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Inverter refuses the generator

kavade

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Joined
Dec 25, 2021
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Would appreciate any help someone could offer.
I have an old (beautiful!) Xantrex Trace 4024 inverter
and I think I screwed up the settings for generator input (AC2).
Maybe. Perhaps.

The inverter recognized my little Champion 3400 watt generator in the past,
but wouldn't take any power or let the gen in at all after I messed with the
settings. But I don't know what I did to screw this up. I think I messed up menu item 11,
AC inputs, or maybe menu item 10, bulk charging. Item 11 has input upper limit VAC 128
and input lower limit VAC 108. Also set gen amps AC is at 14.

Menu item 10, battery charging, seems to be about DC, which is the modules only, isn't it?
Or is it?
Bulk volts DC are at 28.8, float volts DC are set at 26.8, max charge amps AC 14.

Looking at several days of rain and snow now so I do need this generator to be available
to charge the batteries.

Any advice about what the problem might be would be gratefully received. the inverter just behaves as though the
generator doesn't exist.
 
Can the generator power a load?
A heater is typically 1440 watts@120VAC = 12 amps
Suggest to try to power the heater directly.
Do the generator and inverter agree on hertz?
 
Can the generator power a load?
A heater is typically 1440 watts@120VAC = 12 amps
Suggest to try to power the heater directly.
Do the generator and inverter agree on hertz?
Well, the gen can run my hair dryer on low. How would I determine if they agree on herz?
 
Can the generator power a load?
A heater is typically 1440 watts@120VAC = 12 amps
Suggest to try to power the heater directly.
Do the generator and inverter agree on hertz?
I suppose I could just reset to factory defaults, but I worry that something might go awry and I'd be left with no power at all for the next few days.
 
Well, the gen can run my hair dryer on low.
What happens when you try to run your hair dryer on high?
How would I determine if they agree on herz?
Do you have a kill-a-watt meter?
Those can measure the hertz of the generator.
If you are in north america it should be 60hz.
Your inverter may have a configuration option to choose between 50 and 60hertz.
Make sure that is set to 60hertz.
 
What happens when you try to run your hair dryer on high?

Do you have a kill-a-watt meter?
Those can measure the hertz of the generator.
If you are in north america it should be 60hz.
Your inverter may have a configuration option to choose between 50 and 60hertz.
Make sure that is set to 60hertz.
I hate to bother my neighbor (or you, actually!) on Christmas Day, but I called him to ask if he had a kill a watt meter and he said he'd lend me his little Honda generator. So I guess if his Honda works, then the problem is my generator. We'll soon find out.
 
I hate to bother my neighbor (or you, actually!) on Christmas Day, but I called him to ask if he had a kill a watt meter and he said he'd lend me his little Honda generator. So I guess if his Honda works, then the problem is my generator. We'll soon find out.
Did you try running your hair dryer on high with your generator?
 
Did you try running your hair dryer on high with your generator?
The high setting doesn't work. I think the switch is defective or worn out. I avoid electrical appliances if I can
since there is no grid power out here . Can't think of another appliance I have that would draw a lot of current.
Well, the fridge but that would be an ordeal to hook up!

I found a manual online with a troubleshooting guide for the inverter. If it is the inverter, this seems to fit what happened -
problem:Charger drops off before full charging has finished. (No ERROR
comes on)

It says the solution is : Open the ‘Upper/Lower VAC limit’
settings “window” to allow synchronization.

I don't understand the solution, though. I know I can set the upper limit and the lower limit in individual
windows, but the manual language seems to mean there is one window called "upper/lowerVAC limit."
I'll have to scroll through the menu.

Happy Boxing Day, smooth Joey. I'll let you know if my neighbor's generator works.





