BBC East Africa, Karen: Resolving Generator Trips During Battery Charging
The challenge At BBC East Africa’s Karen facility, a 120 kVA generator was tripping at approximately 21 kW when the Victron inverter/chargers drew power to charge the batteries. The repeated trips interrupted charging and affected coordination between the generator and battery backup system.
Lead Systems Architect
The investigation
Our project engineer, Eng. Wanjohi King’uru, PE, identified an incorrect current transformer (CT) ratio in the generator installation. CTs provide the current measurements used by the generator’s controller for monitoring and protection. The incorrect ratio meant that the controller’s readings did not accurately represent the actual load.
The corrective work
The generator installer was called back to address the issue. After installing the correct CTs, the generator stopped experiencing the reported trips during battery charging.
The lesson
Integrating battery storage with an existing generator requires checking the generator’s measurement and protection arrangements alongside the inverter settings. In this case, battery charging exposed an existing CT ratio problem.
The solution came from identifying and correcting the measurement issue, allowing the generator and inverter/chargers to operate together without the previous nuisance trips.
Experiencing generator trips when charging your batteries? Talk to Buddy Systems about assessing your integrated power system.
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Mark King'uru
Lead Systems Architect
Mark designs and commissions commercial microgrids, residential solar and battery storage systems, and solar pumping installations across Kenya. He brings hands-on expertise in Victron Energy systems, integrating solar, batteries and backup power to meet each client’s energy needs. His practical experience is complemented by training at Strathmore University in advanced photovoltaic systems, battery storage integration, microgrids and commissioning. He combines sound engineering, careful workmanship and thorough testing to deliver dependable performance.