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Terrible Signature Solar / EG4 18Kpv Experience - Returning and Replaced with Sol-Ark 15k

ghostwriter66 said:
@Watts Happening Probably one of the best writeups I have seen on this forum for 4 years ...

We have purchased - and we have sent back - and they have fixed -- and we are happy with several items from Signature Solar. The last thing we had issues with was their 5KW Chargeverter - it would just do strange things at strange times or not power up fully and to Signature Solar's credit - they did get us a new one out here and it has worked flawlessly. We purchased (4) of them total - one was bad - they fixed it ...

BUT - getting to the point of them finally answering the phone - or email - was very painful. My favourite is when the "assistant" says that if you would like a call back please leave your # and you won't lose your place in line -- I think to date we are still waiting for half a dozen call backs -- LOL - either that or the line is actually THAT long ....

I have nothing to base this on - just my personal thoughts - but they seem to be the standard "rebranding" company that we have seen pop up for the last several years. They find a good manufacturer in China to make a system for them and the Chinese make it almost ready (ALMOST) for "prime time" but at a good price and everyone just wets their panties because "it has too be good - because they sell allot of them at a very low price!!" .. which is a "groupthink" concept i never actually ever understood.

It was obvious you were not looking for a discount. You just had spent so much time and energy on this system already that if there was a fix - and if they could do it - then it was a win-win for everyone ... but they couldn't. And they probably couldn't because probably the Chinese manufacturer (who is 12 hours ahead of them) was either not understanding the issue or simply had no software/firmware wrote for what you are going through.

That's what separates the Chinese companies mostly from the American. The Chinese are huge on "won and done" -- they make it - you buy it - AND ... DONE!! ... They are also very cautious of providing to much of their real code to people like SS becuase they see SS as a wholesaler of THEIR product and not an integral "design" teammate. Also that "Won and Done" issue is obvious in the manuals they provide. Only reason that the manuals are the way they are is simply because the Chinese project manager does not want to explain to his boss why they spent $100 extra dollars getting the manual "English-fied" when the manual they have that was ran through Google Translate is good enough -- and FREE ...

And of course that puts SS in a tight spot because obviously they love it when 95% of their stuff works flawlessly - and you are asking it to do what it is designed to do -- but the moment you have issues -- then THEY have to defend an inferior design they were not part of or try to figure out how to get the guys across the pond to make changes. (And trust me - the guys across the pond are barely paid anything - and most Chinese companies - once they sell a product and a software - considers that DONE with )

SO we also was looking at the same EG4 you had - and we read all the same comments on the web that you read - and we decided that we simply could not take a chance with slow - VERY SLOW customer service AND that if we are paying XXX amount that we should not be the ginuea pigs for this ... also - 99% of our equipment goes out into the South Texas heat/cold - crammed into a server cabinet - and is never touched again - but has to work 101% of the time flawlessly ...

and thats why this time we have gone back to Midnite Solar products ... We will be picking up (4) of the Midnite Solar MNBCLNA Barcelona Charge Controller 600VDC 200A and giving them a shot ... we have also switched over to the ""EEL V3 48V 16S Server Rack Battery DIY Unit 280 BOX 51.2V Stackable Type with Active Balancer"" batteries. We are getting (8) of those batteries to test. We went with both because of their great customer service and willingness to pick up the phone - PLUS MIDNITE is 100% made in the US - and when you call they answer - and I know my boss spent about an hour on the phone with their technicians - the folks that actually is writing the code - to go over everything we needed to do and make sure that it does it ... YES the new BARCELONA is probably fresher and less tested than I like - but we truly believe they can fix most issues ..

PLUS - and this is a BIG plus -- they make and engineer and design and test all of their own stuff here in the States-- so when you talk to an engineer he knows 100% what can and can't be done -- and in fact - can actually update the firmware and send you a new patch IF you are having any issues - and can do that without having to call 8000 miles away ...

Again - nothing wrong with Signature Solar way of doing business - for 99% of the people they get what they pay for at a excellent price - quick delivery - and it does what it needs to do -- its the remaining 1% that causes them to often have the DEER IN THE HEADLIGHT response ...

anyway - excellent write up ,.... and you done great sharing this ....
Click to expand...
@ghostwriter66 Where are you buying your batteries for the
""EEL V3 48V 16S Server Rack Battery DIY Unit 280 BOX 51.2V Stackable Type with Active Balancer""
Click to expand...
also link to the
""EEL V3 48V 16S Server Rack Battery DIY Unit 280 BOX 51.2V Stackable Type with Active Balancer""
Click to expand...
thanks
Scat
 
1201 said:
Damn. Finally a somewhat affordable hybrid inverter and again problems!!!???

Solark must be laughing their heads off reading this. I'm still camp #neversolark# though
Click to expand...
How quickly we forget that solark were having firmware issues, set up issues and lack of understanding in the early days too but they have continued to refine and release firmware to make it the extremely fine product it is today. I have no doubt that the EG4 18K will follow a similar path.
 
BenFromSignatureSolar said:
I can assure the entire forum that we will be growing from this experience.
Click to expand...
IMHO, one thing SS might want to consider is Level 3 tech support. Level one figures out if you really have a problem. Level 2 is for problems that go beyond basic settings. Level 3 is when Level 2 can't figure it out in a reasonable amount of time. Level 3 people have the experience/training, but most importantly, the authority to do what it takes to make it right.

Regarding hardware or software: when the space shuttle first launched. There was a lot of extra weight used for sensors of all types. With a new product, the software, at a minimum, should log unexpected situations so the product could be improved/fixed. In this case, the inverter is programmed to zero export. The logs clearly show it violated that setting. While the software may not be written to fix all possible reasons, it should trigger a dump to an error log of everything so that the engineers can figure out what happened. The error being zero export was not achieved within X seconds. Note: if the log can show the situation, the software can see it too. If it can't, that's a software problem.
 
