[RE-wrenches] Battery changing on SW inverter

[boB at midnitesolar.com]

Just for history sake, there actually WAS a dongle with a 9 volt battery 
and 5 volt regulator in it that plugged
into the SW's parallel/stacking D-sub connector because there was access 
to the internal 5 volt line.
I remember that because I designed it some time in the 1990's....
Then  the SW Plus came (?) out  that had flash in it that did remember 
the settings.

boB






On 5/15/2012 2:03 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
> Glenn,
> For someone who has worked on these, it takes maybe 5 minutes to 
> reprogram one. First time, might take you 20 minutes at most. 
> Reprogramming is way quicker and cheaper than buying and installing a 
> 3rd-party device. I'd suggest that you make two copies of the settings 
> page (the newer version - that is, the 145-page version - of the 
> manual has a fill-in-the-blanks page for each voltage), take it to the 
> site, go through the settings in headings 9 and up, write them down in 
> pencil, swap the batteries, then re-enter the settings. Typically 
> there are only a half dozen or so that are set to other than default. 
> By making two copies, the customer gets one (and is impressed by the 
> quality of your service), and you keep one in the customer's file.
> Don't be afraid of this approach. It's much easier than you might fear.
> And it's often the case that at some point the big DC breaker was 
> turned off and the settings were lost anyway. If bulk and EQ voltages 
> are at 57.6V, and the batteries are flooded, that has occurred, and 
> has likely contributed to early battery failure. I have seen this a 
> number of times.
> If that's the case, contact me off list and I'll give you some typical 
> settings to put in.
> Allan
>
> *Allan Sindelar*
> _Allan at positiveenergysolar.com_ <mailto:Allan at positiveenergysolar.com>
> NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
> NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional
> New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician
> Founder and Chief Technology Officer
> *Positive Energy, Inc.*
> 3209 Richards Lane (note new address)
> Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
> *505 424-1112*
> _www.positiveenergysolar.com_ <http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/>
>
> *
> *
>
>
>
> On 5/15/2012 2:44 PM, Glenn Burt wrote:
>>
>> Hello wrenches,
>>
>> I am quoting a job to do a simple battery bank replacement on an 
>> existing system that has a Trace SW4048 inverter.
>>
>> I have not done any substantial work on these revered systems, but 
>> seem to remember that removing the batteries will lose all the custom 
>> program settings in the inverter.
>>
>> I seem to recall there was a product that could be purchased that 
>> used a 9V battery to hold up the setting memory while the main 
>> batteries were disconnected. Could anyone tell me the name of it?
>>
>> Or is there a better solution out there? I see a couple of products 
>> that claim to read/write the SW memory from Right Hand Engineering 
>> and Maui Solar Software -- anyone used them or recommend against them?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Glenn Burt
>>
>> glb, Consulting Company
>>
>> NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer TM
>>
>> NYSERDA Eligible Installer
>>
>> Microsoft Certified Professional
>>
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