[RE-wrenches] SMA Secure Power Supply

[Orion Thornton]

Hi Carl and All,

This spring we had the opportunity to install a 5000-TLUS inverter for a
client, as a pre-release version.  The inverter was commissioned on April
1st and has produced about 2.7 MWhs thus far.  As mentioned, the secure
power supply (SPS) requires a dedicated outlet with a switch to control its
operation.   For this installation we installed the SPS in the mechanical
room, which is about 50 ft from where the inverter is located.  We chose the
mechanical room because it is centrally located within the floor plan of the
home, making it easily accessible to plug in emergency type loads, i.e. cell
phone chargers, laptops, lamps, etc.. It is also very close to the fridge,
which we plugged in with a short extension cord and tested its operation in
the "stand-alone" mode (which is what the inverter display when the grid is
down and the SPS in activated).  The inverter had no problem powering the
fridge.  The inverter display showed about 900 watts bypassed from the solar
array to the SPS when the fridge cycled on....I must say it was a very cool
feeling seeing this happen.

As far as the inverter itself goes, I only have a few minor complaints.
Like the old SMA 1800U and 2500U, the conduit knockouts on the bottom of the
inverter are at a slight angle, which means you must put a slight bend in
your conduit.  This is obviously a bit annoying and I can only guess it has
something to do with the plug and play nature of non-U.S. installation
techniques.  The TLUS inverters are also lacking Bluetooth communication,
unlike their HFUS counterparts. I think this is a nice feature of the HFUS
inverters and wish it was integrated into the TL's.  

With no real difference in cost compared to traditional grid-direct
inverters, I see no reason not to specify the TL, especially for someone who
has a desire for "limited" power supply during a grid outage.   They can
always add a Sunny Island later on, if a more robust backup system is
needed.  

I hope this helps.

Orion Thornton
Onsite Energy 
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Jesse Dahl
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 4:11 PM
To: wirewiz at gmail.com; RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] SMA Secure Power Supply

I know the MREA in WI has one installed on site, but not sure who installed
it. 

Do they have a representative on the list?

Jesse  

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 22, 2013, at 6:18 PM, wirewiz at gmail.com wrote:

> If we have another long outage here in CT and we seem to have one every
year now, I don't want to have to explain to my customers why I didn't use
this inverter. 
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gary Willett <Gary at IcarusSolarServices.com>
> Sender: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.orgDate: Mon, 22 Jul 2013
17:33:26 
> To: <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> Reply-To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] SMA Secure Power Supply
> 
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