[RE-wrenches] Blue Ion BMU issue request

Sat Dec 20 15:04:36 PST 2025

Greetings Allan,

Sorry for the lack of response to your inquiry a few weeks back. Starting
in 2017 I too have had impressive success and support from the BPE folks.
88 cabinets installed over 53 sites. One BMU failure on my second install
but it wasn't a true failure of the main hardware. Somehow too much
current tried to find it's way through the momentary start button and
burned up the small 18 gauge (or similar) conductors. A fix was shipped and
power was immediately restored to the site. Never turned off actually, only
downtime was for the swap. Only noticed because the client reported a
strong burning smell so I returned to the site to find the surprise.

Another site's BMU failed on a newly installed system about 2 years ago.
This one appeared to have occurred due to excessive current beyond what the
BMU is rated for. Although it was a commonly successful inverter pairing
with an 8 KW Radian, there was evidence that the  tenants were frequently
not paying attention to consumption habits and there was datalogs (Egauge
and Vue) of brief moments near 10 KW's of consumption. At first BPE
hesitated a bit and noted that it would not automatically be covered until
they could perform a failure analysis on the returned unit but ultimately
they took care of me. Jody and the crew always supported me and always felt
like an extended family. Some may or may not remember but there was even a
brief period on their website that stated "we don't believe in fine print".

I also had one Sony battery module fail about 5 years ago. Luckily it was
on my own system otherwise I might not have believed it or found it so
easily. Once again a replacement was sent out immediately and I never had
any other failures with the batteries. Once I had a single battery LED
status light go from green to blinking orange but upon their advice powered
down the HI cabinet and the problem was never to be seen again.

Due to a few clients selling properties and others wanting to double
capacity in their 8 KWH cabinets I have now found myself with two empty
cabinets therefore I can rely on those as backups should a BMU failure
occur. Additionally, with a Midnite Powerflo16 now being barely just 3x
what a replacement BMU costs it seems there is plenty of strategy to just
stock Powerflos and play the swap game with other clients as necessary.
Part of me would like to have another BMU on my shelf and I can see the
security of having one but too many times I've spent thousands of dollars
only to have unsellable inventory years later.

I hope Blue Planet comes back and they can offer a drop in replacement that
would allow us to not have to alter the mechanical rooms but I imagine
these batteries still have many useful years of service ahead of them.
Obviously would be some implications of placing more than 20 KWH's in a
single cabinet but sure would be nice to leave them in place once the
batteries need to be replaced. Based on conclusions in the ITP test
years ago the Forelion cells seemed quite promising. Sure seems like our
Blue Ion sites are in a good position for continued success.

Nick

On Sat, Dec 20, 2025 at 11:13 AM Sindelar Solar via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Esteemed Wrenches,
> Following up on this thread that I started in early December: I sent an
> email to my seven former Blue Planet customers, that included the texts of
> BPE's website homepage announcement of shutting down operations and the
> letter offering spare BMUs on closeout. I remained neutral, equating the
> offer to buying insurance that you hope never to need. Three customers
> responded, and I spoke with three more by phone, with one yet to reply. All
> six are fully satisfied with their BPE batteries, except for one client's
> expressed difficulty with the loss of the online portal interpreting the
> E-Gauge information. None has had any failures or issues since
> installation.
> Three of the six chose to order a spare BMU, each of whom has the
> financial means to buy it. I'll act as a pass-through, with no markup.
>
> I expected more response on this list, given all of the discussions
> regarding LiFP suppliers and results with other brands. The dearth of
> discussion suggests to me that there have been very few issues with the
> products and with the support while BPE was still in operation.
>
> The only contact I have at what's left of BPE is my former Regional Sales
> Manager, Lori Ann Saunders, lori at blueplanetenergy.com.
> Allan
>
> On 12/20/2025 8:01 AM, Jerry Shafer via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> To all the blue planet installers and to the wrenches too,
> Blue planet is not the first nor will it be the last to terminate a
> product line.
> I personally have been installing blue planet from befor the 16 was
> released. I have only one issue with a system we had 6 16 k and one had a
> battery issue, quickly resolved and back up, no BMU issues so far ever so
> its a difficult call to drop the cash to sit on your shelf or not. It may
> be very valuable to have one down the road, look at Apple, Microsoft or
> maybe a Saab or Desoto. To invest or not to and that's the bottom line. For
> me as much as would like to have a spare l don't think l can right now.
> Fun times
>
> On Tue, Dec 9, 2025, 12:22 AM Mark Downing via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> All detailed in here
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> on
>> behalf of Sam Haraldson via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
>> *Sent:* Monday, December 8, 2025 10:33 AM
>>
>> Good Morning, Allan,
>> I'll share my limited insight in hopes it proves valuable to you.
>>
>> Have you had any Blue Ion battery or BMU failures?  If so, how many
>> systems have you installed, and how many failures have you had? What
>> failed, and what did you do to resolve the issue? If you replaced a BMU,
>> was the process straightforward, and were you given a complete set of
>> documentation with the unit? Was the factory warranty process honored?
>>
>> We have nine sites with Blue Ion installed.  These range in size from a
>> single battery module up to 48 modules.  They are mated to a range of
>> chargers and inverters from Outback, Magnum, Midnite, Schneider, and
>> Sol-Ark.  We have only experienced an issue at a single site and that was a
>> battery module.  Blue Ion was extremely attentive from a customer service
>> perspective.  They mailed problem-specific testing equipment along with
>> the RMA'ed parts, provided live customer-support during the testing, and
>> provided return shipping.  All was covered by warranty (I do not know if
>> there was a labor reimbursement).
>>
>> On a related track, how have you responded to Blue Planet's offer? Does
>> it come across as a valid solution? Have you bought one or more spare BMUs?
>> How are you supporting your Blue Ion customers going forward? Have you
>> received support of any kind from Blue Planet?
>>
>> Our company took the same approach you did, sending an email to our
>> customer base informing them to consider purchasing a back up BMU.  To the
>> best of my knowledge only one of our customers has opted to purchase a
>> back-up and they are an energy utility with two large, high-consequence
>> systems that easily warrants the ROI.  We as a company are leaning toward
>> not purchasing one to "have in stock".
>> Sincerely,
>> Sam
>>
>> [image: OnSite Energy] <https://onsiteenergyinc.com/>
>>
>> Sam Haraldson
>> Operations Specialist
>> (406) 551-6135
>> 1515 N. Rouse Ave Bozeman, MT 59715
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/1515+N.+Rouse+Ave+Bozeman,+MT+59715?entry=gmail&source=g>
>> Locally owned and operated since 2012
>> [image: B Corporation] <https://onsiteenergyinc.com/bcorp>
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