Good day all, I have a client that had a 150KVA Atess Inverter installed. Everything seems to be correctly wired, safety devices etc, the problem I'm having is the Grid connection Circuit Breaker, trips after 4 hours of running on Grid. It is not an intermittent fault, it happens every time the equipment is running on Grid, once in awhile it will run up to 5 hours max, then trips. There is no extra equipment being switched on/off, the cables aren't getting warm, the Grid voltage is pretty stable so there is no drop in voltage, then rise in current. 

Any suggestions as to what causes this problem would be greatly appreciated. The company manufactures brick?blocks etc, so if this happens while heating up sand, the whole process has to be redone at great delay and expense.

Regards, Baden 

2 hours ago, BadenP said:

Good day all, I have a client that had a 150KVA Atess Inverter installed. Everything seems to be correctly wired, safety devices etc, the problem I'm having is the Grid connection Circuit Breaker, trips after 4 hours of running on Grid. It is not an intermittent fault, it happens every time the equipment is running on Grid, once in awhile it will run up to 5 hours max, then trips. There is no extra equipment being switched on/off, the cables aren't getting warm, the Grid voltage is pretty stable so there is no drop in voltage, then rise in current. 

Any suggestions as to what causes this problem would be greatly appreciated. The company manufactures brick?blocks etc, so if this happens while heating up sand, the whole process has to be redone at great delay and expense.

Regards, Baden 

 

 

Unfortunately, you have not provided any information regarding the inverter model, family (PCS/HPS) configuration, whether it has PV, or whether it is programmed to export power to the grid.

I would like to make you aware that the ATESS circuit breakers for grid, load, and battery DC are not conventional types. In addition to their primary function of tripping when threshold currents are reached, they can also be triggered via a digital control input. When the control subsystem deems it necessary to gracefully degrade the inverter to a safe state, it sends activation signals to the circuit breakers to trip.

For instance, this behavior can be observed when the emergency stop button is operated, causing these breakers to trip. This means there may be reasons other than current surges for the input circuit breaker to trip. The inverter will display an error code and a short description of the issue, which can be viewed on its LCD HMI display.

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 20251 yr by BritishRacingGreen

3 hours ago, BadenP said:

Any suggestions as to what causes this problem would be greatly appreciated. The company manufactures brick?blocks etc, so if this happens while heating up sand, the whole process has to be redone at great delay and expense.

This mission-critical requirement calls for an EMS (Energy Management System) capable of logging and reporting with high resolution and periodicity. Kindly let us know whether the system is equipped with an appropriate EMS. If you require any assistance in this regard, @Steve87 may be able to help.

 

Edited January 26, 20251 yr by BritishRacingGreen

5 hours ago, BritishRacingGreen said:

This mission-critical requirement calls for an EMS (Energy Management System) capable of logging and reporting with high resolution and periodicity. Kindly let us know whether the system is equipped with an appropriate EMS. If you require any assistance in this regard, @Steve87 may be able to help.

 

 

Thank you for your quick response, I have not been to site yet, I just have this information to work on, it's an HPS150-HV, batteries, grid and Solar Panels. I will be going to site on Tuesday, then I can check certain spec's myself, take some photos of the system, particularly the Circuit Breakers and The EMS, then when I have the required information do you mind if I tap into your knowledge once more.

I didn't install it and haven't worked on the Atess before, I have worked installation on some other products, so I'm not new to solar. I started installing solar about 9 years ago on the farms near us, due to cable theft, they used to sit up to 6 out of 8 days without power sometimes. A bit about my background, from school I joined the South African Air Force(1981), and studied through them and obtained my Diploma. The training was excellent as I worked with the aircraft equipment, not just Ground Radio & Radar, we were exposed to ILS systems, radio, radar, Decca Systems etc. Then after leaving I obtained a Diploma in software development. The reason I mention this is because we have so many systems damaged by Electricians not understanding the DC component of the system, so I'm I'm not some handyman trying to make a buck, and boy, we have plenty in South Africa, we call them the bakkie brigade. These people are paying good money and not getting the service or a working system before they vanish. Apologies about the long story but at least you know a bit about my background, I understand what I'm doing, I just have the problem of not being able to sign off the grid connection, because I studied Electronics, not Electrical.

Regards

Baden