[RE-wrenches] IQ8 "line noise" issues?

[Lars Ortegren via RE-wrenches]

Seemingly out of the blue we've had a number of installs (all IQ8) that are
having Line Noise issues preventing the MIs from communicating from the
Envoy. In both of our recent installs they are not in neighborhoods that
have a number of systems, and the issue is not finding too many, but
finding very few to none .

Enphase has suggested purchasing a Q-LCF-064-1P line filter ($500), and I
wanted to see if this is something that is "more common" on the IQ8 that we
should plan on as part of our pricing. Any wrenches found cheaper
alternatives that work?

Lars

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[RE-wrenches] Flickering lights on off grid AC coupled radian system

[Lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,
I'm hoping to solve an issue we've had with a couple of our off grid AC
coupled systems. We have had multiple reports of different LED and
traditional ballasted fluorescent systems "flickering" during the day when
the AC systems are producing power. We havent had issues with other off
grid AC coupling using Sunny Islands, or even old VFX inverters, but this
does seem to be an issue directly related to the Radians.I'm wondering if
any of you have had experience with this, and if you found any hacks to
"clean up" the power?

-- 
Lars Örtegren
General Manager
Co-Founder
Worker-Owner
He/Him 

530 274 3671 | ext 307 <530+274+3671>
l...@cal-solar.com
www.Cal-Solar.coop 
149 E. Main St, Grass Valley, CA 95945
  NABCEP: #PVI-091110-89
CSLB #779624  
  

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[RE-wrenches] Discover LFP and Sunny Island Integration

[Lars Ortegren]

Wrenches-
wondering if there is anyone out there who has integrated the Discover 6.6
batteries with Sunny Islands? They have a card specifically for the SI that
plugs into their LYNK communication gateway, but I'm having a nearly
impossible time getting any support from the manufacturer, or SMA to answer
specific functionality questions. Discover doesn't seem to offer their own
tech support pitching support to distributio (seriously?) and SMA though in
the German list,because it's not on the US list won't give any support.
Specifically if this overwrites internal parameters when selecting
"Lilon_ext-BMS".
The main concern that I'm trying to figure out is the requirement from
Discover for charging to 3.4v per cell, substantially higher than most
default settings in the SI.

Anyone played this game?

-- 



*Lars Ö*
*rtegren*General Manager/Founder/Co Owner

l...@cal-solar.com www.californiasolarco.com

*Main**:* 530-274-3671 *Fax:* 530-274-7518

-- 
 
*Showroom located at: 149 E 
Main St. Grass Valley, CA 95945*
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[RE-wrenches] Outback Optics RE

[Lars Ortegren]

Lou,
I currently have about 6 sites on Optics, and am offering a discount to all
my existing sites that have Outback systems (mostly FX series) to be added.
Offering service to these sites, it has a huge benefit for them as well as
me to see what is happening on the ground, and be able to diagnose what is
happening without a costly service call. For sure, there is still bugs that
cause false alarms, but to be able to see what is happening in real time is
a huge benefit.



-- 

*Lars Örtegren/ **President*

[image: California Solar Electric Company]


PO Box 480/149 E.Main St
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Phone : (530)274-3671 Fax: (530)274-7518
*California C-10 Electrical Contractor #779624*



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[RE-wrenches] Slate roof attachment?

[Lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,
Anyone out there attach to slate roofs? we've had one, that ended with us
re-roofing the portion of the roof under the array, but I'm wondering if
there is a great product out there that others have used? Thus far, the
only attachment I can find is the PV Quickmount shake flashing that even
mentions slate.  Ideas?

-- 

*Lars Örtegren/ **President*

[image: California Solar Electric Company]


PO Box 480/149 E.Main St
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Phone : (530)274-3671 Fax: (530)274-7518
*California C-10 Electrical Contractor #779624*
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[RE-wrenches] Extreme snow load ground mount?

[Lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,
I have a fun one for you. We have a couple of potential clients who live in
the high Sierra with a 420 LB design snow load. After hunting around, not
even a three rail system comes close with any module I can find, so now I'm
looking for a pole top that will dump the snow, and still handle 120 mph
winds. Any ideas? I would just say sorry, no solar for you,but like many of
you I love a challenge.

