Walt, This morning I left a message on Rick Cullen's cell phone about this thread. He called back, said he's on the Wrenches list as a manufacturer's rep and he will check the thread and respond. So watch your Wrenches email before taking corrective action. Allan
Allan Sindelar al...@positiveenergysolar.com NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer EE98J Journeyman Electrician Positive Energy, Inc. 3201 Calle Marie Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507 505 424-1112 www.positiveenergysolar.com -----Original Message----- Hello again, Thanks to all of you who chimed in with suggestions and comments on this very apparent mis-application of the Solar Boost charge controller!! In looking at options for them, I thought of using the Morningstar 15Amp MPPT controller. They have a cut-off of 70V DC on the Voc, and ask for an array not to exceed 400 watts. The system here in Senegal is a whole lot closer to meeting those criteria than the Solar Boost. (73Voc and 440 Watts/p) I have written to MS to see what they think about this. I hope to hear from Solar Boost to see their opinion, on what the best plan of action could be from their perspective. Chances are, Solar Boost has no idea the equipment was used this way. Some of you asked who designed this? I am not really sure, but there is a company named Earthwalk that primarily provides laptop computer packages for remote education facilities. They come with a battery charger cart for the laptop batteries that is designed to plug in at night (especially when there are problems with the grid power during the day.) The Earthwalk company provides as an "accessory" a solar charging station for locations without the grid. They include the system I described, but with a few other unusual design thoughts. (They use AGM batteries instead of GEL batteries, they have a new DR1524 inverter, and they use a Solar Converter Model VCS-2AH switch, that I think is being used as a Low Voltage Disconnect, and I think that is set at 20V....) These systems were assembled very nicely into a rolling cart in the states, and shipped to Senegal. (The 12V Dekkas are measuring 5V now, on this end before placing into commission.) So - it is likely that Earthwalk commissioned a "solar" company to build this for them. I am trying to find that out now. I just want to recommend the best action to them now instead of when all of the systems start failing...which I am afraid they will do very soon. I see enough failed systems. I would just like to stop this train wreck. Thanks again for all your input. >From the bush in Senegal!! Walt _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org 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
