Author Topic: guess who bought a power jack inverter  (Read 196458 times)

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Offline Pete

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #480 on: September 22, 2016, 09:15:40 pm »
Hi Hodgo, your idea of only plugging in the powerjack when you want to use it is fine. The 50 amp anderson plug is a bit too light.
That would only give you enough rated current for a 500 watt load. I suggest going for a 150 amp plug at the minimum.
I have two PowerStarW7 inverters, one at the house and one at my shed. No0
I use a similar system as you are considering. I have a 600 watt sinewave inverter for running most things in the house, and when I need the higher output of the W7 I have a changeover switch that I change from the small to the large inverter with.
Basically I have both inverters connected to the battery at all times and use a switch on the 240 volt side to switch the inverter output to power the house.
I only turn on the inverter that I want then. When they are switched off they do not draw power. So that works well for me.
Make sure that your cables are as large as possible and as short as possible. I suggest using a 250 amp fuse in case the mosfet transistors decide to turn into smoke.
good luck
Pete

Offline hodgo81

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #481 on: September 22, 2016, 11:09:20 pm »
Thanks Pete,
 I was thinking the standard 50a Anderson might have been underdoing it on a 12v system ???. Its just funny to me because everything else in my setup is lucky to draw 5amps, and I have always thought they were overkill.

I cant believe the extent I have to go to just to use a blender for about 30sec a day! before I came across these PJ inverters I was seriously considering a 2kva generator as the best value and hopefully reliable alternative. :o something like this suckered seems too good to be true https://www.emgstore.com.au/new-products-52/adventure-kings-generator-2kva.html

well looks like its time to hit ebay for some 175a Anderson plugs and some good thick battery leads

Offline Pete

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #482 on: September 23, 2016, 03:24:43 am »
Hello again Hodgo, with generators, I would suggest taking the blender to the shop and trying it. Some of the modern inverter generators don't deal with high startup currents well either.  They should be fine with the universal motor that the blender most likely has but it is best to check before you buy.
I have 12 volt lights in my house, I have switched to 500mm LED strip lights, they are great. Tons better than my old downlights with LED's in them. They only pull around 10 watts so are pretty efficient as far as lighting goes.
I guess you could always kill two birds with one stone and convert the bullet blender to pedal power. That way you can save on a big inverter and get exercise while you blend.
Maybe a bit bulky but then more fun.
Cheerio
Pete

Offline hangon

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #483 on: September 28, 2016, 01:44:49 am »
 it is useful for me. :D

Offline James58

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #484 on: October 19, 2016, 08:27:55 am »
Hi there! I desperately need to backfeed/ AC couple a 15kw powerjack with an 11kw batteryless 400v inverter, out of the box the GT inverter shows islanding, I saw what you did with an 8kw unit that looks identical, I'm in the United States and I cans find 65mm ecores readily (maybe there's an English equivalent to metric?) also does the wire size in the core mater? I bought a 65 mm ecore from Bulgaria and promptly broke it trying to wind it (any tips?) also, can you explain why this works anyway? It really seems that you know what you're doing.

Offline Pete

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #485 on: October 20, 2016, 06:47:06 pm »
Hi James, can't help with the backfeeding inverter part but as to winding E cores, what I do is to wind the wire around a piece of wood about the same size. Then slip the coil onto the E Core and tape/cable tie it together. Ferrite is extremely easy to break as you have found out.
As for your imperial measurements. 25.4 mm is equal to 1 inch .
Cheers
Pete

Offline oztules

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #486 on: October 21, 2016, 12:16:16 am »
we will need more info James.
1. 11kw will over heat the PJ I suspect.
I think you  mean you have a 11kw GTI, running on 400v of solar and trying to feed it into a PJ.

 You are using the PJ as a grid, for your GTI.

What battery is connected to what and where, what  loads etc.... in other words, this requires a few things working together, and we need to see what these things are.

Just super glue the ferrites back together... no damage done.


..... oztules
Flinders Island...... Australia

Offline James96

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #487 on: October 22, 2016, 12:03:39 pm »
Ok John, here's the deal;
I have a 48v pj 15kW inverter
A 75kWh Lead Calcium Nanocarbon battery bank at 48v
A 11.4kw gti inverter
A Plc that controls a relay that will shut off the gti inverter incase of battery over voltage
12.8kw of solar panels tied into the 11.4 inverter.

