[RE-wrenches] Fronius USA available 2023 & 2024 ?

[Jason Szumlanski]

Fronius was dead to me after the IG failure rate and customer
dissatisfaction that came from it. I never sold SolarEdge, and I am glad I
didn't for the same high failure rate issue. Today I am swapping out so
many HD Wave inverters, dealing with the 3G modem shutdowns, and constantly
fighting with SolarEdge support on ridiculous diagnostic requirements and
even just gaining access to site monitoring for new clients. I don't see
any improvement in hardware reliability, either. I just replaced an HD Wave
with an RMA unit that died 2 days later! I feel like I'm constantly the
bearer of bad news, and I don't like being in that position, even though I
have no fault in the matter.

I guess some might call me an Enphase fanboy, but I am liking Sol-Ark for a
DC coupled solution. The 15K I think has solved some of the unbalanced 120V
load issues that were reported with the 12K (correct me if I am wrong), and
the 15K is just so versatile.

Yes, Enphase had a very high failure rate with the M190 and others. And
don't get me started about the Envoy-R falures. But those issues are long
behind us. I have 40 M215s above my head right now at my home office that
were installed 10 years ago. They have been removed and reinstalled for a
new roof and went through 2 major hurricanes. Not a single issue other than
a blown fuse in the rooftop SolaDeck aggregator. The reliability of the
later generation microinverters is remarkable in my opinion. Do we have
some micro swaps? Sure. But they are quick and easy and clients are
delighted that we can advance swap them from inventory. In contrast,
I can't afford to keep a full inventory of SolarEdge products for advance
swaps.

The Enphase 3 and 10 batteries surely have some serious communication
issues that frustrated me, but the 5P promises to fix that with wired
comms, and just like the rooftop microinverters I expect that subsequent
generations of Enphase batteries will prove to improve reliability. That's
the culture at Enphase, and it doesn't seem to be the same at SolarEdge.

I didn't mean to hijack the thread, but the point is that Fronius was on a
downward spiral with the IG and even IG Plus, and they never recovered.
Despite some of the niceties of their Primo line, installers that got
burned never regained confidence. I would not be surprised if they go down.
They probably should have rebranded at a minimum.


Jason Szumlanski
Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956


On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 5:39 PM Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Hi Mick,
> Unlike others in the list, I am still mostly happily using SolarEdge for
> my straight grid tied roof mounted arrays. There have been significant
> hiccups with service, although not so much recently, and the failure rate
> is higher than I like, but it hasn't been dramatic for me. For systems that
> require RSD, I have not found any other equipment as easy and consistent as
> SolarEdge, although admittedly I really don't like switching technologies
> unless there is a really good reason or in forced to. Also, I've been very
> anti micro inverters for more than a decade, partly fueled by Enphase's
> early major failure rate and communications dysfunction and probably
> largely fueled by my prejudice towards the technology.
> I also have not been inclined to use their battery based systems, even
> though their architecture seemed smart at the time. And I'm also fading on
> using them for AC coupling because I've had some significant issues using
> them that way, and other (DC coupled) systems have come a long way.
> All that being said, I certainly would move away from RSD systems if there
> wasn't a need for them. Therefore, I would look at other string inverters
> like SMA ( I haven't used them much at all recently), or perhaps Solis
> (haven't used them at all), which I believe respond well to frequency
> shifting.
> And, not knowing your circumstances, I might suggest DC coupled systems
> instead. There are many good options out there at this point.
> Sorry this wasn't more on point.
> Howie
>
> On Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 4:23 PM Mick Abraham via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi, Mechanix~ I asked a Greentech location about quantity four Fronius
>> string inverter PRIMO 6.0-1. (6kW AC output, single phase 240 volt 60 hz)
>> This p/n is in the Greentech portal but my particular branch hasn't done
>> much with Fronius. Today the branch manager told me "Fronius no longer
>> exists."
>>
>> Can any of you confirm or correct this report? I have an off-grid
>> opportunity for which I wish to AC couple some of the PV. If Fronius USA
>> has indeed "left the building", are there other string inverters that can
>> be selected for country code "off grid 60 hz"? I'd like for the PV
>> inverters to only curtail their output wattage if there's a frequency shift
>> from the grid forming inverter (frequency/watt). Schneider XW Pro units
>> would be forming the grid. Schneider has a white paper # 990-6421 on AC
>> coupling but this document is almost three years old & no help at all in
>> finding compatible PV inverters. Rapid shutdown is not mandated for this
>> gig & each array would be evenly illuminated. IIRC, the List hasn't been
>> highly enamored with SolarEdge in recent years; is that still the consensus?
>>
>> Thanks as always; the Wrench List is the Bomb!
>>
>> Mick Abraham, Proprietor
>> www.abrahamsolar.com
>>
>> Landline: 970-731-4675
>> Cell phone or for text messaging: 970-946-6584
>> ᐧ
>>
>>
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