Products

Posts & Pages

View all results

Powerclamp 3 support and information

Powerclamp 3 - support

This is a working page and changes may happen at anytime so please check back for changes. 

Technical specifications


Maximum crowbar protection short circuit: 40A

Maximum diversion current: 30A

Maximum current per switched load: 10A


Main diversion is 500 Hz PWM and Auxiliary 300 Hz PWM 


Crowbar accuracy +-2% separate analog circuit. Response time TBC micro seconds 



Minimum Dump Voltage

Initial Dump Voltage

Maximum Dump Voltage

Crowbar Voltage

80

110

120

140

150

210

220

250

250

310

350

400

Installation

PCB labelling for production version. 3.0.1



example circuit diagram to come.

 

Resistors

The matching resistors for the dump loads called R0, R1, R2,R3 are critical and work in a range of voltages and power ranges, see the graphs for accurate diversion characteristics with correct number of resistors required. Note that you can divert at a lower voltage and as the system produces more power to divert, the voltage will naturally rise to match generation. 

 

 

 

 

Configuration

How to configure the device:

  1. Power On the Device: Ensure the device is powered on with ~50v or more.
  2. Connect to Wi-Fi:
    • Open the Wi-Fi settings on your computer or mobile device.
    • Look for the network with the SSID "powerclamp".
    • Connect to this network using the password "powerclamp".
  3. Access the Configuration Page:
    • Once connected, open a web browser.
    • In the address bar, enter 192.168.4.1 and press Enter.
  4. Configure the Device:
    • The configuration page will load, allowing you to adjust settings as needed.
  5. Save Settings:
    • Make any necessary changes and save your settings.

For sites with multiple power clamps on one site, we suggest setting each one up at a time and changing the SSID of each with a unique name e.g. powerclamp1, powerclamp2 etc, then clearly label each one. 

For now you can only manage one at a time. 



 Display

Can I use a tablet or old phone permanently connected and mounted on the wall beside the powerclamp?

Yes, this has worked well, set the device to auto reconnect to the WIFI, and set the 192.168.4.1 as the home page. Connect to a USB power supply permanently, set power settings to stay on when on charge.   

 

Once connected to 192.168.4.1  you will receive the Data page, Which is a real time graph of current voltage  and diversion to resistors, full scale is fully on to that resistor dump load etc. 

Plus some key operating information  at the bottom.

What is Delta?

Delta: this is the % voltage fluctuation of the incoming turbine voltage over a 6s period. As the powerclamp diverts power to the resistors this is an indication of how stable it is. It will spike as things change such as a sudden need for diversion etc but under stable conditions this should be less than 10%. This is mainly used for diagnostics for unexpected crowbar triggers. This also gives an indication on how close you can set the divert voltage to the crowbar voltage. 

Can I connect to raw data and build my own web app?

 yes.

Direct data from powerclamp http://192.168.4.1/data

Data formatting is self explanatory,

This retrieves all the settings data http://192.168.4.1/getValues

The start page with data graph  http://192.168.4.1/index.html

Settings data  http://192.168.4.1/settings.html

Firmware and Spiffs update page http://192.168.4.1/update

 

Firmware

We will release updated firmware which may either resolve an issue or add features. 

Current version is 3.0.0

PC3 3.0.0 firmware.bin

PC3 3.0.0 spiffs.bin

Please check your current version found on the settings page. To update download both firmware and spiffs .bin files and upload ensure you use matching versions of these files. 

Ensure the powerclamp is on a stable power supply and not diverting. 


Auxiliary loads

The auxiliary loads can be many things and therefore we cannot cover all situations in this manual. 


The PWM signal is at 300 Hz and can be used for switching DC loads from the battery directly. The powerclamp then needs connecting to the Battery to monitor the voltage and if the voltage drops too low then all  auxiliary diversions will be switched off. 


To ensure stable operation we recommend:

Any single Auxiliary load should not be more than ~1000 watts as the impulse of switching on and off can cause stability issues with your setup, and do not set multiple auxiliary outputs to trigger on the same V, 


Have a minimum ~5% gap between all voltage set points for diversion and auxiliary diversion settings. 

Example 140V model: Voltage diversion = 110, Aux0 =  105, aux1 = 100

Example 250V model: Voltage diversion = 210, Aux0 =  200, aux1 = 190


For support on possible options please contact your supplier or powerspout directly.