[pvusers] Neptune Washer & SW-Series

["Robert Warren" <robertwarren@mail.com>]

Mongo,
 About your Maytag problems:
While Trace labels their SW series inverties as "true sine wave", they are still something like a 24 step wave form with some inductive filtering, but they still aren't as clean as they could be. If you really want to produce a clean, spike free and smooth, curved sine wave, then you might need to add a "line conditioner" such as a Best Power ferroressonant line conditoner. You would need one rated at about 25% more power than what the inverter is rated at, so a 5 kW would do just fine. This would keep your Maytag from frying controller chips, and your water pump would like it better, as well. But this clean power does come at an energy cost, as the ferro is only about 92-94% efficient, and you end up with a full time phantom load. 
 One solution I used for a similar system to yours (pumping water and running a washing machine is a pretty common, everyday situation) was to use a Trace auto-transformer, instead of the Best ferro unit. It doesn't have such a big iron core, so while you don't get the clean isolation between the primary and secondary coils that a Ferro transformer gives you, you still get a good inductive smoothing of the wave form with a much smaller iron core (so less magnetic field flux loss and less heat loss).
Robert Warren
Senior engineer
www.solarcentury.co.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: "Mongo" <mongo@nortexinfo.net>
Date: Sat, 05 Jan 02 20:53:33 PST
To: "PV Users" <pvusers@crest.org>
Subject: [pvusers] Neptune Washer & SW-Series


> Does anyone else out there use a Maytag Neptune Washer
> with a SW40xx series inverter?
> 
> We've blown multiple contol boards in the washing machine.
> The maintenance man said we should have a surge suppressor
> add at the outlet for it.  But I looked at the control board and
> there are 2 MOV's on it already.
> 
> I'm not going to have the glitches that may be present on grid power.
> -or- will I?
> 
> What I was pondering is "perhaps" there is a glitch when the
> generator kicks off (we have auto-start gennie back-up).  And
> the SW40xx does not disconnect from the gennie as clean
> as I'd like (lights to flicker).
> 
> There also is occasionally a light flicker when the water pump kicks
> in.  And I suppose (duh!) this does happen frequently while the
> washing machine fills up.
> 
> Any thoughts?.........
> 
> 
> --*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
>   List sponsored by CREST/REPP
> 	http://solstice.crest.org/   http://www.repp.org/
> 
> 

-- 


*************** 
  * _\e|/_ * 
  * {@ @} * 
-oOO-(_)-OOo--* 
***************
robertwarren@mail.com

_______________________________________________
Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com
http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup


1 cent a minute calls anywhere in the U.S.!

http://www.getpennytalk.com/cgi-bin/adforward.cgi?p_key=RG9853KJ&url=http://www.getpennytalk.com



--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
  List sponsored by CREST/REPP  
	http://solstice.crest.org/   http://www.repp.org/