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Time clocks run fast when connected to off-grid system

Hello

I did a search on previous posts about this but they seems to be related to frequency shift when other inverters, such as Fronius, are in the system. Mine is only Victron equipment.

I have an off-grid system with three Phoenix 48/5000 running in parallel. Everything works great except that two clocks that I have in the house (oven clock and coffee maker clock) obviously use mains frequency for their clock synch circuits and both exhibit exactly the same gain in time of about five minutes per week. I realise that in a free-running system like mine that there will be a small frequency error, but five minutes per week seems excessive.

On my VRM display I do note that the frequency is almost constantly shifting between 49.9Hz and 50.1Hz rather than sit rock-steady at 50Hz. It does not appear to be load dependant.

Any thoughts as to why the O/P frequency isn't rock-solid at 50Hz, or am I expecting too much?

Rusty


Phoenix Inverterfrequency
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dirk-s avatar image dirk-s commented ·
I also think it is normal. I also used this type of watches in the past in a grid connected environment and the shift in time was nearly the same or more.

I think it is nearly impossible to get the frequency of your off grid environment more stable.

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3 Answers
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albert-legrrand answered ·

Concretely, the frequency shift represents #500ppm. It's a lot and a little at the same time. A lot for a clock, a little for a controler in charge of energy conversion.Your network operator constantly adjusts the number of sines transmitted and it fluctuates by much more than 500ppm, but at the end of the day, the number of sines is approximately correct. Consequently, this type of clock works correctly over long periods.

My advice: buy a good Swiss mechanical watch ;-)

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albert-legrrand avatar image
albert-legrrand answered ·

May i ask somethink ? D'u use solar panels with native micro converter ? In this case there's a natural jitter on the frequency due to the power regulation....

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away avatar image away commented ·
No, I don't use micro converters on my solar. It is DC from the panels to the MPPT regulators, to the batteries/inverters. Thanks for replying to my question.
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nickdb avatar image
nickdb answered ·

Interestingly, I have found that some cheap clocks drift when connected to grid but when off-grid remain accurate.


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