Signature Solar Tech Support...Ghosting?

[sunshine_eggo]

Clearly not. My frugality generally precludes me from consuming the Kool-Aid. Also, I am not the type to orgasm over an included phone app. However, If I were trying to establish a "signature" name-brand, I would not want to follow up the myriad of Growatt problems with a part II. Seems like a poorly orchestrated business model.

There's no kool-aid associated with Tier-1 hardware. They're the installations that have already been running for 20+ years. You're not finding cheap and inefficient Chinese stuff in those scenarios.

"An included phone app"? Seriously? Try a completely integrated remote monitoring and control system from anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a browser... or a phone app if you prefer. Maybe you call that "kool-aid" but I call a minimum feature list.

You're buying cheap shit. You should manage your expectations accordingly. You may not be aware of it, but Chinese products heavily utilize the end user for quality control as it's cheaper that way... for them.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

There's no kool-aid associated with Tier-1 hardware. They're the installations that have already been running for 20+ years. You're not finding cheap and inefficient Chinese stuff in those scenarios.

"An included phone app"? Seriously? Try a completely integrated remote monitoring and control system from anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a browser... or a phone app if you prefer. Maybe you call that "kool-aid" but I call a minimum feature list.

You're buying cheap shit. You should manage your expectations accordingly. You may not be aware of it, but Chinese products heavily utilize the end user for quality control as it's cheaper that way... for them.

And yet my systems have been running since 2010. Check yourself, bookworm.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

And yet my systems have been running since 2010. Check yourself, bookworm.

My math books indicate that 13 max is less than 20+

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

My math books indicate that 13 max is less than 20+

At 20% outlay. Recalculate.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

There's no value argument with a cheapskate. They never see value, only total outlay. You've been lucky. Congrats. I hope your streak continues.

Your hardware doesn't meet my needs. I wouldn't use it if it was free... or even if I was paid to use it.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

There's no value argument with a cheapskate. They never see value, only total outlay. You've been lucky. Congrats. I hope your streak continues.

Your hardware doesn't meet my needs. I wouldn't use it if it was free... or even if I was paid to use it.

Don't melt on me, girlfriend. Your opinions have proven to be often wrong and mildly unimpressive. Keep on drinking that Kool-Aid though. Meanwhile, I will continue to operate my homestead completely electric and off-grid.

 

[SparkyJJO]

You two

 

[Jeff California]

Yikes! Hope everything works out for you guys.

 

[houseofancients]

You're kidding right?

You've clearly never bought a Victron product.

or a computer, phone or tv

on a sidenote : it would be nice if folks would stay respectful and nice

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

or a computer, phone or tv

No. I have never bought any of the above that was a brick upon arrival without downloading updates. I tend to buy products with good reviews that have been on the market for a few years and let those who think they need the latest, greatest thing be the Guinee pigs.

 

[PreppenWolf]

 

[Dave (Boog)]

I sent an email to them asking a question about the inverter that I bought from them. Finally got a response, like 10 days after I sent the email.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

No. I have never bought any of the above that was a brick upon arrival without downloading updates. I tend to buy products with good reviews that have been on the market for a few years and let those who think they need the latest, greatest thing be the Guinee pigs.

But you said you don't like Kool Aid.

Victron has been around since 1975 and in heavy use around the world for decades - particularly in harsh marine and mobile environments. No Guinea pigs there. Victron stuff may need an update out of the box, but they're never bricked out of the box. There's a reason there are a lot of firmware updates - evolving customer needs, new support for new 3rd party products, etc. They have an active development cycle with a responsive manufacturer and an engaged community providing feedback and requests with an active seller network that MUST provide support or get booted from the program.

If there's something I can't figure out, I can text my seller and get an answer. If he doesn't know, he reaches out to the Netherlands for an answer. I've never had more than 48 hours go by without resolution.

That's worth a premium to me.

If I had a little side project, I would absolutely consider the lower end stuff. I'm just not going to trust my survival to it.

