My negative experience with my solar charger Epever Tracer10415AN and a warning for using it with Lithium Battery

[Etrain]

I brought this charger Evpever Tracer 10415AN 12v,24v,48v 100amps solar charge controller, $412 w/ taxes, from a seller called Y-Solar on amazon back in May 2019 and after a year, I finally got my system set up and running in May this year. It was powering my 48v lithium ion battery bank and an AIM 5000watt 48v pure swine inverter. It was running great with no trouble until I decided to take my system offline so I can do some cleaning, and add a plexiglass door to the cabinet where I housed my system. I turned on my system accordingly, breaker to the battery first than breaker to the panel, inverter off.
Nothing. The charger would not turn on. Just blank.
I tested the terminals and there are adequate power from both the battery and solar. The 100amp fuse is good. I opened up the machine (seller requested pictures), nothing is loose or any visible signs of damage. I have a M50 attached to the charger and that is off also so it's not a broken LCD. All the wires are tight.

On the amazon listing, the seller stated that the product is warranty for 2 years. So I contacted the seller about my issues, I sent them pictures and videos about the broken product. Hoping I send them the defective item and they send me a working one.
I was wrong.
First of all, the seller emphasized the fact that the charger doesn't support lithium ion battery. So I emailed the manufacture, at first that said
"
Hi,
Thank you for contacting us.
Yes, lithium battery is supported.
Have a nice day,
EPEVER Support
"
After I send the rebuttal to the seller, out of the blue, I got a follow up from Epever Support a few days later...
"
Tracer10145AN manufactured in the second half year of 2019 supports Lithium battery, products manufactured earlier do not support lithium battery. The quickest way to check whether the product received supports lithium battery or not is to check the label sticker that sticks on the product.
Texts "12V/24V/36V/48V" on the label means it does not support lithium battery.
Texts "12V/24V/36V/48V/Li" on the label means it supports lithium battery.
When I received your email, I thought you had not purchased the Tracer10415AN yet.
Have a nice day,
EPEVER Support
"
I had the charger set up as "user", I manually put in all the parameters correctly and it was working perfectly for months. I believe the solar charger was working fine with the lithium battery bank but the manufacturer claims mine doesn't supports lithium. The seller also send me an email echo what the manufacture said and saying this ....
"
Sorry I can't replace a new one to you. I provide you with 3 plans, see which one you can accept.
This product has 2 years of free repair service, you can choose to return to the factory for repair, but you need to pay for the return shipping. The time is about 30-45 days.
The second option is that after you send the product to our overseas warehouse address (shipping is paid), we will refund you $100.
The third option is that after you send the product to our overseas warehouse address (shipping is paid by yourself), pay an additional $200 to us, and we will send you a new 10415AN controller (this is an upgraded version that supports lithium batteries)
"
So to get the free repair, it seems like in any case, you will need to ship it to china and pay for the return shipping which can cost hundreds and on top 30-45 days for you to get it back! The other 2 options are just as ridiculous. Since its broken and just sitting at my house taking up space, fine, I decided to go with option 3. I asked for the address and if they can give me an invoice or receipt for this transaction. They replied:
"
I'm very sorry, we can only reissue 10415AN to you after resend the 10415 and 200 US dollars. （MT50 and No need to send other accessories）
You can receive the goods as soon as possible by sending them as soon as possible. There are still a few units in stock in the United States, otherwise we will have to wait for the next batch of shipping.
Overseas warehouse address:
Guxinghua GuXingHua
6215 NE 92nd Dr
C/O TPD112
Portland, Oregon, 97253
US
503-894-8090
Please send us the shipping certificate and tracking number after shipping.
We are very sorry that there is no invoice for this transaction.
"
I googled the address they gave me and it's for a company called USZCN INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS and these are the reviews for this place:
-"These people hacked my amazon account somehow and ordered an Apple Pencil. I saw I’m not the first person they did this to. Use your own money."
-"like others have said, they hacked my amazon acct to ship an apple pencil to themselves. oddly though, they did not use one of my cards. it is some random visa but they used my name as the 'name on card' so i'm very confused."
... and 9 other reviews claiming their Amazon acct got hacked by them.
Also they will not provide me with an invoice.
I also thought of the scenario of what happens if the "newer" lithium one is defective? Am I going to have to ship it to china to get it fix?
For $460 on a higher specs solar charger, I thought I would get a better product and customer service. Not in this case.
I decided to take my losses and ordered a 60A MPPT Solar Charge Controller DC 12V24V48V Auto Battery Regulator PV 150V Input MPPT Charge Controller for Lithium, Sealed, Gel, and Flooded Batteries by OneSolar for $178, deliever in 2 days, plus if it broke within a year, Im just going to have Amazon deal with it.
Hopefully this post helps. Thanks for reading.

If anyone have any idea what could be the problem with my Tracer and troubleshoot it. Please let me know. Thank you.

 

[Jim Burrow]

wow, another whore story. It seems like it is cheaper to buy a new controller than pay for shipping costs back to China.

 

[gnubie]

Step 1, sniff test. If something smells burnt that's where you start looking.

Step 2, check fuses. Fuses may be low current items too, they can look like small white rectangles as well as resistors with a 0 on them.

Step 3, check voltages. Unfortunately this takes a bit more electronics skill as you will need to be able to identify the regulators that provide what ever low voltages are required to run the unit. That might be 5V, 3.3V, 1.8V or all of them. It could all be on those vertically mounted boards with the base board being more for the high current side of the operation.