 
Ive got a Schneider xw 6848 so i dont know how relative my answer is but i encountered a similar problem recently. I was running a 3700 watt ironhorse and everything was fine until I began running larger loads (8a+) in the house. Long story short my inverter takes one leg of the 220 to power the house loads and the other leg to power the charger. With such a small crappy generator i had to lower the charge percentage to 10% which was 17amps because it couldn't handle the load of house and charger without sensing non qualifying power. This would cause a switch back to the battery to supply power. Maybe you inadvertently raised your charge percentage to a level the generator cant handle?
 
The high setting doesn't work. I think the switch is defective or worn out. I avoid electrical appliances if I can
since there is no grid power out here . Can't think of another appliance I have that would draw a lot of current.
Well, the fridge but that would be an ordeal to hook up!

I found a manual online with a troubleshooting guide for the inverter. If it is the inverter, this seems to fit what happened -
problem:Charger drops off before full charging has finished. (No ERROR
comes on)

It says the solution is : Open the ‘Upper/Lower VAC limit’
settings “window” to allow synchronization.

I don't understand the solution, though. I know I can set the upper limit and the lower limit in individual
windows, but the manual language seems to mean there is one window called "upper/lowerVAC limit."
I'll have to scroll through the menu.

Happy Boxing Day, smooth Joey. I'll let you know if my neighbor's generator works.
What did you find out?
 
The “window “ is referring to the accepted voltage AC it will operate with or deny if out side that window. If the gen is not running as tuned as before voltage and hz may be all over the place. I would start with that Honda.
 
The “window “ is referring to the accepted voltage AC it will operate with or deny if out side that window. If the gen is not running as tuned as before voltage and hz may be all over the place. I would start with that Honda.

I'm thinking along the same lines. I had two generators with regulators that failed. The Onan in the RV put out 160VAC unloaded and cooked the converter. The standalone backup genny (smaller) put out about 135V, but would drop with load.

Either would have made a typical inverter refuse to use them unless they were programmed to accept a wide input range.
 
First, the inverter max AC input amps setting for AC2 must be be set not to exceed generator capability. You can set it lower if you want to be kind to generator loading.

Generator must be within frequency capture range.

Generator AC voltage must be within limits of inverter range. This is a 120vac only inverter.

Not specified in manual, but a very common problem is the generator rpm govenor stability is causing too much wobble in generator phase due to rpm fluxuation. This stability of rpm is important because phase tracking on inverter is slow. This is different than being within freq limits. Generator should sound smooth and constant with no variable wha-wha sound indicating govenor hunting instability. Inverter-generators are solid and don't have this issue.

Blinking green light means inverter detected presence of AC input. Solid green light means inverter has locked to generator phase/voltage and connect relay will engage so inverter is running in parallel with generator. You should hear the 'clunk' of the connect relay just before light turns solid green.
 
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The Honda seems fine, so it must be something about my little Champion that the inverter doesn't like. Until this storm is over, my
neighbor's Honda will see me through. Thank you all for the input. I'll go over all your suggestions and figure out my Champion generator problem when this storm passes and post the answer when I get it. Thanks again folks.
 
if the honda works(inverter style, pretty sine wave) and your champion does not (blocky, ugly sine wave). its because the inverter cant duplicate the wave to latch on to mains. ive ran into this ALOT with older RV's with Generac gensets.
 
I have run many generators on Trace SW inverters and have never had one not connect due to generator sinewave distortion. Phase lock and voltage level are only criteria to make it connect.

For synchronous generators (3600 constant rpm) the most common issues are being too far off rpm engine speed causing AC freq being off, usually too low in freq or the engine govenor is unstable causing the rpm of generator to vary in rpm too much. AC freq cannot wobble more than than about 0.3 Hz per second which translates to about +/-18 rpm speed wobble around 3600 rpm.

A DVM with freq counter will tell if off 60 Hz due to engine rpm but will not show up any small amount of freq wobble from govenor control, but you should be able to hear it listening to generator engine sound.

Sometimes if you have an electrical surge load that makes it through to generator it will cause generator to bog down in rpm causing a sudden AC freq shift that cannot be tracked by inverter so inverter releases from generator. It will reconnect when generator rpm variance settles down.
 
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