-- 

*Lars Örtegren/ **President*

[image: California Solar Electric Company]


PO Box 480/149 E.Main St
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Phone : (530)274-3671 Fax: (530)274-7518
*California C-10 Electrical Contractor #779624*



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[RE-wrenches] Decking only flashed attachment?

[Lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,
I have a customer who has a system attached on a SIPS panel home, and I
need to find a solution to fix the never ending leak. For those of you that
are not familiar with SIPS, its structural OSB panels with foam in-between.
We first did the install six years ago using 20' sticks of unistrut running
vertically up the roof to catch the purlins every twelve feet. This method
hasnt held up over time. Im wondering if anyone out there has had a good
experience using any "decking direct" attachments that dont require an
attachment to a structural member. We have tried the Sunpower "smart mount"
(hated it) but Im looking for the right attachment that will work with
Unirak and give him a flashed penetration to add to the roof that we will
undoubtedly pay for. Any advise?

-- 

*Lars Örtegren*

[image: California Solar Electric Company]


PO Box 480/149 E.Main St
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Phone : (530)274-3671 Fax: (530)274-7518
*California C-10 Electrical Contractor #779624*



ATTENTION
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of the Individual(s) named above.  If you are not the intended recipient of
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intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination or
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[RE-wrenches] CA Fire code

[Lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,
If you are in a wild land fire zone in CA, it looks like we are all in for
a rude awakening. Our local AHJ is requiring not only set backs for
ventilation of roofs, but also THAT ALL PANELS ON THE ROOF CARY A CLASS A
FIRE RATING! It doesn't take allot of research to realize that this pretty
much eliminates roof-top solar as an option, as if you can eve find a class
A panel, they are cost prohibitive. I'm wondering a couple things. One, has
anyone had luck using the local political process to postpone the
enforcement of the class A requirement? and two, has anyone found readily
available Class A modules?
  This issue seems to have caught the industry with it's pants down, as
industry lobby doesn't even seem to be aware that the the local AHJ's would
have this interpretation. Is this the end of roof top solar in 60% of
California? What are y'all doing to deal with this issue?

-- 

*Lars Ortegren*

*President*

California Solar Electric Company <http://www.californiasolarco.com>

.PO Box 480

149 E.Main St

Grass Valley, CA 95945

Phone : (530)274-3671 Fax: (530)274-7518

 *California C-10 Electical Contractor #779624*

*Certified NABCEP Continuing Education Provider*

*Certified NAPCEP Technical Sales and Installation Profesional *
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Re: [RE-wrenches] AC Coupling different brands

[lars Ortegren]

We have done a number of off grid AC coupling projects over the last eight
years. We have found they are successful with anything that comes close to a
true sign wave, including some of the old Trace inverters. I would be
careful to not come too close to the wattage of the source inverter, and
keep in mind that your battery charging is only one stage (bulk), and might
not be the best choice without another charging source (i.e. the grid, or a
semi regular generator). I can't say it makes a lot of sense, but when we
have tested grid tied inverters and charge controllers side by side, the GT
inverters produce significantly more than any CC's on the market.. Any more,
I think that it is a better design to have the larger array tied to a GT
inverter, and a small array tied to a charge controller for absorb and float
charging...Just sayin.

Lars Ortegren
Director of Operations
California Solar Electric Company
10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6
Grass Valley, CA 95945
http://www.californiasolarco.com/

Phone : (530)274-3671
Fax: (530)274-7518

California C-10 Electical Contractor #779624
NABCEP Certified PV Installer # 091110-89
Certified NABCEP Continuing Education Provider


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[RE-wrenches] Xantrex 600v charge controller

[lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,

I'm wondering if here is anybody out there that has
installed any Xantrex 600v charge controllers out there. I looking at a job
and thinking about replacing an MX-60 with a 700 foot pipe run to the array
wired with #6 thhn My understanding is that the further away you get
from the battery voltage, the greater the efficiency loss is within the
unit. Outback gives the curve to show the loss of output at higher voltages,
but searching Schneider's site I can't find anything close. It's either
going to be this, or tying a grid-tied inverter through the Outback output,
but doing that would only get me single stage charging. Has anyone watched
these controllers over time? Monitored its output?

