Re: [RE-wrenches] Stacking Trace 4024

2013-06-07 Thread Allan Sindelar
Mac, To the best of my knowledge, yes. I believe the most common 4.01 firmware will stack with any firmware above that number. 4.10 and above were designed to work with the GTI for grid-tied use after the year 2000, but should not affect stacking otherwise. I have

[RE-wrenches] DC LEDs

2013-06-07 Thread Jesse Dahl
Hello, I have a few hunting shacks coming up on the board so I've been searching for DC LEDs to use. I Want to give the customers options for the tasks needed and have spent hours searching online for products. Any recommendations? I hate to purchase and be disappointed. Websites? On that t

[RE-wrenches] Stacking Trace 4024

2013-06-07 Thread Mac Lewis
Hello wrenches, I am contemplating stacking a Trace SW 4024 to an existing Trace SW 4024 system and converting to 120/240. I have done this before and it seemed straightforward. Are there any challenges that wrenches have had when attempting this? Also, is there any compatibility issues within

Re: [RE-wrenches] RE-wrenches Digest, Vol 6, Issue 221

2013-06-07 Thread Scott McCalmont
Some of the Power-One inverters use an extended scan on a periodic basis to make sure they are not tracking a local maximum. In essence, they collect an entire I-V curve, and this can take place as often as every 15 minutes. The reason why this can cause problems with Tigo optimizers is that is can

Re: [RE-wrenches] Neutral - Ground Bond. Was- Outback wave form

2013-06-07 Thread Allan Sindelar
Dick, No, I stand by what I wrote, but I'll clarify. If the gennie has a GFI, it will often have trouble feeding an inverter, as the GFI will sense the ground loop and trip. The ground loop is caused by bonds in both gennie and the first point of AC d

Re: [RE-wrenches] Neutral - Ground Bond. Was- Outback wave form

2013-06-07 Thread Richard L Ratico
Allan, I think most gennies bond the neutral to the chassis so the circuit breakers on the gennie will trip in the event of a ground fault. If the neutrals weren't bonded and the breakers didn't trip to clear it, there would be a shock hazard on the chassis in the event of a fault. Not sure what yo

Re: [RE-wrenches] battery watering systems

2013-06-07 Thread Kevin Pegg
I believe I have tried every type of single point watering system caps out there. These are the only units that have proven themselves over time. A few thousand out there and not a single failure. Can't say the same thing for others like flow-rite which I nicknamed flow-maybe. http://www.aquapro

Re: [RE-wrenches] PV on Mission Tile

2013-06-07 Thread Ray Walters
I 2nd that idea. I'd just add that we have the tile extend a few inches under the array, and then the roofer doesn't have to come back. It's also a great look, as the Array is just a couple of inches above the tile, so it appears to be almost flush mounted, and the tiles appear to be continuo

[RE-wrenches] Inverter EMI fixed

2013-06-07 Thread Bruce Erickson
I had reported a problem with an SMA inverter messing with a customer's heater programming. SMA and/or SunPower (it was a SunPower leased system) very kindly allowed replacement of the SB5000US with a newer unit that has the suffix -12 after the model number. Apparently the design upgrade includ

Re: [RE-wrenches] Oil Heating / Solar Thermal

2013-06-07 Thread Mac Lewis
Jeremy, There were many systems that used Bray oil for a heat transfer fluid back in the 80s. However, I would do it with a heat exchanger because some oils can be corrosive to gaskets and the thermal diffusivity of oil is relatively poor when compared to water or glycol. Also, the increased visc

[RE-wrenches] battery watering systems

2013-06-07 Thread jay peltz
HI All, Any good places to order watering caps from Battery watering technologies? thanks, jay peltz power ___ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change email address & settings: http://lists.re-w

Re: [RE-wrenches] PV on Mission Tile

2013-06-07 Thread Max Balchowsky
Jason, what we've done many tines on these types of roofs is had the homeowner work with a roofer of their choice, or we would supply one, to remove the tile on the area where the array will be. then they put down a hot mop or suitable roofing material and we install the racking and array over i

[RE-wrenches] PV on Mission Tile

2013-06-07 Thread Jason Szumlanski
Anyone have any best practices or product recommendations for installing PV on mission tile with vertical 2x4 stringers? Specifically, I'm looking at a Ludowici mission clay tile. *Jason Szumlanski** * *Fafco Solar * ___ List sponsored by Home Power mag

[RE-wrenches] Oil Heating / Solar Thermal

2013-06-07 Thread All Solar, Inc.
Thermal Wrenches, Has anyone ever heated an oil tank with thermal collectors? Specifically, I wonder if the oil itself can be pumped through the collectors ( drainback or otherwise ) This is for an asphalt batch plant. Thanks in advance! All Solar, Inc. Jeremy and Amy Rodriguez 1463 M St

Re: [RE-wrenches] Nuetral - Ground Bond. Was- Outback wave form

2013-06-07 Thread Allan Sindelar
Jeremy, Outback may be right on, and it's worth checking. Most portable gennies internally bond neutral to chassis, because they expect that no typical homeowner will ground the chassis. (Inverter-generators are a noteworthy exception to this.) Most i

Re: [RE-wrenches] Nuetral - Ground Bond. Was- Outback wave form

2013-06-07 Thread All Solar, Inc.
I found out that the appliance will work fine from an extension cord with a portable generator. The appliance will not even work however when the backup gen is running and transfering through the inverters. Outback T.S. suggested to check the Neutral to ground bond so that is the next step. Also

Re: [RE-wrenches] 24V charging with 60 cell modules

2013-06-07 Thread Larry Crutcher, Starlight Solar Power Systems
Eric, You may not be aware but some (not sure, perhaps all) MPPT controllers will switch to simple PWM mode if there is insufficient differential voltage to operate the MPPT circuit. To answer Mac's question, no, there is no "good" method to use a 60 cell module to charge a 24 volt bank, espec