Solar Lattice

Measurement

Low meter power factor

ID
meas:low-meter-power-factor
IRI
https://solarlattice.org/kb/meas/low-meter-power-factor
Status
active

A correctly wired revenue or production meter should show a power factor close to unity, between 0.9 and 1 in either sign (-0.9 to -1 or +0.9 to +1). Judge the meter power factor only while the system produces more than 50% of its rated output, and compare the meter phases with each other at the same time. A low power factor, or a mismatch between phases, usually points to a current transformer problem. If the reading falls outside the near-unity range, check that each voltage reference and its CT are on the same phase. Swapped phases are a common cause. Reversed meter or CT wiring is a related installation fault. Some inverters flag it as a reverse connection alarm, and the fix is to check whether the meter's input and output wiring is swapped. Meters can report power factor for each phase (L1, L2, L3). Some meters give both a true power factor and a displacement power factor, so check which one you are reading.

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