Thanks to boB, Mario, Ryan, and the rest of the crew at Midnite for repairing my Classic! UPS delivered my Classic 150 today. I'm back in business! I hooked it back up and everything works great. I really appreciate the fact that Mario and boB were able to retain all my settings and curves in memory. Made my life a lot easier today. I just mounted it back on the wall and hooked up the cables and it was ready to roll. We've got a little wind now and it's making some power. Much more wind predicted for tonight and tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that. I was going through wind power withdrawals without my Classic.
boB, I noticed in the AUX1 menu, there are now DELAY and HOLD (seconds) settings. What do you recommend that I set those to considering that my AUX1 controls my "Clipper" with the Triac (3 phase SSR) which dumps power to a 3 phase heater/resistor box?
I'm happy to be up and rolling again. Great service from Midnite!
Edward
PS. Thanks for the personalized status name boB! :)
we need a picture of the personalized status screen ;D
Glad to hear you are up and running again! I hope I never let the smoke out of mine, but it's good to know that the Midnite folks are doing "customer service" right.
Here's my personalized Classic... :)
(http://www.key-ideas.com/Classic-Edward.jpg)
Quote from: keyturbocars on May 26, 2011, 09:16:41 PM
boB, I noticed in the AUX1 menu, there are now DELAY and HOLD (seconds) settings. What do you recommend that I set those to considering that my AUX1 controls my "Clipper" with the Triac (3 phase SSR) which dumps power to a 3 phase heater/resistor box?
Glad you're back up and running !!
So, aren't you just using the "DIVERSION SLOW +" OR "PV V TRIGGER +" Aux setting ?? There has always been the DELAY and HOLD adjustments
in the TIME adjustment menu as far as I can remember. You sure you're not seeing things ?
Anyway, for an SSR and diversion I would set these to the lowest time possible. zero and zero is what I would use otherwise
it will be slower to respond and if the HOLD is too long then the turbine may slow down too much. I can never remember
which AUX you are using for battery and which one for turbine though...
The custom name in the status screen will be common to all Classics here soon. There is an 8 byte ID field in the modbus register map for that.
It's just not implemented yet for being displayed on the MNGP but will replace the simple modbus address number, if present.
You can call it FRED if you want to. BTW, you have newest and unreleased code (as of today anyway) so that's why
I wanted yours to be a bit different.... We can tell that isn't quite like the others. Let me know if you see any weirdness.
Consider yourself a guinee pig for this week I guess. I didn't think you'd mind.
boB
Quote from: boB on May 27, 2011, 01:17:18 AM
So, aren't you just using the "DIVERSION SLOW +" OR "PV V TRIGGER +" Aux setting ?? There has always been the DELAY and HOLD adjustments
in the TIME adjustment menu as far as I can remember. You sure you're not seeing things ?
Yes, I am using the "PV V Trigger +" on AUX1. I guess I somehow didn't notice that in the past (DUH!), and I always just had the defaults of 0 in those settings. Not sure how I missed that, or how I totally forgot about it. I must be getting old and senile already. ??? Thankfully, it sounds like 0 seconds was OK for what I'm doing with the 3 phase SSR and homemade Clipper.
Quote
Consider yourself a guinee pig for this week I guess. I didn't think you'd mind.
I don't mind. Is there anything in particular that I should watch out for (areas of changes where there might be some unexpected issues)?
Thanks again for getting my Classic fixed so promptly!
Edward
Quote from: keyturbocars on May 27, 2011, 02:54:12 AM
Quote from: boB on May 27, 2011, 01:17:18 AM
So, aren't you just using the "DIVERSION SLOW +" OR "PV V TRIGGER +" Aux setting ?? There has always been the DELAY and HOLD adjustments
in the TIME adjustment menu as far as I can remember. You sure you're not seeing things ?
Yes, I am using the "PV V Trigger +" on AUX1. I guess I somehow didn't notice that in the past (DUH!), and I always just had the defaults of 0 in those settings. Not sure how I missed that, or how I totally forgot about it. I must be getting old and senile already. ???
Thankfully, it sounds like 0 seconds was OK for what I'm doing with the 3 phase SSR and homemade Clipper.
Quote
Consider yourself a guinee pig for this week I guess. I didn't think you'd mind.
I don't mind. Is there anything in particular that I should watch out for (areas of changes where there might be some unexpected issues)?
Thanks again for getting my Classic fixed so promptly!
Edward
I can't tell you what to not expect... (Does that mean that I CAN tell you what TO expect ??)
Old and Senile ? I guess that we must be pretty much alike....
