C40's and SW's [RE-wrenches]

[Andrew Bortz]

Wrenches,

Misery loves company!  In that sense I'm thrilled that I'm not alone in my
problems with the (was Trace) C40s & SWs settings.

A little Voltage setting faux paux from lack of clear Trace info., seems to
have at least, contributed to an expensive & early battery failure for one
of my clients.

I believe that this begs the Question; Why is this information not clear in
the Trace/Xantrex manuals, or in the alternative; why not issue
dealer/installer alerts that get passed on through distributors etc., as
these problems become clear.  Are they not monitoring what problems come up
again and again in calls to tech. support?   As an old friend of mine used
to say, "This makes me very 'Flustrated'"

Andrew Bortz
Solar Design & Construction
solarman2 at attbi.com
Corvallis, OR

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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----- Original Message -----
From: "sunwise" <sunwise at cheqnet.net>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:43 PM
Subject: RE: C40's and SW's [RE-wrenches]


> I agree with you here Bill, that Sell Voltage is only set of you are
> using Grid Usage Timer.  It is also my understanding that these settings
> are only used if you are selling the battery (down to sell battery
> voltage setting), with is not recommended in the vast majority of SW
> installs.  Both "Sell Voltage" and Grid Usage Timer are typically not
> used in standard grid-tie applications.
>
> Kurt Nelson
> SOLutions
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Brooks [mailto:billb at endecon.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 6:28 PM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: RE: C40's and SW's [RE-wrenches]
>
> Eric,
>
> I believe several of the posts mentioned that sell voltage must be lower
> than the charge controller float and bulk voltages to work properly.
>
> Something that has not been mentioned that you point out here is that if
> you
> are using the Grid Usage Timer to sell power, the sell voltage is not
> temperature compensated--it is a constant.
>
> However, if you are in sell mode with the Grid Usage Timer turned off
> (start
> and stop times identical), then the SW will go to float charge setting
> and
> remain there--this is a temperature compensated setting.
>
> So to sum up:
>
> 1. Turn Grid Usage Timer Off (that is default)
> 2. Turn Bulk Charge Timer to 0:00 (default is 2:00)
> 3. Leave Float voltage setting at the default of 53.6 Volts
> 4. Set your backup charge controller to at least 1 Volt higher (54.6V)
>    (and confirm that the setting is accurate)
> 5. Make sure all equipment has temperature compensation probes and the
> are
> attached to the battery such that they are reading as close to the same
> temperature as possible.
>
> Bill.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Smiley [mailto:Eric_Smiley at bcit.ca]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 3:29 PM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: RE: C40's and SW's [RE-wrenches]
>
>
>
> I didn't see any mention of the SW Sell Voltage in the posts, which has
> to be less than the C40 bulk and float voltages, but greater than the SW
> float voltage.
>
> However, (I believe it was Bill that pointed this out to me) the Sell
> Voltage is not temperature compensated.
>
> Eric Smiley
> Project Leader
> Photovoltaic Energy Applied Research, Technology Centre
> British Columbia Institute of Technology
> Burnaby Campus
>
> NE25 - 3700 Willingdon Avenue
> Burnaby, British Columbia
> Canada V5G 3H2
>
> phone: 604.432.8657    fax: 604.436.0286
> esmiley at bcit.ca             www.tc.bcit.ca
>
> The information contained in this E-mail is intended for the addressee
> only.  If you have received this in error please delete it.
>
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