Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]

Wed Feb 27 18:40:47 PST 2008

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Hello August,

Thanks for your feedback. We see the same thing along the southern 
California coast and inland in smog corrosion areas. A year will rust zinc 
plated hardware badly. Raw ends of Uni-strut also rust in about a year. 
Aluminum module frames start to pit in about 3 to 5 years but are not a 
problem for at least 20 years away from the coast. On the other hand, at the 
marinas I've seen homemade aluminum racks (not hard anodized module frames) 
start to flake and powder in less than 10 years but still maintain their 
strength if stainless steel hardware is used. Cheap aluminum ladders last 
about 10-15 years at marinas although our brothers in Hawaii can tell you 
some interesting stories about metal and salt air.

Los Angeles does not get much rain from April to November. In the industrial 
sections of Los Angeles air pollution collects on the overnight moisture to 
form a reddish brown coating that gets baked onto roofs, solar modules and 
roof equipment during the day. These deposits are corrosive and hard to 
remove. I guess the Bay Area gets enough heavy dew and rain that you don't 
have this problem.

Getting back to rusting enclosures, it makes sense to include in the owners 
manual something about inspecting cabinets and enclosures for rust and using 
sandpaper and touch-up paint.

Does your company offer maintenance service contracts? What percent of 
customer buy service initially? What percent buy service later on?

Joel Davidson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "August Goers" <august at luminalt.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]

>
> Joel and All,
>
> 90% of our installations are in San Francisco and many are within just a 
> few blocks of the beach. During much of the season we have dense fog which 
> literally drenches the solar panels and racking with moisture, especially 
> in the wee hours of the night when it gets chilly. We commonly inspect 
> previously installed systems and it is amazing how wet they get when it's 
> foggy. I'm definitely concerned about corrosion so everything we install 
> is stainless steel or aluminum with the exception of some hot dipped 
> galvanized strut.
>
> That said, I can't say I can see a whole lot of corrosion related issues 
> when comparing the major inverter manufacturers. Maybe I'm missing 
> something. Heat sinks and enclosures might corrode if they're not made of 
> properly anodized aluminum, stainless steel, or otherwise protected. PCBs 
> and other internal components will corrode if they are not properly coated 
> and/or selected. Screws and other fasteners will do the same. The list 
> goes on. We've only been installing these products for a about 3.5 years, 
> so long term data isn't available.
>
> Anyone out there having problems with inverter corrosion?
>
> Now that I think of it, corrosion and material longevity in general would 
> be a great topic to discuss on wrenches. I've heard that the coastal area 
> of Florida has bad corrosion problems; where even good quality aluminum 
> racking gets white and powdery. I suspect that people located in Arizona 
> and thereabouts don't have the same issues. And furthermore, I'd think 
> that only old-time Wrenches really know what actually happens out in the 
> field after 5, 10, 20, or 30 years. I've seen standard zinc plated 
> hardware rust out in less than a year....
>
> What do y'all think?
>
>
>
> August Goers
>
> Luminalt Energy Corporation
> 4000 Irving Street
> San Francisco, CA 94122
>
> Office: 415.564.7652
> Mobile: 415.559.1525
> august at luminalt.com
> www.luminalt.com
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Joel Davidson <joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net>
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:55:51 AM
> Subject: Re: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]
>
>
> Hello August,
>
> Thanks for the feedback about the Xantrex GT. Do you think its enclosure
> will hold up under coastal conditions?
>
> Joel Davidson
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "August Goers" <august at luminalt.com>
> To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:28 AM
> Subject: Re: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]
>
>
>>
>> What has been people's experiences with Xantrex over the past couple of
>> years? We've installed probably an equal number of Fronius, Sunny Boy, 
>> and
>> Xantrex units and have had the most failures with our Fronius units. That
>> might of just been a fluke.
>>
>> From my perspective, the natural convection cooling of the Xantrex is a
>> strong advantage, not to mention the fact that the wide MPP voltage range
>> makes it easy to string out a variety of module configurations.
>>
>>
>> August Goers
>>
>> Luminalt Energy Corporation
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Doug Pratt <dmpratt at sbcglobal.net>
>> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 9:41:09 PM
>> Subject: RE: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]
>>
>>
>> Fronius completely dips their power boards, with all components, so they
>> can
>> tolerate spray. Most mfr's only coat one side.
>>
>> Fronius has been our most trouble-free brand historically. But if we just
>> look at shipments within the past year, it's a dead heat between Fronius,
>> SMA, and PV Powered. They're all producing flawless units. Much improved
>> over 5-6 years ago!
>>
>> Doug Pratt
>> DC Power Systems
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Carl Hansen [mailto:Solarwks at cybermesa.com]
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:34 PM
>> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>> Subject: Re: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]
>>
>>
>> I've noticed the Fronius has excellent ventilation, in fact I was a 
>> little
>> surprised at just how "open" it was, looked to me like it couldn't handle
>> a
>> serious driving rain and definitely not a kid with a hose. Has anyone 
>> else
>> noticed this? Its not sealed up tight like the Sunny Boy units
>>
>>  Carl Hansen
>>
>>
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