They're coming to take me away, heee hee, haw haw, ho ho...
boB
OK. I'll keep my eye out for any unusual behavior with my Classic. The only weirdness I see right now is with the weather and winds. They keep shifting around so much, that they are not very useful for power generation.
Edward
boB,
I've got some weirdness going on. We now have some winds that are around 7-10mph and in a steady direction. They are enough to reach the 62V cut in point of my wind curve. However, when the Classic "clicks" on as the IN volts passes 62V, my Classic is making some weird "beeping" sounds (like I talked with you about on the phone just prior to my Classic "popping"). I think you mentioned that the inductors are what might be creating those faint beeping sounds. Anyway, I was just watching the IN voltage go up to 75V or so as the wind was increasing a little, and no power is being generated. All I get is the funny faint "beeping" sounds. 0.0A and 0000 watts. Weird.
I already tried to change to a different wind curve, and that did nothing. I am now going to try to shut down and "reboot" my Classic and see what happens. Before I did that, I wanted to share with you what was happening and get your mental juices flowing as to what might be happening. Yesterday, we had a little wind, and the Classic was behaving normally and as expected. Then the winds died down and we didn't really have much useful wind until now. Even now, the winds are not very good. 2mph on the weather station at the moment. 10 minute average winds are only 6.8mph. Anyway, not much wind to speak of, but occasionally it has gotten closer to 10mph and the Classic has cut in.
Edward
Dumb thought but the charging set points did not get deleted and the Classic is thinking it is in absorb? What does it say in the bottom right of the screen?
Hi Ryan,
When the cut in voltage is reached and it clicks on, it shows BULK mode at the bottom. Although there is no charging going on.
I am shut down for now. The wind started to pick up as I was standing in front of my Classic with the weather station console in my hand. Winds started getting into the teens and I was carefully watching my IN voltage. Voltage were climbing past 90V (with BULK mode shown but NO charging goign on 0.0A and 0000 watts). I immediately shut down my turbine. I'm glad that I did, because then the winds starting blowing in the 20's and I am afraid I would have overvoltaged if the IN voltage kept climbing as quickly as it was. I don't know if my AUX1 Clipper would have kept things under control. I was a little too chicken (careful) to just let it run up while the winds were gusting in the mid 20's. I might wait until the winds die down and go back and play with it a little and set my AUX1 voltage trip point to something really low and make sure AUX1 is really working right. Something is definitely not right, because the Classic is not charging and it is making those faint beeping sounds like I heard before my Classic "popped".
The only idea I have is to go back to an older version of software. At this point, I can't tell if the issues are software/firmware or hardware related.
Edward
Well I am a little lost as well it did work though after you got it back correct? It knows there is power there as it is waking up and turning on just not loading it down. i will alert boB and he can work with you to trouble shoot this.
Some more info... winds are now blowing in the 20's and gusting close to 30mph at times. Great wind for power, but not great for careless testing. I have my turbine shut down. I did set my AUX1 trip voltage to around 80V and it was working, but the Classic was just "beeping" and not charging at all. Again, it was showing BULK but with 0.0A and 0000 watts.
Wind showing 29mph right now. Again, apart from a hardware problem which I can't do anything about, the only thing I can think of is to revert back to an older version of the software and be very careful with the wind curve editor (no 2 points with same amp setting).
I'll wait to see what you guys think.
Edward
Quote from: Halfcrazy on May 27, 2011, 03:51:40 PM
Well I am a little lost as well it did work though after you got it back correct? It knows there is power there as it is waking up and turning on just not loading it down. i will alert boB and he can work with you to trouble shoot this.
Yes, yesterday afternoon when I hooked it all up we had a little bit of wind and everything worked normally. This morning there were some light winds and it was charging. I haven't done anything to it. It just all of a sudden changed to where it will not charge any more (and started making those odd beeping sounds).
boB asked about weirdness.... ask and you shall receive! ;D
Edward
Edward
Go ahead and try reverting back to the older Classic software and see what happens I am curious about the beeping as the Classic beeps when it is in Arc Fault or Ground Fault maybe you can give me a call at 207-416-2006 and I can help make sure both are disabled although it should show arc fault or ground fault in the display?
Ryan,
I need to be away for the next couple hours or so. I'll check back when I'm back. I'll just leave my turbine shut down. No messages of ground fault or arc fault on the display. I did remove the GFP jumper yesterday since I am now running with a traditionally grounded system. However, I did that when I first installed my Classic and it worked normally until just recently. Not sure if that could have anything to do with it.
Need to go... will check back later...
Edward
Hmmm... Well weird it is !!
