<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Christopher Freitas:

So - are you a retired NASA engineer? (that's my personal guess).
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Ha ha ha!

I consulted my personal decoder ring to see what this means... [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Retired - "has too much time on his hands"
NASA - "a lot of power electronics is done in spacecraft design"
Engineer - "only an engineer would be this anal retentive"

Well, I am an engineer (1 point), but I never worked for NASA. I have designed power electronics for spacecraft, however. (0.5 points) I am not retired nor out of work, but I'm no longer doing design. (0.5 points)

Your score is 2 out a possible 3. Not bad! [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I truly am a prospective customer trying to decide if your product will fit my application. I am not associated with your competitors or planning to become your competitor. As stated, I am a customer of some of your competitors.

I'm sure you will agree that maximum duty cycle is a reasonable application question that needs an answer to determine whether the peak power point can be reached under all conditions. In other words, I need to estimate where my system will operate during periods of high temperature and/or high battery voltage and decide whether this is sufficient for meeting my energy budget.

Thanks again for your help!

George

[ December 08, 2002: Message edited by: George Estep ]

[ December 08, 2002: Message edited by: George Estep ]

Hi Guys,

I think I need to have awards for the LONGEST posts...

George and Chris could just cut and past this topic for the new OutBack manual [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Hello Henry,

Please let me know if you would prefer not to have such discussions on your board. I thought these questions might be of interest to others since they are directed toward application of OutBack's products.

No problem if you would like me to take them offline.

Best Regards,

George

P.S. Thanks for providing this forum, it's much better than usenet!

P.P.S. Please say hello to Pete P. for me if you speak with him.

I don't mind at all ...

Actually , the more posts the better the board is for everyone.

I see folks getting told all the time not to post on the RE-Wrench list moderated by Michael Welch (Home power).

If I had posting rights there (which I was refused) I'd invite the whole bunch over to post whatever they want !!

Anyways , don't take my comments as negative , post all you want !! [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Thanks, Henry!

I just wanted to be sure.

George

Chris,

Have you done any comparison tests between the SB50 or SB3048 and your MX-60? Your MPPT should be light years ahead of the crude method used in the SB products so I'm curious to see there are any #s to help us justify the extra cost. BTW I already have a couple on order so I am/will be a customer. Thanks for all the info.

No direct comparisons have been completed under lab type test conditions but it is easy to demonstrate the limitations of the Solar Boost "tracking" method - just shade a few panels and the power drops off more than it should.