[RE-wrenches] Outback programing question

William Miller william at millersolar.com
Mon May 9 10:48:27 PDT 2016


Wrenches, Mr. Tuss:



I have had many customers suffer due to the exact problems described
below.  That is, a generator running but no charging happening.  This is
due to either inadvertent changes in the AC Drop mode or Global Charge Mode
settings.



I think it was a big mistake on the standard Mate to put the Charge Control
Mode and the AC Drop menus in so easily accessible a location as the AC
dedicated button menu.  This is the menu you need to access frequently to
manually start a generator.  The Charge Control Mode and the AC screens are
very similar in appearance to the generator start menus and it is very
common for users to engage the drop mode or turn charging off
inadvertently.  I have had customers ruin expensive battery sets with this
mistake.



I approached Outback to suggest they rectify this problem with a firmware
update.  My suggestion was to relocate these functions behind the installer
password.



I was told this change was not possible due to lack of memory on the Mate
hardware.  I find this hard to believe as this change would not add any
functionality but rather move the aforementioned screens to behind the
password protection.  There would be not net gain in functionality.



It is my belief that Outback does not realize the seriousness of this
situation and the implications of this flaw in the design.  Mr. Tuss, what
is your opinion on this issue?  Is it truly impossible to fix this design
flaw?



Thank you for your participation in the Wrenches forum and in advance for
your reply to my questions.



Sincerely,



William Miller







Lic 773985

millersolar.com

805-438-5600



-----Original Message-----
From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On
Behalf Of Lones Tuss
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 10:11 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback programing question



Hello Fellow Wrenches



  Due to customer feedback OutBack decided to automatically enable the
Inverters Ac Charger if the Mate(3) called for an AGS (gen run) condition.
The general opinion here is if the gen is running you might as well allow
it to charge your batteries. Before we did this there were instances of
generators running for hours/days before the end user discovered he had set
the charger to OFF.



That being said if charging by the inverter is not desired during a Gen run
there are several methods which will allow charging to be disabled.



The method you use will more than likely depend on your situation.

If you wish to stop charging for the current gen run simply turn the Charge
Off after the gen is running.

On the Mate3 press the Charger Button select OFF.

On the Mate and Mate2 press the AC Input button three times the Charger can
be turned  OFF there.



If it is necessary to turn the charger off on a more permanent basis there
are a couple of different approaches.

One method is to go to the inverter charger menu and set the absorb and
float timers to zero.

Another method and perhaps the easiest would be to change the gen type to
DC or None.

Of these two I would suggest DC as the preferred choice.

After setting the Inverter Charger to Off follow the path as described
below





On the Mate3 press the

LOCK button

Enter 141

Select

Settings then

System  then

System Information

change Gen Type to DC or None.

If the inverters charger is disabled it will remain so when AGS calls for a
gen run.

On the Mate or Mate2

In the AGS program menu select DC gen and the Auto Charge feature will be
negated.



The above will work if the gen run is caused by the following AGS triggers.

Load Start, Must Run, Generator Exercise If the gen run condition is a
Voltage Start the trigger to turn the gen off is the batteries must reach
the Absorb Voltage for the Absorb Time.

If the gen run condition is SOC the trigger to turn the gen off is the
batteries must reach the end SOC set point.

These points may be unachievable with the inverters charger set to OFF.

If this is the case lack of fuel may be the gen stop reason.



Lones Tuss

Applications Engineer

OutBack Power Technologies

17825 59th Ave NE, Suite B, Arlington, WA 98223

360.618.4383 Office | 425.213.8794 Cell

www.outbackpower.com



-----Original Message-----

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
<re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>] On Behalf Of Darren Emmons

Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 10:57 AM

To: RE-wrenches

Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback programing question



When the generator is auto started, the inverter's charger will be enabled.
After the generator is stopped, the inverter's charger will be returned to
the mode before the generator started. The logic is if you are running the
generator the Inverter's charger should be enabled. You could lower the
charger AC limit to 0 Amps.



08:00 Inverter charger OFF

10:00 Must run start -> charger ON

11:00 Must run stop -> charger OFF



>Darren





On 04/27/2016 05:31 PM, jay wrote:

> HI All,

>

> I've got a problem that outback tech hasn't been able to figure out.

>

> off grid system

> mate 3

> quad stacked VFX 3648

>

> The generator is set to specific start/stop daily timer.  This works fine.

>

> The client has plenty of solar for the day, and when he runs his
generator he doesn't want the chargers to operate.

> OK so just hit charge off, and yes the chargers will turn off.

>

> But next day, genny starts up, and the chargers come back on as well.

>

> Outback says that shouldn't be happening, but it is.

>

> Anybody have this issue or know of a fix?

>

> Thanks

>

> jay

>

> peltz power

>

>

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