But where is the beeping coming from ?? From the Classic or the MNGP Remote ?? If it is the Remote,
then it should say why it is beeping (Ground or Arc fault) in which case we can do something about
very easily. If beeping is coming from the Classic, that would be the inductors because they are
most likely to be the closest thing to a speaker in the Classic, besides the speaker in the MNGP.
Will be waiting to see if the software fixes things or not.
boB
OK. I'm back. Took longer than I expected. I homeschool my kids and they were all waiting for me earlier. In my mind, when I encounter a problem, I just want to follow through until the end. MY brain goes into troubleshooting mode and it doesn't want to shut down. I have to constantly fight my "selfish" urge to finish what I am doing or work on my owns things. Anyway, I needed to force myself to prioritize and give the kids the attention they needed. Sometimes I have to pretend like I'm a teacher in front of a big classroom... I can't just run out or cancel class just because I have something I want to work on! :)
I will now try to revert back to an older version of software. But in my troubleshooting mindset, I keep thinking "what changed" from BEFORE (when it was working normally) to AFTER (when it stopped charging and started "beeping" at me). Nothing changed that I had any influence over. The only thing that might have changed was that we were getting a little more wind. So, with that in mind, I keep thinking that it shouldn't be the software. It was working yesterday and earlier this morning. Then all of a sudden it stopped working. But, since this is such an easy thing to try (software change), I'll go for it and hope for the best!! Seems like it might be something that changed (failed) with hardware. But why?!?!?! I sure hope I'm wrong. As far as the beeping, it sure sounds like it's coming from within the Classic but then again my hearing is not the best. I have ringing (tinnitus) in my ears all the time from not being careful around loud things in the past. Maybe my Classic is mad :-[ at me for sendig it away and cussing me out (bleep, beep, bleepity, bleep...). I hope it forgives me and starts behaving again soon! ;D
After I get a snack, I'll work on updating the software.... winds are calmer now (teens), so I'll be more comfortable releasing the brake and letting the turbine fly.
I'll report back later what I discover.
Edward
EDIT: My wife just told me it's about time for dinner, so much for my plans! I'll have to do the update a little later! Can't a man get any time to spend with his Classic!?!?! :)
OK. I just reverted back to the 4-18-11 version of the firmware and updated my Classic. Everything went smoothly with the update (or should I say "downdate", since I'm reverting back).
Winds are only averaging around 11mph now, so it was perfect timing to do some testing. Same problem. I released the brake and watched the IN voltage climb up. When the cut in voltage of 62V was reached the Classic did it's characteristic "click" to turn on. I saw 0005 watts for a split second and then the Classic started "beeping". Once again, BULK MPPT displayed and 0000 watts and 0.0A charging.
boB, I paid attention to the beeping sound and it's definitely coming from inside the Classic. When I put my ear over the MNGP, it was not the source. When I put my ear over the upper outlet vent on the Classic, it was definitely coming from inside the Classic.
I'd guess it is some sort of hardware failure. If so, then the big question is WHY!?!? I sure hope I'm wrong!!!
Edward
Well it sure sounds hardware related but I am still at a loss on the beeping the inductors usually make a noise I likin to a 56k modem and usually only under power. Can you go to the Main Menu and scroll over to tweaks and then hit the Right Soft key once and disable arc fault and ground fault for the fun of it? Maybe you could try to switch Lo Max as well it may be on now so try it off or the other way around.
You are right Ryan about the beeping sound being similar to an old modem, but in this case it's more of a constant frequency screech/beep instead of the modems' constantly changing frequency sound.
Earlier in the day, when I was experimenting/troubleshooting, I went into TWEAKS and turned OFF the GFP even though I had removed the jumper earlier. No change. However, as you suggested, I just went in and also turned off the Arc Fault protection and the LMAX. I released the turbine brake (winds around 10mph) and now the beeping stopped! However, apart from the Classic being quiet now, everything else is the same. Classic turns on at cut in voltage and IN voltage climbs, but there is no power being produced. Again, BULK MPPT displayed with 0.0A and 0000 watts. So, turning off the Arc Fault protection and the LMAX did something to stop the beeping.
Hopefully a helpful clue that will lead to a happy ending! :)
Edward
Ok I will wait for boB to chime in but it seems we will have to have the Classic revisit Mario.
I guess my Classic likes Mario more than it likes me. :(
One more clue, but I couldn't repeat it. I went into the wind curve editor and loaded a different wind graph. When I pushed ENTER and then pushed STATUS, I watched as the IN voltage went past the cut in voltage, but this time it showed 0005 watts for a little while and then 0000 watts and the status switched to RESTING even though the voltage was well above the cut in voltage.
