[RE-wrenches] FM100 Stuck in Silent Mode.

Wed Dec 11 10:12:43 PST 2024

I had two controllers on the same project stuck in silent mode as well back
in the 2019 era. Unfortunately they required replacement along with 5 more
in that time frame. For awhile I was scared to power them down once they
were working. Lots of free service calls for a while there. Shipping was
not always reimbursed either during a time when advanced replacements were
not available. Something worth checking is that the internal jumpers are
still in the correct positions as this can also signal a fixable Silent
mode indication. Many problematic arc fault cards as well that led to me
disabling them on every install.  Luckily the last 8 installed have not had
any issues so apparently they've identified their weaknesses.

If Outback doesn't start producing new inventory soon the remaining stock
is going to become quite valuable to those sites seeking a drop in
replacement. I've designed my equipment layouts over the last few years to
accommodate Hawke's Bays, this departure from Outback was a bit more
surprising than expected but expected nonetheless.

Good luck, Nick

On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 6:17 AM John Blittersdorf via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> HI Mac    I have been thinking about that since the first failure.
> Have you actually done that.  I still have that controller sitting on my
> "to be repaired shelf.  I.m going to try pulling the board on this one and
> see what happens,  A new board did not fix  it.
>
> John
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 7:30 AM Mac Lewis via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi John,
>>
>> For a remote site like this,  where I assume reliability is very
>> important, I would disable and pull out the arc fault board.  They just
>> aren't reliable and don't have the smarts to auto reset or remotely reset.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 10, 2024 at 9:03 PM Ray Walters via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I haven't had an FM 100 go bad yet, but I've seen other models and
>>> brands of controllers stay stuck in Silent mode, or Sleep mode, when
>>> they failed.   To avoid multiple trips to remote sites, I just swap it
>>> out with another, and then deal with getting the faulty controller
>>> repaired on my own time.  Magnum used to provide a fresh unit, and as
>>> long as I sent the old one back within 30 days, there was no charge.
>>>
>>> Ray Walters
>>> Remote Solar
>>>
>>> On 12/10/2024 8:50 PM, John Blittersdorf via RE-wrenches wrote:
>>> > HI Wrenches,
>>> >    I  have an off grid site on an Island on auto pilot for the winter
>>> > with no access.  The FM 100
>>> > has remained in Silent mode even when the Array Voltage is around  150
>>> > Volts and battery at 46V
>>> > I did get a response from Outback Tech support but they couldn't
>>> > figure out what happened.
>>> > I suspect that there is a ground or arc fault error which locks it up
>>> > til manually recycled.  The problem is that there is no indication
>>> > found on Optics that there is a ground fault.
>>> > We would be totally in the dark except the original small solar array
>>> > with an Apollo CC with
>>> > about a kilowatt of solar has been dribbling in enough power to keep
>>> > above low battery cutoff
>>> > for a few hours each day.  The system was up when I was on the tech
>>> > support call but has since quit for the day. Has anyone seen this
>>> before?
>>> >
>>> > John Blittersdorf
>>> >
>>> >
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>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> Mac Lewis
>>
>> *"Yo solo sé que no sé nada." -Sócrates*
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