<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PostalCode"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Wrenches,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Here’s one that has me quite stumped, and perhaps one
of you esteemed Wrenches has an answer or suggestion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>In 2000 we installed a clean, basic budget off-grid system in
a new remote manufactured home for a client, a single woman who lives quite
consciously and frugally. The system was 24V, 600W of PV, Trace DC175, DR2424
inverter, Solar Boost 50, eight golf cart batteries and a Tri-Metric, along
with a Sun Frost RF16 and Staber washer. The system had worked perfectly for
her, and we replaced her batteries with same last year. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>She called a couple of weeks ago because her life situation
had changed and she now worked from her remote home using cell phone and
satellite internet. The new satellite equipment had been troublesome and had
already been replaced, but would still shut down intermittently. Given that she
had already replaced the electronic equipment with same, I suggested that she
finally was facing the problem of modified-square wave DR waveform. I said that
while there were no guarantees, a switch to a sine wave inverter would likely
cure the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>On Friday I removed the DR and installed an Outback FX2524T.
No other changes, other than longer 2/0 cables. I changed a few settings for flooded
batteries and her generator using a service-truck Mate, but did not sell one with
the system. Everything booted up properly, job done, let me know how it works
out.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Friday evening she called with no power. The red “error”
LED was lit. I had her reboot the inverter with the DC breaker, and all was
restored. The only thing she had run was the Staber washer. I assured her that
the inverter could handle a DC reboot without trouble. The next day (yesterday)
she left a message that she had six times overloaded while completing the wash
load with the Staber. Everything else was fine.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>On Monday she will call for an explanation of what is
happening and advice on how to correct it, and I won’t have any. What
would allow a Staber to run fine on mod-square DR power, but overload an FX of
the same capacity? The Staber was likely ordered with notification of the need
for a mod-square control board, as they instructed in the early days, but I
wouldn’t expect it to be incompatible with sine-wave AC. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Not having expected this problem, I didn’t go hunting
for problems such as a ground fault in the washer circuit. I haven’t done
any troubleshooting, of course, but would like to have some idea what to look
for. The only anomaly that I noticed was that some of her Tri-Metric program settings
had changed from what I checked when I replaced the batteries: CEF of L98
instead of H97 meant she always showed 100%, and a couple of other settings
weren’t what they should have been. I noted this and reset it, but
considered it an unexplained glitch, as though a nearby lightning surge had
scrambled some settings without damaging anything, or she had inadvertently
pressed the wrong button sequence and changed settings. Now I’m wondering
about extraneous things: a bad ground? Mice chewing through the laundry circuit
(although she has cats…)?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>What would cause an overload to be detected by the FX that
wouldn’t have tripped the DR all these years?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>All ideas and solutions would be appreciated. I will likely
have to make a return trip, not under warranty, though.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Allan Sindelar<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'><a href="mailto:Allan@positiveenergysolar.com">Allan@positiveenergysolar.com</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>EE98J Journeyman Electrician</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Positive Energy, Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>3201 Calle Marie<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Santa Fe</span></font></st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">New Mexico</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">87507</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>505 424-1112<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="http://www.positiveenergysolar.com">www.positiveenergysolar.com</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>