[RE-wrenches] Pika

[John Blittersdorf]

My only experience with Pika off grid was their Wind turbine, B-801 charge
controller, and their early PV link.  That combination worked great.
Unfortunately the market was not big enough and the big market is grid tie
so they discontinued the wind turbine and B801 which was a 380vdc to 48 vdc
voltage converter.   I had almost two wonderful years with that wind
turbine almost eliminating my winter generator time until I was forced to
sell it to one of my customers as part of a large upgrade of his system
which required decommissioning his Bergey XL.1 (24 v) .  I took down the
T-701 (1.5kw rated in 23 mph wind and often produced 2.9 kw in high winds
with perfect dc voltage regulation and put it on the customers tower and
added the B-801 to his wall of equipment charging 12 Aquion batteries. See
attachment.  To this day, The turbine has been working flawlessly for the
last year at its' new home. The B801 was just to the right in the photo
along with a 16 position combiner taking care of the 12 battery breakers
and the one wind input breaker. By the way, anyone interested in more info
about the Pika wind turbine , contact me off line.  I would like other
feedback about that wind turbine.

John Blittersdorf
CV Wind Service
John.blittersdorf at gmail.com or cvsolar at aol.com
802-770-8625 voice or text

On Sat, Sep 8, 2018 at 8:19 AM Solar <dahlsolar at gmail.com> wrote:

> I met that Pika crew at the energy fair in WI this year. Had a long talk
> with them. They showed me their System and answered questions. Seems cool.
> But, I have to agree Jay, after this silicon energy and Tenk solar debacle
> in MN, I’ll only use proven equipment. I’ll be walking away from jobs if
> people want the new shinny thing. It is absolutely not worth the risk.
>
> Jesse Dahl
>
> NABCEP PV Installation Professional
> IBEW Local 292 - Electrician
> Electrical/Solar PV Instructor - HCC
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 7, 2018, at 12:23 PM, Ray <ray at solarray.com> wrote:
>
> I would highly recommend using proven equipment from the long term off
> grid companies: Magnum, Midnite, Outback, Schneider, etc. and stick with a
> DC coupled array and lead acid batteries for now.  I just got back from
> inspecting two Li+ off grid systems done by a GT dealer, and I saw numerous
> issues that included the charge controllers not agreeing with the BMS
> system, the BMS system monitoring having numerous programming and
> connectivity issues, the battery overall being vastly undersized, the
> manufacturer (Adara) dropping support for their battery, and the customers
> being hopping mad.  Most off grid folks own guns; not a good combination to
> walk into.
>
> My advice, is that if an installer hasn't lived off grid and/ or dedicated
> their practice to off grid systems, they should stay out of it and quit
> ruining peoples' lives.  GT is usually never a life or death matter, but
> Off grid can be, when they are snowed in with no fridge, no water, no heat,
> and no communications.  Reliability is goal #1, Simplicity is #2.
>
> Good Luck,
>
> Ray Walters
> Remote Solar
> 303 505-8760
>
> On 9/7/18 11:03 AM, Kristopher Schmid wrote:
>
> Wrenches,
>
> I am trying to design a Pika off-grid system.  The issue is that they
> currently have no way to charge from a generator.  Has anyone ever
> installed one set up for zero grid export and connected the generator to
> the grid input?
>
> Would LG chem or another manufacturer be a better choice?
>
> Thanks,
> Kris
>
>
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