Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

[Chris Worcester]

Hi William, 

We have had a very similar experience with the Mate3, prior to their new 
programming guidelines that are now being shipped with the Mate3, when all we 
had was the 180 page manual. What went wrong if my memory serves here is we did 
go through the menu programming our needs for the system, then went into the 
Wizard to do a save. Not a good idea as this dumped all our programming, 
including the stacking setting, allowing the slave to parallel the Master, 
oops. Not good with the client looking on as the house goes dark and red lights 
are flashing. Luckily the back fed Master shut down without smoke coming out. 
The rest of the menu was scrambled too.

Always going to Save Config now, as the final word and programming in the 
latest revision too.

Don’t know if this helps, hope so.

 

Chris Worcester

Solar Wind Works

NABCEP Certified PV Installer

Office 530-582-4503

Cell 530-448-9692

Fax 530-582-4603

www.solarwindworks.com

ch...@solarwindworks.com

 

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf 
Of William Miller
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2016 8:26 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

 

Ray:

 

I have no reason to believe anyone has been meddling. No one knows the 
password. It does look like some serious glitch. 

 

William


On Nov 10, 2016, at 6:25 PM, Ray Walters  wrote:

It almost sounds like someone got in there and tried to reprogram stuff 
themselves.  Have you installed the proper anti-Gremlin devices?



R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer, 
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760

On 11/10/2016 12:34 PM, William Miller wrote:

Colleagues: 

 

I maintain an off-grid, 8 stack FX Outback system with 3 charge controllers.  
The system has been on line for about 6 years.  It got upgraded about 7 months 
ago with 2 Mate3s.

 

About a week ago the system shutdown, leaving the customer without power.  A 
maintenance worker started a generator and power was restored.  I did not hear 
about the situation for several days.

 

A maintenance supervisor was dispatched yesterday to work with me over the 
telephone to see if we could restart the system.  The system would only run if 
the inverter output breakers were all off.  

 

I examined the system via Optics.  I was very surprised to see that the system 
programming was absolutely scrambled.  This was so much so that even the 
stacking settings were wrong.  For example, inverter 2 was set as a Master, 
which we all know will crash any system.  Other settings were also found with 
very random values.

 

This system was running prior to last Friday, so the stacking at least must 
have been right prior to the outage.  I am completely mystified as to how this 
could have happened.  

 

I am in conversation with Outback who is taking this seriously.  I have not 
heard back from them yet but I am curious if anyone else has experienced this 
or anything similar.  I'd like to broaden my knowledge on this situation to 
enhance my understanding and to share any findings with the group.

 

Thank you in advance for any input.

 

William Miller






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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

[Bruce Geddes]

Hi William, I have had a similar experience here in New Zealand on a FP2 fitted 
with VFXR3024E inverters.  Factory wired with a Mate3.  Ran ok for around 2 
months then random errors with “FX Firmware incompatible” then “FX Firmware OK” 
until eventually the slave inverter shut down with a message on the mate of 
FXRBL which means Boot Load, going back to very basic bootup mode.  It could 
only be corrected by doing a firmware upgrade which would not work via the Mate 
and Hub, had to plug Mate directly into inverter.  Reloaded system config from 
SD card file and all ok.

 

Now, after around 2 weeks, Mate display went blank except for border graphics.  
Supplier, suspecting a possibly faulty mate has sent a replacement and, when 
trying to load system configuration the file which I resaved on leaving last 
time has been scrambled.

 

Still waiting for a resolution but I suspect it is something to do with the 
VFXR’s or possibly the Mate.  Software bug or something.  Solution might be to 
replace VFXR’s with VFX’s but we will have to see what Outback come back with.  
Meantime I have a very irate customer with ½ of the system operating (Master 
inverter only).  System is nearly 3 hours travel one way so popping over to 
reset it when it is likely to randomly shut down again is not an option!  Still 
waiting to hear from Outback if they will cover this with warranty.

 

Bruce Geddes

Freedom Energy Ltd

 

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf 
Of William Miller
Sent: Friday, 11 November 2016 5:26 p.m.
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

 

Ray:

 

I have no reason to believe anyone has been meddling. No one knows the 
password. It does look like some serious glitch. 

 

William


On Nov 10, 2016, at 6:25 PM, Ray Walters  wrote:

It almost sounds like someone got in there and tried to reprogram stuff 
themselves.  Have you installed the proper anti-Gremlin devices?



R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer, 
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760

On 11/10/2016 12:34 PM, William Miller wrote:

Colleagues: 

 

I maintain an off-grid, 8 stack FX Outback system with 3 charge controllers.  
The system has been on line for about 6 years.  It got upgraded about 7 months 
ago with 2 Mate3s.

