[RE-wrenches] AIMS inverter

[Kent Osterberg]

Last week I was called to examine a solar power system installed by an 
Idaho electrical contractor. According to the owner of this system, this 
contractor has built several similar systems in the area.

The owner's complaint was that the AGM batteries kept failing. The work 
was done without permits. A non-UL listed AIMS inverter was installed. 
The inverter was setup to operate as a whole house backup system in 
battery priority mode. That was the only way for the solar system to do 
any work considering that the inverter can't be used for net metering. 
Trouble is the battery priority mode on the AIMS inverter discharges the 
batteries down to 42 volts before switching back to utility power to 
recharge. With an undersized solar system the batteries were being 
deeply cycled nearly every day, so of course the batteries weren't 
lasting worth a darn.

Please don't set these inverters up in battery priority mode; it'll do 
nothing except ruin batteries.

Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar