I purchased a pair of 6000EX-48HV inverters, a EG4 battery rack, and stack of panels, mounts and installation equipment from Signature Solar at the end of last year after reading the reviews and some of the feedback posted on YouTube and this forum. I have had the system installed and running relatively trouble free for several months now with a few exceptions.
- Parallel operation on the inverters did not work correctly if the battery was charging off the AC mains.
- I had opened a service request early on because on of the inverter units had what sounded like broken fans and a really terrible hum/buzz that was not present in the other unit.
For my first service request, I was told I should look inside the units to see if something was stuck in the fans. I had to open the cover on the unit to check, and the fan issue was fixed after I found that there were wires stuck in the fans. This did not solve the buzzing/humming or the parallel issue with the inverter. I did not get a follow up on support for this. After waiting for a few days, I just ended up breaking the group and keeping this inverter as a backup in case I needed to take the other inverter offline.
Fast forward a few months. I hear loud popping coming from one of the inverters and all the loads in my home drop that were connected to the inverter output. There is a strong burning electronics smell and a light haze in the room the inverter is in. This inverter is in a climate controlled room, 22-24c ambient temps and 30% or less humidity.
I do an emergency shutdown of the inverter, and check for any obvious signs of fire damage or overheating. There is nothing externally visible on the conduit or any of the connection points outside or in the connection panel on the inverter. I call Signature Solar hoping to get an RMA as it is a pretty good guess that with the events that I observed, something is not working correctly with the inverter, and the sense of what appears to be something burning probably means it is not a good idea for me to just try to just hope it was a fluke and let it do its thing.
I end up getting sent to a tech who wants to troubleshoot before they will even consider sending a replacement. This is reasonable I guess, except the tech wants me to power the unit up and take voltage measurements. I comply, but end up powering it back off when the unit starts to repeatedly pop while I am probing it and the room starts to smell like something is burning. I give the tech the measurements I was able to get and the continuity test he requested but tell him I am not comfortable powering the appliance back up because it seems like it could be hazardous to do so.
It has been about two weeks so far, and the back and forth has been the tech trying to get me to power the unit back up, and telling me that I just need to add ground screws, which I found out are missing from some locations in the unit after troubleshooting that with the tech. The tech assures me putting in grounding screws will fix the problem, but I will have to go source them locally and install them into the unit. He also asks that I check if any other grounding screws are missing, and that he will send me a picture of ever part of the unit that should have a screw in place. I never get the picture, but I did go to a local Fastenal to get the screws that they did not have available to ship to me. I pull the cover off the unit and start to work on installing the screws we found were missing and checking the rest of the boards to make sure every hole is filled. When doing this inspection, I find one of the PCBs is scortched and the layers are peeling. I take a picture and send it to the tech to let him know.
At this point, there is apparent damage to the inverter, and parts are supposedly missing that were supposed to be installed at the factory. I let the tech know that I really would just like to RMA at this point, I do not want to have to try to fix this myself.
The last response I received is that I voided the warranty when I opened the inverter without Signature Solar's permission, and that it was possibly my fault that the ground screws were missing.
At this point, I'm jaded on this whole support process. I just wanted to share my experience, and notice that it matches some of the other complaints that you can find on the forums here. I do not really think I am in the wrong on this to ask them to just send me a fixed unit. I do not think I should have to research why parts inside are missing or try to go through a ton of hoops when something has failed in this way.
- Parallel operation on the inverters did not work correctly if the battery was charging off the AC mains.
- I had opened a service request early on because on of the inverter units had what sounded like broken fans and a really terrible hum/buzz that was not present in the other unit.
For my first service request, I was told I should look inside the units to see if something was stuck in the fans. I had to open the cover on the unit to check, and the fan issue was fixed after I found that there were wires stuck in the fans. This did not solve the buzzing/humming or the parallel issue with the inverter. I did not get a follow up on support for this. After waiting for a few days, I just ended up breaking the group and keeping this inverter as a backup in case I needed to take the other inverter offline.
Fast forward a few months. I hear loud popping coming from one of the inverters and all the loads in my home drop that were connected to the inverter output. There is a strong burning electronics smell and a light haze in the room the inverter is in. This inverter is in a climate controlled room, 22-24c ambient temps and 30% or less humidity.
I do an emergency shutdown of the inverter, and check for any obvious signs of fire damage or overheating. There is nothing externally visible on the conduit or any of the connection points outside or in the connection panel on the inverter. I call Signature Solar hoping to get an RMA as it is a pretty good guess that with the events that I observed, something is not working correctly with the inverter, and the sense of what appears to be something burning probably means it is not a good idea for me to just try to just hope it was a fluke and let it do its thing.
I end up getting sent to a tech who wants to troubleshoot before they will even consider sending a replacement. This is reasonable I guess, except the tech wants me to power the unit up and take voltage measurements. I comply, but end up powering it back off when the unit starts to repeatedly pop while I am probing it and the room starts to smell like something is burning. I give the tech the measurements I was able to get and the continuity test he requested but tell him I am not comfortable powering the appliance back up because it seems like it could be hazardous to do so.
It has been about two weeks so far, and the back and forth has been the tech trying to get me to power the unit back up, and telling me that I just need to add ground screws, which I found out are missing from some locations in the unit after troubleshooting that with the tech. The tech assures me putting in grounding screws will fix the problem, but I will have to go source them locally and install them into the unit. He also asks that I check if any other grounding screws are missing, and that he will send me a picture of ever part of the unit that should have a screw in place. I never get the picture, but I did go to a local Fastenal to get the screws that they did not have available to ship to me. I pull the cover off the unit and start to work on installing the screws we found were missing and checking the rest of the boards to make sure every hole is filled. When doing this inspection, I find one of the PCBs is scortched and the layers are peeling. I take a picture and send it to the tech to let him know.
At this point, there is apparent damage to the inverter, and parts are supposedly missing that were supposed to be installed at the factory. I let the tech know that I really would just like to RMA at this point, I do not want to have to try to fix this myself.
The last response I received is that I voided the warranty when I opened the inverter without Signature Solar's permission, and that it was possibly my fault that the ground screws were missing.
At this point, I'm jaded on this whole support process. I just wanted to share my experience, and notice that it matches some of the other complaints that you can find on the forums here. I do not really think I am in the wrong on this to ask them to just send me a fixed unit. I do not think I should have to research why parts inside are missing or try to go through a ton of hoops when something has failed in this way.
