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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I see Friday the 13th has arrived all bright-eyed
and bushy-tailed one more time just like clockwork. But now it is
wearing horns as well. That's some conundrum you present about keeping
your competitive edge in a dicey business climate. What if you "sold" your
wiring concept to Enphase on a royalty basis use arrangement? Would that
have some appeal to you so that private knowledge doesn't totally go to waste
vis a vis the Enphase product in general? </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>One would think the manufacturer might recognize the wisdom in your
discovery and would want to show some appreciation for sharing what you found
lacking in their own product concept. I know I would. You could call
your idea the Miller System. Can you license/copyright the idea
maybe? If so, then you could always sell the concept elsewhere when
further occasions of similar use came up. Think man, think! Then you
could tell us more ... for a fair price. This reminds me of my solar
thermal days back in the late 70s when we discovered various clever ways of
improving such systems but we kept that knowledge strictly to ourselves for
fear of benefitting our few competitors. That company eventually went
belly up by 1985, partly in result of not finding a workable arrangement
for the profitable sharing of valuable in-house knowledge we had developed
earlier. And such is life in the slow
lane sometimes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jim Hartley</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Homestead Specialties</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=william@millersolar.com href="mailto:william@millersolar.com">William
Miller</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">RE-wrenches</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 13, 2009 2:04
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [RE-wrenches] Enphase
installation details</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Colleagues:<BR><BR>We are in the middle of our first Enphase
installation. I have been working closely with the crew on this project
and dedicated extra time because we knew we needed to develop some new
procedures to accommodate the new technology.<BR><BR>My most surprising
realization is that with the Enphase inverters, the roof-top wiring now has
two levels of unprotected wiring, DC <I>and</I> AC. I have
been working on an analogy for the recent evolution of PV wiring standards and
the best I can come up with is that the new norm is akin to wiring a rooftop
air conditioning unit with SO and USE. Flexible cords are more suited to
portable, consumer connectable appliances in non-harsh environments.<BR><BR>We
wrestled with two issues: How to secure the AC wiring with a minimum 10
year longevity -- and how to secure the DC wiring with the same life
expectancy. In a previous career I worked in the telecommunications
industry. In a telcom facility we had access to many layers of wire
routing hardware and systems. The PV industry has, in my opinion,
largely ignored wire management. Ironically, telecom wiring is low
voltage in an industrial setting and we can secure it systematically, whereas
PV wiring is high voltage, often in a residential setting, outdoors, in high
temperature and wet conditions and yet we are relegated to the ubiquitous and
fragile cable tie as our prime methodology. It is our corporate position
that the plastic cable tie can not be counted on for longer that two years in
an under-PV environment and, since we wire for a minimum 10 year life
expectancy, the plastic cable tie is not suitable.<BR><BR>Over the course of
two days we developed robust and efficient techniques for securing the AC and
DC wiring. I'd love to share our procedures with this group, but due to
extreme competition in our area, I must of necessity keep any procedures that
give us a competitive advantage confidential. This is unfortunate as my
inclination is to teach, but it is a reality in this business
climate.<BR><BR>I hope the industry can eventually recognize some of these
short comings. The solar water industry died an early death because of
economic pressures and shoddy workmanship. It is possible that the solar
electric industry of today can suffer some of the same if we can't preform to
higher standards.<BR><BR>William Miller<BR><BR><BR><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP><FONT size=3><U>Please note new e-mail address and
domain:<BR><BR></U>William Miller <BR>Miller Solar<BR>Voice
:805-438-5600 Fax:
805-438-4607<X-TAB> </X-TAB><BR>email:
william@millersolar.com<BR><A href="http://millersolar.com/"
eudora="autourl">http://millersolar.com<BR></A>License No.
C-10-773985<BR></FONT>
<P>
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