[RE-wrenches] SolarEdge Has Gone Too Far

Thu Feb 20 09:39:19 PST 2025

If you go back and look at the stock price, Enphase was just about to go
bankrupt in the 2017 period. They had just released their IQ micros which
were quite reliable but were riddled by a bad reputation from prior
generations with high failures, particularly M190/M210s. We were one of
those companies that had thousands of older micros installed and they were
failing left and right. They got a new CEO and totally changed things
around - it seems like they did a good job of supporting the installers and
buying back trust in their product. Afterall, if installers don't trust a
product they won't recommend it to their clients. Reliability is key!

It seems to me that SolarEdge is in a similar situation now. Their stock
has totally tanked and installers don't generally have trust in product
reliability. They have had way too many dead on arrival inverters (or
failing shortly after install) and optimizers and for some reason just
haven't been able to buck that trend. It is a particularly horrible
experience for clients when their systems don't work well from the very
start. Maybe they have increased reliability now, I don't know. Anyway, I
hope SolarEdge is able to get product reliability up and get back trust
from the installers.

August

On Thu, Feb 20, 2025 at 9:07 AM Christopher Warfel via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> I made a decision to go w Enphase when Solar Edge was a viable
> competitor.  I did not like some aspects of Solar Edge, and I am glad I
> went with Enphase. I only install on this small island, 22 systems starting
> with M250's. Average project is 16 modules.  I have had only one
> microinverter failure, and it emailed me to let me know and then ordered
> the replacement.  The experiences do seem installer specific. Chris
> On 2/19/2025 9:29 PM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> It's really interesting how different our experiences and perspectives are
> on these issues. I know a close colleague who still loves SolarEdge. We're
> still friends. :)
>
> I have also heard the XX%+ failure rate on M-Series experience before,
> which I find strange. I'm not suggesting it's not true, but it's far from
> my experience. The M190 clearly had issues, but the M215 and M250 were
> leaps and bounds better, and we had nowhere near that kind of failure rate
> experience. And I'm in arguably one of the most grueling environments in
> terms of heat and corrosive (coastal) environments, which is one of the
> fears people have always had against microinverters. Maybe the M-Series was
> more susceptible to cold weather issues (freeze/thaw issues).
>
> My home's M215 system is visibly beat up. Having been through 4 major
> hurricanes in its lifespan and having been removed and reinstalled once and
> used and abused for numerous training exercises, I really would have
> expected it to be a headache. But with only one microinveter failure in a
> decade, I am very happy. One system is obviously not statistically
> significant, but it goes to show that people have had widely different
> experiences with early generation microinverters.
>
> I regrettably installed a Soladeck AC aggregator on the roof with fuses
> and a combined feeder back to the interconnection point, but shockingly I
> have only replaced one fuse when it popped years ago. Other than that,
> smooth sailing with my M215 micros. I leave the one failed unit as it is to
> show clients what to expect in the monitoring system if a microinverter
> fails.
>
> Jason
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 19, 2025, 8:59 PM Kirk Herander via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> I will never promote, support, or use Enphase products again. My personal
>> decision is a result of a 50% plus failure rate of the M series, as an
>> early adopter. Now I am admittedly biased, regardless of their reputation
>> now.
>>
>> Enphase tried to make it right, and I'm still replacing the replacements
>> of the replacements 12 years later, sans-labor reimbursement. Yes,
>> the latest micros w/adapters are still free under warranty.
>> .
>> We all know that through the years, every OEM has not lived up to
>> expectations at times, be it products or support.
>>
>> For me, tolerance of some OEMs is different than others, depending on the
>> particular problem and duration of it, individual OEM history, and customer
>> reaction,etc.
>>
>> What are we, as individual installers, willing to put up with before we
>> pull the plug on a manufacturer? It's an individual decision. History and
>> relationships are right up there to support stay on board, or go.
>>
>> In the case of inverter RMAs, Vermont takes them for free at recycling
>> centers, treating them as old electronics (ie. obsolete PC's). So we as a
>> group don't have a dog in every policy fight that others may.
>>
>> Some OEM products & service policies are more of a thorn than others.
>> Obviously, No one will ever come out with, or evolve into, perfect product
>> or policy to make us all happy all the time.
>>
>> just my 2 cents worth
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM Matt Partymiller via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I'm not going to defend Solaredge here, there are clearly better ways
>>> they could handle account transfers but the rah-rah Enphase conclusion is
>>> maddening.
>>>
>>> It wasn't that long ago Enphase did something far worse when they
>>> dropped their labor warranty and then told basically every m-series
>>> customer to pay them distribution prices for new Micros that would function
>>> for more than two months or risk spending thousands a year on labor
>>> replacing their early junk. Basically Enphase invalidated all their
>>> original 25 year warranties and then sold new product with their full
>>> margin to effectively captive customers. Meanwhile, as the installer, we
>>> were stuck fielding the angry customer phone calls wanting to understand
>>> how we misled them into Enphase. I guess Enphase managed to stay in
>>> business though....
>>>
>>> Matt
>>>
>>> Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone
>>> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> on
>>> behalf of Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <
>>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 19, 2025 6:20:01 PM
>>> *To:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>>> *Cc:* Jason Szumlanski <jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com>
>>> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] SolarEdge Has Gone Too Far
>>>
>>>
>>> Caution: This email originated from outside SES. Do not click links or
>>> open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is
>>> safe.
>>>
>>> I just wrote a scathing blog post, notified my staff not to take on new
>>> SolarEdge service clients, and blasted out messages and DMs on social media
>>> about this despicable new move by SolarEdge. Imagine being one of the many
>>> system owners impacted by solar contractors going out of business, only to
>>> find out that the manufacturer of your equipment wants to charge you to
>>> have a new willing contractor authorized to monitor and service your system.
>>>
>>> By contrast, Enphase owners can have as many contractors monitor their
>>> systems as they want, and they can initiate it themselves and for free, 24
>>> hours a day without delay.
>>>
>>> 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 Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 4:22 PM Jason Szumlanski <
>>> jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> When I fill out the online form to transfer an existing SolarEdge system
>>> to my company for monitoring, the site now takes me to a payment form
>>> demanding $99 to transfer the site monitoring.
>>>
>>> I have been told that as of 2/17/2025, SolarEdge has a new policy, and
>>> now changes for transferring a site to a new installer.
>>>
>>> WOW. Nobody wants to touch their hardware around here, and I must be the
>>> last one because SolarEdge tech support is literally giving customers my
>>> name when they can't find help.
>>>
>>> SolarEdge is done. Dead to me. They can find someone else to cover their
>>> warranty obligations.
>>>
>>> Jason Szumlanski
>>> Florida Solar Desing Group
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>> --
>>
>> *Kirk Herander / **kirkh at vermont.solar <kirkh at vermont.solar>*
>>
>> *Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC*
>>
>> *Celebrating our 34st Anniversary 1991-2025!!*
>>
>> dba Vermont Solar Engineering
>>
>> 802.559.1225
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> --
> Christopher Warfel, PE
> ENTECH Engineering, Inc.
> PO Box 871, Block Island, RI 02807
> (401) 447-5773
>
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