[RE-wrenches] Legacy support

William Miller william at millersolar.com
Thu Mar 10 14:17:22 PST 2011


Friends:

I am seriously disappointed at the lack of informational support some 
manufacturer's provide on legacy equipment.  Two I am thinking of are 
Xantrex and Solar World.  There is no on-line documentation of discontinued 
products for these two companies.  It is as if these products do not exist 
anymore.  Some Xantrex and Solar World products were well built and 
continue to exist in the world.  Us wrenches need to have ready knowledge 
of this equipment to keep systems running as part of our livelihood.

This is emblematic of a larger attitude in the solar 
industry.  Manufacturers seem focused only on bringing out new products and 
discontinuing old ones.  The bottom line seems to be the only focus.

Maintaining PDFs of out-of-production equipment on a web site seems like an 
extremely modest commitment in resources yet many companies can not be 
bothered.  This is frustrating.

While I'm on my soap box, I am also frustrated by this endless quest to 
introduce new modules or just new frames.  The new Solar World SW plus 
(yes, add this recycled model number to the general industry confusion) is 
apparently electrically identical to the plain old SW module.  But it won't 
fit onto the old racking.  Woe be it to any of you if you have racking in 
stock or want to replace a damaged module.

We need regulatory standards similar to the automobile industry.  If a 
product is put on the market, spares should be required to be kept in stock 
for 7 years after the product is discontinued.  Write your congress person!

Manufacturer's representatives on this forum should report immediately to 
your management with a proposal to put data on our web sites.

William Miller



William Miller
Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: william at millersolar.com
http://millersolar.com
License No. C-10-773985
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