BLUE SKY SB50 controller issues and HORRIBLE support from the company

System

Greetings,
I have 615 watts of solar power and was using a BLUE SKY SB50 charger. Well it failed after a week or so of use and I sent it back to the company. I got a quick e-mail saying it was struck by lightining. Since I was sailing across the Caribbean sea at the time it failed, I am positive it was not hit by lighting! Then I got the news it was corroded with water... It was mounted in a clean dry palce and I am completely positive it was NEVER touched by water. My Autopilot Head is mounted just above it and it has DUST on it! Well needless to say I am completely dissapointed by the Blue Sky Energy's products and warranty for the unit.
I changed to a more reliabel unit and am wondering if anyone else has received the same treatment I have from these folks? They had to gall to send me a pic of a unit all rusted up and nasty looking which could NOT HAVE EVER gotten in that shape in less than a month. I basically had to eat that $500.00 bucks and sure hope nobody else has to go through what I have from that company!!!!!

Capt. Red Dog

ps. I'm gettting 40 - 45 amps during the day and also using a D-400 wind generator that works great!

BB.

Re: BLUE SKY SB50 controller issues and HORRIBLE support from the company

i am very sorry to hear about the problem. I assume that you asked (nicely ) if the unit pictured matched the serial number of the unit returned. Hmmm Rusty/corroded unit failed from lightning strike?

And, it would be very nice if you start a thread about your wind turbine installation including brand/model/specs. and your AH per day, any special mounting you did to limit noise, etc.

It is not often that I get to read of a happy small wind turbine customer. Would like to hear what you and the manufacturer did right.

-Bill

niel

Re: BLUE SKY SB50 controller issues and HORRIBLE support from the company

sorry to hear of your trouble. i have an old sb50 that i put a golden screwdriver to so it's way out of calibration, but i never bothered even trying to get it back into calibration even though i bought the tool to do it with so it just sits here. i figured it is outdated anyway and got a c40 in the meantime before i got my classic 150. i did not even try to deal with them to know if their support is bad.

out of curiosity, what did you replace the sb50 with?

Thomas

Re: BLUE SKY SB50 controller issues and HORRIBLE support from the company

I hear Blue Sky chargers are the only chargers that can prioritize a battery bank in the morning untill it is charged, then divert the array current to a grid tie inverter, balancing the pririties all the while, like microsoft windows multi-tasking...next

niel

Re: BLUE SKY SB50 controller issues and HORRIBLE support from the company

no it isn't capable of doing both from 1 controller as it is either a regular mppt controller or a diversion controller just like many other controllers.

Windsun

Re: BLUE SKY SB50 controller issues and HORRIBLE support from the company

Thomas wrote: »

I hear Blue Sky chargers are the only chargers that can prioritize a battery bank in the morning untill it is charged, then divert the array current to a grid tie inverter, balancing the pririties all the while, like microsoft windows multi-tasking...next

Not so. Not sure where you heard that, but it simply won't work. The voltages for battery charging and grid tie are just too far apart. And if you are talking about the battery based inverters that can be grid-connected, such as some of the Outback Power units, that is done in the inverter. The charge controller has nothing to do with that.

System2

Re: BLUE SKY SB50 controller issues and HORRIBLE support from the company

Thomas. I have a 3024Dil unit and just got the Prom to allow any current not needed to charge the batteries to divert to a second source like a dummy load, water heater, etc. Max current is 20A and specs say to fuse with a 25A fuse. They also have a unit that can take up to 40 or 50A with the use of a FET connected directly to the bat bank and controlled by the charge controller. I finally got a temp probe too.
I have two 210W Keyocera panels and have seen 490W output to my bats on a -35f day. I like the IPN pro remote You cant adjust any of the special things without it. I wish I would have known that before i got my 2020. The service from Blue Skys customer support was not very warm and fuzzy, but was quick and to the point. Thats my 2 cents.

denn

make sky blue is why i joined this site.  brand new to this so could be totally wrong.  in research phase and so far make sky blue seems to have coustomer support and decent reviews, i have also noticed that there are a lot of nock offs of there product, never heard of anyone making a knockoff of a bad product.  

littleharbor2

denn said:

make sky blue is why i joined this site.  brand new to this so could be totally wrong.  in research phase and so far make sky blue seems to have coustomer support and decent reviews, i have also noticed that there are a lot of nock offs of there product, never heard of anyone making a knockoff of a bad product.  

Blue Sky and Make Sky Blue are two entirely different companies. 

denn

sorry.  i fell like a grade school student thats been dropped off at college.

mike95490

Blue Sky has been around for a while, make sky blue is a obvious knock-off of the name.