4 ms·

I do this at home - I’m off-grid, but have a picogrid here as we’re distributed over a fairly large area and have a few structures separated by up to a kilometr

I do this at home - I’m off-grid, but have a picogrid here as we’re distributed over a fairly large area and have a few structures separated by up to a kilometre, and we’ve multiple PV arrays, a hydro generator to be installed later this summer when the river is low, and a few wind turbines. By far and away the easiest way to control production - i.e. brake/feather turbines or dump PV, is frequency shifting, as I’ve batteries and inverters in several locations and while networking them would be possible, it’s unnecessary. It’s typically intended for grid-tie operations, but here I use it to control our tiny isolated grid. It’s a pretty small range (50.2-53hz) over which they shift, but it’s more than enough. https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ac_coupling:fronius https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ac_coupling:fronius

ilyt 3y ago
Huh, didn't even knew that's the feature on small inverters
dtgriscom 3y ago
So, no A/C-driven analog clocks, huh?
- madaxe_again 3y ago
  Indeed. All the wallclocks I have here are old electromechanical beasties, 15 years off a single D cell type affairs with a traditional spring mechanism and a solenoid that winds it periodically. I also discovered that some cheaper LED drivers are extremely sensitive to frequency shifts, and bulbs just flat out flat out die within weeks.
  - ilyt 3y ago
    > I also discovered that some cheaper LED drivers are extremely sensitive to frequency shifts, and bulbs just flat out flat out die within weeks. Huh, that's just outright bizzare. The most adding few hz should do is change power by few %
    - madaxe_again 3y ago
      I’ve got the dead buggers sat in a box for later depotting and examination, as I’m also confused as to how a relatively small shift in frequency would kill them - can’t be voltage as I monitor that and it’s more stable than the public grid, and it was only after I started using frequency shifting that they all started flickering and ultimately died. I’d have assumed they’d just be using a boring bridge rectifier or something, and that they’d be expected to work at 60hz too - so yeah, agreed it’s bizarre. I can only think resonance might be at play, as in the evenings it sits at a pretty consistent 52.8 hz.

ilyt 3y ago

Huh, didn't even knew that's the feature on small inverters

dtgriscom 3y ago

So, no A/C-driven analog clocks, huh?

madaxe_again 3y ago
Indeed. All the wallclocks I have here are old electromechanical beasties, 15 years off a single D cell type affairs with a traditional spring mechanism and a solenoid that winds it periodically. I also discovered that some cheaper LED drivers are extremely sensitive to frequency shifts, and bulbs just flat out flat out die within weeks.
- ilyt 3y ago
  > I also discovered that some cheaper LED drivers are extremely sensitive to frequency shifts, and bulbs just flat out flat out die within weeks. Huh, that's just outright bizzare. The most adding few hz should do is change power by few %
  - madaxe_again 3y ago
    I’ve got the dead buggers sat in a box for later depotting and examination, as I’m also confused as to how a relatively small shift in frequency would kill them - can’t be voltage as I monitor that and it’s more stable than the public grid, and it was only after I started using frequency shifting that they all started flickering and ultimately died. I’d have assumed they’d just be using a boring bridge rectifier or something, and that they’d be expected to work at 60hz too - so yeah, agreed it’s bizarre. I can only think resonance might be at play, as in the evenings it sits at a pretty consistent 52.8 hz.