Well , I had to come up with something to kick of this board,
The top ten reasons to buy a ST2500 are:

#10 You needed a yard bug zapper !!

[img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

#9 A Safe Investment for Your Future

This product is safe (low DC voltage), reliable, easy to install with no further electrical switchgear required (in most utility company areas) and is fully made in the USA! Xantrex stands behind this product 100% with a 2 - 5 year warranty, depending on what you purchased. This product is supported with the intellectual capital and financial strength of a North American corporation with Service Centers literally littered across the country.

When you buy a Sun Tie XR, you are investing in the company that built it, supports it, and invests back into your economy! Vote with your dollar!

TB

The article in this month's Home Power Magazine titled Utility-Intertie Inverter Comparison (page 46) confirms my experience with the ST2500 - late starts after sunrise, inexplicable shutdowns during full sun and unacceptable shutdowns during widely scattered cloudiness. These deficiencies add up to at least a 20% reduction is overall output.

I currently run two such inverters splitting the output of my 4,200 watt array. These inverters were scheduled to be replaced by the STXR2500, but after reading the article I'll have my solar engineer investigate whether the SB2500U might be a better investment.

My current inverters replaced a 150 pound Trace intertie inverter that was a bear to wrestle off the wall and send out for repair. Yet, it performed well, generating power right after sunrise unlike the current models which sometimes wait until 9 a.m. to 'wake-up.'

I'm all for buying American but Xantrex did not 'wake-up' early enough to the obvious shortcomings of their product.

Peformance (efficiency and reliability) is paramount when someone is investing thousands of dollars in an inverter.

<http://www.solarhouse.com>

[ September 05, 2002: Message edited by: William Lord ]

[ September 05, 2002: Message edited by: William Lord ]

[ September 05, 2002: Message edited by: William Lord ]

My experience parallels W. Lords'. Its unfortunate that the company who launched the current boom in residential PV (gotta love the SW) created such a turkey in the ST. While the XR offers improvements, the Sunny Boy is still the top act in town. I'm looking forward to see what the boys from Outback (the original SW team) are going to put in the field with their new inverter.

I might get in trouble on this but the same people who are called in for the "turkey" as you put it as now at it again with outback ... I'd want to see it put thru it's paces in a test similar to what I did with the ST/XR before I'd recommend it to anyone ... hopefully history will not repeat itself [img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

My understanding is that the Outbackers are the SW team from Trace, not the ST team. The SW has been a PV workhorse for quite some time and only recently saddled with their GTI problem. If I'm in error on this, please let me know.

Other than the initial mechanical design, the OutBack engineers had nothing to do with the ST inverter.

Looks like this topic has slipped away from the "Dave's top ten", but I thought of another for Xantrex...

#8 - Because someone has to try and meet the standard that SMA sets...

-Roger