[RE-wrenches] Enphase Recall?

Fri Jun 19 14:58:01 PDT 2009

Peter and all,

The Enphase product is the only one of its kind on the market currently
(there will be more). Their sales are far beyond where they thought they
were going to be-good and bad news. Great for them to be confirmed in their
market prediction. Bad for the people who are anxious to get the product.

Many companies simply ramp up production and hope for the best. It is my
impression that this is not what Enphase is doing. They are trying to
carefully control production.

If you are making sales based on the benefits and availability of the
Enphase product alone, that is probably bad business. Until the Enphase
product is widely available, I would recommend that you continue to use the
product wisely in specific locations where it will clearly outperform any
other option. If you are using the Enphase product where another mature
available product will do, you are not using your head or applying the
limited quantity of available product wisely. 

Continue to move with measured caution. The product looks good, but it is
not a silver bullet. Don't push the company to make stupid mistakes and
overproduce-too many companies in the PV industry are doing that very thing
today.

Bill.

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Peter
Parrish
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 12:00 PM
To: 'RE-wrenches'
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase Recall?

I see your point. If Marv is the one "manufacturer's rep" for EnPhase (they
get just one, right?), then he should stay on point, that is, squelch the
rumor. I personally was offended by his propaganda about product
availability.

Actually, here is why I am upset. I have made a goal of our company to keep
30% of our business repeat business or referrals. Why? We tend to close
these deals without competition, and the client usually comes to us
understanding that price is not their sole consideration. In other words,
these are our ideal clients.

Significant foul-ups by the manufacturer usually results in that customer
NOT giving us follow on work and more importantly NOT providing positive
referrals. In other words we get painted with the same broad brush.

I guess I could learn how to avoid having these truly unpleasant events
damage our company, but right now they usually do and I don't think it
occurs to manufacturer's reps that this sort of thing happens. 

- Peter

Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President
California Solar Engineering, Inc.
820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065
CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26
peter.parrish at calsolareng.com  
Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885

  _____  

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of R. Walters
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 11:11 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase Recall?

No offense Peter, but Enphase's growing pains are nothing new to the PV
industry. We've watched almost every supplier struggle to keep up, have
shortages, booboos, require free BETA testing of their "not quite ready for
prime time" products, etc. If manus can't comment without fear on this list,
we will be in the dark more: Not good.

R. Walters

Solarray.com

NABCEP # 04170442            

On Jun 19, 2009, at 11:47 AM, Allan Sindelar wrote:

Is anyone as bothered about this as I am?

Well, I'm not. 

The Wrenches list has always had space and encouragement for a single
technical representative from a manufacturer. That's a major asset in
principle on the list. So far, Marv has kept to the limits of the role of
such a rep. It seemed to me that Marv's explanations were as clear and
direct as could be.

That's my $.02.3. Certainly there's room for other opinions that differ from
mine, Peter. Besides, I'm an off-grid man.

Allan Sindelar

Allan at positiveenergysolar.com

NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer

EE98J Journeyman Electrician

Positive Energy, Inc.

3201 Calle Marie

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507

505 424-1112

www.positiveenergysolar.com

  _____  

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Peter
Parrish

Mr. Welch et al,

I am personally embarrassed by this thread. First, it is at its best rumor
mongering. Don't get me wrong, a little mongering often is the first step in
teasing out the truth. So, we need to quickly move from mongering to the
facts.

What really bothers me is Marv's participation. Marv works for EnPhase and
therefore is biased. Is he otherwise qualified to be on this list?

Let me parse one of his statements (see below). Remember, we are talking
about a possible "recall". Marv uses his post to prattle on about:

"Demand has far exceeded our expectations.  This has led to challenges with
product availability which may have resulted in misinformation in the
field." 

The first sentence is a bit of well crafted propaganda. The first problem
EnPhase had is that they discontinued one product, without sufficient notice
to their supply chain. This resulted in unfulfilled orders, sore
distributors, aggravated installers and irate customers. As to
"expectations" we can only guess whether the statement is factual, as we are
not privy to EnPhase's expectations.

The second statement about [demand exceeding expectations leading to]
"challenges with product availability" is also misleading. Lack of [new]
product availability was a consequence to a problematic transition to a
contract manufacturer. So Enphase could not longer deliver the old product
and was not able to deliver the new product either. Under the circumstances,
they couldn't fulfill a single order.

Finally, if Marv is talking about a "recall" being "misinformation in the
field", he may be correct in so stating. But that's about it.

I honestly don't know if we can filter marketing (i.e. propaganda)
statements from manufacturer representatives, Michael Welch's job is tough
enough. So if Marv and others are qualified to post self-serving statements
about their Company's products, maybe all we can do is to comment on them
when we read them.

Is anyone as bothered about this as I am?

- Peter

<image001.gif>Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President
California Solar Engineering, Inc.
820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065
CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26
peter.parrish at calsolareng.com  
Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885

<image001.gif>

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