diy solar

diy solar

Getting a refund, can’t use my 48 vdc windmill with EG4 system.

Crowz said:
Sungold doesn't tell me not to connect solar assistant to their inverters :)
Click to expand...
Crowz said:
Well now that you mentioned it (Does it cover outside damage) sungold never asked me how any of the problems occurred. They just figured out what they thought was wrong and sent parts....
Click to expand...
I missed the Solar Assistant clause in the written warranty. I also missed the related warranty incident where anyone refused to replace/repair a product because of it. Feel free to enlighten

Are there currently any closed warranty incidents we are aware of where EG4 has refused to make good on their warranty? Some of this stuff gets a little silly. Some over-zealous employees are obviously lacking a bit of training. Nobody is going to honor a warranty on a product you cut in half with a sawzall.
 
wpns said:
Once the battery is fully charged, adding more electrons causes dendrite growth. OSLT...
Click to expand...

No its will not.
Float do not mean it charge somting.
And a bms will stop this if the cell go up.
My float is 13.9volt on the battery .
And it stay that way till the sun go down.
No amps go in the battery if it hit the 13.9volt wall
It just stop charging.
If somtings go on like a inverter the solar system and the battery will be use on that moment.
But if you always draw power from the systeem even if the battery is full and the Float option is on.
Nothing will happen it go to the systeem what use power on that moment

Energy do the same like water.
It always go to the place with les resistance.
A battery you have to Pump in .
A lamp light pul out of the systeem so it flows to that direction.
On the moment both are on the same volt the charge and the battery the flow will stop .

Only a lead battery have a problem.
A lead battery is slow discharge so it need to be charge or it go slow empty.
And if you always Float charge and do not have a user than a lead battery will kill it self. (Reason a drip charger is use )

But normal you charge a battery wilt solar and use that energy in the night .
So you have always a discharge.
If you use the battery for backup only .
A lead battery need drip charger and lipo4 do not need this it have not self discharge. (Bms and bluetooth will slow discharge)

I have 30ah lipo4 backup portable unit .
Its now 70% charge the last time i have charge this unit is summer 2023 ( 1 year ago) on 100%
The discharge is from the bms unit that use some power draw to function.

Reason float option is not need on the lipo4 is that the cells will not discharge .
It only discharge thanks to a bms and the Bluetooth systeem beult in.
So that unit will always use some energy .
But the company that makes the battery are not the one that makes the bms and more .
That is for the company and user setting to use.

Float a problem ?
No not if you have user running from the battery systeem .
 
Sorry that you are currently dealing with this. We are currently reviewing our Warranty and will be updating it due to this.

However, we do strongly recommend closed loop communication whenever possible. If your MPPT/charge controller has a lead acid mode, please make sure that it is suitable for LiFePo4 batteries before connection in open loop.
 
ksmithaz1 said:
I missed the Solar Assistant clause in the written warranty. I also missed the related warranty incident where anyone refused to replace/repair a product because of it. Feel free to enlighten

Are there currently any closed warranty incidents we are aware of where EG4 has refused to make good on their warranty? Some of this stuff gets a little silly. Some over-zealous employees are obviously lacking a bit of training. Nobody is going to honor a warranty on a product you cut in half with a sawzall.
Click to expand...
Well since the site has a wonderful search and this ones been hashed out on here over and over just do a search for it :)
 
ksmithaz1 said:
I missed the Solar Assistant clause in the written warranty. I also missed the related warranty incident where anyone refused to replace/repair a product because of it. Feel free to enlighten

Are there currently any closed warranty incidents we are aware of where EG4 has refused to make good on their warranty? Some of this stuff gets a little silly. Some over-zealous employees are obviously lacking a bit of training. Nobody is going to honor a warranty on a product you cut in half with a sawzall.
Click to expand...
"I'm glad to see the system is running again, although I would personally not advise using Solar-Assistant as it will burn up the communication card of EG4 inverters. It sends an additional 32V back into the port it's connected to. Also it voids the warranty of EG4 inverters since it is an unsupported configuration."
Click to expand...

diysolarforum.com

Solar Assistant (Possibly) Voids Warranty on EG4 Inverters?

