I am in full agreement.
The Outback remote darn near needs a college degree to operate.
The sensitive parameters you mentioned should be in the password
protected area.
Mark
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Instruction manual / User interface rant
From: William Miller <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date: Mon, October 17, 2011 7:49 pm
To: RE-wrenches <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Friends:
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.
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.
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.
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.
We provide our own checklists to all of our customers to perform
the limited functions described above. For a sample, see:
file:///D:/William/Web/Dreamweaver/Miller%20Solar/MillerSolar/Services/Support/_support.htmll
<file://D/William/Web/Dreamweaver/Miller%2520Solar/MillerSolar/Services/Support/_support.htmll>
We provide these instruction sets to our install clients and sell
them to others, including other installers (off list, if you are
interested).
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?
Rant off.
William Miller
PS: Any manual not pre-punched for a three hole binder is not
worth the paper it is printed on.
Wm
William Miller
Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
http://millersolar.com
<http://millersolar.com/>License No. C-10-773985
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm>
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org <http://www.members.re-wrenches.org/>
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
