Vanner RE-4500 [RE-wrenches]

Bob Maynard, Energy Outfitters bob at energyoutfitters.com
Fri Nov 22 11:30:17 PST 2002


Phil,
Thank you for your your post.  My comments and questions follow in your text
below.

Regards,
Bob Maynard
Energy Outfitters
800-467-6527


>Though I am bound by the forum rules to keep Vanner's input to installation
advice limited to a >strictly technical nature. It would be appropriate to
present an equal position from us, the    >manufacturer.

Thank you for sharing Vanner's position in an open forum.

>As with all new electronic products during their inception, some aspects of
operation are only  >learnt and developed from real field trials and real
applications.

The RE-4500 was represented to our company as a finished product ready to go
to customers in off grid and grid tie environments.  We applied your product
as represented to real world customer applications.  Each unit we sold has
not performed as advertised, most have been replaced with "updated" units
and problems still exist.  We have less than satisfied end users and dealers
who have long since lost any profit from their sale due to hours and hours
spent returning to the jobsites.  Had the RE-4500 been represented as "ready
for field trial", we would have placed them as beta units in controlled
situations.

>You are all probably aware that Vanner is a comparitive 'newbie' to the RE
market. We do however >have a wealth of experience in inverter manufacturing
in other markets. Indeed many of our early >efforts were frought with
problems because of mis-applied projects, not design. However, we     >would
say however that we have gained a huge amount of data with our partners
co-operation, and >release v3.0 of our software is a direct result of our
trials (and tribulations) we have learnt >from over the last few years.

My experience is Vanner builds excellent and reliable inverters for the
mobile market.  A real committment on Vanner's part to the RE market could
provide Vanner with increased market share.  Could you share more about
v3.0, what problems this has cleared up in off grid and grid tie
installations of RE-4500?  How do we get it?  Is it field installable?  What
problems have been found, if any, now that v3.0 is in the field?

>Vanner on Monday presented to the National Wind Energy Conference in Dublin
OH, its first wind  >application site at Glacier Ridge Metro Park. This is a
10KW Bergey with 2//40xFNC206L Hoppecke >NiCd batteries, the PWM fornt-end
consists of a Vanner RE48-DCM, RE48-ACM split by a v3.0 RE48- >4500
inverter. I was personally involved with this trouble free project, and it
took 45 seconds >to commission the Vanner equipment. It is functioning
beyond expectations. The feedback to      >Vanner from the conference was
extremely positive and in fact the features we demonstrated of   >our latest
iteration software were more than encouraging.

Congratulations are in order.

>I do not wish to use the forum as a podium for corporate benefit, but hope
the wrenches         >moderator will see fit to provide a balanced view.

>I passionately believe that a high end, feature filled, US built product
has its place in the RE >market. Moreover, it is a fact that we believe in
the market. I am more than willing to converse >and show sites, where using
controlled applications the product surpasses most customer
>expectations.

I couldn't agree more that a Vanner inverter could hold a significant place
in the RE Market.  The fact that you believe in this market is an indicator
that perhaps we can re-visit the existing installations that have problems,
work to rectify the problems, and compensate the dealers for their time
spent.

I hope readers will appreciate the need to provide a balanced view of our
approach, and thank our installers for their continuing support.

Thanks

Phil Irwin

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