Updates for SAM 2011.12.2

This post was updated on March 15, 2012

These instructions describe how to apply updates to SAM 2011.12.2. As of March 2012, SAM's update feature (Check for updates to this version on the Help menu) has not worked because the command points to a web address that is no longer valid.

As of March 15, 2012, the following four updates are available for SAM 2011.12.2:


1. For the PV model, update the Sandia inverter library to the latest database from Sandia National Laboratories
2. For the advanced utility financing options (single owner, partnership flip, sale leaseback), fix a bug that caused SAM to incorrectly display the Specify Tax Investor IRR Target option on the Financing page.
3. For the PV model, CEC module option, correct the temperature correction algorithm to account for wind speed. Before the update, SAM used the wind speed from the weather file without applying the scaling factor as required by the model's algorithm. This bug caused earlier versions of the CEC module model to over-predict module performance.
4. On the Welcome page, correctly display text with announcements in the notification window.

Before Applying the Update


1. Install SAM 2011.12.2. See the Downloads page for instructions.
2. Download the update file for your operating system:
   • For Windows, download the 2011.12.2_update.zip file: zip 78 KB 
   • For Mac OS, download the 2011.12.2_update.dmg file: dmg 107 KB 
   If your browser prompts you to open or save the file, you should save the file rather than opening it. Be sure the file downloads completely before proceeding to the next step.
3. If SAM is running, close it.

The update files are compressed archives that contain several files. To apply the update, replace files in your installation folder with the updated versions from the archive. See step-by-step instructions for Windows and Mac OS below.

The files and their folders are:


• [Installation Folder]\updates.txt
• [Installation Folder]\webapis.conf
• [Installation Folder]\exelib\callbacks\FlipModel.uicb
• [Installation Folder]\exelib\libraries\SandiaInverters.samlib
• [Installation Folder]\exelib\trnsys\decks\pv_5parmod_sandiainv.trdsrc
• [Installation Folder]\exelib\trnsys\decks\pv_5parmod_speinv.trdsrc

For Windows "[Installation Folder]" by default is c:\SAM\2011.12.2. For Mac OS it is the SAM.app package in the Applications folder. 

Windows Update Instructions

These instructions describe one way to use Windows Explorer to extract the files from the zip archive and replace the files in the SAM installation folder. You can use any zip extraction program to extract the files -- just be sure to extract the files to the folders listed above, and to replace the existing ones with those from the zip archive.


1. Follow the instructions in "Before Applying the Update" above.
2. In Windows Explorer, locate the 2011.12.2_update.zip file. It may be in your Downloads folder.
3. Right-click the file name and click Extract All in the shortcut menu.
4. Click Browse to navigate to the SAM installation folder (c:\SAM\2011.12.2 by default) and click Extract.
   The files should automatically extract to the correct subfolders.
5. Follow the prompts to replace the existing files:
   • Each time you see the Confirm Folder Replace Prompt, click Yes.
   • Each time you see the Copy File prompt, click Copy and Replace.
   
6. Close Windows Explorer.
7. Start SAM. You should see a list of announcements with dates in the notification window. 
   The update was not successful if you see "Found. The document has moved here."

Mac OS Update Instructions


1. Follow the instructions in "Before Applying the Update" above.
2. In Finder, locate the 2011.12.2_update.dmg file. It may be in your Downloads folder.
3. Double-click the file name to mount the disk image.
4. In the Applications folder, find the SAM application (SAM.app), and show the package contents by either right-clicking or Ctrl-clicking the application name and clicking Show Package Contents in the shortcut menu.
   Click Browse to navigate to the SAM installation folder (c:\SAM\2011.12.2 by default) and click Extract.
   The files should automatically extract to the correct subfolders.
5. Navigate to the Content/MacOS folder. It should contain several folders, including exelib, SAM, samsim.dylib, and others.
6. Copy the contents of 2011.12.2_update.dmg to the SAM.app/Contents/MacOS folder.
   • When you see the Copy prompt, click Keep Newer for each file. You can check Apply to all to avoid having to repeat this step.
   
7. Start SAM. You should see a list of announcements with dates in the notification window. 
   The update was not successful if you see "Found. The document has moved here."

If you have trouble with the update, please contact us .

Please see the revised instructions above for updating SAM 2011.12.2. These instructions are a workaround solution to a problem with the Check for Updates command on SAM's Help menu that stopped working around the beginning of March because of a web server issue.

You should update SAM 2011.12.2 if you:

- Model PV systems and want to use the latest Sandia module library.

- Model PV systems with the CEC module option.

- Use one of the Advanced Utility financing options (single owner, partnership flip or sale leaseback).

Best regards,
Paul.

how i can instal the update of sam 2011.12.2