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<p>I have to agree its still a pretty major undertaking to go
through the entire warranty claim. If you haven't actually had to
go through the entire process from truck roll(s) to waving the
failed PVs good-bye on the loading dock, shipped at your expense,
it may not seem so daunting and expensive. But it is, many times
complicated by not being supplied with matching (electrically and
physically) PVs. I am baffled by the statement:"<i>you can often
get a claim accepted without a site visit, or at a minimum a
drive by to check the status of the modules</i>", maybe that's
an assumption that there are no string inverters without MLPE's in
the field anymore.</p>
<p> We'll be filing your contact info in the event we
ever have to do a warranty claim with REC. I too hope that day
doesn't come, again.<br>
</p>
<p>Bill</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Feather River Solar Electric
Bill Battagin, Owner
4291 Nelson St.(shipping)
5575 Genesee Rd. (USPS, UPS)
Taylorsville, CA 95983
530.284.1925 Office/ 530.258.1641 Cell
CA Lic 874049
Solar powered since 1982</pre>
<p></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/22/2022 3:48 PM, George McClellan
via RE-wrenches wrote:<br>
</div>
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<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m not sure that a PhD dissertation is
required for a successful performance warranty claim. For
most claims, the manufacturer needs to verify just a few
things; 1. Is it one of their modules? (verified with a
serial number) 2. Is the module broken? (verified by an image
of the module) 3. Is the module shaded? (verified by an image
of the array, indicating where the claimed module is), 4. Is
the module not performing to spec? (verified with a Voc and
Isc check, or module level info from the MLPE). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A lot can be learned from the MLPE on a
solar module. Many manufacturers will accept individual
module voltage and current readings form the monitoring
platform for warranty claims (free). Couple that with and
image of the module to determine if it is broken, and a view
of the array to understand if the module is not shaded and
that can potentially be an inexpensive warranty claim. Where
things go sideways is when a customer wants a module replaced
because they see it is performing at less than the rest of the
modules in the array, and does not want to investigate any
further. Do just a minor amount of logical remote
troubleshooting (individual modules voltage and current,
compared to the spec sheet and neighboring modules) and you
can often get a claim accepted without a site visit, or at a
minimum a drive by to check the status of the modules.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Module manufacturers are very interested in
warranty claims as they use the failure analyses to feed back
into their product improvement program. So I’m not sure it is
wise to lump all manufacturers in with one bad actor.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But – as always – the best warranty out
there is one that you don’t have to use.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">IMHO.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">George McClellan | Senior Technical Sales
Manager | REC Americas LLC
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:4.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:8.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">330
James Way Ste 150<span lang="UK"> | </span>Pismo Beach, CA
93449<span lang="UK"> |
</span>USA<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cell phone +1 805 704 3226 | Fax +1 805
357 6104 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:navy"><a
href="http://www.recgroup.com/"
title="http://www.recgroup.com/" moz-do-not-send="true">www.recgroup.com</a>
</span><span style="color:black">| <a
href="mailto:shannon.kent@recgroup.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">george.mcclellan@recgroup.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img
style="width:4.1666in;height:2.3958in"
id="Picture_x0020_2"
src="cid:part1.boFqp4WS.FaMEBjXp@psln.com" class=""
width="400" height="230" border="0"><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1
1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> RE-wrenches
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org"><re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org></a>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, November 22, 2022 2:17 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> RE-wrenches
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org"><re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org></a><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Jason Szumlanski
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:jason@floridasolardesigngroup.com"><jason@floridasolardesigngroup.com></a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches] Sunpower Performance
Warranty Claim<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">This
is why I have an article on my website to explain to
prospective clients why module warranties are mostly
useless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The
cost to evaluate most potential problems is
prohibitive. Now if you have a major manufacturer
failure and every module is obviously bad, that could
be grounds for a warranty claim, but for a single
module or two, or a minor deficiency in production -
it just will never be worth it. And later in the life
of a system, even a major issue might not be worth
investigating. I can count the successful module
warranty claims I have done in my career on a single
hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Modules
warranties are mostly marketing nonsense,
unfortunately, IMO.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
Jason Szumlanski <o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#333333">Principal
Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group<br>
NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)<br>
Florida State Certified Solar Contractor
CVC56956</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<img style="width:.0104in;height:.0104in" id="_x0000_i1027"
src="https://mailtrack.io/trace/mail/5e62fb789662426d5070672de32d3f35c6d1a27a.png?u=1613865"
moz-do-not-send="true" width="1" height="1" border="0"><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 1:50 PM Scot
Arey via RE-wrenches <<a
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>>
wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC
1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in
6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">I
agree that the time to process warranty the module
to a manufacturer’s desires is cost-prohibitive.
Of all the component’s we use, this warranty
almost seems the least valuable for this very
reason. We stopped one case for this very reason
as I didn’t want to do a PhD dissertation for a
single module.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Was
surprised by one manufacturer who advised us to
read that bypass diodes were not an warranty
defect even though the module was making half
power.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Good
luck, look forward to hearing how your case goes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Scot
Arey<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Solar
CenTex<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1
1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>From:</b>
RE-wrenches <<a
href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Daniel Young via
RE-wrenches<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, November 22, 2022 12:34
PM<br>
<b>To:</b> RE-wrenches <<a
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Daniel Young <<a
href="mailto:danny@sesre.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">danny@sesre.com</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [RE-wrenches] Sunpower
Performance Warranty Claim<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Hello
Wrenches,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Any
experience successfully submitting a performance
warranty claim with SunPower on their solar
modules? Right now, in order to Provide what they
are asking for, we will likely spend more
time/money testing to their satisfaction than it
would cost for us to likely buy new modules and
just replace the array.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Anybody
have a similar experience? Or suggestions on how
to deal with Sunpower?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Don’t
want to bog this down with all the details but
suffice to say we I-V traced the array at the
string level as a sanity check (7-10 % lower than
anticipated performance), and a random selection
of individual modules as well and we are seeing
roughly 8% lower performance than expected given
the array age and listed performance warranty.
(STC corrected I-V trace is 8% lower than it
should be for an 8 year old solar module from
SunPower)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">With
Regards,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather">--</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather">Danny Young</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather">NABCEP PV Installation
Professional #031508-90</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather">Engineering Team Lead<br>
Solar Energy Solutions</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Merriweather Regular"">Lexington
| Louisville | Bloomington | Cincinnati |
Evansville | Indianapolis</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather">513-448-5176 (mobile)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather">877-312-7456 (Main
Office)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Merriweather"><a
href="mailto:danny@sesre.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">danny@sesre.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">_________________________<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center">
<hr width="100%" size="2" align="center">
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:gray"><br>
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