 

[adobopr]

Some Updates:
Support did reach out and asked for a bunch of info and a bunch of pictures. I get why this info is useful but asking people to take pictures of their voltmeters measuring voltages of up 500V DC is dangerous and reckless. After I gave them all the info I have yet to hear from them, even though I sent an e-mail the day after. Just sent another one today less than an hour ago.

When gathering info I decided to open up the inverter case and found that a component that is connected to the battery terminals burnt up, which seems like a potential culprit. I sent them pics of it and got no acknowledgement of that either. It's now been over 2 weeks since my issue started and can't use my batteries. The grid is down right now and it's a rainy day with barely any sun so right now I have no power at home until grid comes back, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid with my system.

It's my bad that I decided to use 2 single phase inverters and create a SPOF situation (my original design was going to use 2x LV6048WPs from MPP Solar), but I know a few peeps that have run LV6548s for years without issues and the 5 years of warranty seemed like a good idea.
I've had a 2x MPP Solar Lv2424 as UPSs for over 2 years now which have been running mostly without hiccups. The one issue I've had ended up not being the AIO Unit at all, but MPP Solar helped me debug it and 3 day shipped me a replacement part from Taiwan to try and get me up and running again.

While I understand Voltronic inverters are cheap, I know a lot of people that have gotten good reliability from them and I've gotten some good reliability from mine as well. I got my batteries, solar panels and inverters from Signature Solar, and while I think I would still recommend their batteries and getting panels from them, I cannot recommend at all getting their inverters and would suggest getting a different branded Voltronic unit that will provide reliable support and warranty.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

Some Updates:
Support did reach out and asked for a bunch of info and a bunch of pictures. I get why this info is useful but asking people to take pictures of their voltmeters measuring voltages of up 500V DC is dangerous and reckless. After I gave them all the info I have yet to hear from them, even though I sent an e-mail the day after. Just sent another one today less than an hour ago.

When gathering info I decided to open up the inverter case and found that a component that is connected to the battery terminals burnt up, which seems like a potential culprit. I sent them pics of it and got no acknowledgement of that either. It's now been over 2 weeks since my issue started and can't use my batteries. The grid is down right now and it's a rainy day with barely any sun so right now I have no power at home until grid comes back, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid with my system.

It's my bad that I decided to use 2 single phase inverters and create a SPOF situation (my original design was going to use 2x LV6048WPs from MPP Solar), but I know a few peeps that have run LV6548s for years without issues and the 5 years of warranty seemed like a good idea.
I've had a 2x MPP Solar Lv2424 as UPSs for over 2 years now which have been running mostly without hiccups. The one issue I've had ended up not being the AIO Unit at all, but MPP Solar helped me debug it and 3 day shipped me a replacement part from Taiwan to try and get me up and running again.

While I understand Voltronic inverters are cheap, I know a lot of people that have gotten good reliability from them and I've gotten some good reliability from mine as well. I got my batteries, solar panels and inverters from Signature Solar, and while I think I would still recommend their batteries and getting panels from them, I cannot recommend at all getting their inverters and would suggest getting a different branded Voltronic unit that will provide reliable support and warranty.

Could you DM me your email address? I'll find out what is taking so long and get this straightened out for you.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

Some Updates:
Support did reach out and asked for a bunch of info and a bunch of pictures. I get why this info is useful but asking people to take pictures of their voltmeters measuring voltages of up 500V DC is dangerous and reckless. After I gave them all the info I have yet to hear from them, even though I sent an e-mail the day after. Just sent another one today less than an hour ago.

When gathering info I decided to open up the inverter case and found that a component that is connected to the battery terminals burnt up, which seems like a potential culprit. I sent them pics of it and got no acknowledgement of that either. It's now been over 2 weeks since my issue started and can't use my batteries. The grid is down right now and it's a rainy day with barely any sun so right now I have no power at home until grid comes back, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid with my system.

