I'm thinking of Fortress to replace older Lead acid batts for a customer right now. My LI - LFP experience is with Blue Planet - Blue Ion both high and low voltage. Yes they are expensive. And IMO they easily overlooked a simple, integrated display with just the basics for off-grid customers. Namaka and even egauge is way overkill for the average off-gridder.
That said, I'm not encouraged by the Fortress comments I'm seeing here either. I'd rather just use them with an OB radian, which I know best. Thoughts on Radian with Fortress? Thanks. On Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 5:15 PM Ray Walters via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > I really think that the Fortress battery could easily be the top battery > choice right now, if......they could vastly improve their customer > support. Tom has been great now that he contacted me, but it was weeks of > frustration and no communication before that. Completely unacceptable, > especially for a new emerging technology that we are going to have extra > issues integrating into old systems. I second your assessment of the > integration guides as well. I have a 4 hour round trip to change some > voltage settings.................RETURN TRIPS is LOSING $$$!!! > > However, once they cure those issues, the product itself is way beyond > others such as Simpliphi or Blue Ion. > > Blue Ion = half a day of assembly and cell wiring, monitoring is by E-gage > (AC only) through the customer's router, price way too high > > Fortress = remove crating material from pallet and roll into place, with > built in color touch screen for monitoring, price much better. > > Simpliphi = no monitoring at all, have to parallel ridiculous qty of > batteries to do a normal off grid home, but integration guides are the best. > > Ray Walters > On 11/17/2022 1:16 PM, r...@solartechvt.com wrote: > > We’ve started to use Fortress batteries for off grid installations lately > as well. The tech support has been very frustrating and the integration > guides are ridiculous – the Magnum guide was the worst – absolute nonsense, > I believe most of which has been pulled from the Fortress site now. The > variation in charge parameters for the inverter vs the charge controller > for the Outback guide doesn’t make sense either. Lack of generator > start/stop parameters in the integration guides have resulted in trial and > error programming on our part to zero in on what works best. > > > > Poor tech support on battery based systems is one of my biggest pet peeves > in the industry………off grid customers rely on their equipment, unlike net > metered installations it’s not just a matter of reducing their electrical > bill it’s about keeping the lights on and the fridge working. > > > > > > *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org > <re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org>] *On Behalf Of *Ray Walters > via RE-wrenches > *Sent:* Thursday, November 17, 2022 1:43 AM > *To:* re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > *Cc:* Ray Walters > *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark/Fortress charging issue > > > > Talk to Thomas Honey. He is the Fortress rep, nice guy, and knowledgeable > wrench. He has stepped in on my issue. > > Ray > > On 11/16/2022 10:58 PM, Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches wrote: > > Good Evening, > > > > I have a frustrating charging issue involving 2 Fortress eVault Maxs > connected to a Sol-Ark 15k. Commissioned the system last week, replacing a > legacy off-grid Dual Stack SunnyIsland 5048s and 2-volt Rolls battery > system. Initially, we connected one of the eVaults to the Sol-Ark, > programmed it to Fortress' and Sol-Ark's specs, setup closed loop, and > things seemed fine. The battery charged at around 95 amps off the 20kW > Kohler. The next day we connected the 2nd eVault, went through the > procedures as Fortress suggested, made the necessary settings changes in > the Sol-Ark, and that is when the issue started. > > > > Ever since we connected the 2nd eVault, we have not been able to get the > charge rate much above a combined total of 35 amps. Fortress has pretty > much said that it can't be anything on their end (although the > communication with them has been very much limited and frustrating). They > say that nothing on their side would limit the charge rate to that low, > especially if the batteries were in a lower state of charge. We've talked > to at least 3 different Sol-Ark technicians more than once. We have > changed the setting between closed loop, % SOC, and Battery Voltage > multiple times. We've tried dropping back to a single battery, both the > first one we had connected and the second one (changing the battery setup > and the Sol-Ark parameters, but have only seen at times a moderate increase > in maximum charge rate (up to about 40 amps total). > > > > This small increase happened after a Fortress technician suggested that we > turn on both the generator and the grid charging toggles (the generator is > connected to the grid port on the Sol-Ark as per Sol-Ark's recommendation. > Sol-Ark has run out of suggestions at the moment, and are having us cycle > the batteries tonight and they will start another charge cycle in the > morning to see if having a lower SOC along with the firmware reload will > change anyhing (I don't think it will - it didn't the last several times. > > > > Has anybody seen this type of behavior before? I don't think it is a > settings issue, as several technicians have gone through them, I have gone > over them many times using the Fortress/Sol-Ark integration white papers. > Hoping to get higher level tech involved ASAP, since I don't feel like the > lower level techs know enough to provide useful ideas. > > > > Thanks, > > Howie > > > *Howie Michaelson **Sun Catcher* > > *NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™ **[image: Image removed by sender.]* > > *Solar Electric Systems Sales & Service **802-272-0004* > > > > _______________________________________________ > > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > > > 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 > > > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > > https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ > > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > > > List rules & etiquette: > > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > > > Check out or update participant bios: > > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > 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 > > There are two list archives for searching. 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