We are very new to solar, and are building a camper van. We recently purchased some solar panels from Renogy, but honestly their customer service is so absolutely horrid it makes me very concerned about doing business with them. I am seriously considering returning the panels and purchasing elsewhere. Renogy seems to be rated #1 for quality, is there anything comparable that also has decent customer service?
Renogy
- Thread starter CTack
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chrisski
Solar Boondocker
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- Aug 14, 2020
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- 5,600
Before you go and return the panels, what is wrong?
I have Renogy Panels and what you're saying is nothing new about customer service. I bought the Renogy panels after I ordered from Eco-Worthy, and not once but twice, Eco-Worthy gave me a bait and switch where they changed the promise delivery date by several weeks for one item, and for another item offered me the choice between a late delivery or expedited delivery from China for $50 more.
I only looked at 100 watt panels and the only companies I came up with were Renogy, Eco-Worthy, HQST, and the rest seemed like they were manufactured by new companies.
There's those that will disagree, and will say Renogy is only good at marketing, but I think you should consider keeping the panels. I am not saying that with anything but the panels. For a quality charge controller, I went with Victron instead of Renogy. Batteries I went with Trojan and not Renogy.
I have Renogy Panels and what you're saying is nothing new about customer service. I bought the Renogy panels after I ordered from Eco-Worthy, and not once but twice, Eco-Worthy gave me a bait and switch where they changed the promise delivery date by several weeks for one item, and for another item offered me the choice between a late delivery or expedited delivery from China for $50 more.
I only looked at 100 watt panels and the only companies I came up with were Renogy, Eco-Worthy, HQST, and the rest seemed like they were manufactured by new companies.
There's those that will disagree, and will say Renogy is only good at marketing, but I think you should consider keeping the panels. I am not saying that with anything but the panels. For a quality charge controller, I went with Victron instead of Renogy. Batteries I went with Trojan and not Renogy.
I have 6 x 100W Renogy mono panels, Z brackets and a 40A renogy rover.
All working well, even exceeding 100W output at times by 10%.
I'm also happy with their parallel adapter, their series fuse, inverter cables and battery cables.
The Rover does support 24V (8s 280AH LiFePO4) but all of the settings are entered as 12V (ie: Overvoltage cutoff of 28.8V is entered as 14.4). It would have been nice to have finer than 1 decimal place settings.
All working well, even exceeding 100W output at times by 10%.
I'm also happy with their parallel adapter, their series fuse, inverter cables and battery cables.
The Rover does support 24V (8s 280AH LiFePO4) but all of the settings are entered as 12V (ie: Overvoltage cutoff of 28.8V is entered as 14.4). It would have been nice to have finer than 1 decimal place settings.
Because I have one, and its junk.
The voltage reading are out, the amps reading is out (20% lower than a clamp meter shows), I have 0 faith that the unit is working correctly and support is so hopeless I have given up and replaced the setup at my own expense. Oh, and the bluetooth dongle died within 12 months.
gnubie
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2019
- Messages
- 3,844
Interesting. It's actually made by SRNE. I have 2 x RR 40li for testing purposes and agree the voltage is 0.2V per '12V battery' out. Inaccurate voltage readings are pretty common in a lot of the cheaper controllers. Some do far worse. The current reading is interesting. The two I have are reasonably accurate, well within what I'd give for a cheaper controller, certainly far closer than 20% perhaps 1% from what I've seen.
If you have one that is 20% out and can demonstrate it acceptably Renogy should refund / replace. Doesn't your consumer law there require that?
If you have one that is 20% out and can demonstrate it acceptably Renogy should refund / replace. Doesn't your consumer law there require that?
I did prove it to them, and my support got escalated, proved it to them, who passed me to the Asia pacific region sales support, who didn’t accept it and escalated it back to tech support. In the end I just gave up.
I had a battery monitor showing the amps, and a clamp meter confirming it, verse their unit being 20% out.
I have never seen my panels output more than 40% of their wattage using the RR, so as I said above I had 0 faith the unit was working at all.
For the record. I was actually a fan of their product design, concept, app etc. Just there support was completely woeful when there was a problem. And to me, this is fundamental and the reason ill never buy another renogy product or recommend them.
Nothing is wrong with the panels, but I am actually afraid to do business with this company because of their very poor customer service. Looking ahead if I have a problem with anything I purchase from them, warranty or not, I believe I will be "on my own." Customer Service is a big deal when buying expensive products. They simply do not respond to emails or phone calls until you make multiple attempts over a period of weeks.
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