[RE-wrenches] Emphase and Warranties and Contractor Liability

[William Dorsett]

Dave, you've been in this buiz a long time, and off-grid will continue to have its own niche, and many of your skills will flow over into grid-with-back-up. But the reality is that for existing and mid-term moderate income families, simple grid tie is by far the biggest market. Managing a lead acid bank continues to be a mystery for all but an elite few installers (to say nothing of their customers) and Li banks on the market will add close to $10 grand to the cost of a system. For us to make a dent in CO2 emissions, this has to become a garden variety skill for any electrical shop. There is nothing comparable to the simplicity of plugging in an AC module, clamping it to the roof and connecting it back to the mains panel.  Done...no high voltage DC, no fear of a fireman chopping a 1000V cable....etc and etc.   MLPE is where this will go.

Bill Dorsett
Manhattan, KS

-----Original Message-----
From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2017 11:23 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Emphase and Warranties and Contractor Liability

Electrolytic capacitors are an incredible electronic component that really have no business on a hot roof unless designed to be!
There are huge long term design factors that go into their use. We went to the Moon, anything can be done, but I question why a string inverter is not the best choice for longevity, or even a 600V mppt charge controller like I use offgrid.  --Dave


>    The other argument, Tom, is that it is easy for someone like BP to 
> drop one of its many product lines and keep all of its others. With no 
> history, any new hardware will have to generalize on “mean time 
> between failure.” I don’t know what the future holds for Enphase 
> in particular, but someone will move module level power electronics 
> into far more reliability. There are just too many advantages to bypass.
>
>    It’s hard to imagine that LG, Jinko and SolarWorld would choose 
> Enphase for their AC modules, without confidence in their reliability.
> Westinghouse was early on in that choice, and Siemens markets 
> rebranded versions up through at least M250 so their electronics have 
> been evaluated by competent engineers. Siemens charges about $10 
> more/inverter so if you are more comfortable with a Siemens warranty 
> that is maybe worth it. It will be telling if these companies follow 
> beyond into the S and IQ series. I’m not sure that you’d want to 
> trust the first inverter from any manufacturer and it gives me some 
> assurance that Enphase is into its sixth version.  We’ll give IQ’s 
> a trial run before dropping. I think it is a gutsy company which has 
> made a remarkable run at it.
>
>
>
> I am disappointed with their going back on their 15 year warranty and 
> the lack of reimbursement that was initially promised.
>
>
>
> Bill Dorsett
>
> Manhattan, KS
>
>
>
> From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] 
> On Behalf Of Tom Lane
> Sent: Friday, July 14, 2017 2:51 PM
> To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> Subject: [RE-wrenches] Emphase and Warranties and Contractor Liability
>
>
>
> All companies on the stock market exchange MUST live up to their 
> written warranties AND it is illegal for a contractor to give a longer 
> or better warranty on THE manufacturers product Than the manufacturer 
> gives . Also in many states you and the  distributor or whoever is 
> left must replace the product IF the manufacturer goes belly up . Case 
> in point the Chinese Sheet Rock fiasco. Noe Especially if you KNOW s 
> company is in financial trouble AND sell their product, you can be 
> liable because you are " in the swim " as an expert in your field and 
> SHOULD know . That is why I advise contractors to use products like LG 
> , Panasonic, Hyundai , etc that have more than one iron in the fire . 
> Unfortunately some contractors in Florida are selling Suniva , old Sun 
> Edison after they went kaput. Which is illegal since they have no 
> warranty and a few were caught and had to take them down and then 
> skeddale from a mad 😡 homeowner who of course wanted his money back 
> and would not pay the final . It is tough being a contractor but when 
> you are selling HIGH dollar contracts the owner will no doubt look for 
> legal beagles or lawyer sharks 🦈 who love high dollar recoveries . 
> Just be cautious in today's world . GatorTom
>
>
>
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Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
e-mail  offgridsolar at sti.net
text 209 813 0060

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