tomlu_2000
New Member
Hello All!
I thought I would share my very recent, ongoing experience with my Sol-Ark 15 EMP Hardened Inverter and how Sol-Ark as a company responded to the failure.
Let me start with a description of my setup.
-Sol-Ark 15K EMP hardened version
-2 Fortress Power eVault Max Battery Banks
-5 395 Watt Hyperion Bifacial Panels (setup is temporary until the snow melts and I can get all the panels installed.
The system ran perfect for 18 days.
So, I installed everything according to the documents and research I had done. I worked with Sol-Ark support to iron out a few details on the install. I worked with Fortress to get the battery and inverter settings optimal for my installation. I turned everything up on January 20th, 2025. After a few tweaks, my system was running exactly as expected. I double-tested everything and the system performed exactly as expected. I was super excited and very happy with the way this system was working out and I am anxious for spring to come so I can finish the install and get all the panels on the roof. Everything is great the 15K was performing awesome.
So, on Thursday, February 6th, my wife and I left for a dinner meeting around 4:30 PM. About 5:00 PM my phone blew up with alerts from my smart panels saying that some circuits had gone offline. While I thought that was strange, I didn't think too much of it since I had cut the grid power and successfully tested the battery bank many times. I quickly connected to my thermostat to check if it was alive; It was working and had no issues. I figured, I'd iron out whatever the issue was when I got back home. When I retuned home, the house was dark. But some things were working and powered up. I went to the inverter. It was clicking and was cycling through some process. It was clicking about every 30/60 seconds or so, which led me to believe it was trying to reset or reconnect to the grid. The grid icon on the display indicated that the inverter was not supplying/passing through grid power properly. So, to quickly address the situation, I flipped my manual bypass switch (Thank God I installed one) and power was restored to the panel directly from the grid. The bottom line was that the inverter was not passing through the grid power like it had been before. I went to bed and decided to call Sol-Ark in the AM.
I did a little testing the morning and found that one leg of the LOAD OUTPUT was dead; One side was good(120V), the other was not working. Once they opened, I called Sol-Ark and we walked through completely shutting the system down and bringing it back up. We took various voltage measurements to confirm everything. After a few minutes, support explained that there was an internal failure that was not field serviceable. It was explained that they would have to fix or replace the 15K. I thought, great, this comes with a 10 year warranty backed by a US-based company that, so far, had been wonderful. Then came the details of how to resolve my problem.
I was instructed to remove the 15K and pack it up and ship it back to Sol-Ark. Then, they would repair it or replace it IF this was covered under the warranty. So, obviously I had quite a few questions and took issue with a few things. Here they are:
The 15K was deemed broken on February 7th. Today is February 14th and nothing has actually happened. I wrote a big, long e-mail and sent it off to Sol-Ark Friday after it went belly-up. I got a call back later that day with an offer for a advanced replacement but they would have to put a $3,000 hold on my credit card, which I immediately agreed to. I finally received a call on the Monday late afternoon, the 10th, to take my credit card info. They said they would process it and send it over to shipping. Today is Friday, four days later had I haven't heard a word or received any tracking information. It's been a 8 days since the unit failed.
So, in my case, since I only have a few panels up at the moment and a bypass switch, this is only been a very annoying inconvenience. But If I were in full production, I would be very upset. If I were off-grid, I'd be furious. If an installer had put this unit in, they would have had to come over at 10:30 PM and rewire everything to bypass the inverter. It was in the 20's outside and I would have had no way of powering my house. It sounds to me like most installers do not install a manual bypass switch to handle situations such as this because it adds a couple grand to bill. This is speculation on my part. Maybe every install gets a manual bypass switch; I don't know.
