AES MM5000 [RE-wrenches]

Sat Aug 24 13:13:32 PDT 2002

Hi David - We certainly apologize for the problem that you have had with
your system, and are doing all we can to resolve the various issues.

There are hundreds of MM-3000 and MM-5000 inverters that are going just
wonderfully for many customers.  On the other hand, this is the most
capable, and the most complex PV product ever to come to market.  Up to this
time, no one has integrated an MPPT charge controller and inverter,
especially one that can export to grid and run stand-alone.

There are 7000+ lines of C code in the inverter control program. Before we
release a new version of code to manufacturing, we run a set of validation
tests that take several weeks to complete.  Any problems that come up must
be resolved, and then the testing starts again.  This is a requirement that
we have internally, and it is also mandated upon us by some of our larger
customers.

So feature release is slower than we would all like, but it IS progressing.

We are about to release V3.3B software.  (Please note that this does not
change UL rating - the changes here are not utility or safety related - such
a change would result in a major/number software release change).

The 3.3B software includes:
- soft transition to grid (we had a few sites that were tripping grid
breakers due to transformer inrush)
- inverter kWh counting
- Battery AH counting and SOC indication
- Added communications commands to automatically find and identify multiple
inverters
- Added an IV Scan command that generates a .csv file of the connected array
IV curve
- Made some changes to the comm software that allow it to work better with
PCs with slow serial ports.
- Changed a number of shutdown modes that were "playing safe" - taking the
inverter to OFF rather than grid to load if a problem condition was seen, so
that they do indeed keep power on to the customer.
- Provision for running multiple inverters on a single battery bank.

This answers most of David's list.

Version 3.3C is in the works, and has have the following capabilities:
- Generator Control
- vented battery support
- grid battery charging.
- 120/240 split phase
We are currently testing this software on Plug Power fuel cell systems and
also at Sandia Labs.  It will be a couple of months before it makes it
through full validation.

We are currently working on ways of adding more resources to our company so
that in the future we can be as responsive to all your needs as we would
like to be.

Best Regards
Rob Wills
VP Engineering
Advanced Energy

-----Original Message-----
From: David Henry [mailto:david at harmonyfarm.com]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 6:27 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: AES MM5000 [RE-wrenches]

William,

I have two of them set up with 6400 watts/ea of PV. Coastal Ca, north
of SF so I doubt if they'll ever see more than 90 amps (rated to 100)
but normally should peak at 75 or 80 amps on any given day.  They
seemed to work fine then one went down in a cloud of smoke,
literally. Smoke pouring out of the upper half. Mark at AES was
apologetic and readily agreed to replace the unit. They had seen a
few with a similar problem. They are in the process of writing new
software and testing it under high load and high heat conditions to
ensure there are no repeats. While we were waiting for the
replacement..... inverter number two developed burning, ozone, smells
so it's shut down & getting replaced also.

I was originally attracted to MPP charge controls, Zero Current
battery charge mode and the tidy all-in-one design. Not to mention
Xantrex was out of the grid tie business at the time (last December
). I still like the idea but problems below need to be addressed.

Some other problems on the software to be fixed list, promised to be
out in weeks if not days:

1) Using two inverters to generate 240v single phase (or "split
phase" as Rob Wills @ AES likes to call it).

2) Allowing two inverters to share a single battery bank eg 24 - 2 volt
cells

3)  Allowing the grid or a generator to charge batteries after a
power outage has drawn down the batteries.

4) Inverter shut down prevents pass through power from getting to
critical loads.

Website
<http://www.advancedenergy.com/Software/PC200v1_8.zip>http://www.advancedene
rgy.com/

David Henry
Harmony Farm Supply
3244 Hwy 116 N.
Sebastopol, Ca 95472
voice 707-823-9125 X14
fax 707-823-1734
david at harmonyfarm.com
www.harmonyfarm.com

>Kids:
>
>I have tried several times to find info on the web regarding the AES
MM5000,
>without luck.  Anyone know the web address for this?
>
>On a related subject, is anyone using the AES inverters?  How are they
>working out?
>
>William Miller
>
>__________________________________________________________________
>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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>_____________________________________________________________
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>                                     H. L. Mencken
>__________________________________________________________________
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