Solar Power Issues -not happy
Solar Power Issues
We had a 5 kW solar system with micro inverters installed about 3 years give or take. We chose this system in order to maximise the contribution from each panel, and not have one point of failure. Each of the panels is supposedly 250W, so in theory we should see 5 kw in Summer, in practice it usually closer to 4 kw than to 5 kw. Not thrilled about that but somewhat expected.
The reliability is not what I expected, within the first twelve months two of the micro inverters failed out of the twenty installed, there is one for each panel. Getting them replaced under warranty took a number of MONTHS, with constant (daily) email follow up. I chose emails so everything was in writing, just in case. Not the after sales service I was hoping for.
Now another inverter may have failed as one panel has produced almost nothing, maybe 55 wH for the day while all the other panels have produced around the 1.2 kwH for the day. Given that the previous issues were the micro inverters, I think it is probably another one that has failed.
The other spanner in the works is that the company we bought the system from has gone bust. This probable means having to pay someone to come and check the system and possibly replace a inverter at a cost.
For those that would like to know a pic of the manufacturer and the component that has failed previously is below, stay away from them:
Would I install solar power again? Definitely not if it was a system from ReneSola. I may reconsider the whole arrangement when/if the roof requires replacing in the future. At that point in time I may look at the Tesla roof option, as the costs should be similar to just the cost of the replacement of the roof alone.
Jeff
Didn't you get a guaranty on the micro-inverters ?
Yes, we should have, look for a new contractor as the original has gone bust.
Yes, that is a big problem, many solar companies have gone bust, including mine !
I should have done better checking at the time, live and learn.
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STOPThe warranty should still be valid, but it's a matter of finding out who you have to go through to actually do that. Consumer Protection exists to deal with these things, and they've probably got the answers that I don't know off the top of my head.
Certainly sounds like you found one of the dud companies that want to take the money and run, which really sucks. Also sounds like you had heaps of issues with their chosen hardware install, so could be reasons they went bust too.
Hope you can find a solution and can get it fixed through the warranty (and it actually fixes it rather than just for a few months until another one fails)
Thanks, I will look for someone to come out and see how it goes.