SolarEdge Inverter Failure -> Warranty Claim/ Actual Experience

Coastalwatch

We've had our SE system over four years now and I love the information available in real time from each panel as well as the overall total. The inverter dropped out early September and I reported it to the installers within a couple of hours of it going down and supplying the error code showing on the display. Hearing nothing back I phoned them a week later to learn that it had been reported to their Tech dept, who were unsurprisingly very busy, but had alerted SE and were awaiting a response. A week later during which time I'd unsuccessfully scoured the user manual and the online website for info on the error code. I finally came across a reference to it in the US  where a replacement inverter was needed. A phone call to the installer confirmed that a replacement from SE was required but did not know when this might arrive. It was all rather frustrating but given the pressure on installers trying to satisfy the high levels of demand I was at least comforted that I had taken out a twenty year warranty on the offending item so just had to be patient and await it's arrival and install.

In the event it was six weeks to the day before all was back to normal, so relief all around.

I susbsequently learned from the owner of the company that they no longer offer SE as an option, which is a shame as we are delighted with our set up.

uk1

Solarchaser said:

Technically what you have reported is a failure at install rather than a warranty claim.
Always a concern on brand new equipment,  you wonder what their factory quality control is like...
The installer is liable for the warranty rather than the manufacturer in the first year, and its then up to them to liase with the manufacturer to get their money/unit.
Or I suppose more correctly the installer is who you bought it from, so you are their customer, not the manufacturers.

A manufacturer can if they wish, replace any warranty unit with a refurbished,  it's usually in their contract (certainly is with any manufacturer I've worked for).

My aurora/power one/ abb inverter failed with only a couple of months warranty left of a 5 year warranty (though the installer told me it was 10)
The installer had obviously gone out of business by then,  but abb arranged a local installer to come and replace mine with no hassles around 3 years ago.

Abb definitely represent the cheaper end of the market.

Solar Edge do have a decent name, but then, so do Sony,  and I'd never buy a Sony.

Spot on, in that the contract is with the installer not the manufacturer but if any component fails within a reasonable period mostly accepted as being within 6 months and up to a couple of years of delivery or installation then it is the customers choice as to whether it is repaired or replaced.  Any terms and conditions that vary that right falls outside of the unfair consumer contract terms element and is therefore unenforceable in consumer law.  There is a presumption in UK Consumer law that if a component fails within the initial period it was faulty in manufacturer and the onus is on to the installer to prove otherwise eg it was abuse or misuse by the consumer.  The law does not require the consumer to prove anything in the initial period.

Whatever the warranty states can to  a reasonable degree be ignored.  It is what is “reasonable”.  So if it is “reasonable” to expect all components in a PV installation to last for three years than that is what a court is likely to decide if it ever reaches a court.  No warranty that has a limit of a single year is ever likely to be enforceable unless the consumer is unaware  of their rights and simply accepts it.  Inertia is the main enemy of consumer rights.  We are possibly the country that pioneered these rights and EU law as well as other places including Oz have based their laws on UK law. 

The five yearor other extended  warranty is additional to the other rights.  If an installer sells a system with an extended warranty then he has an obligation but the extent of the obligation is limited and unclear. For example a component might be covered in a limited way but there shouldn't be a presumption that the labour costs are included unless this is what is promised when the sale is agreed.

There is no obligation for a customer to accept a reconditioned component on a relatively new component irrespective of the agreement he signed. 

ispookie666

@Solarchaser
Fat chance of this with GivEnergy, who have been nothing but difficult!  It is always great to see companies honouring their warranty. 

I have had to contact Marlec regarding iBoost sender, which had failed. They sent out the replacement part immediately and asked for the faulty one to be returned. My only gripe was no return postage. This whole thing was under a week, so can't complain. 

But, the solar forums are littered with really bad experiences from some manufacturers including the company which is part of this thread. 

2nd_time_buyer

I have a Solaredge system with no battery. 

If I was buying again, I would go for a string inverter and Tigo optimizers. I am not keen on been beholden to Solaredge.I am already getting anxious about inevitable 8-week loss of power in peak summer while it is fixed, and nothing has gone wrong yet  

If I get a battery system down the line, I will get an AC coupled system, so it is largely independent from the solar.
 

Raxiel

Solarchaser said:

Technically what you have reported is a failure at install rather than a warranty claim.
Always a concern on brand new equipment,  you wonder what their factory quality control is like...
The installer is liable for the warranty rather than the manufacturer in the first year, and its then up to them to liase with the manufacturer to get their money/unit.
Or I suppose more correctly the installer is who you bought it from, so you are their customer, not the manufacturers.

A manufacturer can if they wish, replace any warranty unit with a refurbished,  it's usually in their contract (certainly is with any manufacturer I've worked for).

My aurora/power one/ abb inverter failed with only a couple of months warranty left of a 5 year warranty (though the installer told me it was 10)
The installer had obviously gone out of business by then,  but abb arranged a local installer to come and replace mine with no hassles around 3 years ago.

Abb definitely represent the cheaper end of the market.

Solar Edge do have a decent name, but then, so do Sony,  and I'd never buy a Sony.

