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Operation
28 900-0020-01-00 Rev A
Power Save Levels
Each inverter consumes approximately 30 watts of idle power while it remains on, even if it is not
actively inverting or charging. The Power Save function allows the option to put some or all slave
inverters into a quiescent state known as Silent mode. This mode minimizes the inverter’s idle
consumption. The inverters will come on again when the loads require power. (The term “Silent” is
also used in the context of battery charging. See page 22.)
The master inverter remains active unless specifically ordered to turn off. It does not enter Silent mode.
When the majority of the inverter’s wattage is consumed by loads, the master turns on one or more slaves
for assistance. When the load drops back to a lesser wattage (as detected by the master), the slaves return
to Silent mode.
The order in which slaves turn on (or return to Silent mode) is controlled by programming in the MATE3. The
slaves are given a “rank”, or level number. The lower the number, the sooner a slave will be turned on.
IMPORTANT:
It is highly recommended to use the MATE3 Configuration Wizard to set up this function.
It is essential to set the slave Power Save Levels in sequential order. Failure to set them
up correctly will cause erratic system behavior. The Configuration Wizard automatically
programs the correct priorities. (See the MATE3 Owner’s Manual.)
If it is necessary to set these items manually:
In the MATE3 system display, the
Inverter Stacking
screen contains two
Power Save Level
menu
items. These are
Master
and
Slave
. Both items have a settable range of values. (See the MATE3
manual for more information.)
The first item,
Master Power Save Level
, must only be used when port P01 is selected with the
<PORT>
navigation key. This should be the master inverter. Although the item is still visible when other (slave) ports
are available, it should not be programmed when other ports are selected. The range of rank numbers is
0 to 31. The default value is 0. The master is normally left at this value.
The second item,
Slave Power Save Level
, must only be used when ports other than P01 are selected.
Although the item is still visible when the P01 (master) port is selected, it should not be programmed for
P01. The range of rank numbers is 1 to 31. The default value for all ports is 1.
The ranks are prioritized so that lower-numbered ranks turn on sooner and higher ranks turn on later. The
lowest-ranked unit will not go silent and will remain on unless ordered otherwise. The lowest-ranked unit is
expected to be the master. The priorities are the same across both screens; thus, if P01 (master) is set at 0
and P02 (slave) is set at 1, the slave will turn on later. Since the
Master
item is the only one that goes to 0, it
is easy to ensure that all other units besides the master go silent.
It is highly recommended to rank the slave inverters in order (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.).
Leaving the master at 0
automatically makes 4 kW of power instantly available (from the master). If a slave is prioritized higher than
the master (by raising the master level to 2 and the slave to 1, for example), that slave will not go silent. This
will keep the power save mode from functioning. In general, setting the number higher than 0 will activate
an additional 4 kW of power for every increment. If the slave settings have not been programmed correctly,
the master may override them and begin turning on unnecessary slaves. This defeats the purpose of the
Power Save feature.
It is also recommended that slaves do not share rank numbers. If, for example, multiple slaves were all
ranked at 1, they would all come on at the same time. Once they came on, the divided load would cause the
master to detect a minimal load on its output, so it would shut off all the slaves, at which point the master
would read a high load again. This could quickly escalate into a rapid on/off cycling of inverters and could
cause long-term system problems.