Revo II tripping breakers when 2 or more are in use

[Bleedingblue]

Yes, two hot legs and ground come from grid to the Revo inverters. That gives you 120V.
If you turn off the grid connection to Revo inverters, you don't have 120V available on output of Revo inverters.

 

[Hedges]

I put on the communication cables today and tried them and still same result. Even had error pop up on communication. I emailed the company

Turn off all Revo inverters except the master.
Connected to grid, measure voltage on the panel L1 to L2, L1 to Ground (or neutral), L2 to Ground (or neutral)
Then disconnect from grid and take those measurements again.
Then connect a lightbulb between L1 and Ground (or neutral) and take the measurements again.

 

[Bleedingblue]

What you should be able to see is that when disconnected from the grid and running off batteries the Revo inverter produces 220V (or 240V if that was the customization.) But you should be able to see that it does not produce 120V.

Ive ran just off solar and it puts out 240

 

[Hedges]

View attachment 28126

All good so far. You have 248V coming fro grid through inverter to loads.

 

[Bleedingblue]

Turn off all Revo inverters except the master.
Connected to grid, measure voltage on the panel L1 to L2, L1 to Ground (or neutral), L2 to Ground (or neutral)
Then disconnect from grid and take those measurements again.
Then connect a lightbulb between L1 and Ground (or neutral) and take the measurements again.

Ok ill try that tomorrow when I get home. But i know from a multimeter it says 124

 

[Hedges]

Ive ran just off solar and it puts out 240

Just what I expect.
But does it put out 120V? Can you light a lightbulb with that? (preferably incandescent bulb, not anything with electronics)

 

[Bleedingblue]

All good so far. You have 248V coming fro grid through inverter to loads.

It will say the same thing with no grid current but just solar. Its dark here so no sunlight right now

 

[Hedges]

Ok ill try that tomorrow when I get home. But i know from a multimeter it says 124

And it may well say that, under no load.
Try powering a single 120V 100W incandescent light bulb from one phase of Revo inverter output, with grid disconnected.
Then measure the voltage.

 

[Bleedingblue]

This is what the screen looks like if im feeding the grid.

 

[Hedges]

We may yet find that the vendor built a split-phase unit for you, with the ground symbol for the center tap.
That will kind of sort of work, but has some issues when wired back to grid because it will send imbalanced currents over ground.
Just a possibility they did that.

 

[Bleedingblue]

And it may well say that, under no load.
Try powering a single 120V 100W incandescent light bulb from one phase of Revo inverter output, with grid disconnected.
Then measure the voltage.

I know its powering some appliances lights etc because I did that earlier today.

 

[Hedges]

This is what the screen looks like if im feeding the grid.View attachment 28127

And nothing wrong with that, no danger to utility worker if this inverter implements UL1741. Although, it may not have received independent testing and certification which would confirm it performs active anti-islanding. Without certification it is best to keep it set for zero export, just supporting your loads.

 

[Bleedingblue]

We may yet find that the vendor built a split-phase unit for you, with the ground symbol for the center tap.
That will kind of sort of work, but has some issues when wired back to grid because it will send imbalanced currents over ground.
Just a possibility they did that.

It does have some features I dont know what it does.

 

[Hedges]

I know its powering some appliances lights etc because I did that earlier today.

Like to see the schematic, from inverter to 120V panel to loads. And ratings of loads.
I could make it work, and I could make it fail.
I did such stuff as a child, modifying the wiring of my mom's house (with power on).
I did burn out some things in the process.

I also started a kitchen fire, cracked a window with an explosion, crashed a variety of motorized and unmotorized vehicles, ate things I shouldn't have, provoked a dog to put four holes in my head, many other incidents I somehow survived.

 

[Bleedingblue]

And nothing wrong with that, no danger to utility worker if this inverter implements UL1741. Although, it may not have received independent testing and certification which would confirm it performs active anti-islanding. Without certification it is best to keep it set for zero export, just supporting your loads.

Yes that pic was taken when the solar guy first turned them on. I then cut the CT function off so it won't feed back again.

 

[Hedges]

It does have some features I dont know what it does.

View attachment 28131View attachment 28132View attachment 28134

CT sensor may be Current Transformer sensor, so it can backfeed to the house but not so much it backfeeds through the meter.
Useful stuff when net metering is not allowed.

But I want to get your setup working so current is never carried in green (ground) wires, and so it delivers steady 120V to 120V loads rather than voltage which could kill them.

 

[Bleedingblue]

Like to see the schematic, from inverter to 120V panel to loads. And ratings of loads.
I could make it work, and I could make it fail.
I did such stuff as a child, modifying the wiring of my mom's house (with power on).
I did burn out some things in the process.

I also started a kitchen fire, cracked a window with an explosion, crashed a variety of motorized and unmotorized vehicles, ate things I shouldn't have, provoked a dog to put four holes in my head, many other incidents I somehow survived.

Dang you almost sound as bad as me lol. I have wired up with hot current before with an electrician and I did not like it. It was no big deal to him so I let him do all the wiring while I nailed the boxes up.

 

[Bleedingblue]

CT sensor may be Current Transformer sensor, so it can backfeed to the house but not so much it backfeeds through the meter.
Useful stuff when net metering is not allowed.

But I want to get your setup working so current is never carried in green (ground) wires, and so it delivers steady 120V to 120V loads rather than voltage which could kill them.

I could check tomorrow and see if their is current going through my ground wire. I might have to drive in another ground rod. I'm fixing to go to bed right now as I have to get up early for work. Talk to you tomorrow.
Thanks for your input

 

[Hedges]

I could check tomorrow and see if their is current going through my ground wire. I might have to drive in another ground rod. I'm fixing to go to bed right now as I have to get up early for work. Talk to you tomorrow.
Thanks for your input

It's a matter of using the right color wire in the right place.
Those green grounds ought to go to a ground bar in the panel and go to ground terminals of sockets.

White wire for neutral should go from neutral of any 120V panels and neutral terminal of 4-pin 240V plugs back to neutral from grid/main panel. It may bypass the inverters. A transformer is going to be required.

Since you have a 5th inverter not hooked up, check resistance between ground/N/L1 of input and output. Want to see if there is any galvanic connection from current carrying terminals and ground. There is an off chance they wired a 120/240V transformer and put the center tap on the screw called ground.

My Sunny Islands began life as a 220V inverter in Germany, with a single pole relay to pass the grid through (able to handle twice the wattage of the inverter.) For the US market they rewound it as 120V, half the voltage twice the current. Now the relay can only handle 1x the wattage of inverter. I wish it was a 120/240 split-phase transformer with DPST relay, but that would have been a redesign. So we either need a transformer or stack two inverters.

 

[Hedges]

Since you have a 5th inverter not hooked up, check resistance between ground/N/L1 of input and output. Want to see if there is any galvanic connection from current carrying terminals and ground. There is an off chance they wired a 120/240V transformer and put the center tap on the screw called ground.

Also measure resistance between input/output grounds, input/output N, input/output L1
I want to see if it has an all-pole isolator or not.

If they only have a relay isolating L1 from the grid but not N, then bad things can happen. Like if you power a 120V load when disconnected, it will backfeed into the grid.