Solar panels payoff calculation

marcus_h

Don't some big electronic firms, such as Hitachi, make inverters?

Martyn1981

marcus_h wrote: »

Don't some big electronic firms, such as Hitachi, make inverters?

Hiya Marcus. The number of companies producing inverters is growing, though the technology has been around for decades.

Most warranties now should be for 5+ years, and you should be able to purchase warranty extensions up to around 20/25 years. For example my WNW system has a SolarEdge inverter that has a standard 12 year warranty and can be extended to 20 years for approx £200. Extending SMA warranties costs more, approx £500 to £600 to take it to 20 years.

If you want some general info on PV, then myself and a few others knocked together a short (cough!) PV FAQ from the point of view of PV'ers a couple of years ago, and I've just updated it with the latest tariff rates:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3872445

Mart.

marcus_h

Thanks for that - tons of info there

Fred56

Martyn 1981. You seem to be overlooking the near certainty of the inverter manufacturers going bust due the level of failures of their defective products. A warranty, extended or not, with a company that has disappeared in a puff of limited liabilities is useless. Also, as you are quoting SMA. Well, my PV system is still sitting here producing nothing because SMA has no support for its UK users. They have no spares and no replacement inverters in the UK or Germany. They have to get them shipped from China but are unable to say when then can, if ever, get them. They won't reply to valid questions about when they will honour the warranty to me or to the company that installed my system. SMA is shameful by any standard. Martyn, what's you relationship with SMA?
PV installers also seem to have very inventive interpretation of consumer rights and a supplier's responsibilities. My supplier says, "there is nothing I can do" and "if you need an inverter from another source, you will have to pay for it". They are not accepting any responsibility at all. This system is only 25 months old, that's a lot less than 25 years. I think they have a direct responsibility.
People; don't buy into to this racket. In few years you'll have a roof covered in scrap and a system that is not worth or capable of repair.

Cardew

Fred56 wrote: »

Martyn 1981. SMA is shameful by any standard. Martyn, what's you relationship with SMA?
.

As stated in post #30 I do understand the original point you were making.


I have my disputes with Martyn1981 on other matters, however I do wish people would stop making veiled accusations of vested interests - particularly against someone who is a mine of useful information.


It only serves to devalue your contribution.

Martyn1981

Cardew wrote: »

As stated in post #30 I do understand the original point you were making.


I have my disputes with Martyn1981 on other matters, however I do wish people would stop making veiled accusations of vested interests - particularly against someone who is a mine of useful information.


It only serves to devalue your contribution.

Thank you Cardew, that is much appreciated.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Fred56 wrote: »

Martyn 1981. You seem to be overlooking the near certainty of the inverter manufacturers going bust due the level of failures of their defective products.

SMA is shameful by any standard. Martyn, what's you relationship with SMA?

People; don't buy into to this racket. In few years you'll have a roof covered in scrap and a system that is not worth or capable of repair.

Hello Fred. I'm sorry to hear you're having such a rough time. I have no connection to SMA, at least not the way you are implying. However, I do have 2 SMA inverters on my ESE systems, a SB1200 and a SB2500HF. Other than that, I'm just a bog standard, boringly normal PV'er who thought it might be useful to share experiences with PV wannabies and newbies - much like you are doing.

My SMA inverters were installed in August 2011, and haven't missed a beat. I could, from that conclude that all SMA inverters are faultless, and the company is perfect, and the PV system will run smoothly for 30 to 40 years. But that wouldn't be reasonable.

Sounds like you've been treated badly, but are you the average, an exception, or a reasonably large (but unacceptable) minority? I don't know. But trying to imply I have a link to SMA is unwarranted, after all, I never suggested (nor did it even occur to me) that you have a relationship with a competitor of SMA.

I hope your problems are sorted as quickly as possible, and you get the very best outcome.

All the best.

Mart.