[RE-wrenches] Conext SW 4024 with bad firmware

[Lou Russo]

Wrenches,

I recently installed a Schneider Conext SW 4024, Schnieder's DC
Distribution panel, AC Distribution panel, SCP, and the AGS. It was to be a
straightforward inverter swap, Xantrex 4024 to the Conext SW setup. The
actual installation went fine. I did switch over the house wiring from 120
to 240  as well as the diesel genset.

After a steep learning curve with the client all seemed well. 1 week later
she called and says the power behaves oddly as the generator is shutting
down. Symptoms are some arc fault breakers trip and the compressor on her
fridge sounds like its bogging down. I make the 45 minute drive out and
started my search. This is a site with 3 buildings on 3 acres. I double
checked all my wiring at the inverter, then moved onto the various
buildings checking for redundant neutral to grounds, proper bonding, etc…
Surprisingly although not great workmanship everything is where it is
supposed to be. I decided to give the AC input on the inverter it's own
dedicated neutral as at this point I was reaching for straws and the
installation manual was unclear about this detail. Still nothing. A call to
Schnieder confirmed that there was no setting I was missing.

I placed another call to Schnieder tech support. They did and have
continued to answer the phone promptly. It did take a bit of chasing them
but I finally got a answer that there Level 3 folks can reproduce the
error. The inverter is following the frequency of the genset as it winds
down down to 40hrtz. This is after the AC transfer inside the inverter has
happened. During the cool down period everything is fine. This happens as
the genset is actual shutting off and spinning down to a stop. They say
this a firmware issue and that it will take months to push out as is needs
to be UL listed. In the meantime I have a pissed off client, her oven went
belly up on the low frequency voltage, there is concern about possible
unseen damage to her new water pump, and I  wasted countless hours of my
own time attempting to make the situation right. All of this due to a
firmware that was released with a fatal flaw and can not be changed for
months.

I am extremely disappointed in Schneider. I have been hesitant use them
over the years as I was still scarred from the Xantrex days. My “beta” test
went will with a early version I installed 2 years ago so I figured it was
a safe move. Obviously I was wrong. Lesson learned stick with Outback and
SMA.

So I have 2 questions for the list.

1.Has anybody else on the list seen this issue and corrected it regardless
of the firmware? I have installed one other conext sw about 2 years ago
when it first came out. The setup is very similar except that it is 48V and
has a very old firmware. I went out to this old site to confirm all is well
and it is fine.

2.Does anybody have a good contact at Schneider that could be of help? I
tried to contact Sandra Herrera as she was a great help years ago, but her
phone number no longer works.

3.Does anybody have an old version of the Conext firmware lying around they
could point me to? The website does not seem to have old versions.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Schnieder, if you have a presence here contact me.


Aloha,

Lou Russo
lou at spreesolarsystems.com
440 345 6762
Spree Solar Systems LLC
CT-34322
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20161229/59724bba/attachment-0001.html>