[RE-wrenches] Enohase tech support

Fri Mar 15 18:43:48 PDT 2024

Like someone else suggested, they have a vested interest in upgrading
people from the M series to IQ microinverters to get out of the warranty
obligation the M series presents. Sadly, Enphase's upgrade program was
really designed to benefit Enphase in my opinion. So fixing the Envoy-R
debacle probably wasn't high priority.

To be fair, my 10+ year old M250 micros at home have been great with only a
5% failure rate. My Envoy-R failed, but I wanted the -S Metered for the
consumption monitoring anyway. So the M250 was a huge leap over the M215
and M190, and the -S offered some advantages over the -R. In that respect,
it shows Enphase has had a rapid and continuous increase in reliability.
That kept me on board all these years.

The same thing happened from the IQ Battery 3/10T to the 5P. They worked
out the major issues with the previous generations.

I'm not saying that Enphase is without faults by any stretch, but they have
been a reliable partner for those of us that have been there from the early
days and who have learned to cut through the nonsense you get from Customer
Service at times. Nobody can deny that they answer the phone quickly by
industry standards (although they had a brief period where that was not the
case). If you push and advocate for your customer and develop relationships
with your Enphase reps, you can move mountains when necessary.

Anyway, enough with the ENPH advertisement. Full disclaimer: I own zero
ENPH stock. I'm just sharing my experience.

Jason Szumlanski
Florida Solar Design Group

On Fri, Mar 15, 2024, 6:26 PM david quattro <david at quattrosolar.com> wrote:

> Jason, Very helpful. Thank you
> I wonder why, after years of calling tech support, nobody at Enphase told
> me the S is a replacement for the R.  it took a compatriot
> installer/integrator to care enough.
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 2:51 PM Jason Szumlanski <
> jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:
>
>> Somehow I missed that you said it's an Envoy-S. Which lights are on?
>> There are four, left to right:
>>
>>
>>    1. Cloud connected the Enphase Enlighten (normally green, red if WiFi
>>    connected but no Internet)
>>    2. Installer WiFi Access Point (normally off)
>>    3. All assigned micros producing power (normally green)
>>    4. All assigned micros communicating with Envoy (normally green)
>>
>>
>> If the first light is red or off, it just needs to be reconnected to a
>> working Wi-Fi network. The consumer can do that in their app (Menu |
>> Settings | Connectivity). If it's off, it could be a number of things, but
>> usually, the WiFi network is no longer available, or the Envoy has glitched
>> out. Either way, reconnecting it usually works. Sometimes it can be a
>> frustrating series of reboots to get it going. But the app will walk them
>> through the steps.
>>
>> Enphase WILL help the consumer directly with this, but if they have
>> directed the customer to their installer, either the customer
>> is technology-challenged, or the Installer Toolkit is required to forget
>> the original network and then reconnect to the new one (or the same one
>> sometimes).
>>
>> One other thing... Some of those units may have been Cellular connected,
>> and the 5-year data plan may have expired. Enphase can tell you how it was
>> last connected with the serial number or site ID. That would be a good call
>> to make before heading out there. The solution could be as simple as
>> connecting it to their WiFi. Sometimes installers don't want the hassle of
>> WiFi issues, so they just pop in a cellular modem. I have seen a number of
>> national installers do that. It is not good practice. Ethernet is best and
>> WiFi works well usually.
>>
>> Jason Szumlanski
>> Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group
>> NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)
>> Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956
>> Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 2:12 PM jay via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi David.
>>>
>>> This one is a standard newer version Envoy S.
>>>
>>> I’ve had this exact same issue of tech “support” numerous times.  I had
>>> to go to my neighbors to confirm that the panels were wired correctly,
>>> after they had been installed for years.  I’m not making this up.
>>>
>>> Seems to really depend on who you get on the phone if they will help you
>>> or not which isn’t good.
>>>
>>> Thats why I”m looking for any help to find the right phone number or
>>> person who will/can help.
>>>
>>> I’m guessing its either the envoy needs to be rebooted or its broken.
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>> jay
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 15, 2024, at 11:49 AM, david quattro <david at quattrosolar.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> wow, your experience is worse than anything I've ever heard of from
>>> Enphase tech support. My experience with them is this: they know their old
>>> Envoys are garbage (the M-Series are failing left and right now). The
>>> executives made the decision that they will no longer manufacture new
>>> M-Envoys. I don't know their posture regarding S-Series, I haven't seen
>>> those fail yet. So instead of selling you a good brand new M-Envoy, they
>>> try to connive you into replacing 100% of your microinverters with
>>> IQ-Enphase - you know, because they are such a great, responsible company.
>>>   Actual options moving forward are to find a used M-Series Envoy that
>>> you have tested in-house before you go on your 5 hour drive. I have one I
>>> can sell you. Or you deliver the bad news to the customer and tell them the
>>> truth - they are flying blind without a functioning Envoy.  Ground mounts
>>> aren't that bad since you could teach the customer to walk up and verify PV
>>> current on each module with a decent meter.  For me essentially all of my
>>> Enphase fleet went onto residential rooftops where regular access is not an
>>> option. What kills me about Enphase is that every step of the way over the
>>> last 15 years - EVERY single time they changed their inverter architecture,
>>> they promised that all the new stuff would be backward compatible with old
>>> gear. And every single time, they were full of it.
>>>
>>> On Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 9:49 AM Jay via RE-wrenches <
>>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all
>>>>
>>>> Is there anyway to get tech support with remote coms?
>>>>
>>>> I got a call just the other day from someone with an envoy. It’s
>>>> stopped communicating to enohase. Enphase says they need the installer
>>>> who’s now gone.
>>>> They just won’t help the customer.
>>>> It’s about a 5 hr round trip for me. Which is nuts as I’ll have to
>>>> communicate with enohase anyway.
>>>>
>>>> And I’ve heard rhis exact issue multiple times from numerous people.
>>>> Envoy has lights but has stopped communicating. I’ve heard enohase tech say
>>>> “the panels are wired wrong. “. You mean they magically changed after 10
>>>> years?
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone have a person/number etc of who will help them?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>> Jay
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>>>
>>>> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org
>>>>
>>>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>>>
>>>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>>>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>>>
>>>> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try
>>>> the other:
>>>> https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/
>>>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>>>
>>>> List rules & etiquette:
>>>> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>>>
>>>> Check out or update participant bios:
>>>> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>>
>>> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try
>>> the other:
>>> https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/
>>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>> List rules & etiquette:
>>> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>>
>>> Check out or update participant bios:
>>> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20240315/cea666db/attachment.htm>