Solar Battery Warranty

BigDamo_2

Hi, I have a Moixa battery, it has stopped working. Having spoken to them they state the following: 

"As discussed, we’ve been proactively monitoring your battery performance. We've identified that the Pylontech battery modules have developed an issue that our team cannot resolve.

Normally, we would replace the faulty battery modules under warranty. However, Pylontech has unfortunately discontinued the manufacturing of these specific modules, which means we cannot replace your system.
Therefore, the best option available to you is to accept a warranty refund. We are taking this action now to ensure you receive the maximum compensation before any further deterioration of the battery reduces the remaining value of your warranty.

Refund Calculation
The original retail price of your battery was £4450, and it came with a 10-year warranty (120 months). You have received 100 months of benefit from its use.
Based on the remaining warranty period, we are offering compensation of £741.66."

My question would be, does this seem reasonable, or not? It is a partial refund as I have used it for 8 years rather than the warranty of 10years. 

Aylesbury_Duck

It seems reasonable to me.  They've employed a straight-line depreciation for the 8.5 years of use you've had to date,  More importantly, does it accord with the warranty terms?  What do they say about refunds in situations like this?  Are they offering you what they said they would?  More?  Less?

BigDamo_2

Aylesbury_Duck said:

It seems reasonable to me.  They've employed a straight-line depreciation for the 8.5 years of use you've had to date,  More importantly, does it accord with the warranty terms?  What do they say about refunds in situations like this?  Are they offering you what they said they would?  More?  Less?

Thanks, the warranty doesn't go into that level of detail, unfortunately. I.e. It doesn't say what they would do if they couldn't replace it. 

Aylesbury_Duck

In which case, what they've proposed is reasonable, I think.

Okell

For a battery that you've used for 100 months that sounds more than reasonable and fair to me.

Bite their hand off!

QrizB

What models of Pylontech batteries do you have installed, and how many of them?

Battery prices have plummeted in recent years; your £746 of compensation will probably go a good way towards replacing them.

Edit to add:

£795 will buy a brand-new Pylontech US5000:
https://www.bimblesolar.com/batteries/48vbatts/pylontech-house-batteries/PYLON-US5000

If your original system was the 4.8kWh Moixa battery with two Pylontech US2000 batteries, then one US5000 should be a direct replacement. If yours was the 7.2kWh or 9.6kWh system with three or four US2000 batteries, you could choose either one or two US5000 batteries to replace them.

I note that all the Moixa documentation states the batteries are not user-serviceable so swapping batteries might mean a bit of care and attention.

There's a webpage here from a bloke who has taken his apart. Apparently it's mostly a Victron Multiplus II:

http://graham.auld.me.uk/projects/moixa/

BigDamo_2

Thanks @QrizB

Unfortunately as part of the £750 compensation they would decommission the whole unit and remove it. So another question is do I not take the comp, but instead by another module (or two) and try and get it installed locally? 

This is going to be cheaper than getting a whole new unit, I would have thought? 

QrizB

BigDamo_2 said:

Thanks @QrizB
Unfortunately as part of the £750 compensation they would decommission the whole unit and remove it. So another question is do I not take the comp, but instead by another module (or two) and try and get it installed locally? 
This is going to be cheaper than getting a whole new unit, I would have thought? 

I guess you need to discuss that with Moixa.

I'm slightly surprised that they haven't already suggested replacing your batteries with new ones; if the electronics are all working as they should, it does seem a shame to scrap the whole thing when new batteries from the same manufacturer (albeit with a larger capacity) are available.

Am I right in thinking your Moixa system is one of these?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/08/review-moixa-4-8kwh-solar-battery/

You can see in the "installation" photo, befoe the cover has been put on, there are two big black slabs inside the white case. Those are two Pylontech US2000 batteries. A new US5000 should slide in there and connect up without any problems, but from what you've said (& I've read) it seems Moixa's own software controls and monitors your system so any replacement like that might need Moixa to change settings at their end.

BigDamo_2

Yeah, according to Moixa, pylontech have stopped making the US2000. I will ask it they can install a US5000 instead. 

QrizB

BigDamo_2 said:

Yeah, according to Moixa, pylontech have stopped making the US2000. I will ask it they can install a US5000 instead. 

Please let us know what they say, it will be useful for anyone else who finds themselves in the same position!