I just received this from EG4/Signature Solar support: "I'm glad to see the system is running again, although I would personally not advise using Solar-Assistant as it will burn up the communication card of EG4 inverters. It sends an additional 32V back into the port it's connected to. Also it...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
 
Brucey said:
But is a float of say 56V adding more electrons? 3.5V per cell?
Click to expand...

ksmithaz1 said:
Didn't read ahead, was stated multiple times prior without identifying the culprits. If true as stated, someone needs to have a sit-down with these people and get them up to speed. My guess is over-zealous tech support or a simple misunderstanding of the question. Anyone who calls and starts a conversation with "Does this warranty cover", probably starts setting off alarm bells. A warranty is only as good as the company behind the product. Thus far while sometimes somewhat sluggish, getting it resolved, I've seen no indication that eg4 has failed to honor their warranties. If you want to bash them a bit for past sins, I shant comment, but AFAIK all the incidents reported here have been resolved one way or another.
Click to expand...
I called tech support to ask how and can I, connect my 48 vdc wind generator and 48 vdc propane back-up generator to the buss bar in a combiner box or could I use one of the battery terminals. This is when I was told, neither were approved for use with the EG4. I could however post the question on a forum, such as this one and see what others may have done. But was also told that it might be hard to find someone who has, because should that be discovered, their warranty would be voided.

EG4 said they would keep me posted should something get approved, I appreciated that from Colton at EG4 very much.

Perhaps they could have discussed with me, for me to do that testing, right?
 
David93561 said:
I called tech support to ask how and can I, connect my 48 vdc wind generator and 48 vdc propane back-up generator to the buss bar in a combiner box or could I use one of the battery terminals. This is when I was told, neither were approved for use with the EG4. I could however post the question on a forum, such as this one and see what others may have done. But was also told that it might be hard to find someone who has, because should that be discovered, their warranty would be voided.
Click to expand...

1718468359887.jpeg
 
David93561 said:
But was also told that it might be hard to find someone who has, because should that be discovered, their warranty would be voided.

EG4 said they would keep me posted should something get approved, I appreciated that from Colton at EG4 very much.

Perhaps they could have discussed with me, for me to do that testing, right?
Click to expand...

So, Colton told you that it would void the warranty.

@SignatureSolarJess has Colten been properly trained in warranty policy and would not issue that statement again?
 
Really a company that do this
Well i look for a other Material to use from a other company.

we have a saying.
There are more women than churches in the world.

Wat means thare are more company , works or what ever in the world.
Zo thare is no reason to stay by one.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
So, Colton told you that it would void the warranty.

@SignatureSolarJess has Colten been properly trained in warranty policy and would not issue that statement again?
Click to expand...
sunshine_eggo said:
So, Colton told you that it would void the warranty.

@SignatureSolarJess has Colten been properly trained in warranty policy and would not issue that statement again
Click to expand...
I will be reviewing the phone call after I get a little bit of information from OP. @David93561 I have sent you a message.

Once I listen through it, I'll make sure that Colton has been retrained on the warranty.
 
EG4_Jarrett said:
I will be reviewing the phone call after I get a little bit of information from OP. @David93561 I have sent you a message.

Once I listen through it, I'll make sure that Colton has been retrained on the warranty.
Click to expand...

What exactly did Colton tell the OP that was wrong?

Y'all have pretty much come out and said that you don't like open loop non EG4 approved devices, and that using them will possibly void the warranty, if, *in your determination*, it was the cause of the damage.

Considering that EG4/SS is the judge/jury/executioner on whether it was caused by the third party device, that seems like a pretty big warning not to use them if you value the warranty.

The only mistake Colton made that I can see is that he was a little overzealous in his wording, and didn't say "possibly" before void.

I assume many other manufactures have similar wording in their warranties, the difference is that they aren't here in a public forum making their opinion of open loop communications and third party devices known.
 
timselectric said:
It is a standard warranty.
The explanation of the warranty was incorrect and caused this thread.
It's no different than any other warranty.

Example:
If the front of your car falls off, it's covered.
If a semi truck knocks the front of your car off, it's not covered.
Click to expand...

So, similar to the automotive industry, you can do anything you want to it. They have to prove what you did / hooked up to it caused the damage. Until they can PROVE it was caused by the third party device, warranty stands. Not that auto manufacturers have proven to be easy to deal with on warranty claims.

The question becomes, how do they prove it, and how much will it cost you to fight a possibly hostile party that publicly comes out and says how they feel about 3rd party products on numerous occasions at this point. They dislike solar assistant, open loop insanity batteries, 48vdc generators and wind turbine controllers. Am I missing anything they've said will cause you warranty troubles?
 
cs1234 said:
So, similar to the automotive industry, you can do anything you want to it. They have to prove what you did / hooked up to it caused the damage. Until they can PROVE it was caused by the third party device, warranty stands. Not that auto manufacturers have proven to be easy to deal with on warranty claims.

