Signature solar horrible customer service

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Hopefully the issue can be easily solved with a firmware update. A board swap would be onerous and more costly.

 

[Hedges]

Just a guess, but if these units are not maintaining the proper phase angle at all times (loaded on one leg or both legs) that this might be causing the lights going off and back on.

That crossed my mind for a moment. But shouldn't be the case for 120V lighting circuit.
Inadvertently wired between Line1 and Line2? Open neutral creating similar situation (in series with heavier load)? then it might.
Miswiring might happen at one customer site, but wouldn't expect to be reproduced at the vendor.
Sure seems to be dropping out. Or, those particular lights shut off after detecting a glitch/spike/BSR-X10 command. Try a different lightbulb.

Smart Lightbulbs and "EMI" anyone? 120 kHz during zero crossings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard)
Signature would not have been looking there. Hey @BenFromSignatureSolar, does your scope have FFT? If not, adjust timebase.

"Strobing", I took to mean flickering, like when I used a "dimmable" LED on a dimmer. Couldn't stand it, switched to incandescent.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

Phase angle is a great point. That is one thing that we typically try to check for because your average DIYer is not always up to speed with that. I've had people call in experiencing problems in split phase then find out they are showing 120 instead of 180.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

Hey @BenFromSignatureSolar, does your scope have FFT?

Yes, they do.

Miswiring might happen at one customer site, but wouldn't expect to be reproduced at the vendor.

Often times we'll try various ways that things could be miswired in R&D to try and determine the issues that will arise from the customer misusing the equipment and the repercussions of doing so. This helps us build more efficient troubleshooting guides.

 

[Hedges]

But I mean, if you're seeing the strobing of lights at your site, I wouldn't think it was because you accidentally miswired AC the same way. If on purpose, you would have already told them how to fix it.

If related to the type of lights used, are you and customer using LED? Have you tried incandescent?

For a light to completely turn off, then on, either suggests voltage drops to near zero (time scale of a second in the video), or to the point of causing electronic ballast to turn off. Might have a turn-on delay.

Or, electronic control signals (including inadvertent response to interference.)

I was recently at an EMC lab with equipment being tested. Injection of 10Vrms RF on top of AC caused a PDU (controllable power strip) to switch AC on and off, blowing up power supply in another box. It was certified to 3V lab environment, but not 10V industrial.

If you haven't seen anything wrong with the waveform, go back and look again.
It is almost certainly bad, either viewed over a longer timescale to capture the dropouts, or a shorter timescale to see high frequencies.
Between time domain and frequency domain displays, it should become clear. I hadn't thought scope could do it, but an 8 bit scope can clearly resolve -70 dB peaks (down 1000:1 below fundamental). Signals below ADC resolution and below noise floor, which are repetitive, can be seen with FFT.

 

[Zapper77]

I know this is an old post...just incase someone else has a similar issue. If the display firmware update fails...just reflash the display firmware. Make sure the inverter doesn't timeout during the update.

 

[robby]

But I mean, if you're seeing the strobing of lights at your site, I wouldn't think it was because you accidentally miswired AC the same way. If on purpose, you would have already told them how to fix it.

If related to the type of lights used, are you and customer using LED? Have you tried incandescent?

For a light to completely turn off, then on, either suggests voltage drops to near zero (time scale of a second in the video), or to the point of causing electronic ballast to turn off. Might have a turn-on delay.

Or, electronic control signals (including inadvertent response to interference.)

I was recently at an EMC lab with equipment being tested. Injection of 10Vrms RF on top of AC caused a PDU (controllable power strip) to switch AC on and off, blowing up power supply in another box. It was certified to 3V lab environment, but not 10V industrial.

If you haven't seen anything wrong with the waveform, go back and look again.
It is almost certainly bad, either viewed over a longer timescale to capture the dropouts, or a shorter timescale to see high frequencies.
Between time domain and frequency domain displays, it should become clear. I hadn't thought scope could do it, but an 8 bit scope can clearly resolve -70 dB peaks (down 1000:1 below fundamental). Signals below ADC resolution and below noise floor, which are repetitive, can be seen with FFT.

It’s a pitty that no one I know has an EG4 6500 inverter. I have the scope and the knowledge and I am pretty sure Tom would ship that electric blanket to me so I could see what is going on.
Maybe there is another electronics guy on here with an EG4 that Tom could work with.

 

[SilverbackMP]

nhall3418@gmail.com

He said DM, which means direct message. Your email has now been scraped by many many bits and crawlers.

 

[realpinochet]

 

[robby]

I watched a few of his videos over the months and I really started to wondering if he was just trying to grow a YouTube channel or if he really liked pain and suffering. This video at least made it clear to me that he is just a regular guy with super human patience!

I would have sold those Inverters months ago for 50% off and just sucked the loss and then moved onto something that works.
A solar system setup should not be something that you have to fiddle with and fix, it is just supposed to work transparently and if done right it should be more reliable than the Grid.

As for SS they will continue to tell people that they are growing and they need more time blah blah, we have heard that for a year now!
There problem is not really the quantity of staff they have, it's the quality.
No point in Hiring a bunch of people who know nothing about electronics and then have the blind leading the blind.
You need to pay the big Bucks and have people that can actually solve problems, not people who shuffle problems around hoping that the customer will either figure it out themself or get frustrated and stop calling.