The offer to send a advanced replacement did not come until after I raised heck with my e-mail. I'm not sure it ever would have came if I had just tried to do what they asked. But in my opinion, what they asked as not reasonable. Additional questions I have pertain to if I were the installer. If I sold YOU this unit, and installed it for YOU, how would YOU feel about the situation? Would the installer charge YOU for doing all the additional work? Handling the emergency in the middle of the night? Would YOU pay for repacking and shipping the unit back. Pay again to reinstall the new unit? How would that reflect on the Installer if the unit went belly up in 18 days after it was commissioned? Should/Do resellers stock these units just in case this happens? Do resellers/installers get different treatment form Sol-Ark? Does anyone else have any similar experiences? Do Sol-Ark units break all the time? Am I the 1 in a million that went belly-up? I would love to know.
I'm just frustrated and wanted to share my experience. I hope Sol-Ark changes the way they deal with situations like this. I do understand that there may be folks out there who plug the wrong thing into the wrong port and probably damaged the unit by not doing things correctly. How, as Sol-Ark, do you protect yourself from those guys who do damage to the inverter, then try to claim warranty? I did gladly put the charge on my credit card so they could get a new inverter, send the old unit back and evaluate what happened to make sure I did not cause the damage. I just wish they had a system in place that could process such requests in a timely manner; It takes way too long to get the ball rolling.
I hope this information sets the proper expectation, if the time comes to exercise a warranty claim. Please let me know if you have any answers to the many questions. I would love to hear about similar situations and how they unfolded. Since, I'm still in the middle of this, I will post updates as things progress.
-Tom
I thought I would share my very recent, ongoing experience with my Sol-Ark 15 EMP Hardened Inverter and how Sol-Ark as a company responded to the failure.
Let me start with a description of my setup.
-Sol-Ark 15K EMP hardened version
-2 Fortress Power eVault Max Battery Banks
-5 395 Watt Hyperion Bifacial Panels (setup is temporary until the snow melts and I can get all the panels installed.
The system ran perfect for 18 days.
So, I installed everything according to the documents and research I had done. I worked with Sol-Ark support to iron out a few details on the install. I worked with Fortress to get the battery and inverter settings optimal for my installation. I turned everything up on January 20th, 2025. After a few tweaks, my system was running exactly as expected. I double-tested everything and the system performed exactly as expected. I was super excited and very happy with the way this system was working out and I am anxious for spring to come so I can finish the install and get all the panels on the roof. Everything is great the 15K was performing awesome.
So, on Thursday, February 6th, my wife and I left for a dinner meeting around 4:30 PM. About 5:00 PM my phone blew up with alerts from my smart panels saying that some circuits had gone offline. While I thought that was strange, I didn't think too much of it since I had cut the grid power and successfully tested the battery bank many times. I quickly connected to my thermostat to check if it was alive; It was working and had no issues. I figured, I'd iron out whatever the issue was when I got back home. When I retuned home, the house was dark. But some things were working and powered up. I went to the inverter. It was clicking and was cycling through some process. It was clicking about every 30/60 seconds or so, which led me to believe it was trying to reset or reconnect to the grid. The grid icon on the display indicated that the inverter was not supplying/passing through grid power properly. So, to quickly address the situation, I flipped my manual bypass switch (Thank God I installed one) and power was restored to the panel directly from the grid. The bottom line was that the inverter was not passing through the grid power like it had been before. I went to bed and decided to call Sol-Ark in the AM.
I did a little testing the morning and found that one leg of the LOAD OUTPUT was dead; One side was good(120V), the other was not working. Once they opened, I called Sol-Ark and we walked through completely shutting the system down and bringing it back up. We took various voltage measurements to confirm everything. After a few minutes, support explained that there was an internal failure that was not field serviceable. It was explained that they would have to fix or replace the 15K. I thought, great, this comes with a 10 year warranty backed by a US-based company that, so far, had been wonderful. Then came the details of how to resolve my problem.
I was instructed to remove the 15K and pack it up and ship it back to Sol-Ark. Then, they would repair it or replace it IF this was covered under the warranty. So, obviously I had quite a few questions and took issue with a few things. Here they are:
- I don't know if you've see the 15K in action, but disconnecting all power sources, un-wiring everything, disconnecting all the conduit from the inverter, then getting help over to remove it, is a huge task all by itself.