When I braked the turbine and then released it to try to repeat this, it would not do it again. It would just "click" on and BULK MPPT would display with no charging. Not sure what was going on with RESTING being displayed even though the IN voltage was well above the cut in point. But that was just one isolated incident. All the other times, the Classic clicks on at cut in and displays the BULK status (with no charging occuring).
Edward
PS. Another point to mention is that while the Classic is resting (with turbine braked and no power coming in from the turbine), the Classic displays 34.7V or so on the IN voltage. So this is different than the 0.0V IN I had after it failed last time.
It almost sounds like there may be an issue with the current sense circuitry maybe a bad component from the pop before that was stressed? Hopefully we can get mario to be mean to your Classic so it will want to return home for good ;D
Quote from: Halfcrazy on May 27, 2011, 10:02:55 PM
It almost sounds like there may be an issue with the current sense circuitry maybe a bad component from the pop before that was stressed? Hopefully we can get mario to be mean to your Classic so it will want to return home for good ;D
YES! Tell that Mario to stop sweet talking my Classic!!! ;D
Quote from: keyturbocars on May 27, 2011, 09:59:29 PM
PS. Another point to mention is that while the Classic is resting (with turbine braked and no power coming in from the turbine), the Classic displays 34.7V or so on the IN voltage. So this is different than the 0.0V IN I had after it failed last time.
That is normal of course and probably means that your Classic is not "Broken" broken, as in blown broken.
So when it turns on at 62 Volts and you KNOW you are getting some wind behind that turbine and that it
"should" be charging, maybe it actually is ! Except that without the Classic knowing what that output
current (and thus, the power), it can't raise the input voltage because it thinks it is 0 output current.
Try this... When it does turn on and there is wind, go to STATUS screen two and see if it registers
any INPUT current. That reading comes from another current sensor so if it IS an output current
sense problem, maybe the input will show something.
Next, take the cover off the Classic and (with its power off), check to make sure that the
top control board is seated and pushed down and connected to the power board underneath
it good. Maybe it got loose during shipping ?? You know how well them UPS guys can treat
other people's stuff.... Also make sure as best as you can just view it, that there are no pins
that aren't obviously sticking out and not plugged in or something.
If the top board is plugged in good then those white nylon snap in standoffs should be well
in place. Won't hurt to check this out at least.
From what I am hearing, like the input voltage isn't going to zero and the relay clicks, etc,
it sounds like it might be something real simple.
One more thing as far as the beeping goes... Since the input voltage is sitting fairly close
to the battery voltage all the time, if the Classic IS actually outputting current to the batteries,
it may be that the "Low Max" software is coming into play and that might be making it
beep. To verify this, go into the TWEAKS menu, then to MORE (or BITS maybe), and set the
LMX bit too OFF. If it was the Low Max making the beeping, now it shouldn't
beep anymore. Maybe it would be beeping before but when you have more and more
output current and the Classic KNOWS it has more output current, it raises the input
voltage and the beeping stops because the Classic won't allow it to stay near
the battery voltage. Low Max is there mainly for solar anyway so you don't really
need that feature for wind. The input Voltage MAY go up a volt or two during resting
with LMX set to off so don't worry about that. In fact, you may see the input voltage
go up slightly if the output current goes up in your case.
Please try this and let us know what happens.
Thanks !!!
boB
Quote from: boB on May 27, 2011, 10:51:24 PM
Try this... When it does turn on and there is wind, go to STATUS screen two and see if it registers
any INPUT current. That reading comes from another current sensor so if it IS an output current
sense problem, maybe the input will show something.
Dumb question... how do I get to the "STATUS screen two"? This is something that I am not familiar with, so could you tell me how to get to it.
Quote
One more thing as far as the beeping goes... Since the input voltage is sitting fairly close
to the battery voltage all the time, if the Classic IS actually outputting current to the batteries,
it may be that the "Low Max" software is coming into play and that might be making it
beep. To verify this, go into the TWEAKS menu, then to MORE (or BITS maybe), and set the
LMX bit too OFF. If it was the Low Max making the beeping, now it shouldn't
beep anymore. Maybe it would be beeping before but when you have more and more
output current and the Classic KNOWS it has more output current, it raises the input
voltage and the beeping stops because the Classic won't allow it to stay near
the battery voltage. Low Max is there mainly for solar anyway so you don't really
need that feature for wind. The input Voltage MAY go up a volt or two during resting
with LMX set to off so don't worry about that. In fact, you may see the input voltage
go up slightly if the output current goes up in your case.
