|
|
Post by Polarengineer on May 16, 2022 10:02:27 GMT 1
Anyone know the reason, or even has experience of it?
In our humble house we have several point source lamps, those halogen jobs. We use them to get the best effect from our pierced copper Iranian lampshades and cut glass lampshades. For the last months we are experiencing these lamps dimming at one second intervals as if a pulsing voltage drop. The dimming period lasts about ten seconds and this happens four or five times in 24hrs.
I am of the opinion that the local farm cattlesheds, which have three huge solar arrays, has some influence, but I do not have the knowledge of how these control their input to the net.
I doubt I can do anything about it, It is just that I am curious to know why it happens.
|
|
ibis
Banned Member
Posts: 1,376
|
Post by ibis on May 16, 2022 10:11:27 GMT 1
rodents?
|
|
|
|
Post by annabellespapa on May 16, 2022 10:22:15 GMT 1
Are they new bulbs ? If yes, try buying another brand, we have loads of issues with light bulbs, finding the right one, e.g, dimmable, led, suitable wattage for the lamp.
There will be an equivalent LED low wattage version to your halogen bulbs, worth trying at least one in your lamps as it could save you money and the life expectancy of them should be considerably more, don't believe they will last 30,000 hours (as it might say on the packaging), in my experience they will last longer but not what they state.
|
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on May 16, 2022 10:57:51 GMT 1
@ Polarengineer: 1/ Large solar arrays: problems only during daytime? 2/ The inverters of solar arrays cut off their outputs as soon as the grid voltage exceeds 253 V, 10% more than the nominal 230 V. This could produce disturbances during switch off. 3/ Measuring: a/ My old analogue AVO Multiminor shows with its needle small disturbances real time. The cheaper digital multimeters are sometimes slow. b/ For some among us it would be a question of hooking up more sophisticated equipment to measure what is going on during several minutes/hours/days. Ten minutes of stable grid voltage. Or have a look at the waveform: something like a sine wave or something else? Here the output of a small 250 watt 12 V - 230 V inverter, output looks like this. Not a perfect sine wave but enough to charge a laptop during long hours on the autoroutes here in France 4/ All halogens together in concert and other lights also flickering? |
|
|
|
Post by Polarengineer on May 16, 2022 16:30:25 GMT 1
Are they new bulbs ? If yes, try buying another brand, we have loads of issues with light bulbs, finding the right one, e.g, dimmable, led, suitable wattage for the lamp. There will be an equivalent LED low wattage version to your halogen bulbs, worth trying at least one in your lamps as it could save you money and the life expectancy of them should be considerably more, don't believe they will last 30,000 hours (as it might say on the packaging), in my experience they will last longer but not what they state. Yeah life of LEDs varies a lot. I need the point source of the halogen to cast the nice patterns from the lampshades. LEDs don't have that ability. 10% of the lamps in the house are halogen and I have many in stock. The other 80 bulbs are LEDs of various life spans. |
|
|
|
Post by Polarengineer on May 16, 2022 16:42:59 GMT 1
@ Polarengineer: 1/ Large solar arrays: problems only during daytime? 2/ The inverters of solar arrays cut off their outputs as soon as the grid voltage exceeds 253 V, 10% more than the nominal 230 V. This could produce disturbances during switch off. 3/ Measuring: a/ My old analogue AVO Multiminor shows with its needle small disturbances real time. The cheaper digital multimeters are sometimes slow. b/ For some among us it would be a question of hooking up more sophisticated equipment to measure what is going on during several minutes/hours/days. Ten minutes of stable grid voltage. Or have a look at the waveform: something like a sine wave or something else? Here the output of a small 250 watt 12 V - 230 V inverter, output looks like this. Not a perfect sine wave but enough to charge a laptop during long hours on the autoroutes here in France 4/ All halogens together in concert and other lights also flickering? 1. Yes it is during the daytime this happens 2. This sounds like it is the problem. 3. I don't have the tools for this, or the need to go into such research unless this voltage variation will cause damage. 4. All 8 halogens flicker together but not LEDs. I have no incandescent lamps to be able to comment. All the flourescent tubes flicker at their normal horrible 50Hz. I think your suggestions 1 and 2 are on theright track I knew I could rely on your input RA zeer bedankt. I also knew it wasn't rodents as they have no sense of timing. |
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on May 16, 2022 16:52:05 GMT 1
@ Polarengineer: your installation électrique: monophasé or triphasé? Perhaps only one phase experiencing problems and your halogens getting their electric food from the "bad one"? Who to blame, phase 1, phase 2 or phase 3? However, these large arrays will be in triphasé, to not overload only one. |
|
|
|
Post by landmannnn on May 16, 2022 17:06:22 GMT 1
Do the cow shed solar arrays feed directly to the grid? I know the solar farms in the UK have to have a bank of lithium batteries as the grid doesn't want the electricity until called for.