- How in the world was I going to find sufficient packing to ship back a 135 pound behemoth of an inverter and get it back to Sol-Ark in one piece, and without causing further damage. How much was it going to cost me to take this large/heavy unit to, let's say, the UPS store and have them pack it up? How much was it going to cost me to ship the box, once packed, back to Sol-Ark? I did not keep the original box and packing. If I did that for everything, my basement would be full of boxes. I've had to ship large network switches before. The grand total to box and ship a smaller and lighter item was crazy; like $700 insured. So, do I insure it, what if it gets "lost" or damaged in transit? My point is that I think this was a big ask for something with a supposedly great, 10 year warranty. I would have thought that the first thing out of there mouth was to offer to send an empty 15K box with the packing so I could properly pack it and ship it back. If they were awesome, they would have included an return label, so all I would have to do it repack it and drop it at UPS. None of this was offered. I insisted that they send me an empty box so I could return it and get it back in one piece but that fell on deaf ears.
- How long was this all going to take? The 15K I bought is touted as the Central, All-in-One, EMP Hardened, Solid-as-a-Rock Inverter. This Inverter handles it all! I'm in the computer business. I think of things as mission-critical. I think, that this inverter is, in many cases, mission critical. What if I were off-grid? So, the question is should I spend another ~9K and have two? Or a spare on the pallet just in case? Seems like a lot of dough. Should I have bought two 12Ks and had them in parallel? Most, hardware manufactures offer an advanced replacement warranty that you can purchase when you buy the product. For Sol-Ark, I can see this as another revenue stream. I would suspect that if their products were solid, and this advanced replacement warranty garnering another $1000 with the purchase of their 15K, would be a no brainer for most people. I think just to have the peace of mind to know that another unit is on the way in the event of a failure it would be worth it. If their inverters are a solid as they say, then Sol-Ark would bank a lot of extra dough for doing nothing.
So, in my case, since I only have a few panels up at the moment and a bypass switch, this is only been a very annoying inconvenience. But If I were in full production, I would be very upset. If I were off-grid, I'd be furious. If an installer had put this unit in, they would have had to come over at 10:30 PM and rewire everything to bypass the inverter. It was in the 20's outside and I would have had no way of powering my house. It sounds to me like most installers do not install a manual bypass switch to handle situations such as this because it adds a couple grand to bill. This is speculation on my part. Maybe every install gets a manual bypass switch; I don't know.
The offer to send a advanced replacement did not come until after I raised heck with my e-mail. I'm not sure it ever would have came if I had just tried to do what they asked. But in my opinion, what they asked as not reasonable. Additional questions I have pertain to if I were the installer. If I sold YOU this unit, and installed it for YOU, how would YOU feel about the situation? Would the installer charge YOU for doing all the additional work? Handling the emergency in the middle of the night? Would YOU pay for repacking and shipping the unit back. Pay again to reinstall the new unit? How would that reflect on the Installer if the unit went belly up in 18 days after it was commissioned? Should/Do resellers stock these units just in case this happens? Do resellers/installers get different treatment form Sol-Ark? Does anyone else have any similar experiences? Do Sol-Ark units break all the time? Am I the 1 in a million that went belly-up? I would love to know.
I'm just frustrated and wanted to share my experience. I hope Sol-Ark changes the way they deal with situations like this. I do understand that there may be folks out there who plug the wrong thing into the wrong port and probably damaged the unit by not doing things correctly. How, as Sol-Ark, do you protect yourself from those guys who do damage to the inverter, then try to claim warranty? I did gladly put the charge on my credit card so they could get a new inverter, send the old unit back and evaluate what happened to make sure I did not cause the damage. I just wish they had a system in place that could process such requests in a timely manner; It takes way too long to get the ball rolling.
I hope this information sets the proper expectation, if the time comes to exercise a warranty claim. Please let me know if you have any answers to the many questions. I would love to hear about similar situations and how they unfolded. Since, I'm still in the middle of this, I will post updates as things progress.
-Tom
