[RE-wrenches] mate issues AND MORE ISSUES

[Nick Lucchese]

Wrenches,

I know I'm a little late with my post here as I've fallen a couple 
weeks behind on reading my Wrenches. Sorry to hear that so many of 
you are frustrated with Outback but I just wanted to speak up for the 
other side. Ninety five percent of my installation work these days is 
off grid and nearly 95% of those are Outback components exclusively. 
While I do run into minor glitches here and there Outback is always 
there to expedite a set of boards or send out an upgraded Mate to 
work with the new Flexnet. I'll admit that sometimes the combinations 
of error codes are not intuitive but they are consistent and 
predictable and therefore easy to diagnose just as long as your 
customer can navigate the menus and communicate with you. Also, in 
the few times I've been out of the area and my customer's called 
Outback for things that could have been found in the manual my 
customers have voiced that Outback's technicians were very helpful 
and patient with them. Out of the last five Flexnets I've set up all 
have been consistent and appear to be working flawlessly. Only three 
of them are set up for auto gen start at this time and I'm still 
using the Aux and AGS function through the inverter and not the 
Flexnet. I also just program the AGS through volt start  and not SOC 
with the integrated Flexnet relay. However the Flexnet relay controls 
my home's water pump without issues.

I know that those of you who are frustrated with their gen start 
issues are experienced technicians and I'm certainly not saying you 
shouldn't voice your dissatisfaction. I just want to speak up that if 
it were not for the reliability and predictability of Outback 
hardware I would have far less time on my hands. Hopefully they'll 
make things right for you and convince you that they are the best 
long term solution for off grid systems. Personally I cannot imagine 
making a transition to any other manufacturer.

My 2 volts,

Nick A Lucchese

PS. I don't like that I can't find much programming information for 
the GT models. The new manuals are great but certain information from 
the old documentation still needs to be carried over.




>Matt:
>
>I have had the same experience with 2 Mates going bad on the Gen 
>start. I just replaced them with new ones and sent the little 
>buggers back to OutBack for a transfusion.
>
>We have been slowly transitioning away from OutBack products in 
>general for most applications, except for the situations where they 
>are the only "perfect fit."
>
>Tom Duffy
>The Solar Biz
>
>
>  From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org 
>[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Matt 
>Tritt
>Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 12:20 PM
>To: RE-wrenches
>Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] mate issues AND MORE ISSUES
>
>Actually you aren't the only two! I have had very similar problems 
>with at least three OB systems in the last year or so. In every 
>case, everything seemed to work perfectly when I was there, but 
>within 2 or 3 days there would be a call saying that the generator 
>wasn't coming on (always in the middle of the night). One owner 
>would start pushing buttons willy-nilly, so it all had to be 
>reprogrammed every visit. This problem has cuased a lot of 
>irritation and at least one lawsuit involving a dealer - who now 
>won't attempt ANY off-grid work at all. Surely this is just a 
>software problem that could be rectified without majorly re-work of 
>the Mate?
>
>Matt T
>
>Tump wrote:
>
>>Hey Jay, guess what I did yesterday in a Fu**(&& Blizzard! Yup that's right
>>went to "fix" the gen no start feature on the OB.
>>I reset the settings in the mate repoled it last week for the same issue, up
>>in hopes that it might turn on the gen BEFORE shutting down.NO error lights
>>gen will start NO problem in Man on or at the shed.
>>
>>HELLO OUTBACK YOU OUT THERE??????
>>Would someone at OUTBACK let Chris out of the dog house, so he can respond &
>>we can hear how Jay & I are the only folks that seem to be having these
>>issues with the OB product line.
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: 
>><mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>[<mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] 
>>On Behalf Of jay peltz
>>Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 1:10 PM
>>To: RE-wrenches
>>Subject: [RE-wrenches] mate issues
>>
>>
>>Hi Tump,
>>
>>So just got a call from a customer.
>>
>>Mate not auto starting the generator.
>>
>>Mate set to auto.
>>
>>Will start manually.
>>
>>Time and date are perfect.
>>
>>Volts got to 1.5v under 2 minute start and no start.
>>
>>Getting frustrating.
>>
>>jay
>>
>>peltz power
>>_______________________________________________
>>List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>>
>>List Address: 
>><mailto:RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>
>>Options & settings:
>><http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org>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>http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>
>>List rules & etiquette:
>><http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm>www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>
>>Check out participant bios:
>><http://www.members.re-wrenches.org>www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>>
>>List Address: 
>><mailto:RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>
>>Options & settings:
>><http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org>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>http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>
>>List rules & etiquette:
>><http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm>www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>
>>Check out participant bios:
>><http://www.members.re-wrenches.org>www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>No virus found in this incoming message.
>>Checked by AVG - <http://www.avg.com>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


-- 
Nick A Lucchese
NABCEP Certified PV Installer
Planet Home
General Contractor # 808851
Sierra Solar Systems
563C Idaho Maryland Road
Grass Valley, CA 95945
tech info and foreign orders:  (530) 273-6754
order line: (800) 51-SOLAR (US only)   FAX:  (530) 273-1760
e-mail:  <mailto:nickl at sierrasolar.com>
world wide web:  <http://www.sierrasolar.com>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20090109/73730d3e/attachment-0002.html>