You are exactly right on this one. When I turned off the LMX, the beeping did stop. I'll check the other things you mentioned too. Right now we are "babysitting" 4 young boys (on top of my own 7 kids) and I am hanging around upstairs to make sure that they don't tear the house down! :o Let me know how to access STATUS screen two and I'll check that out too. Great idea on checking to make sure that the board is seated and everything is solidly connected. Thanks for the ideas.
Edward
Well, to get to the other status screens, hit the STATUS button to cycle through the screens. Some older versions, and maybe
the one in your unit now, cycle through when you hit the right arrow from the main status screen.
ya better watch those kids though !!
boB
Quote from: boB on May 27, 2011, 11:31:17 PM
Well, to get to the other status screens, hit the STATUS button to cycle through the screens. Some older versions, and maybe
the one in your unit now, cycle through when you hit the right arrow from the main status screen.
ya better watch those kids though !!
boB
Thanks for info, boB. Yes, I better keep an eye out. If they got near my Classic, then it would REALLY be dead! Very active (wild)! My kids can get excited and wild at times, but nothing like this. My kids know better than to be destructive. Also... sitting still???? What's that!?!?!? We watched a movie (or tried to) and they were running around doing stuff the whole time. Very relaxing... NOT! :-[ Glad that my kids know better and behave differently.
Edward
I'm sure your kids are just little angels...
SO, one more thing I thought of to look at while the Classic is resting.
In main STATUS, hold down the LEFT ARROW key and then tap the ENTER key and release.
There will be some numbers there. Ignore the one on the very top middle, the lower left
and the lower right numbers.
So, you will be left with 4 numbers under the IN and OUT column headings. What are those
4 numbers ?? They should normally sitting somewhere around 40 to 45... Maybe say, 35 to 50
max, in that range.
Back to your regularly scheduled fracus.
boB
I survived. :) Our guests are gone and now my kids are off to bed too, so I have some peace and quiet.
OK, I checked the STATUS two screen and it showed 0.0A under the IN and 0.0A under the BAT. This was while the turbine was spinning and IN voltage was running in the 80+V range.
Next, I powered down the Classic and took off the cover. I checked to make sure the top circuit board was seatly properly over the snap on white nylon retaining studs. Everything looked solid. Even so, I carefully checked around. Everything look great an all pin connectors that I could see looked solidly connected. After poking around, I closed up the Classic and checked it out again. Released the turbine brake and let it roll. Same problem. Nothing changed. 0.0A on Status screens one and two - even though the wind is blowing in the low teens and the IN voltage is bouncing against my AUX1 Clipper setting of 88V or so.
I checked those 4 numbers and they were varying in this range:
(38-44) (42-43)
(39-45) (39-45)
Any other ideas?
I get a feeling my Classic is lovesick for Mario. :-[
Edward
Quote from: keyturbocars on May 28, 2011, 01:14:36 AM
I checked those 4 numbers and they were varying in this range:
(38-44) (42-43)
(39-45) (39-45)
Any other ideas?
Edward
Yes, but those numbers look good to me.
Now try looking at those numbers when the wind is blowing and the Classic is not resting (BULK MPPT)
If the current sense is working, the "-" numbers (I think those 2), should go down with increasing wind
and the "+" numbers should go up with increasing wind.
Also, do you have another way to see if the Classic is pulling or putting out current into the battery or drawing
current from the turbine when the Classic is running at its 62 Volt input ?? Current clamp meter maybe ??
battery monitor connected to a shunt ?
It doesn't seem like the Classic is blown though. I will admit that this is pretty weird though.
boB
I do have a clamp on ammeter. I'll check those things you suggested and let you know what I find out.
Edward
When I was checking those 4 numbers, the wind was a fairly steady 12-13mph and this is what I saw:
(38-44) (41-42)
(40-45) (39-46)
Seemed pretty much the same as when I was checking with the turbine braked.
Something else sort of weird happened... while I was watching the IN voltage bouncing off my 88V AUX1 Clipper setting, I heard a click. The status changed from BULK MPPT to Resting. Weird. Wind was still in the lower teens and the IN voltage was in the 80+V range.
I checked the DC cables coming into the Classic (from turbine rectifier output) and the DC cables going from the Classic to the battery bank. Both ways showed 0A even when the Classic was in BULK MPPT mode.
Edward
Quote from: keyturbocars on May 28, 2011, 01:53:03 AM
When I was checking those 4 numbers, the wind was a fairly steady 12-13mph and this is what I saw:
(38-44) (41-42)
(40-45) (39-46)
Seemed pretty much the same as when I was checking with the turbine braked.
