[RE-wrenches] favortie micro inverters?

Tue Sep 24 13:55:08 PDT 2024

It's very curious how there are geographic preferences, and that is
definitely something to consider. I tell clients that there won't be anyone
to service their system 10 years down the line if they go with anyone but
Enphase around here. If a prospective client has 10 quotes locally, 9 of
them will be Enphase, and one will be Tesla. If they get an 11th quote they
might get a Franklin WH or another brand if they are doing battery backup.
Even SolarEdge is dead here, as far as I can tell. I haven't seen a
competitive quote with SolarEdge in ages.

I can share this poignant advice with clients because I'm one of the only
people in Southwest Florida who will even touch something from Outback,
Scheneider/Xantrex/Trace, Sonnen, Magnum, SMA, or even old grid-tied
Fronius IGs. If someone wants to come and swap out HD Wave inverters as a
living here, I will gladly step aside. Swimming against the current gets
very tiring for consumers. Sometimes, you just have to follow the crowd.

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 Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 4:41 PM August Goers <august at luminalt.com> wrote:

> I agree with Jason that it is going to take a really compelling
> microinverter product at this point to knock Enphase off the #1 micro
> position. It seems risky to sell any other microinverter products given the
> complexity of the product and the fact that if the competing product
> manufacturer goes out of business that there won't be any choice but to
> replace all of that product. That said, competition in the market is good,
> so my salutes to anyone willing to try other microinverter products. We
> have experience with SolarBridge (they were owned by SunPower for a while)
> and that product was by far inferior to Enphase. We've also installed a few
> hundred PowerOne ABB micros - those have been for the most part very
> reliable, but the monitoring side of the equation is very poor so dealing
> with RMA issues there is a bit of a challenge. Both of those products are
> outdated now and no longer on the market.
>
> I've posted here on this before - we're having good luck with the Tesla
> solar inverter. It is low cost and has lots of benefits including 4 x
> trackers with low start voltage, power control systems, built in
> monitoring, etc. We're now offering Enphase systems as well (we were a
> SunPower dealer for many years) so customers can have a choice if Tesla is
> not their cup of tea. Elon Musk is aggravating.
>
> August
> Luminalt
>
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 1:21 PM Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> I don't really understand the resistance to Enphase on a roof (anymore,
>> at least). We have many thousands of microinverters out there, and I don't
>> even have a dedicated service department. We swap maybe 100 a year at the
>> most at this point, and that includes for systems we didn't install. It's
>> super quick and easy. But most of our roofs are single story 5:12 pitch on
>> average.
>>
>> I have at least a dozen small commercial sites with 100 - 500 units each,
>> and I can't remembereven an handful of replacements on those over
>> the years.
>>
>> I did get involved with a commercial site I did not install, and that was
>> a nightmare, with over 100 early generation microinverters that failed. It
>> was a custom rack, and the clamps were a nightmare, not to mention the
>> array map had gotten out of whack over the years from prior micro swaps.
>> But for the most part, I have no issue with micro swaps on roofs.
>>
>> 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 Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 2:14 PM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via
>> RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I am with Chris except I might put them on a barn roof ! Never a
>>> residence and never Offgrid !
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
>>> "we go where powerlines don't"
>>>    <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/>https://offgridsolar1.com/ <https://offgridsolar1.com/>  <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/>
>>> e-mail  offgridsolar at sti.net <offgridsolar at sti.net>
>>> text 209 813 0060*
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2024-09-24 10:16 am, Chris Schaefer via RE-wrenches wrote:
>>>
>>> Was an Enphase installer since the beginning, I think 08' but moved away
>>> when the tech support and early model failures were numerous. Moved to APS
>>> with the two modules per micro. Really saved on install time as it was half
>>> the number of micro's. One recommendation regardless of brand, don't put
>>> them on a roof.
>>>
>>> Christopher
>>>
>>> On Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 11:14 AM Bryan Norkunas via RE-wrenches <
>>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> I've had great luck with APS and so have our local installers.
>>>
>>>
>>> *Bryan Norkunas*
>>>
>>> *PV-Cables Inc.  *
>>>
>>> *989 Milton Ave Ste 1D *
>>>
>>> *Ferndale CA 95536*
>>>
>>> (707) 923-3000 office
>>>
>>> www.pv-cables.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>      Please print only if necessary.
>>>
>>>
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>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> on
>>> behalf of greg egan via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>>> *Sent:* Monday, September 23, 2024 7:29 PM
>>> *To:* RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org <
>>> RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>>> *Cc:* greg egan <greg at remotepowerinc.com>
>>> *Subject:* [RE-wrenches] favortie micro inverters?
>>>
>>> Esteemed wrenches,
>>>
>>> Have a client that is grid connected (not my usual client) and looking
>>> to do solar without back up.  Has shading issues so I'm thinking micros
>>> would work best for this application, plus take care of rapid shut down
>>> without needing extra devices/wiring.  Problem is I have not ever
>>> installed micros.
>>>
>>> Any recommendations on brands /models that have been reliable? Decent
>>> tech support?  Customer just wants something that works and is
>>> relatively simple to navigate the online monitoring.  Probably 4-5 kW so
>>> not a huge system.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance, I appreciate it!
>>>
>>> Greg Egan
>>> Remote Power Inc.
>>> Fairbanks, AK
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>>> --
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