[RE-wrenches] Outback Breaker Problem and looking towards 2012

[Jeff Yago]

Not only have I snapped off my share of rear studs on these DC breakers, but
have you noticed how the large 175 and 200 amp breakers have this large
"batt" handle molded onto this very flimsy strip of a plastic lever arm
going inside the breaker?   I have a whole box of these that were broken off
in shipment or during installation.

I keep getting the feeling that all solar manufacturers have given up the
smaller off-grid and battery backup solar market and are only concentrating
on the large module and grid-tie commercial market.  Seems like there is a
race to see who can manufacturer a module that finally is so large that
nobody can pick up without a crane.

Hard to find modules with junction boxes instead of pigtails, DC connectors
that finally get standardized and don't require buying a new $600 crimper
every year, DC breakers and terminals that do not twist-off during
installation, batteries that last and have standardized terminals, DC panel
boxes with the right size and location of knock-outs, back-up residential
generators that do not void the warranty if run more than twice per year, DC
rated disconnects that you have to read hard-to-find documentation before
you find out they must be de-rated from what their nameplate rating actually
says, and inverters for battery-based systems that you do not have to be a
graduate computer programmer just to set up.   

And finally, let's not forget modules having nameplates with data based on
real world conditions, not some perfect conditions the client never
understands - "why isn't my 2 kW nameplate rated system producing 2 kW?".

Just saying.....................

Jeff Yago
DTI Solar