While having a failure early in a products life isn't good, it's not necessarily indicative of a problem. Even a manufacturer with six sigma quality control will see one every few hundred thousand units.

Good quality products are most likely to fail either almost immediately (manufacturing defect) or long after the warranty ends (how well it's designed to last. It's sometimes known as the bathtub curve.

Martyn1981

Raxiel said:

Solarchaser said:

Technically what you have reported is a failure at install rather than a warranty claim.
Always a concern on brand new equipment,  you wonder what their factory quality control is like...
The installer is liable for the warranty rather than the manufacturer in the first year, and its then up to them to liase with the manufacturer to get their money/unit.
Or I suppose more correctly the installer is who you bought it from, so you are their customer, not the manufacturers.

A manufacturer can if they wish, replace any warranty unit with a refurbished,  it's usually in their contract (certainly is with any manufacturer I've worked for).

My aurora/power one/ abb inverter failed with only a couple of months warranty left of a 5 year warranty (though the installer told me it was 10)
The installer had obviously gone out of business by then,  but abb arranged a local installer to come and replace mine with no hassles around 3 years ago.

Abb definitely represent the cheaper end of the market.

Solar Edge do have a decent name, but then, so do Sony,  and I'd never buy a Sony.

While having a failure early in a products life isn't good, it's not necessarily indicative of a problem. Even a manufacturer with six sigma quality control will see one every few hundred thousand units.

Good quality products are most likely to fail either almost immediately (manufacturing defect) or long after the warranty ends (how well it's designed to last. It's sometimes known as the bathtub curve.

Very true. I think I've heard it called the bath tub failure curve. Lots(ish) at the very start due to manufacturing, transportation and installing issues, then a rapid drop to very few failures for years (the flat bottom of the curve), then a climb back up once a certain age / wear and tear is reached.

ispookie666

@Screwdriva Out of curiosity.  If the solar edge optimiser were to go rogue, does it affect the only faulty one or does the inverter get dragged down to a lower level more than what would have been with single unit failure?  
Also, what does the interface show -  0 generation/ unavailable/below what would be expected?  

Screwdriva

ispookie666 said:

@Screwdriva Out of curiosity.  If the solar edge optimiser were to go rogue, does it affect the only faulty one or does the inverter get dragged down to a lower level more than what would have been with single unit failure?  
Also, what does the interface show -  0 generation/ unavailable/below what would be expected?  

My understanding is that, depending on the fault, it can reduce panel generation, take the panel down entirely or even take the string down. The SolarEdge team were keen to determine if an optimizer had failed (vs. an inverter) and asked for each panel and optimizer to be tested before ruling that possibility out. 

Solarchaser

Raxiel said:

Solarchaser said:

Technically what you have reported is a failure at install rather than a warranty claim.
Always a concern on brand new equipment,  you wonder what their factory quality control is like...
The installer is liable for the warranty rather than the manufacturer in the first year, and its then up to them to liase with the manufacturer to get their money/unit.
Or I suppose more correctly the installer is who you bought it from, so you are their customer, not the manufacturers.

A manufacturer can if they wish, replace any warranty unit with a refurbished,  it's usually in their contract (certainly is with any manufacturer I've worked for).

My aurora/power one/ abb inverter failed with only a couple of months warranty left of a 5 year warranty (though the installer told me it was 10)
The installer had obviously gone out of business by then,  but abb arranged a local installer to come and replace mine with no hassles around 3 years ago.

Abb definitely represent the cheaper end of the market.

Solar Edge do have a decent name, but then, so do Sony,  and I'd never buy a Sony.

While having a failure early in a products life isn't good, it's not necessarily indicative of a problem. Even a manufacturer with six sigma quality control will see one every few hundred thousand units.

Good quality products are most likely to fail either almost immediately (manufacturing defect) or long after the warranty ends (how well it's designed to last. It's sometimes known as the bathtub curve.

I'd say that while I agree with the foundation of your post, having worked for a few manufacturers of various types of equipment,  the old six sigma thing is a bit too much of a cover all approach,  and by that I mean I've seen several interpretations of six sigma in relation to quality, and its much easier than you might think to get to six sigma certification by doing very little, but blinding with bull sheizen to seem like you are doing more.

Some companies and some industries really buy into six sigma, and some use it as a tick box and bs screen, so it doesn't necessarily mean what it's supposed to.

The old bs kitemark worked on a 97% success, so 3 in every 100 products could be total junk, but the kite still stood. That always baffled me.

The bathtub curve generally refers to the new introduction of a product to market, and then the period of solving the things that should have been sorted in preproduction,  then a period of stability before the end of life of that product.

Solaredge isn't new to market, its been going a while. 
If this is a brand new model /design then it will fall into the "infancy" part of the bathtub curve, but if its basically the same as the model from 4 years ago, then it should be in the constant part of the bathtub curve, which makes a failure at install rather disappointing. 


If you want to give them a get out of component shortages, or quality dipping due to increased demand, id probably shrug my shoulders and say meh.
However really my comment here was in response to the op suggesting this was a "good on solaredge" supporting their warranty, when really this was failure at install rather than a warranty repair.

uk1

Reminds me of the ISO 9001 process and it’s predecessors.