[RE-wrenches] XW6048 parts problem

[Mark.Edmunds at ca.schneider-electric.com]

Hi Drake, 

I had not heard about this battery incident you mention below...do you 
have any other details? So far there has not been any record of battery 
problems on the XW that I know of and we obviously would like to hear if 
there is something we should be looking in to. 

Hi Peter - as far as I recall we resolved the issue you mention below back 
in January, and from our records the customer has been happy with the 
results. It was a pretty unusual condition that our tech support team had 
not seen before, and it took the senior designer of the XW product to 
finally be able to understand what was going on. A learning "opportunity" 
for all. 

Cheers, 

Mark

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 


Mark Edmunds  |   Schneider Electric   |  Renewable Energies Business  | 
CANADA  |   Senior Director, Engineering 
Phone: +1-604-422-2609  |   Mobile: +1-604-613-3285 
Email: mark.edmunds at ca.schneider-electric.com  |   Site: www.xantrex.com | 
  Address: 8999 Nelson Way, Burnaby, BC V5A 4B5, CANADA 

*** Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail 




From:
Drake Chamberlin <drake.chamberlin at redwoodalliance.org>
To:
RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Date:
09/20/2009 05:10 PM
Subject:
Re: [RE-wrenches] XW6048 parts problem
Sent by:
re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org



Hi Peter, 

Do you need the extra fan?  The VFX has an internal fan.  Are there a lot 
of heavy loads that push the limits of the Outback?  If not, take out the 
fan or swap it for a cover with no fan.  Many VFX inverters didn't come 
with cover fans.  I don't know if they are standard now, or not.

Or, have the fan go on whenever the direct grid tie inverter is being 
called on to charge batteries instead of feed the grid.  If loads are not 
real heavy, battery charging, by back feeding the AC Out, may be the time 
when the fan is needed the most. 

Before inverters started controlling generators, we used a device called 
the Simple Switch, which was a voltage controlled contact.  (We'd use it 
with a GenWiz).  I'm not sure what is out there these days. You could use 
the Atkinson GSCM, generator start module, which senses the voltage. If 
you need this solution, I'd call AEE. 

Thanks for the heads up on the Xantrex.  I just heard another horror story 
about the Xantrex 6024 system.  According to the installer, the owner shut 
off an AC switch and the array cooked a bank of Surrette 25CS 25 PS 
batteries.  I don't know the new Xantrex line and don't understand how 
this could happen.  Is this really possible? 

-Drake 

At 06:43 PM 9/20/2009, you wrote:
Hi Drake (and everyone else interested in this thread),
 
Armed with the information from my esteemed colleagues, we went ahead and 
purchased a SunWise ?Solar Ready-Grid Tie Battery System?, a SRB3.6 to be 
exact. The heart of the system is a GVFX3648. I ordered it without the 
Charge controller and purchased a SB3000 and 3150 Wdc of PV to go with it. 

 
I also purchased a Grainger 2P2T relay with a 12 V coil in a NC 
configuration (to disconnect the SB when the batteries are fully charged 
in off-grid mode) and an Outback PSX-240 to transform the 240 Vac to 120 
Vac (in order to interface with the GVFX3648.
 
When we looked into hooking the relay up to the AUX-OUT of the GVFX3648, 
we discovered that it was already dedicated to the fan?
 
So it looks like we will need to put something together to sense the 
battery voltage and energize the relay coil, when we exceed the threshold. 
Any recommendations for a add-on HVD? And exactly what threshold voltage 
should we use for 8ea 6V 305 Ah (C/24) AGM batteries?
 
And for Drake: I gravitated away from Xantrex because of a very 
unsatisfactory experience with a XW6048. The system failed to work 
properly and Xantrex ?hemmed and hawed? for over six months. Bottom line: 
we made six service calls, two firmware upgrades and probably two dozen 
calls to largely clueless group tech supporters. Through it all, I lost 
the customer?s confidence and he chose another integrator to do a follow 
on commercial project. The last part of course was the worst part of the 
experience.
 
- Peter 
 


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