 

About a week ago the system shutdown, leaving the customer without power.  A 
maintenance worker started a generator and power was restored.  I did not hear 
about the situation for several days.

 

A maintenance supervisor was dispatched yesterday to work with me over the 
telephone to see if we could restart the system.  The system would only run if 
the inverter output breakers were all off.  

 

I examined the system via Optics.  I was very surprised to see that the system 
programming was absolutely scrambled.  This was so much so that even the 
stacking settings were wrong.  For example, inverter 2 was set as a Master, 
which we all know will crash any system.  Other settings were also found with 
very random values.

 

This system was running prior to last Friday, so the stacking at least must 
have been right prior to the outage.  I am completely mystified as to how this 
could have happened.  

 

I am in conversation with Outback who is taking this seriously.  I have not 
heard back from them yet but I am curious if anyone else has experienced this 
or anything similar.  I'd like to broaden my knowledge on this situation to 
enhance my understanding and to share any findings with the group.

 

Thank you in advance for any input.

 

William Miller






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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

[Ray Walters]

I think the other poster's idea that the cables could have been switched 
is possible.  It could explain the Master getting switched.  I'm 
certainly not saying a complete internal glitch wasn't it either.  We've 
all seen our share of those as well.


R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760

On 11/10/2016 9:26 PM, William Miller wrote:

Ray:

I have no reason to believe anyone has been meddling. No one knows the 
password. It does look like some serious glitch.


William

On Nov 10, 2016, at 6:25 PM, Ray Walters > wrote:


It almost sounds like someone got in there and tried to reprogram 
stuff themselves.  Have you installed the proper anti-Gremlin devices?

R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760
On 11/10/2016 12:34 PM, William Miller wrote:

Colleagues:

I maintain an off-grid, 8 stack FX Outback system with 3 charge 
controllers.  The system has been on line for about 6 years.  It got 
upgraded about 7 months ago with 2 Mate3s.


About a week ago the system shutdown, leaving the customer without 
power.  A maintenance worker started a generator and power was 
restored.  I did not hear about the situation for several days.


A maintenance supervisor was dispatched yesterday to work with me 
over the telephone to see if we could restart the system.  The 
system would only run if the inverter output breakers were all off.


I examined the system via Optics.  I was very surprised to see that 
the system programming was absolutely scrambled.  This was so much 
so that even the stacking settings were wrong.  For example, 
inverter 2 was set as a Master, which we all know will crash any 
system.  Other settings were also found with very random values.


This system was running prior to last Friday, so the stacking at 
least must have been right prior to the outage.  I am completely 
mystified as to how this could have happened.


I am in conversation with Outback who is taking this seriously.  I 
have not heard back from them yet but I am curious if anyone else 
has experienced this or anything similar.  I'd like to broaden my 
knowledge on this situation to enhance my understanding and to share 
any findings with the group.


Thank you in advance for any input.

William Miller


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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

[William Miller]

Ray:

I have no reason to believe anyone has been meddling. No one knows the 
password. It does look like some serious glitch. 

William

> On Nov 10, 2016, at 6:25 PM, Ray Walters  wrote:
> 
> It almost sounds like someone got in there and tried to reprogram stuff 
> themselves.  Have you installed the proper anti-Gremlin devices?
> R.Ray Walters
> CTO, Solarray, Inc
> Nabcep Certified PV Installer, 
> Licensed Master Electrician
> Solar Design Engineer
> 303 505-8760
>> On 11/10/2016 12:34 PM, William Miller wrote:
>> Colleagues:
>> 
>> I maintain an off-grid, 8 stack FX Outback system with 3 charge controllers. 
>>  The system has been on line for about 6 years.  It got upgraded about 7 
>> months ago with 2 Mate3s.
>> 
>> About a week ago the system shutdown, leaving the customer without power.  A 
>> maintenance worker started a generator and power was restored.  I did not 
>> hear about the situation for several days.
>> 
>> A maintenance supervisor was dispatched yesterday to work with me over the 
>> telephone to see if we could restart the system.  The system would only run 
>> if the inverter output breakers were all off.  
>> 
>> I examined the system via Optics.  I was very surprised to   see 
>> that the system programming was absolutely scrambled.  This was so much so 
>> that even the stacking settings were wrong.  For example, inverter 2 was set 
>> as a Master, which we all know will crash any system.  Other settings were 
>> also found with very random values.
>> 
>> This system was running prior to last Friday, so the stacking at least must 
>> have been right prior to the outage.  I am completely mystified as to how 
>> this could have happened.  
>> 
>> I am in conversation with Outback who is taking this seriously.  I have not 
>> heard back from them yet but I am curious if anyone else has experienced 
>> this or anything similar.  I'd like to broaden my knowledge on this 
>> situation to enhance my understanding and to share any findings with the 
>> group.
>> 
>> Thank you in advance for any input.
>> 
>> William Miller
>> 
>> 
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

[Foxfire Energy]

Kind of sounds like the ever elusive yellow spotted random button pusher.. Or, 
one of my customers kids (he says), pulled all the CAT5 cables off the hub and 
didn't put them back in the right order (master and slave got transposed). or 
it might've been that pesky Russian cyber espionage unit.. trying to hack into 
the electoral voting system.. again.