Something else sort of weird happened... while I was watching the IN voltage bouncing off my 88V AUX1 Clipper setting, I heard a click. The status changed from BULK MPPT to Resting. Weird. Wind was still in the lower teens and the IN voltage was in the 80+V range.
If the cut in voltage set on the Classic is set to 62 Volts, how can the Classic input be sitting at 88 Volts (while in MPPT status) unless the power curve tells the Classic to run at 88 Volts without putting out, or without THINKING it's putting out any current ? The input voltage doesn't rise unless the curve tells it to rise and that can't happen without output current being read by the Classic. If the Classic doesn't think it has any output current in wind track mode, the input voltage to the Classic should be sitting at the cut in (0 Amp) voltage set point for 90 seconds, at which point it should go back to Resting until the input voltage rises again. Isn't cut in set to 62 Volts for your turbine ?
If the Classic even THINKS that it is not putting out any power, it will turn off after 90 seconds and go back to resting. It appears, from the numbers you are showing, as well as from the amp clamp meter readings, that the Classic is NOT putting anything into the batteries or taking anything in from the turbine.
Quote from: keyturbocars on May 28, 2011, 01:53:03 AM
I checked the DC cables coming into the Classic (from turbine rectifier output) and the DC cables going from the Classic to the battery bank. Both ways showed 0A even when the Classic was in BULK MPPT mode.
Edward
Remember that just because the Classic SAYS "MPPT" doesn't mean it is putting out any current even if it's not broken. It will do sit at 0 Amps for about 90 seconds before turning off and going back to resting. One COULD have just enough wind that the input voltage can rise just above cut in voltage, turn on, (show MPPT), and go back down again and sit at that cut in voltage and 0 Amps... But the input voltage would only go to the cut in voltage set point and sit there until the Classic went back to resting and you hear another "click" of the relay turning off.
Why was it going to 88 Volts and the Aux 1 clipping ?? Can we see your power curve ? Maybe that will give us a clue ?
boB
boB,
My cut in voltage is set at 62V. The reason the Classic was sitting at 88V at times (or bouncing off that limit when the winds were high enough) was because I lowered my AUX1 PV V+ trigger voltage down to around 88V. Earlier today, when the problem occured, I was seeing how the Classic was not loading down the turbine and the IN voltage would climb very quickly. I didn't want to risk having my Classic blown by overvoltage. I set my Clipper limit to 88V purely as a safety precaution to protect the Classic.
I've tried a couple different wind curves with no difference. One of the curves I used for a long time before my Classic "popped". In other words, the curve worked for months before, so I don't know why it would not work now. Here's the curve I am using now and the one that I was using successfully in the past for an extended time period:
(http://www.key-ideas.com/Wind-Curve.jpg)
As you can see, it's pretty linear. The first point is (0A,62V) and the last point is (88A,125V). Up until recently, I had my AUX1 Clipper set to 118V to 120V. Today, I changed my AUX1 Clipper setting to 86V to 88V just to be safe.
The thing that my mind keeps going back to is the fact that everything worked normally yesterday. This morning, I came down to check on the Classic earlier in the morning. Everything was working normally. Then later this morning it was "beeping" at me and doing the rising IN voltage with no charging amps. I didn't change anything. If nothing changed, then why would it all of a sudden start doing this???? This is the mystery we are trying to solve. Obviously, something changed. That's why my brain just keeps coming back to some sort of hardware failure. It's the only thing that makes sense, but I sure hope I am wrong or that I am forgetting or overlooking some vital key point that would explain all this.
It's 1AM and I'm about to call it a day. I'll check in tomorrow morning and see if you had any visions in a dream that might give us a clue as to what going on with my Classic! ;D
Thanks for your help,
Edward
Having a DUH!! moment as I DO remember this curve !! DUh!!!
Anyhow, it would appear that the Classic is not loading down the turbine and usually is caused by the switcher portion
not switching... One of the causes I have seen for this was the top control board not being plugged in all the way
or a pin that was bent and sticking out, usually on the top of the circuit board... But your unit was working before
so the pin sticking out could not be the problem. Looks like something else has come loose or something like that.
I will talk with Ryan and see if we should maybe ship you a new unit. Maybe just the bottom part so you still keep
your curves. You saved them in some of those "MEM"s, right ?? If so, you can pull them out of the MNGP and they
will go back to the Classic and then Bob's your uncle.
(You'll notice I didn't say "boB's" your uncle.)
I'm sorry your having this trouble. We evidently didn't fix your unit completely or something.
I sure wanna find out what we missed !! (but it was working !! Hmmmmm....... puzzled look)
boB
Hi boB, Was working outside most of the day. Just got back to my computer...
