William,
In all of these systems, the Mate's AGS system is being used to control
the FNDC's relay. The Mate's AGS port has been selected so that it
operates the FNDC's relay rather than using the Aux output on the
inverter. The FNDC is providing SOC info to the Mate, but isn't
directly controlling the relay.
I agree with you about the potential to confuse customers. And about
the inaccuracy of battery amp-hour meters in general. But it is
interesting that SMA's main claim about the Sunny Island is that it
does the best job managing batteries. It does it by keeping track of
the battery's SOC.
William Miller wrote:
Kent:
>From the Flex Net DC manual, page 16: "OutBack strongly
recommends using the AGS function of the MATE to control a
generator." I assume from your post, you are using the
Auto mode to have the relay control a generator, a practice that the
above quotation recommends against. This may relate directly to
your problems.
I have no experience with the Flex Net but I took this opportunity to
review the manual more thoroughly than I have previously. My
conclusion is that the Flex Net is a great tool for the technically
inclined but offers a minimal convenience for the lay person. The
State of Charge function may be a more realistic method of determining
actual state of charge, but if it operates at all like the E-meter or
the
Tri-Metric, it is prone to inaccuracy. The variables associated
with individual battery banks, particularly as they age, make accurate
calibration a moving target. Overall, the Flex net has the
potential to increase customer confusion with a proliferation of
synoptic
(overly succinct) menus.
Again, I call on the technicians in the industry to create a user
interface with the lay person in mind. See previous rant.
I may find I recommend this system for remote locations so I can poll
statistics and interpret for the client, but I will not train a client
on
the use of this unless he or she is particularly inclined.
Anyone else have an opinion on the Flex net system?
William Miller
At 12:13 PM 10/14/2009, you wrote:
Has
anyone besides me had problems
using the relay in the Outback FNDC? I've had three different
customers report that their generators failed to turn off.
--
Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
www.bluemountainsolar.com
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