[RE-wrenches] FXR , Mate 3, AGS and Must Run

[Lones Tuss]

You said one status screen differed from the other. Just a shot of the home screen on  3.15.3

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<http://www.outbackpower.com/>

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Ray
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 12:29 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] FXR , Mate 3, AGS and Must Run


I agree, software and firmware issues are becoming my #1 call back issue.  Off grid, this is totally unacceptable. I'm not using either company you mentioned for off grid systems at this time because of reliability issues. I've had decent luck with Magnum, and find their control system easier for customers to navigate.

Some of this becomes our design responsibility, too.  I generally avoid auto start in the first place, and prefer customers that take an active role in the system operation.  A SOC meter with a remote start switch next to it, operated by a competent human is going to be much more effective than any auto start setup.

R. Ray Walters

Chief Technical Officer, RemoteSolar.com

BS Mech Engineering, 1988

Former NABCEP Certified, 2004-2016

Licensed Master ELectrician, Colorado

303 505-8760

On 2/12/17 11:12 AM, Lou Russo wrote:
Aloha Wrenches,

I have steered clear of the Mate 3 for as long as possible, I have burned through my stash of FXs and now have been installing the FXRs and using the Mate 3. I typically utilize AGS for my clients in a 2 - wire start with a Diesel Genset setup. On 2 recently installed systems, one a FP2 and the other a FP1, the clients require "Must Run" to function. Of course it does not work. I can get it to work if I set the time for a few minutes later, but not for the next day. I have not used this feature ever in the past but since it is in the manual I wrongly assumed it would work. I am running firmware version 3.015 on both Mates. Tech support just wants me to do a factory reset and reprogram. That did not work.

Anybody else having issues getting this feature to work?

On a related note, software problems are becoming a systemics issue in our industry. Being recently burned by Schneider because of a software issue (to the point of breaking an appliance), now this, and endless other little bugs from almost every manufacturer my frustration level with software in the off-grid world is at a all time high. Given the importance of supplying power I firmly believe our manufactures can not and should not take the same approach to software as Silicon Valley does. "Fail early and often" may work for  Facebook, Google and Uber but it has no place in our industry. Keep it simple and fight the urge to engage in feature creep. PLEASE.


Aloha,

Lou Russo
lou at spreesolarsystems.com<mailto:lou at spreesolarsystems.com>
440 345 6762<tel:%28440%29%20345-6762>
Spree Solar Systems LLC
CT-34322





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