Outback Power Systems MATE Serial Communications Guide - Manual (Page 8)

Mate Serial Communication Guide Copyright 2007 © OutBack Power Systems, Inc.
19009 62 nd Ave NE, Arlington WA 98223 USA
Page 8 of 20 Rev 4.04 10/21/08 Tel 360 435 6030 Fax 360 435 6019
Support means that the FX is drawing power from the batteries to support the AC source it is connected
to. Grid-Tie inverters will display support whenever power being removed from the batteries does not
exceed the AC loads of the system. An example would be:
A Grid-Tie FX has a SellRE setting of 25.6VDC and 600W of AC load on its output. DC sources are
contributing 300W to the battery. The GTFX will hold the battery @ 25.6VDC by converting the excess
300W of DC power to AC. The FX Mode would display Support with the Inverter Current meter
showing 300W of production, the Buy Current would show 300W of buying current, for 600W of total
AC Load current. If the AC load is removed the GTFX would have an FX mode of Sell Enabled, and
show 300W of Sell Current.
Support mode is also used to indicate battery power being used to Support a generator when the FX is in
Gen Support mode.
Sell Enabled means that the FX is exporting more power then it has AC loads. This excess power is
flowing out the FXs AC input. Its quantity is measured with the Sell Current meter.
Pass Thru means that the FXs converter is off. The FX is only passing thru the AC from its AC input.
This mode is the result of the FX waiting for some sell criteria (like the five minute timer, or battery
voltage to be > then the SellRE setpoint) before it starts selling.
FX Error means that the FX has shut down for the reason shown in the Error Bytes.
AGS Error means that the Mate has either tried to automatically start the generator in Advanced Gen
Start mode and failed, or that the generator started then stopped unexpectedly.
Comm Error means that the Mate has lost communications with one or more of the OutBack devices
connected to it.
Error modes: ‘000’ to ‘255’ This is an ASCII expression of an 8
bit byte, with each bit representing a different error. Referring to
Figure 5, a returned ‘132’ would be an overtemp and back feed
error. Errors will shut down the FX they occur on, if a master in a
stacked system errors, it will shut the whole system down.
BIT # Value ERROR
1 1 Low VAC output
2 2 Stacking Error
3 4 Over Temp.
4 8 Low Battery
5 16 Phase Loss
6 32 High Battery
7 64 Shorted output
8 128 Back feed
Figure 5