Dan Brown 
Foxfire Energy Corp.
(802)-483-2564
www.Foxfire-Energy.com

> On Nov 10, 2016, at 2:34 PM, William Miller  wrote:
> 
> Colleagues:
> 
> I maintain an off-grid, 8 stack FX Outback system with 3 charge controllers.  
> The system has been on line for about 6 years.  It got upgraded about 7 
> months ago with 2 Mate3s.
> 
> About a week ago the system shutdown, leaving the customer without power.  A 
> maintenance worker started a generator and power was restored.  I did not 
> hear about the situation for several days.
> 
> A maintenance supervisor was dispatched yesterday to work with me over the 
> telephone to see if we could restart the system.  The system would only run 
> if the inverter output breakers were all off.  
> 
> I examined the system via Optics.  I was very surprised to see that the 
> system programming was absolutely scrambled.  This was so much so that even 
> the stacking settings were wrong.  For example, inverter 2 was set as a 
> Master, which we all know will crash any system.  Other settings were also 
> found with very random values.
> 
> This system was running prior to last Friday, so the stacking at least must 
> have been right prior to the outage.  I am completely mystified as to how 
> this could have happened.  
> 
> I am in conversation with Outback who is taking this seriously.  I have not 
> heard back from them yet but I am curious if anyone else has experienced this 
> or anything similar.  I'd like to broaden my knowledge on this situation to 
> enhance my understanding and to share any findings with the group.
> 
> Thank you in advance for any input.
> 
> William Miller
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

[Ray Walters]

It almost sounds like someone got in there and tried to reprogram stuff 
themselves.  Have you installed the proper anti-Gremlin devices?


R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760

On 11/10/2016 12:34 PM, William Miller wrote:

Colleagues:

I maintain an off-grid, 8 stack FX Outback system with 3 charge 
controllers.  The system has been on line for about 6 years.  It got 
upgraded about 7 months ago with 2 Mate3s.


About a week ago the system shutdown, leaving the customer without 
power.  A maintenance worker started a generator and power was 
restored.  I did not hear about the situation for several days.


A maintenance supervisor was dispatched yesterday to work with me over 
the telephone to see if we could restart the system.  The system would 
only run if the inverter output breakers were all off.


I examined the system via Optics.  I was very surprised to see that 
the system programming was absolutely scrambled. This was so much so 
that even the stacking settings were wrong.  For example, inverter 2 
was set as a Master, which we all know will crash any system.  Other 
settings were also found with very random values.


This system was running prior to last Friday, so the stacking at least 
must have been right prior to the outage.  I am completely mystified 
as to how this could have happened.


I am in conversation with Outback who is taking this seriously.  I 
have not heard back from them yet but I am curious if anyone else has 
experienced this or anything similar.  I'd like to broaden my 
knowledge on this situation to enhance my understanding and to share 
any findings with the group.


Thank you in advance for any input.

William Miller


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[RE-wrenches] Outback Programming Ghost

[William Miller]

Colleagues:

I maintain an off-grid, 8 stack FX Outback system with 3 charge
controllers.  The system has been on line for about 6 years.  It got
upgraded about 7 months ago with 2 Mate3s.

About a week ago the system shutdown, leaving the customer without power.
A maintenance worker started a generator and power was restored.  I did not
hear about the situation for several days.

A maintenance supervisor was dispatched yesterday to work with me over the
telephone to see if we could restart the system.  The system would only run
if the inverter output breakers were all off.

I examined the system via Optics.  I was very surprised to see that the
system programming was absolutely scrambled.  This was so much so that even
the stacking settings were wrong.  For example, inverter 2 was set as a
Master, which we all know will crash any system.  Other settings were also
found with very random values.

This system was running prior to last Friday, so the stacking at least must
have been right prior to the outage.  I am completely mystified as to how
this could have happened.

I am in conversation with Outback who is taking this seriously.  I have not
heard back from them yet but I am curious if anyone else has experienced
this or anything similar.  I'd like to broaden my knowledge on this
situation to enhance my understanding and to share any findings with the
group.

Thank you in advance for any input.

William Miller
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