and found one of 4 breakers thrown. It had not moved much and I missed it altogether. I had even picked up an Auora 6kW inverter to replace the SunnyBoy inverter. Well, resetting the breaker put it back on line. So my inverter purchase was not really needed. I will however keep it because I know the other one will crap out some day. The Aurora is a non transformer inverter so I hope it will be much better or maybe I can get a few more 200w panels and make another 7kW system and put up another system to give us a 14kW solar array. Good thing is I did not have to replace the inverter that I had thought was screwed up again. I have learned an expensive lesson.

I need to build a nice ground mount system.

Pete :)

Motor Inverter part 2

There was some headway but not a great deal. Looking at the parameters and trying everything. Lots to play with. Some things are not connected so not an issue right now. Trying to smooth it out and trying to get the regen back.


Pete :)

Motor & Inverter

Well, well, well. I finally got the inverter fixed and got the inverter re-programmed. Now I can re-program if any updates come available. There was one thing stumping me and that was the emergency stop function. It kept coming up as zero and it needs to be a 1. 1 means the inverter has not been stopped and is good to go. The original inverted I purchased did not have that wire connected and it needed to be connected to a high voltage of 7 volts or higher. God only knows how it ever ran with that always being in emergency stop mode. The wire was never connected at all. So, I got it connected now to 12 volts to keep it high. No need for an emergency shut down. Well, maybe I can setup a 12 volt switch and use that for a table top emergency shut down if I happen to have to shut it down fast. That should be an easy thing to wire up. So with that, I was able to get the motor to run again and even run in Start Mode 2 which I was never able to do before. I now have to re-charge my battery so I can do some more testing. Its on the charger now and happily charging at 15 amps. Once I have that done I will need to get the inverters heat sink working. Its a water cooled sink and it got hot doing a bit of running at 37 amps. Now to move along and set some parameters to tweak the inverter to the motor. Im only running 12 volts so that will have to change soon. I need to get a good 12 volt pump for the cooling system. Time to hit Jack up for one of his pumps for folks who have water cooled sinks. So I did a quick video with the motor running albeit roughly in Start 1 Mode and Start 2 Mode. I am moving forward once again and have learned a crap load of stuff about flashing a chip with software. It took a bit but I got through it with the help of Johannes Huebner.

Pete :)

SMA Inverter

Well, well, well! Our SMA Grid Tie Inverter crapped out again. Our 4th since we installed the solar panel system in 2005. All were from SMA and all were the 6000U models. The current one lasted a whopping 9 months. It was used but just crapped out. This one is giving a frequency error but it has not resolved in a week and as far as I can tell the power is just fine here. Usually the frequency issues resolve and the system comes back on its own. No go with this one. I was reluctant to go with SMA again and at this point I will no longer recommend them. I can't with this track record. So, I went hunting and decided on a new Aurora 6KW transformerless inverter. More or less a solid state inverter. It has a much better warranty than SMA and it is known to be a good brand. Very well known. It will be here in a few days. I hate being with out an inverter. I hate giving our utility our money.

Earth Day

Did not do a whole bunch on Earth Day but I did get some tomato plants planted. I watered our trees and found our solar panel inverter is dead again. This is the 4th inverter that has died since 2005. We have been using the SMA Sunny Boy inverters. I am looking for another replacement. Not to earth friendly to have inverters die so quickly. We are no longer being protected by a warranty. Have no clue why the inverters are dying. They are in a safe place so its not a weather related issue.

I also have my Olimex programmer/debugger device but having no luck figuring out how to use the dang thing to upload the program onto the Olimex board. Awaiting some feed back from Johannes. Can't wait to get back to playing with my motor and controller.

Leaf

Well, I got me a new 2015 Leaf. I leased this one and they paid off my old one. No money out of pocket and payments less than before. So far the car is good except the new foot operated e-brake. If the capacity goes to shit this time around it will be the last Leaf I get. The foot brake and the little head light adjustment has been removed. Those I used on my other Leaf. Im getting good mileage per charge even in the cold. Well our cold is quite subjective compared to the rest of the country. Im pleased.

Pete :)