[RE-wrenches] mate issues AND MORE ISSUES

Walt Ratterman wratterman at SunEnergyPower.com
Tue Dec 23 09:58:03 PST 2008


Walt Ratterman here.

 

All of my work is done overseas, but I gave up on automatic generator
starting years ago.  I now make extensive use of the relays for alarms, and
load shedding, but not automatic generator starting.  I am a firm believer
that this needs to remain a people-thing for operations, maintenance, and
buy-in. 

 

I felt that this opinion only had merit in the developing world.  Maybe it
applies more broadly.

 

Take care,

 

Walt Ratterman

SunEnergy Power International

www.sunepi.org <http://www.sunepi.org/> 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Todd Cory
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:52 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] mate issues AND MORE ISSUES

 

I know this is not the topic, but I never set up auto genny starts and this
thread only confirms the correctness of that decision. Having a machine
automatically start/stop while unattended is IMO a recipe for, at best
damage to gear and, at worst a fire that could destroy the entire homestead.

If people are too mindless to know how to fly their off-grid system by
looking at the weather forecast and battery SOC meter, then they should move
to a on-grid home. I tell my customers when they are away from their
off-grid homes, to shut the inverter's DC breaker off and leave the PV
charging sources on. There is no chance for failure with this setup.

Murphy will get you every time you try to automate what should be done
manually.

Todd


CVSOLAR at aol.com wrote: 

Matt & Tom,

   Guess it's time to put in my two cents.  I have also had the same random
failures to start and/or stop the generator automatically from the mate in 3
installation.  Managed to boil dry 8 L 16's and run through 90 gallons of
propane before we went back to the unattended second home over three days
after checking it out and found the generator had been running since we
left.  As you have noted, all tests checked out good at the time.  We are
looking into 3rd party auto start modules as an alternative or continue to
tell all customers not to use auto start if unattended.  It seems that all
auto start problems occur when the customer is not home.  We had one Trace
SW4024 start a Kohler generator flawlessly for 3 years and when they took
their first extended stay from home, it failed.... Turned out it was a bad
spark plug but it shattered their faith in the system. We have also had
problems with The Xantrex SW Plus with similar problems.  We have also had a
problem with several Outback systems shutting down the generator prematurely
at about 70% charge even though we reset the mate and Inverter to factory
defaults. 

 

I still have trouble convincing the rich second home owners that the only
reliable system is 2 generators with a person to run them.  We are currently
using a honda 2000i as our backup for our off grid home so our VFX3624 does
just fine taking in the power. Love the low fuel consumption.  My customer
with the runaway Kohler used more fuel in one weekend than we have used in a
year. 

 

John Blittersdorf
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer tm
Central Vermont Solar & Wind, LLC.
104 River Street
Rutland, VT 05701

802-747-0577
802-773-0924 fax
802-770-8625 cell
www.cvsolar.com <http://www.cvsolar.com/> 







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