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Friends:<br><br>
I just returned home from a long drive to troubleshoot a problem with an
Outback FX system. I found that the customer, in the process of
using a remote Mate to start the generator, had inadvertently turned the
global charge control setting to "off". This causes a
problem that is very serious but hard to detect: The generator will
run but it will not charge the batteries. No one can know how long
ago this was done, but in the meantime the customers batteries were
chronically undercharged.<br><br>
Just a month ago I found another Outback system where the customer (or
someone from another "solar" company) had selected the
"drop" setting from the "use" menu. Similar
results to the previous case, but in this situation the customer had to
use the bypass breakers to get power to the house while the batteries did
not charge.<br><br>
To my mind, this is one of the big problems with all manufacturers of
technical equipment: Poor user interface. Who, in their right
mind, would put controls to disable critical functions in the same menu
tree as the control to do a common place, frequently used function such
as starting a generator remotely? And the screens are all almost
identical. This is extremely poor design.<br><br>
On a similar subject, all off-grid inverter manuals are written very
poorly. For example, why put the installation instructions in the
front of the manual? You install a system once, but you operate it
every day. The installation instructions should be in the back and
the operating instructions in the front (or better yet, in separate
books). Why are we trying to use the same manual for the installer
as for the user? A majority of users need a 4 page manual that
includes: 1. how to turn the system on and off, 2. how to read and
interpret a few critical meter functions, 3. how (and why) to equalize
batteries and 4. what to do when your power goes out. That's
it. For the few users that want to know more, they can wade through
the installation / technical manual.<br><br>
We provide our own checklists to all of our customers to perform the
limited functions described above. For a sample, see:
<a href="file://D:\William\Web\Dreamweaver\Miller%2520Solar\MillerSolar\Services\Support\_support.htmll" eudora="autourl">file:///D:/William/Web/Dreamweaver/Miller%20Solar/MillerSolar/Services/Support/_support.htmll</a><br><br>
We provide these instruction sets to our install clients and sell them to
others, including other installers (off list, if you are
interested).<br><br>
I am volunteering to be on a peer review panel to critique users manuals
for off-grid inverter manufacturer's. Maybe if a few of us grey
beards look over these manuals before they are printed, we can get them
straightened out. Anyone else on board?<br><br>
Rant off.<br><br>
William Miller<br><br>
PS: Any manual not pre-punched for a three hole binder is not worth
the paper it is printed on.<br><br>
Wm<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3>William Miller <br>
Miller Solar<br>
Voice :805-438-5600<br>
email: william@millersolar.com<br>
<a href="http://millersolar.com/" eudora="autourl">http://millersolar.com<br>
</a>License No. C-10-773985<br>
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