[RE-wrenches] Vanner - BP inverter

Tom Elliot telliot at wagonmaker.com
Sat Sep 27 11:37:40 PDT 2008


That sounds like the old Infinity32 series that was produced for a short 
time a decade ago or so.  The ones I saw were 3.2 kw 220v Vanner inverters 
coupled with Bobier Infinity 6 control centers based around the old 
Omnimeter, 24vdc input.  The one I installed years ago was pretty damn 
bullet proof if a bit odd.  The Omnimeter had a lot of bugs in the software 
but worked fairly well, though I disabled the charge control on it and 
installed a SolarBoost 50 as a charge controller but kept the Omnimeter for 
its metering capabilities.

The inverter had some issues initially but once installed and running it 
took a hell of a lot of abuse from the homeowners, who did their level best 
to blow it up without success though they managed to trash at least one 
generator in the process and burn up some batteries.

I think the rating on the Omnimeter was 60 amps max but I wouldn't trust it 
for charge control.  I had too many of them simply lock up on me at my home 
(I had the Infinity 6 coupled with a Trace 4024) but the locking up problem 
went away after I disabled the charge control functions and just used it as 
a meter.

I don't have any of the manuals for either however and Joe Bobier is long 
out of the business and off doing other things and the Vanner/BP partnership 
didn't last very long.  A lot of this is from dredged up old memory and may 
not match what you've got.

Tom


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Drake Chamberlin" <drake.chamberlin at redwoodalliance.org>
To: <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008 10:17 AM
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Vanner - BP inverter


Hello Wrenches,

We are going to install an old inverter as an educational project at
a local college. We have no documentation on it, but it was made by
Vanner for BP.  It has a built in power center with PV charge controller.

Does anyone have the documentation for this or related equipment?

The charge control looks like the mercury switch that was used for a
charge control on the old Ananda / APT power centers.  Does anyone
know the rating of the charge controls used on these units?

Thanks for your help.


Drake Chamberlin
Athens Electric
OH License 44810
CO License 3773
740-448-7328
303-328-5533


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