Sun Gold Power 6500 is a clone? Or MPP Solar just pissy at the competition?

So I just got mine, well under 1k delivered and for all accounts looks awesome, but now I am seeing these F90 Fake firmware posts etc... As curiosity I reached out out to MPP solar and they immediately it said its a clone/rip off unit.

So what is the deal here? How can we find out, is there anyway to contact Voltronics and have them verify serial numbers?

My previous AIO was a LV2424 worked and I was using a 8s 3p bank. Now ready to do a 48v but the MPP LV6548 was $1400 vs the $900 for this one, they both have TUV/UL certs.

they are all in the same factory by the same mfr, MPP has no factory, always a sticker company. MPP and W24/7 are engaged in slander

Lol , Sun Gold power is just as legit as watts247. They are all US retailers for the same product. I'll give you a good example. LVX6048WP, Sungolds "BluePower IP6048", and Simpliphi's "ESS6KW" are all the same inverter. I'm pretty sure Simpliphi through Briggs and Stratton got this unit UL certification. Same unit same firmware, although I think simpliphi has their own proprietary bullshit software you can you can use to monitor the unit through their gateway.

It is a clone. They have different components and use a daughter board that the original design does not need. After months of fighting with SunGold over flickering lights, seeing people here complain about similar issues with the EG46500EX I think we have all learned a lesson about clones. Not everything is created equally. I'm too poor to buy cheap things. I spent far more changing fixtures, installing filters, caps, re-wiring etc than if I just got the MPP unit upfront.

nofear72784 said:

It is a clone. They have different components and use a daughter board that the original design does not need. After months of fighting with SunGold over flickering lights, seeing people here complain about similar issues with the EG46500EX I think we have all learned a lesson about clones. Not everything is created equally. I'm too poor to buy cheap things. I spent far more changing fixtures, installing filters, caps, re-wiring etc than if I just got the MPP unit upfront.

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and they sold off at $900 a few weeks ago abandoning the product because their bad batch hit them...

Has anyone actually put an lv6548 next to an sp6548 next to an eg4 6500 and opened them all up and dissected them?

Quattrohead said:

Has anyone actually put an lv6548 next to an sp6548 next to an eg4 6500 and opened them all up and dissected them?

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They are all the same. By eye anyway. If you remove the boards the capacitors might be a bit different. The older sungolds could actually parallel with the older LV’s. Anyway, it’s essentially the same inverter. The eg4’s do have much nicer AC ports and pv inputs. That’s the biggest physical difference you’d see with any of them.

They can not all be the same electronically. If they were we would not have these issues with some brands and not with others. My loaner MPP has no daughter board, different fans, different fan cutouts, 1.2 amps less draw at idle and best part... no flickering lights or error codes all on the exact same firmware as my SP. I did my best playing ball with SunGold for almost a year awaiting a fix or refund... never again.
I would be very interested in a deep dive to the differences but I don't know anyone with all 3 that is willing to dissect them. I would love to know if these units are fixable by swapping parts from others since mine will be gathering dust. I refuse to sell my SP knowing that it has killed appliances. Wouldn't wish this nonsense on anyone. We spend good money on these products and they should perform properly and safely.

guys, these literally came off the same line, have sent several people over there.

the thing is that the master ODM switched things up a lot in the last 18 months, if you got the older batches (MPP because they stocked up then got out-competed) then you were good, the newer ones (including the recent MPP) faced serious issues, we are committed to owning all of ours and most of the issues on ours are resolved. the rest are ongoing on a daily basis to fix.
Because we are all on the same core design now (their mppt is locked out to 390v to avoid breaking an agreement to give us exclusive on 500v) I hope that some of our efforts will be able to help the Sungold and MPP new batches if you guys keep pressuring them.

SignatureSolarJames said:

guys, these literally came off the same line, have sent several people over there.

