Wattsun AZ-300 [RE-wrenches]

[matthew tritt]

William & Jeff,

Array Technologies is now replacing the original crappy little motors with
New and Improved little motors which, they claim, is a permanent fix. I have
had similar problems but have kept at it regardless of how many trips it
takes or how irritating it might be. Anyone who has ever been involved in
manufacturing can tell you (that includes me) that everyone in the supply
chain is at the mercy of the supplier of even the most obscure component in
whatever it is you build. If Wattsun gets a part they believe to be good,
but isn't, they get trashed for building a bad product, which they don't.

Since we are where the rubber meets the road in this business, I believe
that we have an obligation to help our OEM suppliers produce a better
product by giving them all the constructive feed-back we can. We are not
simply retailers selling widgets to end-users. We represent the entire
industry de facto because we also install and service what we sell. As we
all know only too well, if something we install has a problem, we invariably
get the blame. Just like Wattsun.

I stopped selling Zomeworks years ago (3 actually) because of their poor
quality control, slow morning return and wind-related poor performance
factors (not to mention their weight). I hear that they have the bugs worked
out now, which they should, after all the years of problems they had!
Compared to the incredibly slow response of Zomeworks to their problems,
Wattsun is a poster child of responsiveness!.

Matt
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Miller" <wrmiller at slonet.org>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 12:46 AM
Subject: Re: Wattsun AZ-300 [RE-wrenches]


> Jeff:
>
> I doubt the problems are lightning related, fortunately we have very
little
> lightning in our area.
>
> I have installed only half a dozen watsuns because of controller problems,
> but I've repaired several installed by others.  Wattsun is usually quick
to
> offer free repair, but I have to drive to the site, remove the controller,
> park it in a south orientation, ship the controller and then reinstall it.
>
> On my first job with Wattsun trackers, (4 of them), we replaced them so
> many times, the homeowner eventually taught himself how to remove and
> replace them, and after a while, Wattsun stopped returning his calls.
> Eventually the actuator arms failed, and they are now fixed arrays.  All
in
> all, a big bummer.  We now install only Zomeworks, with good success.
> Fortunately the vendor I usually work with (Pacific Energy of San Luis
> Obispo) can get either brand, so our customers do have a choice.
>
> William Miller
>
>
>
> At 10:59 PM 9/17/02 -0800, you wrote:
> >William,
> >
> >Not so far.   Have your problems been lightning related?  I heard
> >they may be sensitive to that.  But I have had two controls in the
> >field for over 3 years without problems.  What was the failure mode
> >and did Wattson solve it quickly for you?
> >
> >jc
> >
> >>Jeff:
> >>
> >>No problems with the control circuitry failing?  That's been my
experience
> >>with earlier versions of the Wattsun trackers.  I've removed and
replaced
> >>many of them.
> >>
> >>
> >>William Miller
> >>
> >>At 01:12 PM 9/13/02 -0800, you wrote:
> >>>Hey Travis,
> >>>
> >>>I just got done installing it's cousin - custom made 5 pole linear
> >>>tracker for 10 KW (5 poles - 4 sections totalling 106' long).  But it
> >>>uses the same components as the AZ-300 and we used the AC to DC
> >>>option as well.
> >>>
> >>>I found it to be really well built and easy to install.
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>__________________________________________________________________
> >>William Miller
> >>Miller Power and Communications
> >>PO Box 50, Santa Margarita, CA 93453
> >>Voice :805-438-5600 Fax: 805-438-4607 VMail: 805-546-4875
> >>email: wrmiller at slonet.org
> >>http://millerpowerandcomm.com
> >>License No. C-10-773985
> >>_____________________________________________________________
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> >>_____________________________________________________________
> >>"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under."
> >>                                     H. L. Mencken
> >>__________________________________________________________________
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >--
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >Jeff Clearwater
> >Ecovillage Design Associates
> >Home, Community and Village Scale Renewable Energy Systems
> >
> >2525 Arapahoe Ave, Suite E4, #280
> >Boulder, CO 80302
> >1-800-440-2523 PIN7071
> >Fax:  720-528-7813
> >clrwater at earthlink.net
> >jeffc at ic.org
> >
> >Council Member - Ecovillage Network of the Americas -
> http://www.ecovillage.org
> >Founder:  Ecovillage Research, Development, and Demonstration Program:
> >http://www.home.earthlink.net/~clrwater/RDD/rdd.html
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >- - - -
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> >Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
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> >
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> >
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> >
> >
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> William Miller
> Miller Power and Communications
> PO Box 50, Santa Margarita, CA 93453
> Voice :805-438-5600 Fax: 805-438-4607 VMail: 805-546-4875
> email: wrmiller at slonet.org
> http://millerpowerandcomm.com
> License No. C-10-773985
> _____________________________________________________________
> Compatibility:
> Word processor: WP7
> Spreadsheet: Quatro Pro 7
> CAD: Microstation 95, DXF, Visio 4.1T
> _____________________________________________________________
> "Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under."
>                                     H. L. Mencken
> __________________________________________________________________
>
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> To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>
> Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
>
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>
> Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html
>
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>
> Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
>
>
>

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