I know this is not the topic, but I never
set up auto genny starts and this thread only confirms the correctness
of that decision. Having a machine automatically start/stop while
unattended is IMO a recipe for, at best damage to gear and, at worst a
fire that could destroy the entire homestead.
If people are too mindless to know how to fly their off-grid system by
looking at the weather forecast and battery SOC meter, then they should
move to a on-grid home. I tell my customers when they are away from
their off-grid homes, to shut the inverter's DC breaker off and leave
the PV charging sources on. There is no chance for failure with this
setup.
Murphy will get you every time you try to automate what should be done
manually.
Todd
[email protected] wrote:
Matt
& Tom,
Guess it's time to put in my two cents. I have also had the same
random failures to start and/or stop the generator automatically from
the mate in 3 installation. Managed to boil dry 8 L 16's and run
through 90 gallons of propane before we went back to the unattended
second home over three days after checking it out and found the
generator had been running since we left. As you have noted, all tests
checked out good at the time. We are looking into 3rd party auto start
modules as an alternative or continue to tell all customers not to use
auto start if unattended. It seems that all auto start problems occur
when the customer is not home. We had one Trace SW4024 start a Kohler
generator flawlessly for 3 years and when they took their first
extended stay from home, it failed.... Turned out it was a bad spark
plug but it shattered their faith in the system. We have also had
problems with The Xantrex SW Plus with similar problems. We have also
had a problem with several Outback systems shutting down the generator
prematurely at about 70% charge even though we reset the mate and
Inverter to factory defaults.
I
still have trouble convincing the rich second home owners that the only
reliable system is 2 generators with a person to run them. We are
currently using a honda 2000i as our backup for our off grid home so
our VFX3624 does just fine taking in the power. Love the low fuel
consumption. My customer with the runaway Kohler used more fuel in one
weekend than we have used in a year.
John
Blittersdorf
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer tm
Central Vermont Solar & Wind, LLC.
104 River Street
Rutland, VT 05701
802-747-0577
802-773-0924 fax
802-770-8625 cell
www.cvsolar.com
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