I've got a customer that has had repeated arc fault trips on a Classic 200. The ac welder that runs on a circuit energized on by the generator has tripped it. A large floor sander has tripped it. Today I raised the time delay from 4 to 6 and set the sensitivity up to 14. I hope that resolves the problem. The thing that's confusing is that these are ac loads and therefore somewhat isolated from the PV array. Anyone else have similar difficulties with false alarms?
Quote from: Kent0 on December 12, 2011, 07:35:14 PM
I've got a customer that has had repeated arc fault trips on a Classic 200. The ac welder that runs on a circuit energized on by the generator has tripped it. A large floor sander has tripped it. Today I raised the time delay from 4 to 6 and set the sensitivity up to 14. I hope that resolves the problem. The thing that's confusing is that these are ac loads and therefore somewhat isolated from the PV array. Anyone else have similar difficulties with false alarms?
Don't forget that you have to power down and re-power up the Classic for those new settings to take effect.
There are some loads that make it mis-fire. We're working on newer algorithms for this. Detecting arcs is the easy part...
Making sure it doesn't false trip is the hard part.
What happens is that the load from the inverter transfers back through the Classic and to the input and can look like an arc.
Unfortunately, that's part of the price we pay for designing in circuitry to make the efficiency higher.
I hear that the new OB Radian can trip the arc fault as well. Not sure what the sensitivity is though for that to happen.
If it becomes too much of a nuisance, it can be disabled. Hopefully the lower sensitivity and time helps. Please let us know how
that goes if you can, Kent.
boB
boB,
Thanks for the reminder about cycling the power. Very glad to hear your are working on software to identify 60 Hz arcs and ignore them.
Building a cottage in northern Michigan and notice that State Code requires smoke alarms be wired for AC, in each bedroom, hall and main living area but they also require that they are all interconnected so if one goes off they all alert. Battery backup is required on each as well.
Does the interconnection use a two conductor wire between each unit, and what size wire is used? I can provide the AC to each but need to know the type of wire to interconnect. Any advice?
Hi,
This is slightly off topic but since it's safety related I will answer it: use 12 awg, 3-wire Romex and use the red conductor in the 3-wire to interconnect the smoke detectors. You will run a two-wire Romex for power to the first smoke detector, and then you continue with a 3-wire to the next smoke detector, and so on. The red wire will be the interconnect.
The smoke detectors should either be on their own dedicated branch circuit , or be added onto another frequently used branch circuit which is used by occupants on a daily basis so they notice if the breaker is tripped. Note fyi that 2008 NEC requires AFCI -- arc fault -- breakers on all general purpose circuits inside the home that are not wet locations.
Quote from: Lollie25 on December 20, 2011, 01:47:24 AM
Building a cottage in northern Michigan and notice that State Code requires smoke alarms be wired for AC, in each bedroom, hall and main living area but they also require that they are all interconnected so if one goes off they all alert. Battery backup is required on each as well.
Does the interconnection use a two conductor wire between each unit, and what size wire is used? I can provide the AC to each but need to know the type of wire to interconnect. Any advice?