The question becomes, how do they prove it, and how much will it cost you to fight a possibly hostile party that publicly comes out and says how they feel about 3rd party products on numerous occasions at this point. They dislike solar assistant, open loop insanity batteries, 48vdc generators and wind turbine controllers. Am I missing anything they've said will cause you warranty troubles?
Click to expand...
I'll agree that we hear a lot of strange things said by phone support.
But as far as I can remember, I haven't heard anything about someone getting screwed out of a warranty claim.
 
cs1234 said:
So, similar to the automotive industry, you can do anything you want to it.
Click to expand...
featherlite said:
Could you please explain what you mean by the above statement?
Who is "you" and what is "it"?
Click to expand...
In the automotive industry (in theory anyway), you can add a third party supercharger to your engine. Adding the supercharger to your engine and blowing your engine from excessive power will likely result in the warranty not covering the engine.. parts of it anyway. If there is some known defect in the engine, being recalled for whatever reason, your engine part under recall is still covered.. even with the addition of the supercharger. If they have to remove the supercharger to get to the part under recall, they will likely charge you for that or refuse to perform the work until you return it to factory spec though. Your supercharger is not their problem, but your car/engine is still their problem.

Your air conditioner, power steering, stereo system, are all still covered under warranty even if you added a supercharger. Even parts that are "worked harder" from having a more powerful engine, such as the brakes, cooling system and transmission are likely still covered. It gets sketchy though, and of course they might try to deny them.

There is plenty of history and existing law about warranty coverage in the auto industry. In the solar power / home energy generating industry, not so much. It's kind of like the wild west, complete with frontier justice.

In the solar industry / electronic industry, it's a bit tougher, because everything is so integrated onto a few main boards on the inside. It also doesn't have as many separate systems as a car does. It's harder to prove/disprove one component didn't damage another component than it is in a car with mechanical wear and tear occurring over hundreds or thousands of miles and separated by literal feet of distance. Electronics tend to fail suddenly and spectacularly, leaving nothing but blown up charred bits behind as evidence. Whose to say a capacitor blew because of a third party battery BMS or because it just had a manufacturing defect? What about FETs blowing up, did it have poor contact to the heatsink from a manufacturing defect, or was it worked too hard by something that couldn't be turned off with closed loop communications?

Think about an iphone for example. Apple can't deny your warranty claim for your battery no longer holding a charge because you had it hooked up to a USB port for charging on your laptop. That's an ability/feature that the product has. The EG4 inverter/battery connecting to a non EG4 DC source / battery is no different, that's an inherent ability and feature of their product. They can't just outright deny warranty claims because you used a product in a logical way that those products have always been used.

In general, manufacturers of ANY product are not allowed to void your warranty if you use third party products in a manner that is generally considered normal for that type of product if it can't be proven that those products caused the failure. The burden of proof should be on the party trying to deny the warranty claim, and they had better have a solid case for the denial. However, by virtue of them having deeper pockets, more patience and having what you want (the repair/replacement), they can usually bully you and most people will simply give up. They hold all the power.

It's that last bit in red that causes all the problems.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
So, Colton told you that it would void the warranty.

@SignatureSolarJess has Colten been properly trained in warranty policy and would not issue that statement again?
Click to expand...
Hi again! Colten is with EG4 but @EG4_Jarrett is taking care of it and making sure everyone has consistent information ☺️ I will touch base with our team as well just in case 🌞
 
David93561 said:
Just a little update, I received an email from Colten at EG4 today, stating that, using a wind turbine with a charge controller will not void the warranty. Good news!
Click to expand...
What about your 48vdc generator?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Off grid cabin/solar shed/layout and installation assistance
Replies
6
Views
443
50ShadesOfDirt
50ShadesOfDirt
B
Can my 3kw predator inverter generator be a back-up charger for the new EG4 wall mount batteries?
Replies
7
Views
425
CaliSunHarvester
CaliSunHarvester
JeromeP
How can I tie a solar inverter in with my Westinghouse igen 3500/4500 120v inverter generator for off-grid system?
Replies
3
Views
408
TexanSun
T
S
Help with building an EG4 full time off grid solar system for a 600 sq ft home.
Replies
10
Views
605
Timmaahhh
T
Capt Bill
EG4 3000 EHV-48 Configuration Learning Curves
Replies
12
Views
1K
aussiesam
A

diy solar

diy solar
Back
Top