[RE-wrenches] sol ark reliability question

Fri Sep 30 09:09:37 PDT 2022

Ray. Understand but loose connections can be any product and
troubleshooting loose intermittent issues are the hardest to correct
J
Funtimes

On Fri, Sep 30, 2022, 9:03 AM Ray Walters via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> One thing I can say:  trouble shooting problems over the phone has its
> limitations.  I had a customer issue with a system we hadn't installed that
> was quite vexing.  Turned out to be a loose main DC connection to the
> inverter.  Bizarre behavior as the connection heated up and the resistance
> varied.
>
> Ray Walters
>
> On 9/30/2022 6:57 AM, Jay via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> Hi all and thanks for the input.
>
> I guess he’s just been unlucky with the problems ( firmware upgrade
> switching to 50hz) and possibly just some random bad hardware.
>
> In regards to your thoughts of a install issue, he has spent a lot of time
> with sol ark reviewing everything. Loads, wiring, they have been monitoring
> all the data, photos, video etc with everything coming up correctly
> installed, wired, and loads.
>
> this system is an upgrade for an older XW ( 6kw units) system which worked
> fine. The customer wanted better monitoring, more kw, expansion
> capabilities and newer tech.
>
> Weird
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 29, 2022, at 9:50 PM, pieter offgridenterprises.org via
> RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> 
>
> We have dozens of Solark based installs and have had excellent results.
> All of our system have multiple parallel Solark inverters and have operated
> with out issues. On the rare occasion that we had commissioning questions
> our experience with Solark technical support has been outstanding, they
> have by far the best technical support in the industry. Although Solark
> helped design the system in question I suspect that there must be some
> finer points that were not shared with Solark, a load side wiring problem
> or perhaps an installation error that is causing the repeated failures. I
> suggest that your friend gets a fresh set of eyes on the system and look
> for that oversite we have all made and just can’t seem to see it on our own.
>
> Pieter Huebner
>
> Off Grid Enterprises
>
>
>
> *From:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> *On Behalf Of *Jerry Shafer
> via RE-wrenches
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 29, 2022 10:25 AM
> *To:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> *Cc:* Jerry Shafer <jerrysgarage01 at gmail.com> <jerrysgarage01 at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] sol ark reliability question
>
>
>
> Wrenches
>
> Solark issues, I have them living off grid, 3 phase and grid tied back up,
> both AC and DC coupled with only one intermittent comms issue, does not
> seem to have any more issues than OB and less than Schnieder, all are
> connected to Fortress 18.5's or Blue Planet BMS interface seems hardy,
>
> Would be good to know what issues he is having to accurately help
>
> Jerry
>
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 7:01 AM jay via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I’ve got a question about how many folks are having issues with sol-ark
> products?
>
> the reason i ask is that i’ve got a friend, a good competent installer (
> well versed in OB, Schneider, magnum)  who’s had continuing nightmares with
> them.
>
> he’s got 2 systems each on is a stacked pair of 12kw units, both offgrid.
>
> each system was designed by sol-ark, meaning the design was approved by
> them for the loads/solar etc.
>
> He’s been through 7 MCU swaps.
> He’s been through a field call required because the over the air firmware
> update caused the inverters to go into 50hz and for some reason that isn’t
> fixable via the web.
> He had an inverter that didn’t work correctly out of the box.  They
> charged him $2500 deposit for a replacement.
>
> Then they charged him $1500 to fix the inverter he sent back under
> warranty.  Thats right $1500 to fix a warranty which they agreed was a
> warranty issue.
> Hes not going to pay but this $1500 has been going on a while.
>
> The inverter they sent to replace the broken one had a older MCU firmware
> so wouldn’t stack and it took tech support way to long to figure that out
> then they had to send him a new MCU…...
>
> And the list goes on.
>
> But Im asking, is this poor guy just an anomaly or will anyone else chime
> in about issues?,
>
> Because at this point I have no desire to install one given his experiences
>
> Jay
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