Sunsynk for dummies

[Derlyn]

Got a call from a friend today regarding an inverter.

As most of the regulars here probably know, I have not jumped on the inverter installing bandwagon. Too much "normal" work on at the moment and also at this stage of my life, I'm not exactly over excited about sticking my nose back in the books. Anyway, I don't even use an inverter for myself at home. All I have is a very small panel setup to charge some batteries for my house's 12V lighting system.

Anyway, my buddies problem is as follows. He has an inverter connected to the lights only, but they still burn dimly when switched off.

Any ideas from the boffins ?
Asking for a friend.

[Isetech]

I had exactly this problem on the weekend, I hadnt changed the dimmer to the LED dimmer. All the led's came on as I swopped the lamps from 50 watt to LED's. Replaced the dimmer and the problem went away.

Got a call from a friend today regarding an inverter.

As most of the regulars here probably know, I have not jumped on the inverter installing bandwagon. Too much "normal" work on at the moment and also at this stage of my life, I'm not exactly over excited about sticking my nose back in the books. Anyway, I don't even use an inverter for myself at home. All I have is a very small panel setup to charge some batteries for my house's 12V lighting system.

Anyway, my buddies problem is as follows. He has an inverter connected to the lights only, but they still burn dimly when switched off.

Any ideas from the boffins ?
Asking for a friend.

[Dylboy]

Second one may be the voltage between N and E,

Sent from my CPH2197 using Tapatalk

[Derlyn]

No dimmer involved. Only switches.
This only started happening after inverter installed.

Been very busy and just havent been able to go and look see. Must make time.

@Dylboy, I think that is maybe the direction to follow.

[GCE]

Anyway, my buddies problem is as follows. He has an inverter connected to the lights only, but they still burn dimly when switched off.

Any ideas from the boffins ?
Asking for a friend.

The neutral earth bridge is missing when grid is lost and running off backup power - Is a common problem that pops up all the time

[Justloadit]

Are there any Neon lamps/LEDs in the light switch itself, which glow in the dark when the lights are off?
I think MCE does have a blue LED, the current to enable the glow is enough to run the LEDs at a dim.

Some things to do, all dependent on the LED lamps.
Place an 470uF 275V X2 capacitor in parallel to the LED lights.
2 Ways, change one of the LEDs to a standard incandescent 20W or place a 680K 5 watt resistor in parallel with the light circuit.
The low resistance will force the voltage to be low enough not to allow the LEDs to light up.

[Derlyn]

Thank you Justloadit. Very kind of you. Much appreciated. This coming weekend I,'m gonna go and see if I can help him.

Will give feedback. Peace out. .. Derek

[Justloadit]

Place an 470uF 275V X2 capacitor in parallel to the LED lights.
2 Ways, change one of the LEDs to a standard incandescent 20W or place a 680K 5 watt resistor in parallel with the light circuit.

Please note a correction, I muddled up the numbers while typing.
470nF 275V X2 capacitor in parallel to the LED lights
place a 6.8K 25 watt resistor in parallel with the light circuit.

[Derlyn]

Thank you, brother.

[Derlyn]

Question for Justloadit.
The inverter supplies only the light circuit. Can one therefore connect that 6.8K 25W resister directly across the output at the inverter ?

[GCE]

Question for Justloadit.
The inverter supplies only the light circuit. Can one therefore connect that 6.8K 25W resister directly across the output at the inverter ?

Before doing that , check the earth neutral bridge .

If the downlighters are fine when grid is present and not ok when grid drops away and inverter is on then it is almost definitely a neutral earth bridge missing - I have seen it on numerous installs

[Justloadit]

Question for Justloadit.
The inverter supplies only the light circuit. Can one therefore connect that 6.8K 25W resister directly across the output at the inverter ?

No it will only load the inverter and do no work. The reason that the resistor is placed on the light circuit after the dimmer, has 2 functions

1. Many of the light dimmer circuits steel a little power from the mains going through the dimmer to power the electronics. Usually the first 10v of the mains wave is stolen from the lamp, and used to charge a capacitor in the control circuit of the electronics. When the dimmer is working this usually is not a problem, however when the dimmer is supposedly keeping the light off, it still needs power to run the circuit, even if only a few milli amps.
When an LED lamp is used as a load, the RC power supply of the light, and the low current that LEDs need to work at, will glow during this time, as the voltage has to rise some what to allow the dimmer electronics to function. Placing an incandescent lamp, or the 6.8k resistor, causes a higher current to flow during the off time, allowing the dimmer electronics to work better. Using the resistor, is a to allow a string to all be LEDs, as this is to do with aesthetics as far as the user is concerned, it basically means that all the lamps that are on, are of the same colour and intensity, as opposed to one lamp being different. Placing the resistor does a similar function, and the resistor can be placed in the ceiling out of the way. Just remember the resitor will heat up as it works, so place it some where which will handle the temperature and has sufficient airflow around the resistor to keep it cooled down.

2. Many of the dimmers require a minimum of current to flow, and require a complete AC cycle to go through the dimmer in order to make it work. Many of the dimmable LEDs don't fare to well under there conditions, because the amount of load that they present is so small, that only a half cycle goes through, and hence the flickering. Placing the incandescent lamp or 6.8K resistor, just increases the current insignificantly higher, to allow the electronics to work. The 470nF Capacitor, is an easier way to create a load, and due to it being a capacitor, the heat generated is insignificant with respect to the resistor, and has an added function, that it suppresses sharp spikes, protecting the load. This is due to its reactance changing to the rise time of the spike and absorbing the spike and not allowing to go through to the load. It is good practice to use the capacitor and a resistive load whether a resistor or incandescent lamp.

[Derlyn]

Thank you brother. No dimmers involved. Only normal switches.

[Justloadit]

Thank you brother. No dimmers involved. Only normal switches.

Place the parts after the switch then, I suspect that the switch has a light in it to glow in the dark.
I have these in my house and had to place the 470nF capacitors, else the LED lights would not switch on, because the LED power supply partially charged, and when switched on it would remain off. Disconnecting power and having the switch in the on position would work, but if left off for a length of time would again not work.

[Isetech]

A Sunsynk inverter with a wifi dongle.

We lost internet connection and the link to the inverter, it got repaired and there have been a few minor changes like the SSID.

However it is proving t be quite a story to get the inverter back on line.

WIFI, linked to the EAP _ _ _ _ , password 12345678.

Off to goggle and type in 10.10.10.1, scan, tap on the wifi network password and that's where I sit, fail, fail fail.

Test the WiFi password, correct.

I can see the WiFi SSID is correct

connection status.

Tried and android device, reset my iphone.

Tried again.

Contacted Sunsynk technical, here we sit 6 hours later still no connection.

We have reset the inverter, removed and replaced replaced the WiFI dongle.

YES it is probably user/installer error, get over it,

lets hear if anyone else has had this issue and how did you resolve it?