3R Home and Barn Project

[ultrarunner]

I spin the Rotary Phase Converter for by Bridgeport with my hand and need to use a rope pull for the 5hp Converter for the Air Compressor.

NOT to complicate things... When I opened a new surgery wing where I work... there was a Breaker Tripping problem when power was switched between PGE Utility and the Hospital Standby Generator.

The explanation was the 10 hp HVAC ventilation motor was feeding back current and causing the trip. It was remedy be adding a delay module to the ONAN Generator Control so that transfer was not instantaneous... but instead about 2 1/2 seconds.

Generators operate 3 phase equipment all the time... I think you may be onto something to limit running your biggest load to Generator Power.

 

[3RRL]

Denmansoft.
At least that's good to know that the information about the inverters tripping first is correct. Now, what about the other breakers such as in the electrical panel in the house. It is fulll of individual breakers. Will the inverter trip before those trip too?

I really want to use the stuff I have considering I got it already. It would be nice not needing to buy anything else first. I guess I could as a last resort, but right now I don't want to spend the extra money IF there is a possible fix.
My rotary converter comes with a self starting capacitor as opposed to some that you need to pull start.
I have this one 10HP American Rotary Phase Converter
You can see the specs on the motor. Mine says CNC on the Unit. I have it wired up with #6 to a 40 amp breaker.

Learned something today. (Loretta told me)
When I called them (American Rotary) they told me the 220v 10hp motor takes between 40 to 60 amps to start. So V x A = W.
I think that means I need between 8.8kW and 13.2kW to start it, right? My 2 inverters only put out 7.2kW I think. So perhaps hooking up all six inverters (21.6kW) will/should do it. Plus I will have all that available amperage from 6.
What do you think? I'll talk to the contractor about it.

 

[denmansoft]

most household stuff doesn't have heavy startup currents like that so the house should be good. When I was working on a boat with a small generator, I could use all the power tools I wanted except my ShopVAC. Its starting load was too much, for too long and would bog the generator down to where it couldn't catch up.
How long a run do you have with #6 cable? Is that from the solar shed all the way to the converter or just the panel in the shop?

 

[mopacman]

you might try a smaller single phase motor to bring the phase converter up to speed and then start the converter. I have heard of this being done before........Larry

 

[3RRL]

I talked to the contractor today and he definitely thinks hooking all 6 inverters up ... one master and 5 slaves will be the best configuration. It should start the motor.
I have about 3 feet of #6 wire only from sub panel to the 10hp motor. Cables to the barn is like really big, 2/0 or 4/0. Wiring for all the 3 phase machines is #8 from 3 phase sub panel.
I didn't think of using another motor to start the big one, hopefully I won't need it. The contractor is bringing up supplies next week to hook all the inverters together.

I've started organizing the shop a little more too. I can't believe how much stuff I have ... geez.

 

[3RRL]

There's been so much talk about the solar that I forgot to share some photos with you. First off, the weather has really cooled down now, getting in the low 50's at night and around 72F during the day. We also had some showers to help cool us down. One of the things I've been wanting to do was hike up that hill on the East of us to take some photos of the log home. I got tons from the West side below, but none from above the home. I started towards the East and snapped these on my way up.
This is the first time I saw the home from this vantage point.

 

[3RRL]

Inside we've installed blinds on all the windows and doors to keep the sun out. They made quite a difference keeping the Sun out and heating up the inside during the hot Summers. We finally got some of the animal mounts from my hunting days up to the new home too. We got a few of them mounted in the living room up high and out of the way. I asked Loretta if she was OK with that and she said yes, so I let her pick out the locations.
They actually look pretty good in the log home now.

 

[3RRL]

I mentioned that we found a rattlesnake INSIDE the home. It was at the bottom of the stairwell to the basement. I keep my computer down there and during the hot Summer days, I keep the doors open for a little more air. Well, I won't be doing THAT anymore.
Lucky he was just a little bitty dude or he could've found his way up the staircase, I'm sure. He was so little that at first we thought he was a slender racer of some kind until I looked closer and saw the perfect Western diamond back pattern on him. I got a broom to gently push him out and he started rattling and striking the broom. Geez, what could I do so I cut off his friggen head. You can see how small he is, but he's still dangerous and we could have stepped on him with bare feet in the home.



I found a shed snake skin from a larger one in that big rockpile below the decks too. It kind of freaked me out because I was crawling on those rocks to take pictures of some quail. I caught it out of the corner of my eye below me. Then one morning, I also saw a very dark colored big rattler on the rocks but he was gone when I came back with my gun. It's like every October we see them when it cools down a little ... especially the little ones. But the big ones are still out there too. We have to keep our eyes open when walking around, and now I turn on the lights when I get up at night. I would hate to step on one when I am bare footed!
This shed skin is about 4 feet long.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Rob, I sure hope that your solar guy can get this thing figured out. If he can't, I might just have to get Mark to go up there to get this thing taken care of. Everything is looking great, My wife just saw some of the pics, and her response was Wow. Weather has been cooler down here also, but warmer days are in the forecast.

As always, good luck with all of your projects.

 

[3RRL]

Oh, here is that covey of Quail I was trying to get some photos of.
We have them all over the property and a lot of coveys around the home.