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It could be capacitive, ie no DC path, so a meter in ohms mode will not read it.
That is the next test on the agenda. My meter does those too. Although it threw me for a loop the first time I used it when it came up a 6.8 mF instead of 6800 uF when I tested some Capacitors.
And it read, .0003uf which should not be the cause. As it is instantly tripping, that leaves only one other possible cause, the timing relay. As I don't have to wait for the inverter to power up like with the Reliable one, I can take out the power relay and the timing relay too if it will operate with just the transfer switch.
Pulled the Timing relay which also takes out the power connection to the power relay and also turned off the Inverter breaker in the box. Still tripped the GFCI when the Commercial power was plugged in. So we know it isn't the L1 that is causing the problems and that it has to be something with the Neutral. It may come down to the Power relay may need to switch both Neutrals instead of switching the hot lead of the inverter and the Neutral of the Commercial power.
We can distinguish between a neutral to neutral connection vs. a neutral to ground fault by disconnecting the ground at the receptacle. This way you'll know for sure nothing is going to ground on that side. If the GFCI holds, there's a ground fault somewhere.
I hooked up the commercial power Neutral to the power relay so that when it is powered, it takes the commercial power Neutral out of the circuit. So now, if I kill the incoming commercial power by pulling its plug, and then turning on the inverter, the GFCI says in. Once the transfer is done, I can plug the commercial power back in and the GFCI stays on. If it were a Ground to Neutral fault in the unit, it should still trip. When it drops the relay because the inverter turns off it would need to have the plug pulled before powering up the inverter again. So really, the solution is to add another relay that keeps the Neutral of the Inverter off the transfer switch until the Neutral of the Commercial power has been disconnected. It actually is at the point of being easier to remove the transfer switch and rely on the 40 Amp relay to do all the work. Just I would lose the manual transfer capability. Or run the power out to the shed, thru the inverter and back to the items on it using the GS inverter in UPS/ATS mode. As it is using the 120Volt part only, it should not see the problem that Sid saw unless one is on L1 and the commercial power is on L2 of the House. Which is another possibility of why the GFCI trips in my case. Tomorrow will see more testing.
Well I found the problem. The idiot who did the wiring goofed.🙄 It seems I kept missing the wires that connected the meter to the unit. And low and behold, the Neutral wire was tied to the common Neutral output to the receptacles. Instead of to the Neutral on the input side of the inverter breaker of the transfer switch. And now it works. Well at least on the home wiring which showed the same signs as the inverter wiring in every step. So in the morning, it should work when I turn the inverter on. Not happy because it is using Neutral switching but at least I found the problem. If it operates as it should then I can put the Line switching back in. And then on to the next thing, setting up the inverter so that it comes on at 28 Volts and turns off at 26 Volts.
10 hours ago, Waterman said:Well I found the problem. The idiot who did the wiring goofed.🙄 It seems I kept missing the wires that connected the meter to the unit. And low and behold, the Neutral wire was tied to the common Neutral output to the receptacles. Instead of to the Neutral on the input side of the inverter breaker of the transfer switch. And now it works. Well at least on the home wiring which showed the same signs as the inverter wiring in every step. So in the morning, it should work when I turn the inverter on. Not happy because it is using Neutral switching but at least I found the problem. If it operates as it should then I can put the Line switching back in. And then on to the next thing, setting up the inverter so that it comes on at 28 Volts and turns off at 26 Volts.
What do you use to transfer your line and to transfer your neutral?
What do you use to transfer your line and to transfer your neutral?
I use a powered transfer switch like this. https://www.ebay.com/itm/4P-63A-Dual-Power-Automatic-Transfer-Switch-110V-Professional-Changeover-Switch/153075775295
As long as you have split phase power and use the #1 and N terminals on each side as Line and Neutral respectively for your power ( Normal, Backup ), you can actually use it for four wire 120/240Volt. Another version that I don't have has a slide switch and is marked with center Off which is a 3P version. Mine is wired with the Normal side being the inverter and the backup as the commercial power. That way it will always transfer to the inverter if it is running.
What do you use to transfer your line and to transfer your neutral?
Here is a bigclivedotcom breakdown of one similar. This one is a 2pole while mine are 4 pole.
Boy did I feel stupid last night. 🤪 I went out and checked the transfer box and the commercial power indicator available LED was out. So go back in the house to check the breaker. It was fine. So plugged the refrigerator directly into the outlet, it was fine. Plugged it back into the box. and it ran on the inverter. Oh no, that means the transfer switch is failing.😬 Pulled the inverter input and the switch went over to commercial power just like it was supposed to and both commercial power available and commercial power connected lit up. Stupid me forgot that when I had the problems, I had wired the Neutral to the power relay and when it is on inverter, it turns off the indicator for commercial power to. Luckily that will only require about 5 minutes to rewire.
But it otherwise is working?
But it otherwise is working?
It runs from 0800 to 1730 almost every day. It isn't being heavily loaded right now as I'm in the process of adding more solar panels. And other things.
As of today, it has 105 Hours use on it. Today is not a good day as we had nothing but clouds Tuesday so my batteries are not happy. But they are all sitting at above 25.6 so it means that they are carrying a full charge.
Running both the refrigerator and the one tube A/C had the unit running at 1099 Watts. Which at that reading the meters agreed. Also they agreed on the Amps. But not the Volts. Mine show 242 Volts and the display said 238 Volts. The regulating at that load seems seems to be spot on with just a slight pulsing hum from the transformer. Nothing even near the idle hum of the PJ 6K unit. Nice cool 73° in the living room while it is
Homestead
4/22/2021 11:30 AM EDT
Temp @ 2 ft 80°
Temp @ 30 ft 79°
Soil @ - 6 in 78°
Wind Dir @ 30 ft 38°
Rainfall 0 in
Pressure 1016 mb
Average Rad 703 W/m2
Dew Point 64°
THI (Dairy Cows) 75°
1 minute ago, Waterman said:The regulating at that load seems seems to be spot on with just a slight pulsing hum from the transformer.
Slight pulsing hum...is this by any chance related to loads like an HE washing machine? I know that varying loads on my house inverter will result in a varying transformer buzz; that's expected. Regulation should be pretty quiet; the voltage feedback has a precision of roughly 0.1v @ 240vAC...so a lot more than a PJ inverter 😉.
3 minutes ago, Waterman said:Nothing even near the idle hum of the PJ 6K unit.
Amazing how quiet that tranny is when the FETs are driven cleanly and firmly...