[RE-wrenches] Solmetric SunEye upgrade?

[Peter Parrish]

I recently went through the same exercise as you are about three months ago.
Our Site Surveyors had mangles the jack on the Model 100 body to the point
that there was less than a 50% chance that (1) the unit would charge up
adequately and (2) we could download the session to our computer.

The fix of course was to send the unit back to Solmetric and have them fix
the jack.

Well, their response was that the HP iPaq PDA (the heart of the SunEye) was
now discontinued and they weren't sure that they could find one. They
offered instead the new model with a paltry trade-in allowance (which they
have since increased).

I told them that I found a "new" iPaq on EBay, and I would purchase it and
ship it to them. They rejected that solution because of warranty issues. I
countered that I was just trying to be helpful and that they could buy the
iPaq on EBay themselves (they didn't like that idea either).

They kept bringing up the upgrade to the 210, and at one point increased the
trade-in. I still wanted the old SunEye fixed because it fulfilled our needs
and I didn't want to shell out another $1,500.

Well, Solmetric finally fixed our unit for a tidy sum (maybe $400, I don't
remember exactly) and it continues to see 2-3X weekly usage.

We have given up using the compass, precisely because every mapping app
shows true North from Google Maps to the Thomas Guide.

I'm pretty sure that a +/- 10 degree error will not create a large impact on
production (without shading issues). With shading it could be important.

With all the mapping apps, we feel pretty confident we can figure out true
south once we get on the roof before the Site Survey (look at Google Earth
and figure out a prominent landscape feature from the roof beforehand).

I haven't held the 210 in my hands so I can't vouch for its increased human
interface, and I don't understand any of the new features, so we are pretty
happy in our ignorance. 

It may be more to do that I really appreciate well-made equipment and I tend
to keep them (and fix them) for a long time. Heck I still have a 1986 Audi
Quattro...

                                                     
Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President
California Solar Engineering, Inc.
820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065
CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26
peter.parrish at calsolareng.com  
Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885

 
-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Hans
Frederickson
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 10:07 AM
To: 'RE-wrenches'
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Solmetric SunEye upgrade?

Wrenches,
I'm considering upgrading my old SunEye 100 to the model 210 this year. Even
with the trade-in credit, the 210 costs more than the original SunEye did.
I'm interested in hearing from those of you who have taken this step. Is it
worth it? What are the most significant benefits to you?

While we're on the subject of the SunEye, let's talk about some of the
tricks to using this tool. I've found the built-in compass to be very
sensitive to nearby metal, even nails under comp shingles. I find it more
accurate to get the orientation of a site from Google maps and the azimuth
angle finder on the Solmetric website:
http://www1.solmetric.com/tools/RoofAzimTool.htm

Then I update the azimuth angle in the software to the accurate measurement
from Solmetric/Google, but it's still a tedious process to get the tool
oriented as accurately as possible on site. That's part of why I'm
interested in the 210, because its more rectangular shaped body would be a
bit easier to orient on site with a protractor if the magnetic compass is
having fits. Am I being too fussy with this? As I see it, a 10-degree
azimuth error will throw off your shading analysis enough to be significant
in certain scenarios, e.g. does the shade from that tall tree stop at 9am or
10am?

Regards,
-Hans

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