Wiring in dual schneider xw's

[zarathust]

Building system with dual ac coupled 6048 xw's. Was told that wiring legs could be off set to offer higher amperage output towards higher drawing appliances on the home's panel. Anybody have experience with this know more about it please let me know.

[Robin]

I do not understand? You want higher current on the backed up circuits? You need a sub panel to route the output of the XW's to. That can be a 100 amp/240 distribution panel. You can stab in whatever sized breakers you want. Just take the circuits you want to back up out of your main distribution panel and hook them up in the sub panel.
Does this answer your question?

[zarathust]

Partly. This system is off grid and my only power source in a new house I'm building with output to a 240 distribution panel right now. As I begin running systems around the house I've found that my heating/air cond system keeps clicking on and off as if its not getting enough power to continue running. I know it draws a bit of current but I think dual conext 6048 with a 48 volt bank should run it no? When I was sizing the system Tom Carpenter mentioned that these inverters might be configured in a way as to accommodate the larger drawing systems as opposed to the smaller inverter I had previous to these. I'm not sure exactly what that entails or if thats the problem really, hoping to find out more about how to achieve best performance. Still learning my way around the off grid, renewable energy world.

[boB]

I'm not sure, but you may be talking about an "autoformer".   What that can do is to take both inverters and basically parallel them for 240 loads when you are not using all the power available from both 120V circuits of the 120/240 V panel.

But I believe these inverters are already 120/240V each and then you don't need an external autoformer...  The inverters themselves take care of that with the transformer that is in there.

boB

[vtmaps]

I know it draws a bit of current but I think dual conext 6048 with a 48 volt bank should run it no?

Maybe.  48 volts, in and of itself, is no guarantee of success.   The bank needs to be able to supply large peak currents.  How large a bank is it and which batteries? 

One other potential problem...  Battery cables and connections.  Think about all the crimps and connections in your battery box... each is a potential point of failure that could cause your symptoms.  Check all connections where DC flows between the battery and the inverter (battery cables, bus bars, shunt, circuit breakers, etc).

You should also check to make sure there is not a bad connection in the AC circuit to the heater/air cond.

--vtMaps

[zarathust]

The battery bank consists of two parallel strings of 8 L16's 380 amp hour each. Units are wired already for 240.  A/c works partly but it draws less wattage than heating. Could be a problem with the heat/ac units themselves, but I had service techs out here for them and they couldn't find anything wrong on that end. Trying to narrow down my options so I know what to remedy.

[vtmaps]

The battery bank consists of two parallel strings of 8 L16's 380 amp hour each. Units are wired already for 240.  A/c works partly but it draws less wattage than heating. Could be a problem with the heat/ac units themselves, but I had service techs out here for them and they couldn't find anything wrong on that end. Trying to narrow down my options so I know what to remedy.

What do you mean "A/c works partly"?  How could the service techs test the unit if they couldn't power it up?

Troubleshooting...  lot's of ways to approach this... depends on your resources... Do you have access (own, borrow or rent) to a generator that could run your heater? 

Do you have good AC and DC voltmeters with which to look for voltage drops? 

Do you have an infrared thermometer with which to look for hot spots in the wiring?

If you are looking for voltage drops or hot spots, you must have current flowing.  If you can't use the heater as a load, you will need to run some other substantial AC load while you are looking.  The load can be on any AC circuit while you are looking at the DC wiring.  The load should be on the heater circuit while you are testing the AC wiring.

--vtMaps

[Halfcrazy]

Do you have a dual XW system now? If so then the 2 XW's should simply be in parallel. If not maybe you are asking if a second XW would give you more power for the 240VAC load??

Ryan

[zarathust]

Have dual XW 6048 wired in parallel. Got 240 running into my panel in the house, have consistent voltage at service in all receptacles in house, all smaller appliances, tools and such run well as is. All wiring connections seem to solid on the batteries and inverter systems. HVAC is a dual purpose heat pump...a/c and heat. A/C function tested while running seems to work well, but heating unit draws higher wattage. Can't keep it running with inverters long enough to test. I would need to try while generator is running but others have said that the inverters may not be configured properly, others point towards the battery bank. I don't seem to get the pass through AC power while the generator is running. Generator starts auto when the heavy heat pump load is engaged but the inverter gets stuck between charging batteries and inverting I don't seem to be able to maintain consistent voltage into the home panel then. I'm rather new to this kind of system so I'm trying to narrow down where my problems may be originating from before I resort to modifying or changing anything drastic.

[Halfcrazy]

I am guessing this Heat Pump has actual Electrical heating elements in it as well. I am also guessing the draw is pretty high. So the XWs can not sustain it from the battery. Now this is another guess but I am also guessing that maybe the XWs are not programmed correctly to match the actual generator and they may be limiting the current through them selves based on that. I would do 2 things:

1- Determine what the actual Amperage or Wattage draw of the heating unit is. Not name plate but Actual..

2- Call Schneider Tech Support and make sure all your AC settings are correct for the generator pass through etc. But only after you have the info from Step 1 and make sure you explain the issue to them. They will want the draw of the heating system I am sure

Ryan

[zarathust]

Ok that makes sense. I tried running the heat pump while AC passing through from generator and nothing of ample draw would run. No pump, no power tools, nothing but lights and such. This seems odd since they've ran before when my smaller magnum was hooked up. Wondered if the conexts were allowing full pass through or not. The heat pump draws about 7000 watts roughly. It ran a bit today but batteries came up under voltage rather quickly, generator starts due to low voltage and the system starts bouncing between inverting, charging, and passing through.  I usually only get a two stage charge completed since a float would cause the generator to run for hours. It's all I have until I can supplement with something more efficient and less expensive than diesel. I imagine that maybe not achieving a full charge may be contributing to the system not sustaining the higher wattage appliances. I'm suspecting that a larger battery bank may be necessary but my budget has been stretched thin already with the house build so I'm trying to make the best of what I have until I can put all the right pieces together.  Thanks for all the info.