[RE-wrenches] battery-based inverter

[Kevin Pegg]

Interesting thread. Our firm wrote off Outback products several years ago for two reasons:

1) beyond abysmal tech support - when we have a problem we need to talk to a skilled, knowledgeable tech, not some kid reading off a script designed for end users; or to sit around for a call back that never happens.
2) ongoing power quality problems when the inverter was in charge mode via generator, some more sensitive loads would not operate, causing customers complaints. Does this still continue with the radians?

It is nice to hear that the radians install ok, though luck is not something I like to count on working in the remote bush. I am more interested in Radian installs that were challenging, and was Outback there to expeditiously resolve the issues and have a happy customers?

My bias is towards the XW series. Our firm was involved in the design and initial product testing of the XW system. It was a bit rocky at the start, but has been a relatively stable product. The ability to remotely monitor and program a customer's system is a big plus for a lot of our remote clients.

The two big complaints I have with the XW is the useless battery capacity meter. I know there is an add on module available now but have not tested that. Customers wonder why I put tape over the capacity indicator lights on a brand new inverter. And the other is long term stability. We find in remote automated unattended hybrid cycle charge sites that the inverter will at least once a year screw up, resolved by a power cycle. So we just make it part of maintenance routines to reboot the systems when we are onsite for planned service.

We use SMA Sunny Island product for larger industrial projects. More expensive, more difficult to set up, more difficult to program - but once they are up and running solid with no issues and they take better care of batteries through a smarter charging algorithm.

Kevin


From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of john.blittersdorf at gmail.com
Sent: January-14-16 6:36 PM
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] battery-based inverter

Kirk,  I agree with Peter.  I have installed several Radians with good luck.  I installed one SI and it worked ok but was more expensive and very time consuming to install.  Did one XW and would never do it again.  Never has worked right.

John
Central Vermont Solar & Wind




Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 14, 2016, at 7:37 PM, Peter Parrish <peter.parrish at calsolareng.com<mailto:peter.parrish at calsolareng.com>> wrote:
My 2 centavos. Stick with them. I prefer their approach over SMA.


-        Peter

Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D.
President, SolarGnosis
1107 Fair Oaks Ave.
Suite 351
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(323) 839-6108
petertor at pobox.com<mailto:petertor at pobox.com>

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Kirk Herander
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 12:39 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] battery-based inverter

Hello,
Can anyone recommend a good battery-based inverter for grid-intertie? I need both generator and utility inputs, 120 or 240 output. I have experience with the OB Radian series but don’t know what else is out there. Thanks.

Kirk Herander
Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC
Celebrating our 25th Anniversary 1991-2016
www.vermontsolarnow.com
dba Vermont Solar Engineering
NABCEPTM  2003 Inaugural Certificant
VT RE Incentive Program Partner
802.863.1202




_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>

Change listserver email address & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html

List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm>

Check out or update participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org<http://www.members.re-wrenches.org>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20160115/49925fc6/attachment-0002.html>