If you took some hi-res pictures of those, post to an external image hosting web site and then link to them on the forum that might be enough to point you in the right direction. The forum resizes large pictures so posting direct on the forum isn't the right thing for hi-res images.

 

[gnubie]

wow, another whore story. It seems like it is cheaper to buy a new controller than pay for shipping costs back to China.

Yep, it's why it's always good to buy from a confirmed local operation. Drop shippers don't count as @Etrain has discovered.

 

[MadMax03]

Caveat emptor to avoid future whore stories.

 

[Etrain]

Epever is a very well known brand and I've read reviews about the charger which is mostly positive. However, when there is a defect to the product, kiss your money good bye.

 

[JoeHam]

Caveat emptor to avoid future whore stories.

I don’t think you’re allowed to post those kind of stories here ?

 

[OnTheRoadAgain]

It seems that the main issue here is that regardless of the issue, the Warranty is of no practical value since it requires shipping the item back to China at near or more than the cost of the item.

I suspect this is a trend that will only grow with Chinese products.

I had already just purchased the same (but newer version) of this solar controller after reading this thread. (oh boy)
I have not yet received it.

Like Gnubie alluded to above, those with skills in electronics diagnostics and repair will do better.

 

[Etrain]

Update:
So after weeks of back and forth and 54 messages later, the seller and I agree that Ill would send them $150 to have the most updated brand new version deliver to my door. It took about 2 months and about $200 to settle this issue. The device is great but the customer service is as bad as it can get. They sent me a mp40 input controller with it too so now i have an extra one.

 

[fafrd]

Epever is a very well known brand and I've read reviews about the charger which is mostly positive. However, when there is a defect to the product, kiss your money good bye.

I think that’s a general rule of thumb for anything you purchase from a Chinese company (at least those with no US presence).

I mean, think about it.

 

[fafrd]

Update:
So after weeks of back and forth and 54 messages later, the seller and I agree that Ill would send them $150 to have the most updated brand new version deliver to my door. It took about 2 months and about $200 to settle this issue. The device is great but the customer service is as bad as it can get. They sent me a mp40 input controller with it too so now i have an extra one.

I’d say you’re lucky. The vendor you purchased from is either directly associated with the actual manufacturer or has a long-standing relationship with them.

The fact that the manufacturer would actually agree to upgrade you to the newer-generation product for a fee speaks quite highly of them.

I’m considering an Epever 6415AN-Li and struggling to understand how I am purchasing direct from the manufacturer (rather than through a middleman/reseller/trading company...

 

[Etrain]

I got mind through Amazon. So if they didnt replied or give me the run around, Amazon would've stepped in and most likely refunded my money. Also they dont want a negative review on their product

 

[guidecca]

Epever is a very well known brand and I've read reviews about the charger which is mostly positive. However, when there is a defect to the product, kiss your money good bye.

If you have any clout with Amazon, if that is where you bought it, Amazon should step in and give you a 100% credit. They know they are selling items that break easily and it doesn't affect their bottom line to give refunds. That is how Walmart treats defects.

 

[Etrain]

If you have any clout with Amazon, if that is where you bought it, Amazon should step in and give you a 100% credit. They know they are selling items that break easily and it doesn't affect their bottom line to give refunds. That is how Walmart treats defects.

I would but I got it a little under a year. To my understand, Amazon only get involve if it's under 30 days and mine was way over that but under "manufacturer warranty". Therefore, I had to jump through hoops, pay for shipping both ways and a long wait to it. Kicker is the "new" one they sent me wasn't disconnect when high voltage. So I said fuck it and just get the cheapest one 60amp 48v on amazon. Works like a charm.

 

[Symbioquine]

I turned on my system accordingly, breaker to the battery first than breaker to the panel, inverter off.

Am I understanding correctly that this means you disconnected the batteries from the Epever unit before disconnecting the solar panels from it? I believe this is not recommended and may even be dangerous to the Epever unit...

 

[Etrain]

Am I understanding correctly that this means you disconnected the batteries from the Epever unit before disconnecting the solar panels from it? I believe this is not recommended and may even be dangerous to the Epever unit.

Yeah you misunderstood me. First of all, I didn't mentioned about how I power down my system. Secondly, I didnt power down the way you described it. Those were the steps I powered on.

 

[falgsc-al]

I have two 80a epever controllers, one of which has been running like a clock for more than a year. Turning the bad into good here, maybe we need a sticky on how to disconnect/connect them safely without damage...? Ive had to disconnect and reconnect mine several times over wiring revisions but I always waited until dark to do so.

 

[fafrd]

I have two 80a epever controllers, one of which has been running like a clock for more than a year. Turning the bad into good here, maybe we need a sticky on how to disconnect/connect them safely without damage...? Ive had to disconnect and reconnect mine several times over wiring revisions but I always waited until dark to do so.

I gained no insight into what was causing my issue - did you?

If anyone thinks they’ve got a reliable and repeatable reset / reconnect sequence that starts an Epever AN SCC off correctly in a way that is is responsive to all user settings, it would be great to document that somewhere.

But my guess is that even Epever themselves may not understand causes these ‘ghosts’ in their AN-Series products (and hence may not know how they can reliably be avoided).

 

[falgsc-al]

I do recall in a manual that it said to connect the batteries before connecting solar. I would imagine reverse for a disconnect which is why I assume I did not suffer a similar failure.

Digging through my papers, if i find it ill add

 

[falgsc-al]

Found it and I maybe didnt assume reverse order on my own