|
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on May 16, 2022 18:11:23 GMT 1
@ Landmannn, the general regs as summarized by Promotelec and the special case of the agriculture type of arrays (around 100 kWc). No obligation to install a bank of lithium batteries. |
|
|
|
Post by Polarengineer on May 17, 2022 6:17:02 GMT 1
@ Polarengineer: your installation électrique: monophasé or triphasé? Perhaps only one phase experiencing problems and your halogens getting their electric food from the "bad one"? Who to blame, phase 1, phase 2 or phase 3? However, these large arrays will be in triphasé, to not overload only one. I have triphase and I know that each phase is pulsing as I have split the phases throughout my installation to balance the load and the halogens in the different phases are flickering. I'm sure your suggestion of the control of the solar farm is the cause. (I mentioned I had no incandescant lamps, but I meant the old type as of course the halogens are also incandescant). |
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on May 17, 2022 8:46:46 GMT 1
Good morning Polarengineer,
Not being there and continuing the search for circumstantial evidence from a certain distance:
5/ Also problems during dark, cloudy days?
6/ Those were the days, simple small scale farms, manpower, horses. The almost industrial scale of today and the use of huge AC motors and their massive starting (inrush) currents don't go unnoticed elsewhere in the local grid. Injection of a lot of electric rubbish into the grid also possible. This will happen also when the sun doesn't shine or not at full power.
7/ Interesting, promises for the future, headlines this morning in a Dutch newspaper:
" Solar panels fail en masse when yields are too high. At least 75,000 households with solar panels on the roof regularly fail to feed back their generated solar power. There is so much solar power in the neighbourhood that the grid voltage rises too high and the safety system switches off the solar panels."
|
|
|
|
Post by Polarengineer on May 17, 2022 9:18:17 GMT 1
Hi RA, I can't say I have noticed if it happens after the sun goes down as I am mostly asleep at that time. It does happen when cloudy although there are three enourmous cattlesheds with solar panels all within 3km.
I also thought maybe a big motor starting, not star- delta so much as soft starter, however, there is no industry around here for kms and such a motor would not be started several times a day.
Yes I read about the limited network in rural NL unable to cope with all the power. Maybe with all the local stations around me that this is the problem here.
|
|
|
|
Post by landmannnn on May 18, 2022 8:31:01 GMT 1
@ Landmannn, the general regs as summarized by Promotelec and the special case of the agriculture type of arrays (around 100 kWc). No obligation to install a bank of lithium batteries. Interesting. There must be some good incentives as it seems every farm around here (87) has a huge new cattle shed/hay barn/equipment shed adorned with shiny solar panels. By the way EVs can can cause a localised voltage drop. |
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on May 18, 2022 11:03:25 GMT 1
@ Landmannn, somewhere on one of my hard disks documentation about the business case of these large scale solar arrays in la France profonde, but where.... At this moment only this introduction. |
|
|
|
Post by cernunnos on May 18, 2022 11:08:56 GMT 1
The incentive is a free storage barn , the sale of the electric goes to the company that owns the panels .
|
|
