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Who Are We
Why Flexcharge Products
Working closely with dealers and their customers during
the alternative energy system designs and troubleshooting, it became clear that the
alternative energy industry was severely lacking in controllers that offered long term
dependability combined with high operating efficiencies.
Solid State controllers mounted on large heat sinks were dependable however, due to their inefficient operating characteristics, they consumed a significant amount of the charging energy generating heat at the controller.
Relay based controllers were typically power hungry and designed with unstable control circuits causing premature relay failure, serious over or under charging, and over discharge situations.
Armed with this extensive real world PV system operational knowledge, the SES Flexcharge Engineering Department created a new generation of controllers. The following criteria was used for the design of the Flexcharge Product line.
Flexcharge was issued a patent for the innovative circuitry that emerged from this effort and which allows Flexcharge controllers to operate at these Ultra High Efficiencies.
The success of the Flexcharge product line and exceptionally low level of warranty returns is a testament to the level which we have achieved these goals. Flexcharge controllers are operating in harsh environments such as; Antarctica, Alaska, Africa, Saudi Arabia, FL, Canada, Mt. Everest etc. Flexcharge offers a 5 year warranty on all model NC controllers and a full two years on most other models.
Our controllers are designed to be installed and forgotten. With boring monotony they will control & and help protect your alternative energy system's battery banks, loads, and PV Array or permanent magnet type charging source.
Service
During phenomenal growth we have not forgotten "where the
food on our dinner plate is coming from". You, the customer, are very important to
us. We ensure highly qualified personnel are available to answer your alternative energy system
questions from 9 am to 5 pm EST (Greenwich Mean Time equivalent; Subtract 4 hours from GMT
in summer and 5 hours in winter). For off-hours requests, 24 hours a day, you may submit
email using the form located here,
call our information
line to leave a message to have information mailed to you, or to have someone call you
back.
To help answer your questions as they arise we've also put a substantial effort into the operating manuals delivered with each controller. We tried to cover the topics that a novice installer will need to connect and troubleshoot smaller PV systems. Larger Off-Grid systems are still best left to the experienced installer.
Packaging
Something you will notice about the Flexcharge product line is
the extensive use of non-corrosive ABS polymer enclosures instead of the sometimes more
eye appealing powder coated metal enclosures. This engineering decision was made to
eliminate case corrosion and allow for the simplified potting of the electronics,
furthermore the Flexcharge controllers operate at such high operating efficiencies that
metal cases are not required to dissipate the heat that is generated by most
controllers. This combination creates a package which is forgiving to even the worst
mounting locations such as; marine vessel engine rooms, near a lead acid battery bank,
non-environmentally controlled battery shacks, marine navigational buoys, dust and sand
environments, etc.
Flexcharge Product Design Philosophy
As an alternative energy systems distributor or dealer you
want to offer your customers system components which are the highest efficiency and
quality, lowest cost and easiest to use. For this reason SES Flexcharge USA
approaches the controller design with the end users system performance as our primary
focus. As the consumer we understand that you want a high quality, efficient controller
you can install and forget about.
The first of each newly engineered Flexcharge product is put through rigorous real world, in the field operational testing on a functioning solar or wind power generating system (you may be surprised how many other brands are not field tested). It is then operated under, at, and over the controllers design limits. The information gained through this testing is used for design improvements that are incorporated before we sell the first controller. This rigorous testing ensures that the controller you purchase will be the second generation design of the highest possible quality and reliability.
Due to the inherent high cost of generating power from an alternative energy system, each component used in that system must operate at the highest possible efficiency. Secondly, because these systems are often in remote locations these components must also perform at an exceptional level of dependability. At Flexcharge we achieve this goal through strict attention to quality at every step, from new product concept, to materials and components used, to controller testing. All Flexcharge circuit boards are machine assembled in the USA using the highest quality surface mount components. Each and every controller is is tested prior to shipping. Most Flexcharge controllers are potted with a UL listed flame retarding material making them impervious to occasional water spray and high humidity conditions.
Charging Efficiency
Most other brands of controllers operate at efficiencies near 97% or worse. That
means that 3% or more of your solar panel's output capacity is used to produce heat in the
charging regulator. Flexcharge NC family of Controllers operate at efficiencies up
to 99.9%. At full rated current the NC25A operates at 99.5%, using only 0.5% of your
precious PV energy. Most of our controllers use less than 5 ma of standby current.
Other brands will use up to 80 ma. The charging methods used to achieve this ultra
high efficiency as well as other features, were invented and patented by Flexcharge.
Flexcharge Charge
Method
All Flexcharge charge controllers use the innovative
"Energy State Taper Charge" method. In alternative energy charging systems
this method has numerous advantages over the constant voltage PWM charge regulation as
used by many controller manufacturers. Click on the link for more detail.
Controller Status Displays
Flexcharge controllers were designed to minimize the display
complexity and power required to operate them, while clearly displaying the controller's
basic status.
One question we are often asked is why we do not include volt or ampere meters, amp/hour meters, totaling circuits, etc... in our controllers. The Reason: Usually these devices consume an undesirable amount of precious system power and should be used only where they are really necessary, such as large scale off grid home PV systems. For smaller dedicated PV systems like monitoring sites, navigational buoys, PV powered street light controllers, etc. the system should be designed for unattended - non monitored operation. Just as the power company doesn't install equipment to measure how long a city street light was on the previous night or how many amp/hours it used, neither should it be necessary to monitor the number of hours the PV powered street light was ON the previous night. The designer must ensure the city street light is supplied enough energy to operate, and the PV system designer must ensure the solar powered light system makes and stores enough energy to do the job. In these smaller PV system installations the monitoring circuitry simply uses up precious energy and adds cost. If you determine that you need system monitoring equipment, install it where it will be most effective, and where it can be turned off when not in use.
Who's Using Flexcharge
Flexcharge controllers are in use in many parts of the
world by some very interesting people. From Antarctica to Alaska, China to United
Arab Emirates, South American jungles to Africa, Mt. Everest to the North Atlantic.
Follow this link for interesting photos, descriptions and links. We've just started adding
information to this site so come back often for new links.
