We have 2 pre-UL units that we are swapping for newer UL listed units now on our solar trailer. My experience right now is with the pre-UL prototypes only. Will follow-up after we run the new units at a few events.
Good: The potential for this inverter is enormous. Eventually it will be able to take commands from the utility (if they are so inclined to give them) and can either buy/sell power to level out the demand on the utility grid. And the flexibility of the DC and AC inputs allows for many system configurations. A 4kw system (2 Heart transverters) each handle 2 DC connections and 2 AC connections, any of which can be inputs or outputs. So you can have up to 4 different DC attachments (wind/solar/fuel cell/battery/dc pump/dump load, etc) and 4 ac connections which can also be programmed to act in a variety of ways. And if you like data, the inverter tracks everything that goes on inside (DC voltage/amperage/power, AC voltage/amperage/power/power factor, it also has an AC oscilloscope so you can examine the ac waveform of different loads) Bad: The max DC voltage is about 40-50 volts DC, which means that you can only have single module strings of PV attached, and a maximum 36V nominal battery bank. This is no big deal on a small solar trailer setup like ours, but a 4kw ground mount 100' from the building would start to get unrealistic. That is probably the price to pay for the relatively universal nature of the DC/AC interface. Ugly: You need to figure out exactly HOW to program the inverter in order to get it to even do basic MPPT, not to mention to do all of the other tasks it can potentially perform. And unless you know how hexadecimal works in relations to programming..not an easy task. There is a more user friendly software for programming, but it too is a bit of a bear to install and get working on most PC's (we tried 3 different computers, and only one was able to run the software effectively) This last point may be a fluke based on the fact we were dealing with beta software. We're about to turn on the new units and see if things have been improved since we started working with Heart several months ago. All in all, we're still excited about the potential of this new inverter. But up until now, it has been a bit rough around the edges in terms of user friendliness. A bit of polishing, and this will be a killer product, especially for saturated grids like Hawaii. With Regards, Daniel Young, NABCEP Certified PV Installation ProfessionalTM: Cert #031508-90 NABCEP Certified Solar Heating InstallerTM: Cert #SH031409-13 Lead Systems Designer for: Dovetail Solar and Wind From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Marco Mangelsdorf Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 7:54 PM To: 'RE-wrenches' Subject: [RE-wrenches] Heart Transverter Hola, Anyone have anything good, bad or ugly to say on this bugger? Thanks, marco _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2247 / Virus Database: 3722/7038 - Release Date: 05/22/14
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