solar company gone bust.

ChopperST

pile-o-stone wrote: »

I've used Leeds Solar for both my solar installs and will use them again on my third if it's allowed. They're extremely knowledgeable and not pushy in any way, their workmanship is first class and their workforce really helpful and friendly. I can't recommend them highly enough for anyone looking for an installer in the Leeds (and beyond - I'm actually in North Lancashire).

I have no connection to the company, just a very satisfied customer.

Another one for Leeds Solar. The Phoenix works are also another trusted brand in Leeds if you ever need any work doing.

nathaniel131

i work for a solar company, if a intaller gose bust unless they give you a insured backed warranty you wont be covered ... these are rare handed out by intallers best option is to check your paper work.

ispookie666

I'm in the same boat. Unfortunately, I have four micro inverters reporting "Grid instability AC freq out of range"

AtHomeHandyman

I do a lot of work for Envirohaus.
They are Nationwide Solar Installers based in Glasgow who do Enphase, and have had these people contact their customers.
Im sure they can help with Enphase stuff if anyone has issues and are on 08458 123450.

Good Luck People

Glacial

Has anyone had any recent luck in contacting Enphase directly?

Like many, our installer went bust and we have just had a visit from Eco Partners claiming to be able to take over the maintenance of our system (for a tidy fee of course). Their line is that without regular software updates, the micro inverters will eventually cease to function. I have not yet found any verification for this line and really don't know if it is all a pack of lies.

Is there any source of independent information on this issue out there?

1961Nick

Glacial wrote: »

Has anyone had any recent luck in contacting Enphase directly?

Like many, our installer went bust and we have just had a visit from Eco Partners claiming to be able to take over the maintenance of our system (for a tidy fee of course). Their line is that without regular software updates, the micro inverters will eventually cease to function. I have not yet found any verification for this line and really don't know if it is all a pack of lies.

Is there any source of independent information on this issue out there?

Sounds like a scam to me. I’d do some extensive checking before parting with any money.

mmmmikey

Glacial wrote: »

Has anyone had any recent luck in contacting Enphase directly?

Like many, our installer went bust and we have just had a visit from Eco Partners claiming to be able to take over the maintenance of our system (for a tidy fee of course). Their line is that without regular software updates, the micro inverters will eventually cease to function. I have not yet found any verification for this line and really don't know if it is all a pack of lies.

Is there any source of independent information on this issue out there?

As a general rule, if the inverters are working well enough with the firmware they're using now they're likely to carry on working exactly the same until the hardware eventually fails (which could easily be in 10 years time). It's possible that the manufacturer will make minor tweaks and adjustments to the firmware to optimise the performance, but these differences (as a general rule) tend to be significant in a relatively small number of cases. It's much more likely that the hardware fails so if you're being offered some kind of "extended warranty" that might, possibly, be worth it. Having said that, my own inclination would just be to self-insure by putting an amount equivalent to what this business is offering you into a savings account, ready to draw on if you need to. There are specialist organisations who will fix out of warranty or supplier gone bust systems should the need arise so I wouldn't be overly concerned about not being able to get repairs done.

Glacial

Here is what we have found out over the past 18 hours.

Enphase customer services say that it is not true that micro inverters fail if their software is not updated
.
Eco Partners say that Enphase micro inverters stop working if their memory fills up, which occurs when they are no longer sending data out of memory to an Envoy communications hub. This occurs in certain installations that don't have an Envoy or when the Envoy fails or when the internet connection to the Envoy fails. The inverters may take 3 years to fill their memory before failing. Eco Partners, when asked about the reliability of the Envoy R model, point out that it has a two year warranty and imply that therefore it is likely to fail at some time.

My view is that most consumer electronics only has a one year warranty, yet failure rates on static systems fed clean power are low and units often last many, many years beyond the warranty.

We were unhappy with the visit by an Eco Partners rep. The approach was ‘You have a problem, we have the exclusive solution and if you don’t sign up right here, right now you will go to the back of a very long queue and any further contact will cost you a substantial amount of money’. This approach seems designed to frighten the unwary into making a hasty decision without any opportunity to reflect. Misuse of this sort of approach was the very reason that mandatory cooling off periods were set into law.

Our solar panel installation is working exactly as it should be. The peak power on the best days around the summer solstice is presently as close to the theoretical maximum of the array as it was when the system was first installed. We are able to check the performance of every panel ourselves. The monitoring system is working perfectly.

We are therefore perfectly happy with our system and expect it to last many more years.

If failure does occur, we will know about it the next time we check the output of the system and we will deal with whatever repairs are required at the time. A local firm we contacted is prepared to repair systems installed by others. This is what a rainy day fund is for.

We will not give more money up front to another firm that may or may not last long enough to fulfill it’s contractual obligations.

Bobj183

Glacial wrote: »

Here is what we have found out over the past 18 hours.

Enphase customer services say that it is not true that micro inverters fail if their software is not updated
.
Eco Partners say that Enphase micro inverters stop working if their memory fills up, which occurs when they are no longer sending data out of memory to an Envoy communications hub. This occurs in certain installations that don't have an Envoy or when the Envoy fails or when the internet connection to the Envoy fails. The inverters may take 3 years to fill their memory before failing. Eco Partners, when asked about the reliability of the Envoy R model, point out that it has a two year warranty and imply that therefore it is likely to fail at some time.

My view is that most consumer electronics only has a one year warranty, yet failure rates on static systems fed clean power are low and units often last many, many years beyond the warranty.

We were unhappy with the visit by an Eco Partners rep. The approach was ‘You have a problem, we have the exclusive solution and if you don’t sign up right here, right now you will go to the back of a very long queue and any further contact will cost you a substantial amount of money’. This approach seems designed to frighten the unwary into making a hasty decision without any opportunity to reflect. Misuse of this sort of approach was the very reason that mandatory cooling off periods were set into law.

Our solar panel installation is working exactly as it should be. The peak power on the best days around the summer solstice is presently as close to the theoretical maximum of the array as it was when the system was first installed. We are able to check the performance of every panel ourselves. The monitoring system is working perfectly.

We are therefore perfectly happy with our system and expect it to last many more years.

If failure does occur, we will know about it the next time we check the output of the system and we will deal with whatever repairs are required at the time. A local firm we contacted is prepared to repair systems installed by others. This is what a rainy day fund is for.

We will not give more money up front to another firm that may or may not last long enough to fulfill it’s contractual obligations.

I agree with that view entirely and have decided to do exactly that; just put the £1375 to one side for a rainy day. I have to confess that the rep worried me sufficiently for me to sign a contract but I cancelled that this morning. The strangest thing was that 10 of my micro-inverters stopped reporting just before he arrived and came back online immediately after he left. It has to be a coincidence but he ascribed that to the fact that my Envoy R is five years old and seriously in need of a firmware update. On further investigation it seems that that is very unlikely.