Status of an E-panel for the Conext SW

[DMJ72]

Any word on Midnite's E-panel for this inverter? When will it be available??

Are there any pics of the beta products?

There seems to be a shortage of the AC & DC disconnect boxes from Schneider Electric! 

EDIT : I now have this E-Panel, check out the pics later in the post ..

[dapdan]

Sorry to hear about that DM. I had asked midnite about a box for the sw months ago and I am no better informed than you about its existence.  I bought a Schneider DC disconnect from altestore when I could no longer wait on midnite. So give them a call and see I'd they have any more.

Cheers...
Damani

[Halfcrazy]

Sorry for the delay. I have been under the impression we would have this product available for a long time now. I am no longer promising dates as I hate to mislead any one. I have asked Robin and the engineers again for a timeline and will post just as soon as I know anything.

Ryan

[DMJ72]

Sorry to hear about that DM. I had asked midnite about a box for the sw months ago and I am no better informed than you about its existence.  I bought a Schneider DC disconnect from altestore when I could no longer wait on midnite. So give them a call and see I'd they have any more.
Cheers...
Damani

Hi Damani, yeah I am expecting my Conext SW 4024 by the end of the month. Did not want to use their disconnects, will connect it up to my MNDC in the mean time.  I hope Midnite Solar's box for it is along the lines of what they do for the XW with AC bypass etc.
I don't think Schneider Electric realised how popular this product would be. My local store had 3 and they were gone in under a week :\

Sorry for the delay. I have been under the impression we would have this product available for a long time now. I am no longer promising dates as I hate to mislead any one. I have asked Robin and the engineers again for a timeline and will post just as soon as I know anything.

Ryan

Thanks for the reply Ryan, I am sure it will be worth the wait .. Considering the exellent quality stuff you guys @ MS put out.

[dapdan]

Welcome to the fold DM  .

Damani

[Robin]

ETL is starting their evaluation of the SW Conext E-Panel tomorrow. We do have parts available now although I do not think we have shipping boxes yet. The retail price of the basic E-Panel is $470. The AC bypass is an option. You can stack two of these together with a single AC bypass to control both inverters. Doug Andrews is the mechanical engineer in charge of this project. Call or e-mail Doug if you can't wait for ETL. He can fix you up. Most everyone at MidNite is available by e-mail by using their first name and midnitesolar.com. Such as doug@midnitesolar.com
Here is an ad we ran recently on the system.

[Halfcrazy]

ETL is starting their evaluation of the SW Conext E-Panel tomorrow. We do have parts available now although I do not think we have shipping boxes yet. The retail price of the basic E-Panel is $470. The AC bypass is an option. You can stack two of these together with a single AC bypass to control both inverters. Doug Andrews is the mechanical engineer in charge of this project. Call or e-mail Doug if you can't wait for ETL. He can fix you up. Most everyone at MidNite is available by e-mail by using their first name and midnitesolar.com. Such as doug@midnitesolar.com
Here is an ad we ran recently on the system.

Actually the jurry is still out on the Dual SW. According to Schneider the Input AC neutrals and Output AC neutrals have to be isolated so the Inverters can monitor current. The issue I have with that is that if you BY Pass the inverters with the BY Pass and then remove the inverters you just lost the AC neutral to the house. It would seem to me the bypass needs to make the AC connection as well meaning we need a 3 pole breaker for the bypass.

If I have time I will try to get to the bottom of this Mon and Tuesday as I will be at the show with a bunch of the people from Schneider

[Robin]

I doubt Doug has room for another breaker, but I will ask.

[DMJ72]

Holy sweet e-Panel Robin!

To think of it, I almost bought the Schneider DC/AC switchgear boxes on saturday. Glad I did not.
Things that I like so far :

* The price : $470 is less than the two separate AC/DC Schneider boxes together.
* Four Panel mount breaker spaces instead of two.
* Space for two SPDs below and two charge controllers above.
* SCU mounting.
* It looks Bitchin' while matching the look of the SW!

Will it have space for a shunt?, another drawback of the Schneider DC box.

[Robin]

Shunt comes standard. Talk to Doug about getting an E-Panel. It may not have a real shipping box, but that isn't important.
The reason we did this E-Panel is that three Schneider sales people came to us and asked for it. They knew that the Schneider boxes lacked features. By the way, the busbar for battery plus on the Schneider is only good for 80 amps. That is a big issue.
We have back plates available too, but if building this on site, you don't need it. That assumes you have some surface to hang it on that is suitable.
Robin

[dapdan]

Holy @*#& 80amp only on the positive bus with a 250amp breaker. How the hell does that work. What happens when you exceed the amp rating. Is the DC panel from Schneider etl rated? I am a little worried here since I have one of those Schneider DC boxes.

Help!!!
Damani

[Robin]

The UL standard is very clear. Busbar ratings go like this: 1" x 1" = 1000 amps.
1" x .1" = 100 amps.
Magnum has a busbar connected to their 250 amp breaker inside their circuit breaker boxes that is 1" x .063". That = 63 amps!
I can't remember what the dimensions of the Xantrex busbar was, but it equaled 80 amps. Measure yours!
The busbar will run hot. Probably won't burn your house down or anything like that because inverters are not used on a continuous duty basis other than when charging, but we design ALL of our busbars according to the UL rules. It does cost more for sure, but we can sleep at night. How do these other companies get away with inadequate busbars? Rookie engineers and sloppy ETL and UL inspectors.

[dapdan]

Ok Robin,

I went ahead and measured the buss bar in my schneider dc disconnect as it s not installed as yet and it measures 1" x 1/12"(0.083"). So by your calculation that would be 83Amp. So I guess you are right  . I have some tinned copper bars from some of my absolyte agms that measure 1" x 1/8" so push come to shove I could bend one of those lengths and add it to those already in the dc box that will bring it to 0.208" (0.125 + 0.083) to give me 200Amps.

So I guess midnite solar are using 1/4" bus bars then?

Cheers...
Damani

[vtmaps]

Magnum has a busbar connected to their 250 amp breaker inside their circuit breaker boxes that is 1" x .063". That = 63 amps!

I can't remember what the dimensions of the Xantrex busbar was, but it equaled 80 amps.

Maybe it's a clever (?) scheme to use their bus bars as current shunts      --vtMaps

[Robin]

I don't know the size of our busbars. Doug does this work, but they are probably wider than 1 inch. They might be 2" x 1/8"?
Clever schemes are not allowed to break the rules. Xantrex just screwed up and it was over looked.