Our Solatron PV kit is up and running good.

     Let me start this by stating that  I am a hotheaded, self rightious,
narrow minded, arrogant SOB. I also believe that I may be any company's
worst nightmare to do business with. Anything you promise, you damned well
better deliver, to the letter. My main launch button: "I'll get right back
to you..."  Yup, that sets the missiles flying, every time. More on that
later.
    Well, It's been eight years in the planning and three years in the
building, but the lights are on at the new house out in the desert.
    We installed the batteries, made the final connections and and flipped
all the switches on 9/15. The charge controller woke up, the inverter
started humming and it all worked right, right from the start. I plugged in
the shop vac and DAMN! This stuff all works! My water pump works, the heat
circulators work, the bathroom fan works, all the lights come on. The whole
house came to life. I felt like (young) Dr Frankenstein.... IT'S
ALIVE!!!!!!!!
        I need to thank the folks at Solatron Technologies for putting
together a fantastic package. It all works just the way they said. All the
hardware was top shelf, and once the fax machine spit out a wiring diagram,
it went together like a tinkertoy.  With the exception of some standard lugs
and other minor hardware for making connections, a few feet of #4 THHN, some
conduit, and a few more feet of ground wire, everything I needed was in the
package.
    I ordered the stuff over the phone and it was all on it's way the very
next day. It was all packaged to withstand a tornado. The PV panels came on
a welded steel pallet (I'm told steel is cheaper than wood in Japan) via USF
Reddaway, and they put the unit right in my truck for me.  The UPS driver
had plenty of fun with the 135 pound inverter after he found the place
(BFE).
The system:
(9) 165 watt Mitsubishi PV panels (they are beautiful things)
Xantrex 2440 SW inverter (heavy, very heavy)
Xantrex combiner box and  Disconnect panels (furniture grade metal cabinets)
Outback MPPT 60 charge controller (built like a brick........)
UniRack mounting system (very heavy duty anodized aluminum w/ SS hardware,
easy to assemble)
Xantrex TM 500 digital system monitor (Hours of entertainment value, just
set for "Amps" and watch the #s change)
And a bunch of wire, some fuses, connectors, etc. All very nice stuff, and
at a price that was considerably less than buying it piecemeal. The best
part was my not needing to figure out what I needed to buy to go with the
other stuff I needed to buy.
    They aren't listing this kit currently, My guess is they are out of the
165 panels.
    I bought my batteries and jumpers locally (Intermountain Battery, Salt
Lake City)  (8) Deka ProMaster 8L16. Good thing I got in myself into shape
mounting that inverter to the wall. Them batteries are heavy.  Trojan L16H
batteries would have cost nearly double for some reason. Maybe I'll find out
why in about 5 years.
    Back to my complaint.... The kit didn't come with a basic wiring
diagram, how the panels connect to each other (surprise! 3 in series), to
other stuff,  where, and with what... I  E-mailed, waited half a day and
called, "someone will get back to you after lunch". I hung around the office
I hate until the place closed. The next morning I wrote a very angry and
detailed message. Problem resolved within 10 minutes of them getting it.
Their customer service was actually the best I've had from anybody in years.
Don't get me started about home centers...
    I am sure that folks mean well when they say they will get back to you.
Better to take care of me while you are still on the line, however long it
takes. That is my only complaint. Not much by most folks standards, but I
would rather get screwed on weight and measure than be left waiting for a
call.
    I would buy from them again in a minute, no question.  If anyone wants
details, pictures or the like, let me know.
    Thanks Guys, You know who I am, you know where you shipped it. Sorry
about the blow up. I would be glad to see you. Call before you drive up
I-15.

  9 panels is an odd number of panels. Are you running HV with them all
in series?

 3 sets of 3 in series, that gives us about 90 volts in good light.

 OK. My unit has a max voltage input of 120 vdc so 3 x 24v (44.3v)
panels in series would exceed that. Under load they would only run
about 90 volts.

 

TRecupero wrote:

I would like some pics please.