[RE-wrenches] mate issues AND MORE ISSUES

[robert ellison]

This makes it hard to decide if the problem is auto starting (it is) or
lousy gear and poor support? Anyone notice a pattern of support here?
I avoid auto start because murphy moves in on the better designed
systems and bites you in the rear sooner that later, on the lousy ones like
the start of the thread he openly lives there.
Also never run an engine without a "Murphy" shutdown system. Sooner or later
it will save your rear end. But it will not help if it will not start!

With auto start most people don't pay any attention and things go wrong
also.

Either way we catch the flack.

Have a great Christmas,

Bob Ellison



On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 1:18 PM, Tom Elliot <telliot at wagonmaker.com> wrote:

>  Todd,
>
> Excellent points to which I'd add I've been wondering just how
> well-designed these off-grid homes are that need generators to be running
> when the home is unoccupied for long periods of time.  A home that uses that
> much power with no one in it is simply badly designed.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Todd Cory <toddcory at finestplanet.com>
> *To:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 23, 2008 7:52 AM
> *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
>
>
> <!--[endif]-->
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>  ------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.0/1861 - Release Date: 12/22/2008
> 11:23 AM
>
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.0/1861 - Release Date: 12/22/2008
> 11:23 AM
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20081223/d6026503/attachment-0004.html>