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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / Advise needed: AC capacitor to bridge generator to battery switch?
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basrijn
Member
# Posted: 24 Dec 2013 16:37
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Hi,

I've made some good progress with the install of the cabin electrical system ( http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/2_4011_0.html ).

One thing that I wonder if I can "solve" is the AC drop when the transfer switch in the inverter switches from generator to battery. The switch time is supposed to be around 50ms. It's long enough to have the satellite modem and a small PC reboot.

I might solve the issue with individual DC capacitors added to the sensitive loads (they are 12 or 5VDC). But I rather solve it in the AC path. Lots of Googling shows that something exists like a Powerfactor correction capacitor. It seems that this might also bridge my 50ms AC volatge drop.

Examples of how they are included in a house circuit are rare (haven't been able to locate one).

Does anybody have experience with them, would they work for the application I have in mind?

All hints and tips welcome!

Bas

razmichael
Member
# Posted: 28 Dec 2013 22:56
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50ms transfer time is a bit longer than some inverters (my Xantrex hf1800 is spec'd for <30ms). A simple options might be to just run the pc and modem through a UPS. Even the relatively cheap ones have a transfer time much less than 50ms. Cost will be based in part on whether you need true sine wave or not. Most PCs do not but I'm not sure about the modem. Your inverter is a true sine wave but you may not need this just for the PC and Modem. It is likely you would use a battery/surge protector at home for a PC anyway. Other, slightly more expensive option. is to look for an "online" ups as this does a double conversion so there is no transfer switch directly involved for the output. These are generally more expensive but have come way down in cost. Here is an example of a refurbished 1200VA online ups for $255 UPS. I have no experience with this company - just the first google hit I came up with. Either option has the slight negative that you end up using up a bit of added power for the the extra conversions.

basrijn
Member
# Posted: 28 Dec 2013 22:56
Reply 


@creeky: Will try there. There is a small PC running a VOIP PBX to get a landline via the satellite link. I'll end up with file system corruption at some point if it keeps cycling frequently.

Tx

basrijn
Member
# Posted: 28 Dec 2013 23:00
Reply 


@razmichael

Nice, posted a reply at the exact same moment

Inverter to utility is < 10ms and that works great. Other way around is 16-50ms, and seems to be closer to the 50ms usually.

There is a few things in the house that would benefit from not seeing the drop. Don't want to add a bunch of UPSs. Hoping for something simple to bridge 50ms

TX
Bas

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