[RE-wrenches] Instruction manual / User interface rant

[William Miller]

Friends:

I just returned home from a long drive to troubleshoot a problem with an 
Outback FX system.  I found that the customer, in the process of using a 
remote Mate to start the generator, had inadvertently turned the global 
charge control setting to "off".  This causes a problem that is very 
serious but hard to detect:  The generator will run but it will not charge 
the batteries.  No one can know how long ago this was done, but in the 
meantime the customers batteries were chronically undercharged.

Just a month ago I found another Outback system where the customer (or 
someone from another "solar" company) had selected the "drop" setting from 
the "use" menu.  Similar results to the previous case, but in this 
situation the customer had to use the bypass breakers to get power to the 
house while the batteries did not charge.

To my mind, this is one of the big problems with all manufacturers of 
technical equipment:  Poor user interface.  Who, in their right mind, would 
put controls to disable critical functions in the same menu tree as the 
control to do a common place, frequently used function such as starting a 
generator remotely?  And the screens are all almost identical.  This is 
extremely poor design.

On a similar subject, all off-grid inverter manuals are written very 
poorly.  For example, why put the installation instructions in the front of 
the manual?  You install a system once, but you operate it every day.  The 
installation instructions should be in the back and the operating 
instructions in the front (or better yet, in separate books).  Why are we 
trying to use the same manual for the installer as for the user?  A 
majority of users need a 4 page manual that includes:  1. how to turn the 
system on and off, 2. how to read and interpret a few critical meter 
functions, 3. how (and why) to equalize batteries and 4. what to do when 
your power goes out.  That's it.  For the few users that want to know more, 
they can wade through the installation / technical manual.

We provide our own checklists to all of our customers to perform the 
limited functions described above.  For a sample, see: 
file:///D:/William/Web/Dreamweaver/Miller%20Solar/MillerSolar/Services/Support/_support.htmll

We provide these instruction sets to our install clients and sell them to 
others, including other installers (off list, if you are interested).

I am volunteering to be on a peer review panel to critique users manuals 
for off-grid inverter manufacturer's.  Maybe if a few of us grey beards 
look over these manuals before they are printed, we can get them 
straightened out.  Anyone else on board?

Rant off.

William Miller

PS:  Any manual not pre-punched for a three hole binder is not worth the 
paper it is printed on.

Wm


William Miller
Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: william at millersolar.com
http://millersolar.com
License No. C-10-773985
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20111017/843fcc8e/attachment-0002.html>