Wrenches, Mr. Tuss:
I have had many customers suffer due to the exact problems described below. That is, a generator running but no charging happening. This is due to either inadvertent changes in the AC Drop mode or Global Charge Mode settings. I think it was a big mistake on the standard Mate to put the Charge Control Mode and the AC Drop menus in so easily accessible a location as the AC dedicated button menu. This is the menu you need to access frequently to manually start a generator. The Charge Control Mode and the AC screens are very similar in appearance to the generator start menus and it is very common for users to engage the drop mode or turn charging off inadvertently. I have had customers ruin expensive battery sets with this mistake. I approached Outback to suggest they rectify this problem with a firmware update. My suggestion was to relocate these functions behind the installer password. I was told this change was not possible due to lack of memory on the Mate hardware. I find this hard to believe as this change would not add any functionality but rather move the aforementioned screens to behind the password protection. There would be not net gain in functionality. It is my belief that Outback does not realize the seriousness of this situation and the implications of this flaw in the design. Mr. Tuss, what is your opinion on this issue? Is it truly impossible to fix this design flaw? Thank you for your participation in the Wrenches forum and in advance for your reply to my questions. Sincerely, William Miller Lic 773985 millersolar.com 805-438-5600 -----Original Message----- From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Lones Tuss Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 10:11 AM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback programing question Hello Fellow Wrenches Due to customer feedback OutBack decided to automatically enable the Inverters Ac Charger if the Mate(3) called for an AGS (gen run) condition. The general opinion here is if the gen is running you might as well allow it to charge your batteries. Before we did this there were instances of generators running for hours/days before the end user discovered he had set the charger to OFF. That being said if charging by the inverter is not desired during a Gen run there are several methods which will allow charging to be disabled. The method you use will more than likely depend on your situation. If you wish to stop charging for the current gen run simply turn the Charge Off after the gen is running. On the Mate3 press the Charger Button select OFF. On the Mate and Mate2 press the AC Input button three times the Charger can be turned OFF there. If it is necessary to turn the charger off on a more permanent basis there are a couple of different approaches. One method is to go to the inverter charger menu and set the absorb and float timers to zero. Another method and perhaps the easiest would be to change the gen type to DC or None. Of these two I would suggest DC as the preferred choice. After setting the Inverter Charger to Off follow the path as described below On the Mate3 press the LOCK button Enter 141 Select Settings then System then System Information change Gen Type to DC or None. If the inverters charger is disabled it will remain so when AGS calls for a gen run. On the Mate or Mate2 In the AGS program menu select DC gen and the Auto Charge feature will be negated. The above will work if the gen run is caused by the following AGS triggers. Load Start, Must Run, Generator Exercise If the gen run condition is a Voltage Start the trigger to turn the gen off is the batteries must reach the Absorb Voltage for the Absorb Time. If the gen run condition is SOC the trigger to turn the gen off is the batteries must reach the end SOC set point. These points may be unachievable with the inverters charger set to OFF. If this is the case lack of fuel may be the gen stop reason. Lones Tuss Applications Engineer OutBack Power Technologies 17825 59th Ave NE, Suite B, Arlington, WA 98223 360.618.4383 Office | 425.213.8794 Cell www.outbackpower.com -----Original Message----- From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org <re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org>] On Behalf Of Darren Emmons Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 10:57 AM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback programing question When the generator is auto started, the inverter's charger will be enabled. After the generator is stopped, the inverter's charger will be returned to the mode before the generator started. The logic is if you are running the generator the Inverter's charger should be enabled. You could lower the charger AC limit to 0 Amps. 08:00 Inverter charger OFF 10:00 Must run start -> charger ON 11:00 Must run stop -> charger OFF >Darren On 04/27/2016 05:31 PM, jay wrote: > HI All, > > I've got a problem that outback tech hasn't been able to figure out. > > off grid system > mate 3 > quad stacked VFX 3648 > > The generator is set to specific start/stop daily timer. This works fine. > > The client has plenty of solar for the day, and when he runs his generator he doesn't want the chargers to operate. > OK so just hit charge off, and yes the chargers will turn off. > > But next day, genny starts up, and the chargers come back on as well. > > Outback says that shouldn't be happening, but it is. > > Anybody have this issue or know of a fix? > > Thanks > > jay > > peltz power > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist > .html > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
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