 

[mvonw]

I watched a few of his videos over the months and I really started to wondering if he was just trying to grow a YouTube channel or if he really liked pain and suffering. This video at least made it clear to me that he is just a regular guy with super human patience!

I would have sold those Inverters months ago for 50% off and just sucked the loss and then moved onto something that works.
A solar system setup should not be something that you have to fiddle with and fix, it is just supposed to work transparently and if done right it should be more reliable than the Grid.

As for SS they will continue to tell people that they are growing and they need more time blah blah, we have heard that for a year now!
There problem is not really the quantity of staff they have, it's the quality.
No point in Hiring a bunch of people who know nothing about electronics and then have the blind leading the blind.
You need to pay the big Bucks and have people that can actually solve problems, not people who shuffle problems around hoping that the customer will either figure it out themself or get frustrated and stop calling.

Absolutely correct. It costs a lot of money to have a competent and deep bench of technical support. Simple products like batteries are fine to buy down market, but why people are surprised by poor service for complex products like AIOs is beyond me.

 

[realpinochet]

Absolutely correct. It costs a lot of money to have a competent and deep bench of technical support. Simple products like batteries are fine to buy down market, but why people are surprised by poor service for complex products like AIOs is beyond me.

"but why people are surprised by poor service for complex products like AIOs is beyond me."

Well, they manufacture and market EG4 inverters; should they not know their own product? Second, who cares what product it is ..should you have to wait 5 months to get a callback? Lets be real here sir!

 

[42OhmsPA]

They (EG4) doesn't manufacture anything as far as I know, they just relabel and throw some flashy colors on from the OEMs.
Just hit the moq and you can have them tailored to whatever you like.

2-3 business days at an absolute max for a call back, in my opinion. Heck I've gotten a response from Sungoldpower (just another Voltronic reseller from what I understand) in 16 hours on average pre and post sale.

Well, they manufacture and market EG4 inverters; should they not know their own product? Second, who cares what product it is ..should you have to wait 5 months to get a callback? Lets be real here sir!

 

[realpinochet]

They (EG4) doesn't manufacture anything as far as I know, they just relabel and throw some flashy colors on from the OEMs.
Just hit the moq and you can have them tailored to whatever you like.

2-3 business days at an absolute max for a call back, in my opinion. Heck I've gotten a response from Sungoldpower (just another Voltronic reseller from what I understand) in 16 hours on average pre and post sale.

SS has stated the EG4 is their brand and is manufactured for them specifically is what I'm saying ..but I get your point. You should get a callback within 24 hours imho and then kept up to date with regular ticket updates throughout the process.

 

[robby]

Well, they manufacture and market EG4 inverters; should they not know their own product? Second, who cares what product it is ..should you have to wait 5 months to get a callback? Lets be real here sir!

They don't design or manufacturer them and they don't have a clue about the Firmware. They just pick a model from a manufacturer and buy it in sufficient quantity so that they can get a custom paint job and request some minor hardware changes.

Your right about it not making a difference in CS, they should be getting help.
A lot of guys on here just see Power vs Dollars and then are surprised that the lowest priced AIO Inverter does not work properly.
As for customer support they have not really factored that properly into the price so your pretty much getting what you paid for.

 

[mvonw]

Well, they manufacture and market EG4 inverters; should they not know their own product? Second, who cares what product it is ..should you have to wait 5 months to get a callback? Lets be real here sir!

As someone who employees 265 people, I can attest that finding responsible, competent technical staff is not something that comes cheap. Young people these days have very different work ethic expectations..

 

[realpinochet]

As someone who employees 265 people, I can attest that finding responsible, competent technical staff is not something that comes cheap. Young people these days have very different work ethic expectations..

Sounds like they need to buy some compute time with ChatGPT and just have it call back their customers and diagnose the issue.

 

[robby]

BTW think about this.
On my YouTube page Adams channel appears in 4 out of the Top 10 videos on an EG4 6500 search and I have only watched three of his numerous videos. Anyone who is thinking of buying this Inverter has most likely seen his channel.

If EG4/Signature Solar cannot take care of a customer like this, what do you think happens to the regular guy?
I am pretty sure that an SS rep will soon chime in saying DM me Adam. Then maybe something positive might happen.
My question is why does it require things to reach this level?

 

[realpinochet]

BTW think about this.
On my YouTube page Adams channel appears in 4 out of the Top 10 videos on an EG4 6500 search and I have only watched three of his numerous videos. Anyone who is thinking of buying this Inverter has most likely seen his channel.

If EG4/Signature Solar cannot take care of a customer like this, what do you think happens to the regular guy?
I am pretty sure that an SS rep will soon chime in saying DM me Adam and then maybe something positive might happen.
My question is why does it require things to reach this level?

I was thinking of buying a few of the xwpro inverters from them since they are local..but even though they are Schneider equipment I'm at pause due to the way they treat their customers...they really just don't care after the sale. I could save hundreds on shipping but am likely to go with Arizona wind and power because they have a good standing in the community for customer service and giving a shit down the road.

 

[Hedges]

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