[PLUG] Power Conditioner

[Michael Barnes]

You need to verify the wiring from your generator through the transfer
panel. Depending on how it is configured, it is possible the ground does
not make it all the way through when on generator. This can easily be
checked with one of those 3 light circuit testers. I have run into this in
the field using generators. In many generators, the ground and neutral are
not bonded. A UPS will see this as a fault and not accept the power.

For a building, a transfer panel may be wired a couple of different ways.
For a large "whole house" system, the transfer panel simply switches
between commercial power and a big generator prior to the main service
panel. In that case, the ground-neutral bond takes place in the service
panel and all should be good. In some cases, however, the generator is not
big enough for the whole house. In those situations, there will be a sub
panel for the "priority" circuits. The transfer switch then toggles between
the feed from the main service panel and the generator. Sometimes, the
transfer panel is wired incorrectly and does not provide the G-N bond when
on the generator.

Most modern generators are pretty well regulated, so the UPS rejecting due
to frequency or voltage is not likely. (Unless it is a cheapo Harbor
Freight or similar generator.)

Working a lot of field communications activity and back-up power for
critical sites, I have run into this quite often.

Check the wiring before worrying about power conditioners.

My $.0002,

Michael


On Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 18:16 Mike C. <mconnors1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> You shouldn't have to buy anything to fix this problem. You should be able
> to accomplish this by adjusting the governor / idle speed of the generator
> to the rpm that produces a stable 60 hz signal.
>
> Ideally, you'd have a cheap multimeter to use to quickly and easily dial in
> the rpm but if not, you could just try playing around with it until the
> battery accepts the signal and starts charging.
>
> On Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 5:56 PM Dick Steffens <dick at dicksteffens.com>
> wrote:
>
> > During the fire event last week we were without PGE power a couple of
> > times. We have a generator connected to the house through a transfer
> > panel which worked fine for everything except the battery backup units
> > we have for our computers. They rejected the power that wasn't a stable
> > 60 Hz. I have now heard that this is not uncommon with some generators,
> > and that there are devices one can use between the wall outlet and the
> > battery backup to maintain clean power.
> >
> > Searching for these online is proving to be challenging. Some people
> > call them inverters. The hits I get for inverters are for converting 12v
> > to 120v. I tried power conditioner. That seems to be what I need, but I
> > call upon the collected wisdom of this group for confirmation, or a
> > suitable clue stick.
> >
> > The two search hits I looked at are:
> >
> > https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=120+volt+line+conditioner
> >
> > and
> >
> >
> >
> https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Conditioner-Regulation-LS606M/dp/B00006B83G
> >
> > Further thoughts appreciated.
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> >
> > Dick Steffens
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org
> > PLUG mailing list
> > PLUG at pdxlinux.org
> > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
> >
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org
> PLUG mailing list
> PLUG at pdxlinux.org
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>