It's my bad that I decided to use 2 single phase inverters and create a SPOF situation (my original design was going to use 2x LV6048WPs from MPP Solar), but I know a few peeps that have run LV6548s for years without issues and the 5 years of warranty seemed like a good idea.
I've had a 2x MPP Solar Lv2424 as UPSs for over 2 years now which have been running mostly without hiccups. The one issue I've had ended up not being the AIO Unit at all, but MPP Solar helped me debug it and 3 day shipped me a replacement part from Taiwan to try and get me up and running again.

While I understand Voltronic inverters are cheap, I know a lot of people that have gotten good reliability from them and I've gotten some good reliability from mine as well. I got my batteries, solar panels and inverters from Signature Solar, and while I think I would still recommend their batteries and getting panels from them, I cannot recommend at all getting their inverters and would suggest getting a different branded Voltronic unit that will provide reliable support and warranty.

actually, sorry I have it already. I'll be in touch soon

 

[PreppenWolf]

Some Updates:
Support did reach out and asked for a bunch of info and a bunch of pictures. I get why this info is useful but asking people to take pictures of their voltmeters measuring voltages of up 500V DC is dangerous and reckless. After I gave them all the info I have yet to hear from them, even though I sent an e-mail the day after. Just sent another one today less than an hour ago.

When gathering info I decided to open up the inverter case and found that a component that is connected to the battery terminals burnt up, which seems like a potential culprit. I sent them pics of it and got no acknowledgement of that either. It's now been over 2 weeks since my issue started and can't use my batteries. The grid is down right now and it's a rainy day with barely any sun so right now I have no power at home until grid comes back, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid with my system.

It's my bad that I decided to use 2 single phase inverters and create a SPOF situation (my original design was going to use 2x LV6048WPs from MPP Solar), but I know a few peeps that have run LV6548s for years without issues and the 5 years of warranty seemed like a good idea.
I've had a 2x MPP Solar Lv2424 as UPSs for over 2 years now which have been running mostly without hiccups. The one issue I've had ended up not being the AIO Unit at all, but MPP Solar helped me debug it and 3 day shipped me a replacement part from Taiwan to try and get me up and running again.

While I understand Voltronic inverters are cheap, I know a lot of people that have gotten good reliability from them and I've gotten some good reliability from mine as well. I got my batteries, solar panels and inverters from Signature Solar, and while I think I would still recommend their batteries and getting panels from them, I cannot recommend at all getting their inverters and would suggest getting a different branded Voltronic unit that will provide reliable support and warranty.

Are you seriously on a DIY solar forum saying people should not be using a multimeter to check panel voltages because it's "reckless" ???

You should go check out a chainsaw forum. I bet they would love this insight to recklessness as well.

 

[adobopr]

Are you seriously on a DIY solar forum saying people should not be using a multimeter to check panel voltages because it's "reckless" ???

You should go check out a chainsaw forum. I bet they would love this insight to recklessness as well.

No, you should read what I wrote again. I am saying its reckless to ask someone to take pictures of their voltmeter while they're measuring these high voltages. To quote the exact wording I was sent in the email:

Also, please take pictures of voltmeter readings from terminals at the inverter showing clearly what terminals you are testing:

This means they expect to you take a picture where its clear what the probes are connected to and the voltage reading from the voltmeter is visible. Even with the clamped voltmeter, getting a good angle on the pictures took a few tries, and this required me to hold both probes with 1 hand.

Sure, I could've gotten someone else to help, but at this point I was 10 days in and wanted to get things resolved ASAP, and couldn't get anyone to come help before EoD and I wanted to avoid any extra delays.

You should go check out a chainsaw forum. I bet they would love this insight to recklessness as well.

I wasn't getting support from the DIY Solar Forum, I was getting support from a company that sold me a product for a warranty claim. Please let me know what chainsaw manufacturer would have you potentially hurt yourself to honor their warranty.

 

[Quattrohead]

You have a point, some of those terminals are extremely close to the metalwork of the inverter and if you don't have fully shrouded probes it would be very easy to cause a short.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Next time you could set your phone up and record a video then take a screenshot with the relevant information.
It's to bad these inverters don't just work.