GE Grid Solutions, a division of General Electric (GE), recently introduced a new generator management relay, the 489-P5-HI-A20E. Part of the Multilin 489 series, this relay is designed to provide full protection, control and advanced communication capabilities for small and medium-sized generators and is recognized for its cost effectiveness and industry-leading drawer structure design.

489-P5-HI-A20E relay with multiple advanced protection features, Including generator stator differential protection, 100% stator grounding protection, loss of magnetic protection, distance backup protection, reverse power (reverse electric) protection, overexcitation protection, grounding direction overcurrent protection, unintentional power-on protection, circuit breaker failure protection, stator and bearing thermal state and vibration monitoring, negative sequence overcurrent protection. In addition, it provides accurate measurement and monitoring functions, which can record voltage, current, power, energy, frequency, power factor and other parameters in real time, as well as demand monitoring, temperature monitoring, vibration and speed monitoring, event recording, oscillations and trends.

489-P5-HI-A20-T-H

The relay is designed to minimize maintenance time and simplify the installation process, and its large user-friendly front panel interface makes it easy to read the display even in direct sunlight. It enhances generator troubleshooting with IRIG-B time synchronization event logging, waveform capture and data loggers. In addition, built-in waveform simulation simplifies setpoint verification testing.

In terms of communications, the 489-P5-HI-A20E offers flexible industry-standard communications hardware (RS232, RS485, 10BaseT Ethernet) and protocols (Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP/IP, DNP 3.0 Level 2) for cost-effective information access. It also supports harsh chemical environment options for applications in extremely harsh environments.

It is worth noting that although plans to manufacture the 489 series have been discontinued and GE has recommended the 889 relay as a replacement, the 489-P5-HI-A20E remains a high-demand relay suitable for primary or backup protection of 25Hz, 50Hz or 60Hz synchronous or induction generators, as well as for use in cogeneration applications.