Finetuning the Inverter Settings

After we lowered the charge rate on the Prosine to 100 amps from 120, to keep from tripping the 20 amp breaker on the generator, we found that when the pump kicks in while charging at a high rate, the whole house blacks out for about 5 seconds. The pump is pulling about 95 amps at 12vdc, and the charger is supposed to cut back on charge rate automatically, but the starting current of the pump is putting it well over the 100 amps maximum I have set. What I need to do is get the 240vac generator circuit to the charger, and use a balancing transformer to convert to 120 vac at 30amps, or setup a cistern with my 12vdc pump, and use the jet pump on generator to fill the cistern when rainfall has not been sufficient.

Work at Woodhenge

The weekend at Jim Juczak's Woodhenge went well. We helped a couple learn about solar energy by building solar powered LED lighting systems. These units were made up from two 5ah 6vdc lead acid batteries, a 1.5 watt pv panel, and 4 of our 120k mcd super white LED's. We also upgraded a 12vdc AIR 403 wind turbine to 24vdc, and made up custom battery cables. Topped it off with lots of good organic food, and in depth discussion about off-grid living experiences. We also helped Jim get his Woodhenge.Org set up, and he will be posting info there soon. Jim aquired some of our old gear, like a Cruzpro AH meter, and old AC Delco 2500 msw inverter, and will be picking up a Consul propane fridge and an AIR 303 from us soon.

Inverter News

We kept blowing the circuit breaker on the generator when the well pump would kick in (90 amps at 12vdc) while charging the batteries (120 amps at 12vdc). Reset the dip switches for 100 amps of charging, and replaced the 14 gauge extension cord that runs from the generator to the inverter with a 12 gauge cable. Now the cable doesn't get warm either. Hey, some things you have to learn by doing.