Thanks

 

Lars Ortegren

Director of Operations

California Solar Electric Company

10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6

Grass Valley, CA 95945

http://www.californiasolarco.com/

 

Phone : (530)274-3671

Fax: (530)274-7518

 

California C-10 Electical Contractor #779624

NABCEP Certified PV Installer # 091110-89

Certified NABCEP Continuing Education Provider

 

 

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[RE-wrenches] Solar Company Apparaisals?

[lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with a small business appraisal firm
with experience in doing appraisals with PV sale/or install companies? Our
industry is unique, and it would be good to find someone we didn't have to
explain the industry ins and outs first. Contact me on or off list.

 

Lars Ortegren

Director of Operations

California Solar Electric Company

10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6

Grass Valley, CA 95945

http://www.californiasolarco.com/

 

Phone : (530)274-3671

Fax: (530)274-7518

 

California C-10 Electical Contractor #779624

NABCEP Certified PV Installer # 091110-89

Certified NABCEP Continuing Education Provider

 

Description: PV Installer Seal 9 24 09

More about NABCEP:

 

http://www.nabcep.org/

 

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[RE-wrenches] No underside access metal biulding attachment

[lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,

We have a project coming up where we are installing a large array on a low
slope metal building with metal purlins. Typically we would through bolt our
attachment to the purlins, but in this case the building is a self-storage,
and access is not an option. Does anyone out there have experience with any
top side only metal-metal attachments? I've thought about using some larger
sized stainless self-tapping screws, but I worry about the pull out strength
(as the roof combined with the c-channel purlins are only about 1/8") and
the effects of heat and cooling of the roof backing the screws out over
time. Any thoughts ?

 

Lars Ortegren

 

Director of Operations

California Solar Electric Company

10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6

Grass Valley, CA 95945

http://www.californiasolarco.com/

 

Phone : (530)274-3671

Fax: (530)274-7518

 

California C-10 Electical Contractor #779624

NABCEP Certified PV Installer # 091110-89

Certified NABCEP Continuing Education Provider

More about NABCEP:

 

http://www.nabcep.org/

 

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Re: [RE-wrenches] Gen start

[lars Ortegren]

Daryl:
By chance, is there a Flex Net that is also tied into this system? Though I
love the idea of having SOC parameters built into the AGS, I have nothing
but problem with them. Especially with older battery banks, they seem to
want to start either a 2 hour, or 2 minute timer, regardless of the voltage
or SOC. If you do have a Flexnet in the system, I would disconnect it from
the battery and the hub and restart the system without it. Then at least you
can tweak the voltage parameters and timers to solve the issue.

Lars Ortegren

Director of Operations
California Solar Electric Company
10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6
Grass Valley, CA 95945
http://www.californiasolarco.com/

Phone : (530)274-3671
Fax: (530)274-7518

California C-10 Electical Contractor #779624
NABCEP Certified PV Installer # 091110-89
Certified NABCEP Continuing Education Provider
More about NABCEP:

http://www.nabcep.org/




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[RE-wrenches] Efficient step up, down transformers

[lars Ortegren]

Wrenches,

I recently installed three "ultra -efficient" step up-down
transformers on an off grid micro grid project with a 1500' wire run. The
grid is powered by a an old SW4024(120v) output, stepped up to 480v, and
stepped down to 240v at two locations. I was told by the manufacturer that
they were "99% efficient under a full load", but upon firing up the system,
I found a NO LOAD AMPEREAGE OF 15.6 amps!!! Needless to say, a completely
unworkable situation for an off grid scenario, as the 840ah battery would be
drained in a couple of hours before anything was turned on. I'm wondering if
anyone out there has either found off grid friendly step up-down
transformers, or if I'm just screwed and need to pull parallel 4/0 runs
(probably the price of a new car) to fix the problem. HELP!

 

Lars Ortegren

 

Director of Operations

California Solar Electric Company

10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6

Grass Valley, CA 95945

 

Phone : (530)274-3671

Fax: (530)274-7518

 

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[RE-wrenches] Off grid Trace 4024 off grid w/ Sunny Boy

[lars Ortegren]

Hi Wrenches:
A few years ago our company set up an A/C coupled micro grid using a
quad stack of Outback 3648, with 2 SB6000 inverters tied to the output side
of the Outbacks. It worked marvelously, using the grid tied inverters to
push the current through the output terminals until the bulk battery voltage
is reached, then they are disconnected with relays to prevent overcharging.
Both this system and the design I'm working n are supplying power to
commercial woodshops that require generators, therefore taking care of the
absorb and float stages.
My question is, has anyone out there done this type of system with a
Trace(or Xantrex, Schnieder)4024? The design I'm working on now has a 1500'
conduit run(yikes) and already needs A/C to be run. My plan is to have a
SB4000 inverter, wired to a high efficiency 5k 240/480 transformer on the
array side, and another 5k 480/120 transformer on the Trace side. I know the
design would work with an Outback, but I haven't tried it with a Trace to
know. 
Any experience out there?

