hberg
New member
Hello (from sunny Lima, Peru),
it might be a bit strange for a British forum, but you seem to be one of the best informed ones. I need some help in deciding which instrument to get. Here we go:
Together with a local partner, we set up a small renewable energy business In Lima, Peru (I am german, married to a native of this country). Reason was, that in spite of terrific conditions, PV is hardly used because of a lack of trained people, a very insufficient infrastructure, lack of and sometime false information, high costs, etc. (all this is slowly changing). From initially a more leisure activity, we are becoming more and more a serious business. I am not a formally trained electrician but grew up being always involved through my father, a certified guy and was always active in this stuff (let's say that I am the one-eyed among the mostly blind here).
From supplying PV systems to telecom towers, we are now also into testing the whole power supply issue and its certification. Therefore we need instruments. The telecom company requests documentation based on IEC standards, not the US ones, though a terrible mixture of standards exists (or in fact don't exist) here. It is a mess and no official body really enforces anything. I assume that the request for IEC standards of the company is rather an insurance related issue than serious preoccupation. Hardly anybody cares really.
For our purposes we need ground and insulation testing, some DC stuff for the panel wiring and reporting according to IEC (or at least EN), not European national standards. And we want it computer based, not hand written (that impresses here and gives us a competitive advantage).
After screening, I believe that either the Megger 1730, the Fluke 1654B or the Metrel 3102 would fill our needs (The Metrel 3108 PV could also be an option, but only little hands-on information is available).
On Megger: 1730 or 1835? They are not the same, but perhaps that doesn't make a difference for us: I need IEC stuff (including reporting). Is the 1730 capable of doing this or is too much geared towards specific British standards? I wrote to the local representative, but have not got a reply (often the case here). Otherwise, the 1730 (or 1835) could be my choice, assuming the initial problems have been resolved by now (but software seems to be scary).
On the Fluke: not so much geared to a specific market and appears to be the one with least problems. But I am a bit worried by a forum reply (don't remember where) that in adverse environments you get lots of error messages and you need to start from fresh. That scares me off, thinking of the mountain tops with sometimes more than ten telecom towers cramped on a very small space, some supplied with diesel generated power, other through PV systems. A hell of electrons fighting each other on different frequencies. Can somebody comment on this?
The Metrel: not really sure about them. Doubts are about user-friendliness, ruggedness (the guy mentioning that dropping them could make them stop working). However it appears that their software is the most universal one.
The support is also an issue: if something goes wrong, I need to send it back to Europe. Megger should not be a problem, I am not so sure about Fluke (Netherlands) and less about Metrel (Slovenia) - but if I buy it from an UK dealer, he could be the one taking care.
Those are some of my worries where I am a bit stuck in my decision making progress.
I am aware that this is rather distant from the scope of this forum, excuse me, but perhaps there are some interested ....
Have a nice day
Heinrich
it might be a bit strange for a British forum, but you seem to be one of the best informed ones. I need some help in deciding which instrument to get. Here we go:
Together with a local partner, we set up a small renewable energy business In Lima, Peru (I am german, married to a native of this country). Reason was, that in spite of terrific conditions, PV is hardly used because of a lack of trained people, a very insufficient infrastructure, lack of and sometime false information, high costs, etc. (all this is slowly changing). From initially a more leisure activity, we are becoming more and more a serious business. I am not a formally trained electrician but grew up being always involved through my father, a certified guy and was always active in this stuff (let's say that I am the one-eyed among the mostly blind here).
From supplying PV systems to telecom towers, we are now also into testing the whole power supply issue and its certification. Therefore we need instruments. The telecom company requests documentation based on IEC standards, not the US ones, though a terrible mixture of standards exists (or in fact don't exist) here. It is a mess and no official body really enforces anything. I assume that the request for IEC standards of the company is rather an insurance related issue than serious preoccupation. Hardly anybody cares really.
For our purposes we need ground and insulation testing, some DC stuff for the panel wiring and reporting according to IEC (or at least EN), not European national standards. And we want it computer based, not hand written (that impresses here and gives us a competitive advantage).
After screening, I believe that either the Megger 1730, the Fluke 1654B or the Metrel 3102 would fill our needs (The Metrel 3108 PV could also be an option, but only little hands-on information is available).
On Megger: 1730 or 1835? They are not the same, but perhaps that doesn't make a difference for us: I need IEC stuff (including reporting). Is the 1730 capable of doing this or is too much geared towards specific British standards? I wrote to the local representative, but have not got a reply (often the case here). Otherwise, the 1730 (or 1835) could be my choice, assuming the initial problems have been resolved by now (but software seems to be scary).
On the Fluke: not so much geared to a specific market and appears to be the one with least problems. But I am a bit worried by a forum reply (don't remember where) that in adverse environments you get lots of error messages and you need to start from fresh. That scares me off, thinking of the mountain tops with sometimes more than ten telecom towers cramped on a very small space, some supplied with diesel generated power, other through PV systems. A hell of electrons fighting each other on different frequencies. Can somebody comment on this?
The Metrel: not really sure about them. Doubts are about user-friendliness, ruggedness (the guy mentioning that dropping them could make them stop working). However it appears that their software is the most universal one.
The support is also an issue: if something goes wrong, I need to send it back to Europe. Megger should not be a problem, I am not so sure about Fluke (Netherlands) and less about Metrel (Slovenia) - but if I buy it from an UK dealer, he could be the one taking care.
Those are some of my worries where I am a bit stuck in my decision making progress.
I am aware that this is rather distant from the scope of this forum, excuse me, but perhaps there are some interested ....
Have a nice day
Heinrich