I do have the different wind curves saved in MEM's and I've got handwritten notes here reminding me about the different curves.
Would I just use my existing cover (with MNGP) of my existing 150 and screw it onto a new Classic (lower half)?
Along with my wind curves, would all my other settings also be saved by doing this (AUX settings, Limits, Charge settings, etc)?
I could just run through all my settings on my existing Classic and take notes for resetting a new Classic, but it would be cool to be able to retain all those setings and curves, if possible. More important is to have a reliable unit, so I could easily go through all that and reprogram (including all the wind curves).
Thanks again for the help! Hope you didn't have any nightmares last night about me and my Classic! :D
Edward
Edward
I have issued a new RMA and we will be advance shipping a new 150 You can use the existing MNGP and it should save some of its settings I am not sure of witch ones but it will save the wind graphs. Again I apologize for this it seems that maybe there was a week part that got hurt during the pop and it was ok enough to pass testing and it worked for a day? Seems like in the future when we have a blown up unit and we repair it we should run it hard for 4-5 hours maybe and these things may show up or they may not either ???
Aux settings, kW-Hours and charge settings will be lost unfortunately. Some day we will be able
to clone settings. Or a 3rd party application can do this (hint to all you 3rd party developers !)
But for now, you will have to re-do most of that. The wind curves can stay in your MNGP though.
Wind curves CAN be transferred from one MNGP to another BTW. Easiest way is to plug one
MNGP into the main MNGP port on the Classic and a second one into the middle (slave) port.
Then, as you recall memories on one MNGP it will magically appear in the second MNGP
and then you can go to the MEM screen and save them individually that way.
But some day you can actually read the settings from Classic and/or MNGP and clone them or
save them to disk for future use. That's kind of cool !
boB
OK. Sounds good Ryan and boB.
I can remove my old Classic and install/wire up the new Classic on the wall. Then I could use my HP power supply to power up the old Classic. That way, I can go through menu by menu and duplicate my settings. I might sift through my wind curves and dump most of them, and just reprogram a few curves into the new Classic that are worth keeping. It won't be so bad to transfer the information manually - especially if I have the 2 of them side by side. When that's all done, I'll ship the old one back for investigation in the Engineering Lav and the further advancement of science. :)
Thanks again for all the help!
Edward
I'm up and running again! ;D My new Classic arrived around 4PM today. Good day to arrive too. It has been windy here today with winds peaking at 37mph and averaging in the 20's. It's simmering down a little now, but it's supposed to be windy into the night. Great time for me to get up and running again and put my new Classic 150 to the test.
boB, as I was programming in some of my wind curves, I noticed something in the wind editor that I didn't notice before. I was manually entering in a couple of my wind curves. I decided that only 2 of them were worth saving anyway. Well, I had both Classics powered up and I was just copying over the (V,A) points into my new Classic. When I went to MEM and SAVE then it seems to save that latest curve to all the MEM locations. I tried again and it did the same thing. I was using the wind editor as I always did before, so I'm not sure why it kept saving the latest curve to all the MEM locations (and would overwrite the other curve I saved in a different MEM location).
Thanks boB and Ryan for getting me a new Classic 150! Thanks also for giving me a cool Midnite battery state of charge meter!
I appreciate the great service!
Edward
Quote from: keyturbocars on May 28, 2011, 07:41:26 PM
...for investigation in the Engineering Lav ...
It will be interesting to see what the Engineering La
b finds; I don't need to know about investigations in the Engineering La
v.
Keith
Quote from: keyturbocars on June 02, 2011, 10:20:59 PM
boB, as I was programming in some of my wind curves, I noticed something in the wind editor that I didn't notice before. I was manually entering in a couple of my wind curves. I decided that only 2 of them were worth saving anyway. Well, I had both Classics powered up and I was just copying over the (V,A) points into my new Classic. When I went to MEM and SAVE then it seems to save that latest curve to all the MEM locations. I tried again and it did the same thing. I was using the wind editor as I always did before, so I'm not sure why it kept saving the latest curve to all the MEM locations (and would overwrite the other curve I saved in a different MEM location).
Edward
Hmmmm.... Not sure about that MEM thing. Will look now. I didn't touch any of that code AFAIK
Yes, it will be interesting to see what went wrong with the old unit. I suspect a bad connection though.
boB
Edward
We have tested this in the Lav and can not re create this. Can you try the old MNGP that you have and see if that does the same thing or did you load older MNGP code into that one?
