[RE-wrenches] Outback in general

[Jason Szumlanski]

It has been a few weeks since this was last discussed, and I'm looking for
an update from anyone who knows if Outback is likely to exist as we know it
going forward.

There are virtually none of their products installed locally, but I have a
new off-grid client with a quad VFX stack system with multiple errors that
appear to be fatal. I have not been there personally, however. I was told
they were installed last year, which makes me suspicious about these errors.

I'm wondering if I even want to get involved. It seems like a quagmire
waiting to happen, but it's also located on an island where I am doing a
lot of other work and would like to be the "go to guy" out there.


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 Sat, Jul 20, 2024 at 7:26 PM Dan Fink via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> James Showalter from Signature Solar and Eric Lundgren from Big Battery
> purchased Outback Solar. I have had terrible tech support experiences from
> both of those outfits, they tend to conveniently "forget" your engineering
> and NEC code compliance support requests when the answer is just simply
> "no, not yet UL listed" or "we don't know if that feature works or not."
> I'm not sure how these prolific suppliers of cheap crap products with
> terrible QC and NIB failure rates intend to compete, but my guess is that
> they have control of the big crap overseas product pipeline nozzle and
> intend to steer the huge stream of sewage in our direction. Sol-Ark just
> imports Deye products and retrofits them with their own upgrades and
> firmware. Magnum has vanished, much to my dismay as my own system is Magnum
> as are dozens of my customers.
>
> Us off-grid folks still have a couple guys named boB and Robin at Midnite
> that still manufacture, sell and support good products. Maybe Morningstar
> will up their game into larger inverters. Why are all these shady import
> companies based in Texas? Inquiring minds want to know! BTW, I hate
> all-in-ones, never had a single good experience, just endless firmware and
> comms updates and such simple issues resulting in multiple truck rolls.
>
> I miss Lones Tuss of Outback calling me back on a Friday evening at 7PM
> and remotely diagnosing my client's VFX / Mate 3S issues whilst doing his
> laundry at home, after I submitted a ticket earlier that day. The client
> seriously thought I was pulling a practical joke on him until I put Lones
> on speaker.
>
> Strange new world for us off-grid folks. I'll have to stick with the very
> few companies left that I trust. Yes, yes, Schneider, but their tech
> support is almost impenetrable.
>
> Our strange new off-grid world seems to be destined as crap from Alibaba
> and Amazon, and it all smells rather off to me, like the "fresh fish" at a
> run-down Safeway in eastern Kansas....
>
> Dan Fink
> Owner, Buckville Energy Consulting LLC
> IREC Certified Instructor for PV and Small Wind Installation
> NABCEP Certified PV System Inspector
> NABCEP PV Associate
> d <dan.fink at greendustrialtraining.com>anbob88 at gmail.com
> 970-672-4342
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 20, 2024 at 3:22 PM Jay via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> I just checked the OB forums page and there is nothing current.
>>
>> One thing I found says that the new president of OB is the CEO of Big
>> Battery. I don’t know that to be a fact.
>> Which is also somehow related to signature solar/ EG4.
>>
>> My guess is that if/when OB resurfaces it won’t have the same products.
>> It’ll just be an old name selling new products and they won’t be dealing
>> with old legacy products, warranty or MX or tech support.
>>
>> I could be way wrong.
>>
>> But anyone trying to keep a product line going wouldn’t just stop all
>> communication for a few months.
>>
>> Maybe someone who has been an OB distributor might know more about what’s
>> up?  I no longer have any of those contacts.
>>
>> New world, fellow wrenches.
>>
>> Jay
>>
>>
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