SQFlex questions [RE-wrenches]

[Allan Sindelar]

Wrenches,
A customer has an SQFlex pump that is problematic. He is using the CU200
controller, the unit designed for RE input, primarily array-direct, but is
running it off of his 49Vnom battery bank, with a float switch to control
operation about once/week. His ongoing problem, in his own words, "is that
the control unit problem behavior only occurs when the well pump is not
running and the control unit has been sitting there for a couple of days
idle (the well pump only runs about once a week). All communication with
Grundfos have been useless on this subject because they only talk about when
the well pump is running. They give me wattage requirements while the pump
is running, etc. And I tell them my
problem has nothing to do with the well pump running. The pump has run once
a week for nearly a year and never failed. And the control unit has never
failed just before, during or right after a well pump run. The control unit
has no problems idle for a few days (that is, the display will properly show
the three zeroes 0.00 as it should). After a few days it fails and the
entire display goes blank and contrary to what Larry Seitter (at Grundfos
tech support) says,
cycling the ON/OFF switch does not work. You have to cut all power to the
unit and then turn it back on again. The unit will then display 0.00 and the
pump will run without problems until the next control unit failure, usually
after a few idle days or sometimes closer to a week but it will fail."

My questions, please:
1. Has anyone else set up an SQFlex in this manner; that is, DC battery
power to the pump, using a CU200 control unit and remote switch? If so, have
you seen this problem?
2. I could use an MDI DC contactor with float switch coil control to run the
pump off of DC or inverted AC, but the customer wants to keep the CU200
controller in the system for its wattage display and error code functions. I
have been told that the CU200 may be supplied with either (30+ volts) DC or
(90+ volts) AC power. Has anyone run AC power through a CU200?
3. Has anyone run an SQFlex on AC power through a GFCI, and if so, did it
work? Brad Bassett of AEE has reported that the pump won't work through a
GFCI - Brad, can you elaborate? And if I run it through AC from the
inverter, is hardwiring the pump a simple, Code-compliant method of avoiding
the GFCI in a damp location (the pump pit)?

Thank you,
Allan at Positive Energy


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