<div dir="ltr">I'm thinking of Fortress to replace older Lead acid batts for a customer right now. My LI - LFP experience is with Blue Planet - Blue Ion both high and low voltage. Yes they are expensive. And IMO they easily overlooked a simple, integrated display with just the basics for off-grid customers. Namaka and even egauge is way overkill for the average off-gridder. <div><br></div><div>That said, I'm not encouraged by the Fortress comments I'm seeing here either. I'd rather just use them with an OB radian, which I know best. Thoughts on Radian with Fortress? Thanks.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 5:15 PM Ray Walters via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>I really think that the Fortress battery could easily be the top
battery choice right now, if......they could vastly improve their
customer support. Tom has been great now that he contacted me,
but it was weeks of frustration and no communication before that.
Completely unacceptable, especially for a new emerging technology
that we are going to have extra issues integrating into old
systems. I second your assessment of the integration guides as
well. I have a 4 hour round trip to change some voltage
settings.................RETURN TRIPS is LOSING $$$!!! <br>
</p>
<p>However, once they cure those issues, the product itself is way
beyond others such as Simpliphi or Blue Ion. <br>
</p>
<p>Blue Ion = half a day of assembly and cell wiring, monitoring is
by E-gage (AC only) through the customer's router, price way too
high <br>
</p>
<p>Fortress = remove crating material from pallet and roll into
place, with built in color touch screen for monitoring, price much
better. <br>
</p>
<p>Simpliphi = no monitoring at all, have to parallel ridiculous qty
of batteries to do a normal off grid home, but integration guides
are the best.</p>
<p>Ray Walters<br>
</p>
<div>On 11/17/2022 1:16 PM,
<a href="mailto:rich@solartechvt.com" target="_blank">rich@solartechvt.com</a> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)">We’ve
started to use Fortress batteries for off grid installations
lately as well. The tech support has been very frustrating
and the integration guides are ridiculous – the Magnum guide
was the worst – absolute nonsense, I believe most of which
has been pulled from the Fortress site now. The variation in
charge parameters for the inverter vs the charge controller
for the Outback guide doesn’t make sense either. Lack of
generator start/stop parameters in the integration guides
have resulted in trial and error programming on our part to
zero in on what works best.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)">Poor
tech support on battery based systems is one of my biggest
pet peeves in the industry………off grid customers rely on
their equipment, unlike net metered installations it’s not
just a matter of reducing their electrical bill it’s about
keeping the lights on and the fridge working.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif";color:rgb(31,73,125)"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:none;border-top:1pt solid rgb(181,196,223);padding:3pt 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,"sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,"sans-serif"">
RE-wrenches
[<a href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Ray Walters via RE-wrenches<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, November 17, 2022 1:43 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Ray Walters<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark/Fortress
charging issue<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p>Talk to Thomas Honey. He is the Fortress rep, nice guy, and
knowledgeable wrench. He has stepped in on my issue. <u></u><u></u></p>
<p>Ray <u></u><u></u></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On 11/16/2022 10:58 PM, Howie Michaelson
via RE-wrenches wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5pt;margin-bottom:5pt">
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif"">Good
Evening,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif"">I
have a frustrating charging issue involving 2 Fortress
eVault Maxs connected to a Sol-Ark 15k. Commissioned
the system last week, replacing a legacy off-grid Dual
Stack SunnyIsland 5048s and 2-volt Rolls battery
system. Initially, we connected one of the eVaults to
the Sol-Ark, programmed it to Fortress' and Sol-Ark's
specs, setup closed loop, and things seemed fine. The
battery charged at around 95 amps off the 20kW Kohler.
The next day we connected the 2nd eVault, went through
the procedures as Fortress suggested, made the
necessary settings changes in the Sol-Ark, and that is
when the issue started. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif"">Ever
since we connected the 2nd eVault, we have not been
able to get the charge rate much above a combined
total of 35 amps. Fortress has pretty much said that
it can't be anything on their end (although the
communication with them has been very much limited and
frustrating). They say that nothing on their side
would limit the charge rate to that low, especially if
the batteries were in a lower state of charge. We've
talked to at least 3 different Sol-Ark technicians
more than once. We have changed the setting between
closed loop, % SOC, and Battery Voltage multiple
times. We've tried dropping back to a single battery,
both the first one we had connected and the second one
(changing the battery setup and the Sol-Ark
parameters, but have only seen at times a moderate
increase in maximum charge rate (up to about 40 amps
total).<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif"">This
small increase happened after a Fortress technician
suggested that we turn on both the generator and the
grid charging toggles (the generator is connected to
the grid port on the Sol-Ark as per Sol-Ark's
recommendation. Sol-Ark has run out of suggestions at
the moment, and are having us cycle the batteries
tonight and they will start another charge cycle in
the morning to see if having a lower SOC along with
the firmware reload will change anyhing (I don't think
it will - it didn't the last several times.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif"">Has
anybody seen this type of behavior before? I don't
think it is a settings issue, as several technicians
have gone through them, I have gone over them many
times using the Fortress/Sol-Ark integration white
papers. Hoping to get higher level tech involved
ASAP, since I don't feel like the lower level techs
know enough to provide useful ideas.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif"">Thanks,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana,"sans-serif"">Howie<br clear="all">
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:rgb(120,63,4)">Howie
Michaelson<br>
</span></b><b><span style="color:rgb(106,168,79)">Sun
Catcher</span></b><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136)"><br>
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sender." width="100" height="100"></span></b><b><span style="color:rgb(120,63,4)"><br>
</span></b><b><span style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(68,68,68);background:white">Solar
Electric Systems Sales
& Service<br>
</span></b><b><span style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(180,95,6);background:white">802-272-0004</span></b><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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<br>
<u></u><u></u></p>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a name="SignatureSanitizer__MailAutoSig"><b>Kirk Herander / </b></a><b><a href="mailto:kirkh@vermont.solar" title="Send an email to kirkh@vermont.solar; Send an email to kirkh@vermont.solar" style="color:blue" target="_blank">kirkh@vermont.solar</a></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><b>Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><b><i>Celebrating our 31<sup>st</sup> Anniversary 1991-2022!!</i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.vermontsolarnow.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C9f0330d75a244870112408d685311841%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636842843233477645&sdata=0NjyuKeQbEK6245SNnk8X4XnP9Q%2B%2BqtvcALkdDghvk4%3D&reserved=0" title="Click to open in a new window or tab
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