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So is there any type of PPAP process? What is the test frequency of units off the line?
Any type of FMEA / PFMEA?
I've always thought automotive industry standards were absurd / over the top (tolerances of +/- mm for items like push pins and heel pads for example) Getting deeper and deeper into solar makes me realize why they exist...

SignatureSolarJames said:

the thing is that the master ODM switched things up a lot in the last 18 months, if you got the older batches (MPP because they stocked up then got out-competed) then you were good, the newer ones (including the recent MPP) faced serious issues, we are committed to owning all of ours and most of the issues on ours are resolved. the rest are ongoing on a daily basis to fix.
Because we are all on the same core design now (their mppt is locked out to 390v to avoid breaking an agreement to give us exclusive on 500v) I hope that some of our efforts will be able to help the Sungold and MPP new batches if you guys keep pressuring them.

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Makes me realize I should get back on them about flickering lights during washer agitation and light loads through my TP6048. The communication was pretty good but I gave up when they wanted multiple videos of this and that. I suppose it makes sense thinking about it again.
I do have concern over long term impacts to sensitive electronics.

42OhmsPA said:

So is there any type of PPAP process? What is the test frequency of units off the line?
Any type of FMEA / PFMEA?
I've always thought automotive industry standards were absurd / over the top (tolerances of +/- mm for items like push pins and heel pads for example) Getting deeper and deeper into solar makes me realize why they exist...

Makes me realize I should get back on them about flickering lights during washer agitation and light loads through my TP6048. The communication was pretty good but I gave up when they wanted multiple videos of this and that. I suppose it makes sense thinking about it again.
I do have concern over long term impacts to sensitive electronics.

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these units will get stable one way or the other, voltronic is committed to fixing it, it's been a huge effort to keep pushing them tho.

My last message from SunGold yesterday said and I quote "Hello, we are still testing all kinds of led lights and haven't found a fixed solution for the flicker issue. We have pushed our tech department to speed up the research. Sorry for all the inconvenience that we brought to you" This is the exact same nonsense they have been saying for 9 months. After 2 RMA's, hours and hours of sending scope readings and videos to them, over 500 in new bulbs, dimmer and fixtures, dealing with their "engineer" in California installing filters and caps and so far 0 actual progress. I firmly believe that SunGold has written off their customers and just want to sell their remaining stock.
Signature Solar is a big player and if they cut and ran like SunGold people would stop buying from them. It seems like Signature has verified the issue and is now standing by the units. When the flickering lights video was released it seemed to me like they were trying to say this issue was normal as others to do it. Glad to see that was not the case.
I hope the MPP unit I ordered from Watts works just like the one I am borrowing. But, I know that if I have an issue they will help me out unlike SunGold. The moral of the story, buy from a reputable company that will stand by the products they sell. Learned my lesson.

SignatureSolarJames said:

these units will get stable one way or the other, voltronic is committed to fixing it

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So what exactly is the problem and now will it be resolved ?
Is this problem making them unstable in certain situations only ?

Quattrohead said:

So what exactly is the problem and now will it be resolved ?
Is this problem making them unstable in certain situations only ?

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We are getting to where mass data can be collected, it seems that firmware is tripping EEPROM errors with the MCU boards and frankly it could be an unlimited combination of things that add up to those errors. the 6500 is stable now, the only issue is that some people are having early FET failure and we are making the RMA replacement much faster in those cases now. building a long term load test QA process to ensure nobody gets a defective rectifier upfront though.

that's about all the summary I have at my level, there are dozens of sub-questions that the team is chasing with this kind of issue but regardless of cost we are getting it covered

A year ago it seemed like I was the only one complaining about these issues. I was literally the only one posting about them. Glad to finally see in writing that there are known issues and I am not a nut lol.

I bought 2 SunGold Sp6548 and am running them in split phased mode. I currently have no batteries which I was told was not possible in split phase but I have AC input that I guess is regulating that. I haven’t had any flickering issues but again I’m battery less but I am inverting DC to AC as seen in the picture , hopefully it stays that way when I get my batteries!