So here's the deal: I really need the power jack to ax couple so I don't need to get an aims ($2k more) the power jack is rated for 15 kW so the worst case scenario is that it has 11kw run back through it to charge the batteries, although this scenario is extremely unlikely because there is a house tied to the system which will eat a lot of the gti output,

What intrigues me is how getting the thing to work was so simple, I am not by any stretch a genius, but could you explain the electrical concept behind this?

Also is there a minimum wire size? I am having trouble winding even 4ga copper round the ecore

Offline James96

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #488 on: October 22, 2016, 03:50:51 pm »
I just tried what you did and my result is the inverter making a loud stalling noise when under load greater than 1000w, also the gti shows the same islanding fault it did before
Here are some Picts of my attempt, please have a look and [/img]let me know how I screwed up

Offline oztules

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #489 on: October 22, 2016, 08:13:38 pm »
Check your original idle consumption, you may not need the e core, as they have provided a torroid for you... if the current is down in the .5-.8 range, it does not need the ferrite e core... if 1-5 amps, then yes it does.

It is not clear how you have connected the e core, but I assume it is between a heat sink and the transformer..... this would be correct if you need it.

The noise is likely the e core screaming ... if you ignore the noise, is it running properly?

The GTI is another problem..... USA has odd wiring, so make sure the ac output of the GTI is 220-240v not 110v... and the same for the PJ don't use the 110 split phase outputs..... and make sure it is floating output... ie the split phase is not earthed some how.

It should just work, but I remember another USA fellow that had similar problems, and from memory it was a earth/neutral problem too.

You will need to super glue the e core to shut it up.

All H-bridge in this format will reverse charge, it is a simple property of the H bridge, it will synchronously rectify the AC, and boost convert it up so that it will charge the battery from the AC.... usually runs cooler in this direction too.... when the N channels are turned on.. they become a low impedance conductor.


.............oztules
Flinders Island...... Australia

Offline James96

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #490 on: October 23, 2016, 01:41:04 pm »
It had a round ferrite core in line already, and it drew .5a standby so I assume that you're saying it doesn't need the ecore.
As far as grounding goes you may know that the American 240v is made with two hot lines (l1 and l2) that have 120v of potential relative to the grounded current carrying conductor (known as the neutral) end the two hot lines have 240v of potential relative to each other because they are 180 degrees out of phase relative to each other (picture two sine waves laid up one each other to make a string of infinity signs) so our common mains has l1, l2, n and ground (neutral and ground are commonly bonded at one spot in the system) your typical setup internationally is L,N and G (or PE/E) on the power Jack I have there is an output block that has the international L,N,E terminals, an input block that has the L,N,E terminals, and an output block above them that has an L1, L2, N arrangement. The LNE output on the bottom reads 120v between L-N the block above it L1-L2 reads 240v should I just not hook up the N on the top block? I'll attach a picture of the split phase unit's front.
I once wanted to charge the inverter with a 240v split phase generator and I had success by tying l1 into the L terminal of the input block and L2 into the N terminal of the input block

Having trouble with Internet, just look up "splite phase 220v 15000w lf inverter on eBay)  they spell split "splite"

Offline James96

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #491 on: October 28, 2016, 04:46:39 pm »
Did the other US guy doing this leave a blog trail?

Offline oztules

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #492 on: October 28, 2016, 07:40:33 pm »
It is somewhere... no real idea where.

If you treat the unit as a simple single phase 220v unit, it will work with your 220v power mains.

The unit is floating inside.


.....oztules
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Offline James96

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #493 on: October 30, 2016, 10:47:34 am »
So, if you don't mind clarifying, I should just not connect the neutral to the mains and send the l1/l2 leads to each of the hots?

Offline oztules

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Re: guess who bought a power jack inverter
« Reply #494 on: October 30, 2016, 03:57:41 pm »
Split phase USA power is simply a "center tapped" transformer on the pole, with two 110v outputs center tapped. Over here it is available if you need 480v for HV power equipment... only ever seen it used once... on a SWER line out in the sticks.    I suppose, if I were to get up the pole I could rewire the secondary outputs up there for series ( split phase) 480v at half the current... so it would still be rated at 24kw.. but at 50amp not  100amp

The PJ is the same as I understand it.. ie in this case has two transformers with seriesed outputs... basically acting as a single center tapped transformer. If it were parallel, then it would be 110v@twice the current.

So if your grid tie is 220v, then use the 220 output of the PJ.... so L1 and L2, and leave the neutral CT floating. would be my best bet.



...........oztules
Flinders Island...... Australia