[RE-wrenches] Outback FNDC relay, Flex Net Review

[William Miller]

Kent:

 From the Flex Net DC manual, page 16:  "OutBack strongly recommends using 
the AGS function of the MATE to control a generator."   I assume from your 
post, you are using the Auto mode to have the relay control a generator, a 
practice that the above quotation recommends against.  This may relate 
directly to your problems.

I have no experience with the Flex Net but I took this opportunity to 
review the manual more thoroughly than I have previously.  My conclusion is 
that the Flex Net is a great tool for the technically inclined but offers a 
minimal convenience for the lay person.  The State of Charge function may 
be a more realistic method of determining actual state of charge, but if it 
operates at all like the E-meter or the Tri-Metric, it is prone to 
inaccuracy.  The variables associated with individual battery banks, 
particularly as they age, make accurate calibration a moving 
target.  Overall, the Flex net has the potential to increase customer 
confusion with a proliferation of synoptic (overly succinct) menus.

Again, I call on the technicians in the industry to create a user interface 
with the lay person in mind.  See previous rant.

I may find I recommend this system for remote locations so I can poll 
statistics and interpret for the client, but I will not train a client on 
the use of this unless he or she is particularly inclined.

Anyone else have an opinion on the Flex net system?

William Miller



At 12:13 PM 10/14/2009, you wrote:
>Has anyone besides me had problems using the relay in the Outback 
>FNDC?  I've had three different customers report that their generators 
>failed to turn off.
>
>--
>Kent Osterberg
>Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
><http://www.bluemountainsolar.com/>www.bluemountainsolar.com
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