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SunGold Power SP6548 Flickering lights after new install

nofear72784 said:
Therein lies the million dollar question... 3 people here that have the unit have this issue along with an owner of an MPP LV6548 with YCCfans. Only commonality is the DC fans. All the review MPP units, EG4's etc all have different fans and no one is seeing these issues.
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Maybe the brand of fan is just an indication of a different design altogether. Maybe some detailed internal shots would help solve this mystery.
 
So, back to my earlier posts about a possible fix. I installed type 31 chokes on the 3 fans and that killed the flicker. But, without PV input the fan speed was low. When I get home from work there should be some decent production and I will check again.
 
That's a pretty sad design if the cooling fans result in output AC waveform distortion.

I'm curious what you'll find later.
 
I also ordered some fans just for the heck of it. That would be step 2. I have used these in server builds and never had a problem. They are 4800 RPM 80mm units. OEM units are 5000rpm so it shouldn't trigger the tach signal fan alarm. This would require taking the unit down and changing the fan connector so that will have to wait for a rainy day.
 
Now that you mention it, my LVX6048 made the cheaper lights in my house periodically flicker the one time I used it to power my main panel during an outage. I didn't time it but the interval seemed pretty regular.
 
I was looking through used parts on ebay - amazon the other day and come accross something simular to what Jazzmonger posted. I was thinking it would be interesting to test one of these out to see if it can somehow filter the sign wave. Just an FYI to anyone reading this I've found UPS will trip out if your power source strays from 60 hz too much. For example if you set an inverter on 50hz and plug in a decent UPS that is set to use 60hz power it will trip out instantly.
D6F64B5C-B223-40CF-8BF7-4132C820CCF9.jpeg
 
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Sky Noris said:
I was looking through used parts on ebay - amazon the other day and come accross something simular to what Jazzmonger posted. I was thinking it would be interesting to test one of these out to see if it can somehow filter the sign wave. Just an FYI to anyone reading this I've found UPS will trip out if your power source strays from 60 hz too much. For example if you set an inverter on 50hz and plug in a decent UPS set up to use 60hz power it will trip out instantly.
View attachment 105442
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The ups tripping makes much more sense as a frequency aspect versus voltage amplitude and how clean the sine wave is. The ups can be set as low as 90v and 140v but I’ve never seen anything as to how sensitive to frequency they are.

I am curious to see really good scope shots with trigger at zero crossing and measuring the frequency that way.
 
Negative, still flicker under PV. No PV, no flicker so deff on the right track. Amazon delivered one fan, other 2 are "delayed"
 
Sky Noris said:
I was looking through used parts on ebay - amazon the other day and come accross something simular to what Jazzmonger posted. I was thinking it would be interesting to test one of these out to see if it can somehow filter the sign wave. Just an FYI to anyone reading this I've found UPS will trip out if your power source strays from 60 hz too much. For example if you set an inverter on 50hz and plug in a decent UPS that is set to use 60hz power it will trip out instantly.
View attachment 105442
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Since I am playing guinea pig I ordered a 10A and 30A filter. We shall see!
 
Just noticed it was a 20A not a 30A. I ordered these versions since I prefer the protected terminals and leads vs posts on the others. Smaller amperage to test on the lighting circuit and larger 20A for a circuit with a UPS to see if it stops it from cycling between battery and line power. These can be put inside junction boxes so I would sleep better knowing nothing can short them out.
20A unit
10A unit with leads
 
Sky Noris said:
Nice! I'd have ordered some myself if i had any problems. Man I hope this ends with a solid solution.
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You and me both! This has been a shitty experience to put it mildly. 3 weeks, 2 inverters, 2 panels, 3 can lights, 4 edison bulbs, 3 dimmers, chokes, fans and now emi filters. Still with 0 feedback from the manufacturer.
 
Sky Noris said:
Nice! I'd have ordered some myself if i had any problems. Man I hope this ends with a solid solution.
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Tried the 10A on the kitchen lighting circuit no change. Put the 20A on the UPS circuit, also no change. Disconnected the inverter output and put the 20A filter inline with some 12/2 to a dual gang box. Plugged in each of the UPS units, still tripped. Removed that and tossed on 4 edison bases. Tried a Wifi Philips Hue flicker free LED, flickered especially when dimmed. Tried the LED with 3 incandescent 40w bulbs, still flickered. Hate to say it but I think this is going to end up being an issue the manufacturer sticks us with. Still waiting on 2 fans from Amazon. Might just reorder them since they appear to have gotten lost.
 
nofear72784 said:
Tried the 10A on the kitchen lighting circuit no change. Put the 20A on the UPS circuit, also no change. Disconnected the inverter output and put the 20A filter inline with some 12/2 to a dual gang box. Plugged in each of the UPS units, still tripped. Removed that and tossed on 4 edison bases. Tried a Wifi Philips Hue flicker free LED, flickered especially when dimmed. Tried the LED with 3 incandescent 40w bulbs, still flickered. Hate to say it but I think this is going to end up being an issue the manufacturer sticks us with. Still waiting on 2 fans from Amazon. Might just reorder them since they appear to have gotten lost.
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I suggest we find a member in your area with the capability to scope it out better to inform the manufacturer how shitty their product is. Good luck!
 
goldserve said:
I suggest we find a member in your area with the capability to scope it out better to inform the manufacturer how shitty their product is. Good luck!
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They have plenty of diagnostic information from me. If they will do anything is another story. Opening a case with VISA.
 
I didn't give the filter much of a chance for a problem that only happens when solar powered. Too bad you aren't close. I'd look at the LED intensity with a OP101 into a FFT to see the frequencies. I'd compare that with the AC signal of the PV array. I suspect there is some crossover noise from the charge controller hunting to find power point. This might even be seen on the battery.

If anyone has noise spike problems, consider making a tracking filter. Nothing more than a large capacitor bank powered from a full wave bridge connected to AC line. The capacitor bank charges to the peak AC voltage. A low current resistor drains off just enough current to keep the capacitor voltage from rising above the normal AC peak. Any spike on the power line 2V over the normal peak gets absorbed by the capacitor bank. This just sits there all day tracking normal AC voltage.

Someone mentioned before about placing a 5uF oil capacitor on the line. I do this on all my inverters except I place a 1 ohm resistor in series. This solves a lot of problems in factories. Used to be there were a lot of incandescent lamps and these would absorb noise on the line. Now the electrical system is high impendence to noise which just bounces around. A length of wire is just an inductance and a capacitor alone will just cause ringing. A resistor is needed to absorb the noise and turn it to heat.
 
Without a proper scope it really is hard to pinpoint. The frequency is not a steady 60hz and there is all kinds of variation and noise in the output. More leaning towards getting my money back at this point. No one wants to play games like this with new equipment. I am still open to suggestions though if anyone has them. At least ruling things out is helpful for other people.
 
This is all good info. I've got dozens of dimmers on my eddison leds around my house. I'd definatly think twice about certain inverters now :LOL:
 
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