Hey Guys,
Been working outside all day. Ryan, I've got my old Classic all packed up and ready to ship back (plan to give it to our mail lady in the morning). Plus, I managed to do something to my old HP power supply and it stopped working. I had it standing up on it's end yesterday while I was using it, and then later it tipped over on the concrete floor. After it hit, it stopped working. Thankfully that was after I finished powering my old Classic and transferring over my settings. Anyway, all that to say that it would not be convenient for me to try to unpack and power up my old Classic now. Maybe I was just doing something weird yesterday. I skipped dinner and was a bit in a hurry to get things hooked up while the wind was still blowing. I wanted to get some testing time in before I went to bed to make sure everything was working properly. I didn't do anything with the old MNGP on the new Classic. I'll have to play with the wind editor another time. Maybe I was just seeing things yesterday. Sorry if I got you going on a wild goose chase.
I'll let you know if I still have problems with the Classic MEM. Maybe the problem is just with my own personal MEM! :) By the way, the Classic worked great last night. Nice to be back in business again. It's calm again now, but now I'm ready for the next winds that comes along.
Edward
EDIT: OK guys, something does appear to be different. Either that or I am really making myself look dumb here. :P I just played around with the wind editor a little more. If I make a change to a wind curve and then press Enter, then it saves those changes to all MEM locations 1-9. If I edit a wind curve and then click MEM and scroll to a particular MEM # and then push SAVE, it saves that curve to all MEM locations 1-9. When I go back and check MEM 1 - 9 and push RECALL, then they are all the same. So, either something has changed, or I am doing something different and incorrectly trying to save curves. In any case, it's not a big deal at all, as I really only need one curve in there anyway at any one time.
Edward, this MEM thing is extremely weird !
I didn't play too much with that particular MNGP and I will have to look at a couple others from production just to make sure.
When you hit ENTER, it doesn't save the curve to ANY memories in the MNGP, it just tells the Classic to remember the curve
in its non-vomitable memory, which is separate from the MNGP/Remote MEMs... So after that, whenever you go
back into the wind graph editor from another menu or whatever, it reads the curve from the Classic itself... Not the MEM.
When you go to a MEM and hit RECALL, it recalls that curve into the display and sends it immediately to the Classic but the
Classic won't remember if it is powered off and on again unless the ENTER button was pressed and the message "DATA
SAVED" or whatever it says.
But you've had a Classic for a while now and are familiar with it, so I'm sure there must be something wrong there.
Now to figure out what it is. Why is it you that has to have these problems ?? Yeah... That's it ! It MUST be you !
We'll hopefully figure out more this weekend. You must be starting to get some good solar over on that side of
the mountains about now, right ?
boB
Yes, Bob. I think the common denominator with all these problems is clearly.... ME! :)
The way you describe the wind curve editor behavior with ENTER and MEM recall is the way it used to work with my old Classic. Something is different now. Like I said, not a big deal for me. I really only need one curve loaded at a time anyway.
Yes, today is supposed to be 85F and tomorrow I think I saw 89F in the forecast. I spent all day cutting some alfalfa yesterday trying to take advantage of some of this solar radiation for hay drying!
Edward
Making some great wind power today. My Classic has registered around 23 kwh so far today with the wind averaging around 18-20mph.
By the way, I'm thinking that the kwh power shown on the Status screen is recorded for the times between sunrise and sunset? I'm guessing this is the way it works, because it seems like the Classic resets the kwh to 0.0 near sunset time.
Glad to be back in action with my Classic!!
Edward
Quote from: keyturbocars on June 08, 2011, 01:56:14 AM
Making some great wind power today. My Classic has registered around 23 kwh so far today with the wind averaging around 18-20mph.
By the way, I'm thinking that the kwh power shown on the Status screen is recorded for the times between sunrise and sunset? I'm guessing this is the way it works, because it seems like the Classic resets the kwh to 0.0 near sunset time.
Glad to be back in action with my Classic!!
Edward
Glad you are making some energy again.
For wind or hydro, the Classic will reset the kW-Hours and accumulate them into the total kW-Hours once every 24 Hours. It just depends on when you started the Classic as to when that happens. This will eventually happen sometime during the middle of the night or be selectable.
boB
OK, that makes sense. I must have cycled the power on the Classic the evening before, and it reset the kW-hrs 24 hours later.
Edward
Quote from: keyturbocars on June 08, 2011, 11:28:56 AM
OK, that makes sense. I must have cycled the power on the Classic the evening before, and it reset the kW-hrs 24 hours later.
Edward
The Classic will eventually have a "Force New Day" bit or something where you can transfer the daily log
to the accumulated log and THEN you can turn the power off so you don't lose it.
It may actually already have that bit in there but there isn't a menu item for it if there is.
boB