C
[email protected]
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Hello -
I have company that makes small, low flow, high-pressure pumping
systems.
The systems consist of small digital controller (MSP430 based) with an
LCD display. The pump motor plugs into the controller and power is
supplied to the pump motor via a relay inside the controller, i.e.
there is only one power cord for the unit. The units are designed for
120V 60 Hz power. When the pump motor is running, the steady-state
current draw is 7A, when the motor is not running, the controller
draws 300 mA.
Recently a number of our systems have been installed on small
Caribbean islands that have powered supplied by diesel generators. We
have had an issue with the controllers failing - either via the fuse
blowing, or the micro getting fried. Since we have near perfect
reliability with the systems on domestic utility power, my guess is
that either power spikes or electrical noise from the generator power
is causing the failures.
The purchaser of the systems in the Caribbean has told us "everything
else here works fine so yours should too", while our contract
electrical engineers are giving us the "we can't be responsible for
anyting running on generator power". I haven't had much luck Googling
around on the topic.
So, my question is: what options would I have as far as some sort of
reliable voltage conditioning device that could strip out any electric
noise and/or provide surge suppresion when the units are running on
the generators? I need something that could be incorporated into the
unit for < $75.
Thanks
I have company that makes small, low flow, high-pressure pumping
systems.
The systems consist of small digital controller (MSP430 based) with an
LCD display. The pump motor plugs into the controller and power is
supplied to the pump motor via a relay inside the controller, i.e.
there is only one power cord for the unit. The units are designed for
120V 60 Hz power. When the pump motor is running, the steady-state
current draw is 7A, when the motor is not running, the controller
draws 300 mA.
Recently a number of our systems have been installed on small
Caribbean islands that have powered supplied by diesel generators. We
have had an issue with the controllers failing - either via the fuse
blowing, or the micro getting fried. Since we have near perfect
reliability with the systems on domestic utility power, my guess is
that either power spikes or electrical noise from the generator power
is causing the failures.
The purchaser of the systems in the Caribbean has told us "everything
else here works fine so yours should too", while our contract
electrical engineers are giving us the "we can't be responsible for
anyting running on generator power". I haven't had much luck Googling
around on the topic.
So, my question is: what options would I have as far as some sort of
reliable voltage conditioning device that could strip out any electric
noise and/or provide surge suppresion when the units are running on
the generators? I need something that could be incorporated into the
unit for < $75.
Thanks