Poor PV Manufacturers' Customer Support (Was BP 3160 module line failures) [RE-w

[Joel Davidson]

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Bad modules happen and BP, Kyocera, Sanyo and other manufacturers replace 
their bad modules and life goes on, but PV manufacturers' customer service 
is still very immature. Customers expect quality service and contractors who 
are not responsive to end-user customers' needs get a bad reputation and 
lose business. Not so with PV module manufacturers because module demand is 
growing so rapidly that manufacturers can abuse and abandon customers and 
still expand their sales revenue. Resellers (distributors, integrators, 
contractors, retailers) have little influence as manufacturers jump from 
market to market and to new resellers. Even reports of bad modules made by 
Sanyo, Kyocera, BP, and other manufacturers do not affect those companies' 
sales growth which only reinforces their bad behavior of abandoning and 
poorly serving long-time customers (who helped them get started in the 
market in the first place). If you stop buying from a bad supplier, two or 
more new customers jump in line. Is there a remedy to this poor customer 
service problem or is this just a condition that resellers must accept until 
the supply/demand situation switches in favor of the customer?

Joel Davidson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sky Sims" <sky at ecologicalsystems.biz>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2008 7:31 AM
Subject: RE: BP 3160 module line failures [RE-wrenches]


>
> We've had 5 Bp 3160's go exactly as described out of about 2000
> installed between 2001 and 2003. The first one that went I just assumed
> was caused by some freak object hitting it but the burn marks directly
> above the junction box made me suspicious. I ate the cost on the first
> one and just swapped it out with one of the replacement modules I keep
> in stock. When the second one went with the exact same marks I knew it
> had to be a factory defect of some sort. BP has honored the warranty on
> them but the turn around time is usually over a month and they expect
> the customer to pay for shipping them back. BP burned a lot of bridges
> with a lot of customers over the years. At least they are honoring the
> modules with replacements. But it's a shame that it feels like pulling
> teeth every time I deal with them. They seem to give Home Depot whatever
> they want and just give their oldest customers the cold shoulder. Course
> that mentality is what lost them the North American market. Wasn't too
> long ago that they were america's first choice for solar projects but
> they threw it away with poor customer support.
>
> Sky Sims
> Ecological Systems
> http://www.ecologicalsystems.biz
> 220 County Road 522
> Manalapan, NJ 07726
> 732-462-3858  toll free)866-759-7652  fax)732-462-3962
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg Seelhorst [mailto:greg_s at sonic.net]
> Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2008 12:45 AM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: BP 3160 module line failures [RE-wrenches]
>
>
> Re: BP failures for BP3160 line of modules
> We have no experience with the BP75s, but we do with the BP3160 series.
> As of June 20, 2008 we have the following statistics to report for
> failed or
> shattered BP panels for installations since Nov. 2001:
>
> 1.34% Percent of installed BP panels (BP3160s) have failed (or
> shattered)
> [41 BP Panels Failed out of 3057 BP Panels Installed].
>
> 13.7 % Percent of our customers with installed BP3160 Panels have had
> failures ranging from 1 to 14 panels within 6 years of installation [13
> Customers out of 95 Total Customers].
>
> BP says the buss bars are failing on the module at the soldering joint
> above
> the junction box.  About half of the failed panels are actually
> exploding
> causing the glass to shatter in place in some cases.  If we can catch
> the
> buss bar starting to show burn marks before they fail BP will authorize
> us
> changing them out.  Since we have over 3,000 BP3160 panels out there we
> have
> to keep about 5 in stock, just to keep up with the failing panels.
>
> Due to the nature of the failure, it is easier to tell because the
> entire
> string is taken out and shows at the inverter display.  The hard part is
> getting the customer to relay this information to us close to the time
> when
> it happens so that they can get the lost string back online.
>
> We no longer install BP panels since mid 2005.
>
>
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