Today, Wednesday, 29/11. Beware if you’re connected to the CDE “grid” that the voltage is spiking up and down, between 65 volts and 180 on lines that should be 120 volts. This will kill your electronics if you don’t UNPLUG THEM. CDE says they’re aware of the problem.
- Thread starter Bob Boyd
- Start date
Sosua power problems
I had that happen when I lived in Florida. The 20KV line was shorting causing the transformer to give off the voltage swings that you're seeing. It's dangerous for anybody close to the short.
They are similar in results just different way of getting there.. surge protectors divert excess power so epuipment doesn’t get fried from over voltage ..voltage regulator cleans up dirty power to make it more stable 120/220 so your equipment will run normally...
Within the limits of the regulators specifications. Such wild ranges? Probably not in spec...
In a word. No, they are not. And they really are not similar.
A regulator is intended to boost or to cut the voltage to maintain a stable voltage.
A simple surge protector can only protect against high voltage spikes which can cause potential damage and does nothing else to regulate the voltage when it is low (or high) unless the surge protector is also a voltage regulator/ surge protector combination.
This one on Amazon is good https://www.amazon.com/APC-LE1200-Automatic-Voltage-Regulator/dp/B00009RA60 but you also need it plugged into a quality surge protector (not a power strip). Plug in your computer, microwave, TVs, phone chargers, modems & routers into the regulator then the regulator into a surge protector then into the wall. https://www.amazon.com/APC-11-Outle...512001802&sr=1-3&keywords=apc+surge+protector.
You may need to buy several of these combinations for different locations.
Refrigerators & Washing Machines, should be OK unless they are fancy electronic Samsung models.
LED light bulbs also should be better equipped to handle line fluctuations and if you have switched every light in your house and yard you are wasting electricity ( and they are reasonable and available for can, flood and track lights too).
Most places don’t have found either here.. so if you add surge protector here you will have to add ground
Edenorte at it again.
North coast east of Sosua.
I'm solar but with the shorter days I can not get a battery charge to last all night. So when they get low, the inverter switches over to Edenorte in pass thru mode so I'm not charging the batteries. If no grid then the generator starts and does charge the batteries. All should be good?
The last 3 mornings at around 4:30 am we are switched to Edenorte. Then the power goes out and back on after the inverter delay of 3 minutes. This happens several times with a few minutes between. Not out long enough for the generator to start and if it did it would be cycling on/off/on/off since...
... I checked my meter and saw Edenorte going from 205V to 235V and back down/up/down taking about 2 seconds. Not hitting the low or high every time. My inverter is set to cut out/on the grid at 210V with the delay as mentioned. These fast changes is just enough to scramble my inverters brain so does not give us the last few amps set in reserve out of our batteries. While watching the meter, I could hear the inverter relays clicking. Not something you want going on too long but at least my appliances and electronics are safer.
Hit the start for generator and killed the grid breaker that is still off. Generator charged batteries in just over an hour and shut down.
I love this type of "thing" @ 4:30 am and ... the lovely smell of diesel in the air. lol.
Suns up and solar going to work. Hot coffee anyone?
North coast east of Sosua.
I'm solar but with the shorter days I can not get a battery charge to last all night. So when they get low, the inverter switches over to Edenorte in pass thru mode so I'm not charging the batteries. If no grid then the generator starts and does charge the batteries. All should be good?
The last 3 mornings at around 4:30 am we are switched to Edenorte. Then the power goes out and back on after the inverter delay of 3 minutes. This happens several times with a few minutes between. Not out long enough for the generator to start and if it did it would be cycling on/off/on/off since...
... I checked my meter and saw Edenorte going from 205V to 235V and back down/up/down taking about 2 seconds. Not hitting the low or high every time. My inverter is set to cut out/on the grid at 210V with the delay as mentioned. These fast changes is just enough to scramble my inverters brain so does not give us the last few amps set in reserve out of our batteries. While watching the meter, I could hear the inverter relays clicking. Not something you want going on too long but at least my appliances and electronics are safer.
Hit the start for generator and killed the grid breaker that is still off. Generator charged batteries in just over an hour and shut down.
I love this type of "thing" @ 4:30 am and ... the lovely smell of diesel in the air. lol.
Suns up and solar going to work. Hot coffee anyone?
DR Solar, Sounds like your solar storage system is undersized for the environment it is currently in. Those voltage fluctuations when there is grid power cause all kinds of issues.
Edenorte is doing a lot of work out our way in Cabarete. They tell us that power will improve. I never believe them.
Edenorte is doing a lot of work out our way in Cabarete. They tell us that power will improve. I never believe them.
For the 3 or so months being 4 hours short of battery juice to run a few night lights is not worth another bank of 8 batteries and being new and combined with the 3 older banks would not work well.
I'll watch the grid and see if it stabilizes and if not I'll keep them disconnected and let the generator keep the lights on and charge the batteries. Only an hours worth of fuel and well worth it.
Brown outs Again?
Outside of Sosua.
From a previous post: "I checked my meter and saw Edenorte going from 205V to 235V and back down/up/down taking about 2 seconds."
For about 24 hours Edenorte power has been very dirty and playing havoc on my inverter. When on them, I notice mostly that my portable fan RPMs change and at times as if it is going to stop. Some lights flicker too. Really deep brown-outs.
When on solar/battery/generator I don't have the problem at all so thinking it's Edenorte. At least I think it is Edenorte? (or I may have a bad connection?)
Anyone else having this problem?
Thanks.
Outside of Sosua.
From a previous post: "I checked my meter and saw Edenorte going from 205V to 235V and back down/up/down taking about 2 seconds."
For about 24 hours Edenorte power has been very dirty and playing havoc on my inverter. When on them, I notice mostly that my portable fan RPMs change and at times as if it is going to stop. Some lights flicker too. Really deep brown-outs.
When on solar/battery/generator I don't have the problem at all so thinking it's Edenorte. At least I think it is Edenorte? (or I may have a bad connection?)
Anyone else having this problem?
Thanks.
New main cables.
Our electrician got here this PM. He is very... very busy.
Edenorte is still replacing the main lines for the Sosua and "outer" areas. The Volts are all over the place. His calls are for mostly inverters that stopped working needing a simple nudge or to the point of it's shot. TV, refers and electronics run way under volts are finished after enough cycles of; the very fast flux in volts adds to the destruction faster.
Our problem was/is the brown outs with the volts dropping below 210 an as low as 205 seen for only half a second then races up to 245. Our inverter can not handle that rapid of a change so it automatically shuts down and all our power with it. I have to then isolate the system and do a total re-boot and load.
Many others are not so lucky as noted above. Many don't even know it is happening until all goes dark.
Good Luck.
Our electrician got here this PM. He is very... very busy.
Edenorte is still replacing the main lines for the Sosua and "outer" areas. The Volts are all over the place. His calls are for mostly inverters that stopped working needing a simple nudge or to the point of it's shot. TV, refers and electronics run way under volts are finished after enough cycles of; the very fast flux in volts adds to the destruction faster.
Our problem was/is the brown outs with the volts dropping below 210 an as low as 205 seen for only half a second then races up to 245. Our inverter can not handle that rapid of a change so it automatically shuts down and all our power with it. I have to then isolate the system and do a total re-boot and load.
Many others are not so lucky as noted above. Many don't even know it is happening until all goes dark.
Good Luck.