Glenn:
Thank you for that important clarification. I keep mixing up the concept of Fortress supporting the integration with SMA versus SMA not supporting the integration with Fortress. Fortress is all over how you make the marriage work. When I spoke with SMA to ask a question unrelated to the battery choice, I let slip that I was integrating Fortress batteries. It was like a switch had been flipped: The telephone support tech almost hung up on me. I was told that if you are connecting Sunny Islands to Fortress batteries all tech support on any subject would be suspended. I needled the answer I was looking for out of the dude but it was given very reluctantly. This is very awkward. When I was asked to bid this job I did what I thought was due diligence by looking thoroughly at the Fortress site for guidance. I assumed if Fortress thought the coupling would be happy, SMA felt the same way. I must admit it reminded me of many of my romantic relationships. I got a bit of PTSD just thinking about it. I hope this does not cause problems getting information out of SMA in the future. Fortunately for me the warranty is long over. Also fortunate for me is the resource of the experience pool here at the good old wrenches forum. Thanks to all of you for chiming in. William Miller Miller Solar 17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422 805-438-5600 www.millersolar.com CA Lic. 773985 *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] *On Behalf Of *Glenn Burt via RE-wrenches *Sent:* Tuesday, September 19, 2023 6:43 PM *To:* Kienan Maxfield via RE-wrenches *Cc:* Glenn Burt *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Sunny Island/Fortress E-vault In my comversations with SMA, they made it clear they do not support closed loop comms with anyone at this time. YMMV -Glenn Sent from my 'smart'phone, so please excuse typos and spelling errors. ------ Original message------ *From: *Kienan Maxfield via RE-wrenches *Date: *Tue, Sep 19, 2023 3:17 PM *To: *RE-wrenches; *Cc: *Kienan Maxfield; *Subject:*Re: [RE-wrenches] Sunny Island/Fortress E-vault That's actually incorrect, Fortress totally does support closed-loop with the SMA Sunny Island inverters. Here is their integration guide. This has all of the instructions and coms wiring, etc. - https://learn.fortresspower.com/external/manual/sma/article/introduction-useful-links?p=dc8b9a9c1b3f410556835193e66f2257c662403dfb3da4056e618e954e8381d2 Thanks, Kienan Maxfield Technical sales, Technical Support *Green-Go Solar Distribution* *kienan@dist.solar <kienan@dist.solar>* *(801) 631-5584 <(801)%20631-5584> (Cell)* *www.distribution.solar <https://www.distribution.solar/>* ------------------------------ *From:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org< a="">> on behalf of Kirk Herander via RE-wrenches </re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org<> <%3cre-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org><re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org< a="">></re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<> <%3cre-wrenc...@lists.re-wrenches.org> *Sent:* Saturday, September 16, 2023 8:33 AM *To:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org< a="">></re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<> <%3cre-wrenc...@lists.re-wrenches.org> *Cc:* Kirk Herander <kirkh@vermont.solar< a="">></kirkh@vermont.solar<> <%3ckirkh@vermont.solar> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Sunny Island/Fortress E-vault Jerry, Who is the maker of the Blue Planet/Outback SOC box interface you mention? On Sat, Sep 16, 2023 at 9:30 AM Jerry Shafer via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: Mac, wrenches SMA and fortress can only open loop and with a fixed temp sender its fine. Now on the blue planet and open loop with outback, you need a SOC box that they can make for you, it will interface with the blue planet and command the genny. Fun times On Sat, Sep 16, 2023, 6:04 AM Mac Lewis <maclew...@gmail.com> wrote: Hi William, Are you doing open loop or closed loop communication? I'm not sure if Fortress can do a closed loop with SMA or not. We struggled to get the open loop to work well with some Blue Ion batteries, not from a charging sense but from a sense of getting the auto gen start to trigger correctly. Basically, the SOC algorithm was always way off. For a while we were using an external voltage trigger and we could get the generator to start OK before BMS shutdown. We have since added a Namaka box and are using the "Ext BMS" setting for battery type in the Sunny Island and it has been working very well. I think the difficulty arises because the Sunny Island is so State-of-Charge centric and you can't manipulate the SOC algorithm without that Ext-BMS setting (and solid communication). One weakness of the ext BMS setting is that it won't fall back on Voltage settings if battery communication goes down, but this is a weakness throughout closed loop communication for many manufacturers. Let us know if there is a Fortress to SMA communication solution. On Fri, Sep 15, 2023 at 11:11 PM Jerry Shafer via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: William, Wrenches Yes I do and it does require some basic electronics to make it work correctly, you will need to remove the ttemp sender and make a resistor pack to simulate the 77 degree reading otherwise it will not charge properly, for the first one I used a breadboard to set the temp for what I wanted to see then build a more solid state shrink wrap resistor. Doing this will prevent undercharge by the SMA and your customer will be happy to see the full state of charge at the batteries. OldSchool fun times On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 2:12 PM William Miller via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: Friends: I am commissioning an E-vault battery array to an existing SMA Sunny Island System. Does anyone have any experience with this they could share? Thanks. William Miller Solar 17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422 805-438-5600 www.millersolar.com CA Lic. 773985 _______________________________________________ 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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_______________________________________________ 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