question

demderder avatar image
demderder asked

Issue with power reading when powering a PC speaker from inverter

To start, the shunt is wired in the correct direction and there's no loose connections.

When I plug in my PC speaker system the 24/800 phoenix is displaying more power being consumed than whats actually passing through the shunt. I've removed the MPPT to make sure I have no side power and I isolated loaded to identify the device draw.


My system has a 3w dc load for my raspberry pi. When I turn on my inverter with no load the inverter says 0w and the shunt says 10w. So far all correct. I plug in a load and the shunt says 150w and the inverter says 144w. Still correct because I know some power is lost while inverting. The problem is when I plug in my speakers, The shunt says 13w but the inverter says it's producing 25w. Makes no sense because the inverter can't output more than what's passing through the shunt. I measured the line and there's 13w passing through. I even let it run for a set amount of time and the batter percentage fell like there was a 13w load, mot like a 25w load.


Why would the inverter show a higher power output than what's passing through the shunt when a speaker is plugged in and not with any other load? Maybe it has something to do with the speaker system's amp or capacitors.

Phoenix Inverter
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1 Answer
Alistair Warburton avatar image
Alistair Warburton answered ·

At that sort of load, IE very small, the measurments, in my experiance, are not great. The PC speakers likely have a very poor power factor and a high switching frequency which is confusing everything.

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