Lars Ortegren
NABCEP Certified Solar Installer
Director of Operations
California Solar Electric Company
10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6
Grass Valley, CA 95945

Phone : (530)274-3671
Fax: (530)274-7518



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[RE-wrenches] RE-wrenches Digest, Vol 4, Issue 41

[lars Ortegren]

Lars Ortegren

Director of Operations
California Solar Electric Company
10141 Evening Star Drive, Suite 6
Grass Valley, CA 95945

Phone : (530)274-3671
Fax: (530)274-7518


-Original Message-
From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of
re-wrenches-requ...@lists.re-wrenches.org
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 9:48 PM
To: re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
Subject: RE-wrenches Digest, Vol 4, Issue 41

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Roofers installing solar = creative,  new installation
  methods (Keith Cronin)
   2. Re: Roofers installing solar = creative,  new installation
  methods (Keith Cronin)
   3. Re: Roofers installing solar = creative,  new installation
  methods (Joel  Davidson)
  4. Off grid Trace 2024 off grid w/ Sunny Boynew Installation

--

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 11:04:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Keith Cronin 
To: RE-wrenches 
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Roofers installing solar = creative, new
installation methods
Message-ID: <477749.14898...@web113420.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Ray

Good points.

Clarification: I wasn't suggesting any of us become responsible for every 
electrical issues on the property, but that we offer a home electrical 
inspection to point out the deficiencies.
The client can decide whether or not to do the work that we've discovered
needs 
upgrading. At the very least, they are informed. In a competitive solar 
environment, it allows you
to be the different integrator- one that is showing the full menu of
services 
and focuses on safety and prudence.
Its like when you bring your service van in to the dealership. They do the
basic 
items, then throw it on the computer and tell you, you need "X" work done.
Or as 
they're doing the visual
inspection, they notice "X" needs to be replaced. We the customer, at that 
juncture, are informed and can decide whether or not we'd like to proceed.
But 
at least we know and its
been brought to our attention.

So, yes- if you want to draw a clear line, you can. One proposal for the PV
and 
one for the remediation work. At least they have choices and information
that 
perhaps they weren't aware of before.
By taking some digital pics of the overloaded jbox, for example, they now
have 
visual cues as to make decisions about their homes electrical
infrastructure. If 
someone is investing thousands
of dollars in a PV system, doing some remedial work seems prudent. Sometimes

homeowners haven't had an electrician in their homes for years and aren't
even 
aware they have a hazard lurking
in the shadows. You never know, you might or could get a whole house rewire
out 
of the PV job! 




From: R Ray Walters 
To: RE-wrenches 
Sent: Sun, January 30, 2011 8:48:06 AM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Roofers installing solar = creative, new
installation 
methods

Keith;

I try to catch some of those issues on our installs, but the problem is that
you 
then become responsible for every electrical issue on the property.
If the wiring that you saw looked that bad, Keith, imagine what might be
hidden 
in the wall?
Sometimes its easier to have a nice clear line drawn: we did the solar, 
everything else is their problem.

I definitely start fixing stuff, if I feel its going to spill over and make
the 
solar malfunction. (clean up the load center wiring, service issues, and 
grounding, knock out that 2nd fridge in the sun)
However, rewiring an overloaded 4x4 box is something I recommend not
touching, 
unless you're being hired to rewire the whole place.
Just pulling out the wiring for inspection on some old 40's romex, can cause

enough insulation to crack and fall away, that when you push it back in you
will 
cause a short.
I hate being put in that position. Consider keeping the scope of work just
to 
the load center, and replace breakers with GFCI and AFCI breakers.
Then you have substantially improved safety without opening any fresh cans
o' 
worms. (ie overstuffed 4x boxes filled with old wire)


R. Wal