HV Power Customer Newsletter

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HV Power Customer Newsletter December 2018

When did you last check your voltage regulator battery?

In this issue:

Our traditional Protection and Control business is doing well, with a major focus planned for 2019 based on what we are good at – bringing the advantages of leading-edge techniques to our customers - but without the bleeding-edge issues. 2019 will see SIPROTEC 5 with new process bus, merging units and non-conventional LPVT/LPCT solutions.

The staff at HV Power will be enjoying a well-deserved break from midday Friday 21 Dec. We will be back on 7 Jan and look forward to working with you in 2019. In the meantime keep well, and stay safe.

Regards

Warwick Beech

What a success 2018 has been, with significant growth in our MV switchgear business. As more lines companies order Siemens 8DJH (11/22 kV) series switchgear (used as RMUs or switchboards), we’ve also had orders (and lots of interest) in the 36 kV 8DJH series. Primary switchgear series NX+C (11/22 kV, up to 2500 A) is keeping us busy too.

In the new year our staff numbers will be boosted by an additional electrical fitter and project engineer - desperately needed to keep up with the growth in demand.

Please watch this newsletter as we announce product and structure changes to better serve you in 2019.

We wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and safe holidays.

Regards

Mike Strong

As we approach the last working day of 2018, it's time to reflect on the year that was. The company is in good shape and YES I confess, I'm still working - but just two and a half days a week now - and still enjoying the camaraderie and support of the HV Power team. In recent weeks I've been collaborating a lot with Mike and Warwick on how the business will function in the future, effectively conducting business on three distinct fronts. We've also made plans for 'Geoffexit' in the coming months.

Finally a big thank you to all our customers for your custom and ongoing support.

Go well in 2019!

Regards

Geoff Vaughan

HV Power has proudly been supplying and supporting A.Eberle Voltage Regulator relays in New Zealand since the first customer project in November 1998. Therefore there are REG-Ds which will be in their 19th year of service! The first REG-DAs were supplied in 2004, so those would now be in their 14th year of service.

Therefore the earliest REG-D units should have had their third battery replacement done by now, and the earliest REG-DAs should have had their second battery replacement done. Question: are the battery maintenance requirements for the REG-Ds and REG-DAs on your network up-to-date?

The issue is that in the earliest generation of hardware the battery was used to maintain settings. If the battery becomes flat over time and the device is powered down – goodbye settings. This subject has been a regular topic of our newsletters over the years, so should be familiar to many. However, we last covered this in 2015. That date came to light recently following some research for a person who experienced what happens when information is forgotten or not passed on.

Our recommendation: put a label on the voltage regulator.

Example label for pre-2014 voltage regulators.

The good news is that:

REG-D and REG-DA units manufactured from about 2004 onwards can make use of a handy feature in the V2.12 Bootloader. The ‘RAM backup’ feature allows a copy of the setting file to be copied into non-volatile memory from where it can be recalled (automatically on power-up with firmware V2.22 onwards).

Refer to our June 2014 newsletter item on ‘RAM backup’ for more information and, the ‘Backup and Restore’ document in our Technical Library for instructions on how to install this bootloader. The REG-D/DA still uses the battery for logs etc, so we recommend this battery is replaced every 6-10 years. We recommend you monitor the battery status SCADA point to warn when replacement is required in the future.

For the latest generation of hardware, the settings are backed-up by non-volatile memory. There is no longer a battery on these units (and therefore bootloader RAM-Backup function is not provided). These latest generation units are:
- REG-D units with MRAM (manufactured from 5/2014)
- REG-D unit with S2 processor (manufactured from 9/2013)
- REG-DA units with MRAM (manufactured from 8/2014)
- REG-DA unit with S2 processor (manufactured from 9/2013)

HV Power stock the different battery types for all REG-D and REG-DAs (there are a couple of different versions). Contact us now for pricing and assistance.

Typically the first four digits of the serial number on the Voltage Regulator provide the date of manufacture in the form YYMM. HV Power also keeps records of all products we supply, so contact us if a report on when products were supplied to your network would be helpful.

CT Polarity for Protection Relays

We have updated our helpful Quick Start Instructions ‘CT Polarity on a SIPROTEC Relay’ to include the SIPROTEC 5 range. The Instructions cover the common three phase line and REF applications and what settings to use for typical connections.

This document can be downloaded from our Technical Library (in the general section of the Protection Relay page).

‘WinPQ smart’ for ‘PQI-DA smart’ substation/feeder Power Quality recorders

‘WinPQ smart’ setup and analysis software version 4.5.0 for the ‘PQI-DA smart’ has now been released. A free update is available online. The update contains a small number of new features, but importantly improved stability and minor bug fixes. A new calibration features is provided – but this requires external calibration equipment and an additional user licence.

Download WinPQ smart from here.

Note ‘PQI-DA smart’ firmware has been updated to V1.8.10. Please use WinPQ smart V4.5.0 and upgrade your field devices.

Download PQI-DA smart firmware (V1.8.10) from here (3.4 MB)

WinPQ – Enterprise software update V4.5.0

WinPQ software, the enterprise tool for network wide PQ monitoring, has been updated to version 4.5.0 and it includes the 'WinPQ smart' updates mentioned above. The update involves a number of 'fixes' and RVC flagging in accordance with EN 61000-4-30 Edition 3.0 2015-2.

WinPQ users with current maintenance licences can install this update free of charge. Contact HV Power for assistance.