What about the disconnect they claim it has for the pv? A physical lack of a terminal to hook to for it when you claim it has it seems like a flat out lie or in the least a deal breaker for people that live where its required.

The op keeps saying if they get the firmware worked out they would like to have it. If that emergency cut off is code required then I don't see them ever being able to use the thing.
 
Crowz said:
What about the disconnect they claim it has for the pv? A physical lack of a terminal to hook to for it when you claim it has it seems like a flat out lie or in the least a deal breaker for people that live where its required.

The op keeps saying if they get the firmware worked out they would like to have it. If that emergency cut off is code required then I don't see them ever being able to use the thing.
Click to expand...
I’ve been tagged a handful of times today, they released a video covering this topic at about 2pm Pacific time yesterday. May just be coincidence:

 
Will Prowse said:
I absolutely disagree with you. If it was software I should be able to reproduce it with my unit and everyone else's. I've never seen this type of behavior before and it could easily be caused by hardware issue. Think about what's going on here and the feedback loop for feeding current through the circuit. If you have one current transformer that's not working properly it could throw off everything. And those are easily damaged in shipping.

I also question your motive and logic sometimes after the lies I found you making in the other thread. Have you responded to those questions at all yet? I do not like people who lie
Click to expand...
OP stated that TECH #2 had the issue fixed .. that it was not back feeding .. that "THAT" problem was solved ... THEN the third guy came on -- got into the system - upgraded the firmware and THEN the problem came back ...

In none of that did the HARDWARE change -- ONLY the firmware ...
 
Will Prowse said:
The only argument you have posted on this form is how bad the Chinese are. Can you offer solutions to the problem or maybe steps that we can use to figure out what is wrong with this system? Endlessly bashing the Chinese doesn't fix anything. Also, lying to people about your background does not help either.
Click to expand...

The issue isn't with the Chinese people at all ... again - I'm Chinese-American ... the issue rests squarely on these American companies that find what seems to be a good deal from an solar manufacturer in China, rebrand the product as theirs, and then when issues arrive the US company is literally stuck between a rock and a hard place ..

The solution is simple -- BUYER BEWARE ....

The Chinese manufacturing system - as I have stated before - is based on "WON AND DONE" ... it is the Responsibility of the American consumer to ensure that the people that they are purchasing equipment from (ie signature solar) has the customer service and the software engineers to overcome any issues that arise. Some companies - and I'm not saying Signature Solar - simply are not set up man-wise with the sort of talent to do that ... Thus why when most ppl call signature solar there is a wait time longer than the work day and most of the time they ask you to send them the issue in writing along with pictures ((so they can pass it to the manufacture in China - who is likely not going to either care or know what to do) ...

However companies such as Midnite solar -- a 100% US company write their own code from start to finish and will show you hundreds of pages of test results and videos, thus - when you have an issue they can usually fix it either on the spot or send you updated code in a day or so...

SOOO my answer to WHAT IS MY SOLUTION ?? - would be that you need to make damn sure that the company that you are buying it from can support you in a manner that you require .... so far Signature solar has done that for every issue we have had .. if they can't fix it they simply refund the price or swap it out or help you buy something else ... and we fully understand that -- if its a software or firmware issue there is NO way we are expecting someone at signature to knock out the code for us ...

and they never said they could do that -- BUT the issue that's going to get signature in trouble one day is that they act as if its their products that they are building and when ppl are shelling out 6-8K on systems they expect not to get the runaround or sent to a guy who knows a guy whose sister works for a solar company to try to get help ...
 
Quattrohead said:
Luxpower and SS need to stop rushing, work together, gather up all the evidence and feature requests and do some proper long term testing in private before releasing any more firmware.
Click to expand...

Issue is that - from what i believe - just my opinion - is that neither Lux or SS is set up to do that sort of testing ... they are a reseller -- a rebrander -- I kind of think of them as the WALMART or AMAZON of solar power ... excellent prices - great service once they answer - BUT going to say that they are not actually opening up the code and going through it to see if they can replicate the problem ... the same way that if you call WALMART and say that your window AC is not working they are not going to trouble shoot it ... they are either going to send you back to the manufacturer or tell you to bring back the window unit ...

again -- nothing wrong with how Signature is operating -- they just need to make sure that their NEXT inverter they rebrand or design or whatever has a dedicated member of the actual build team somewhere sitting in China that can take ownership of the situation ...
 
Scat said:
@ghostwriter66 Where are you buying your batteries for the

also link to the

thanks
Scat
Click to expand...
We are getting the batteries and the BOX (together) from EEL directly ...

And then (i forget the exact number -- 6 or 8) of just boxes from DOCAN (JENNY WU) to put all these 280Ah batteries we got from DOCAN laying around ...

The webpage for the complete battery set from EEL is https://eelbattery.myshopify.com/pr...type-without-cellssuitable-230-280-302ah-cell ... I don't have his email but the POC there is a guy named HOWARD ... speaks perfect english ... There are some good videos on the battery out there ...

Our favourite DIY BOX is the Apexium Lifepo4 DIY seen here at
...
 
ghostwriter66 said:
The solution is simple -- BUYER BEWARE ....
Click to expand...
China is the wild west. Fortunately the USA has Truth in Advertising laws.

When you buy off Alibaba, caveat emptor.

When you buy from SS in the USA, if the manual is full of fiction, the company is just begging for a class action lawsuit.
 
Alkaline said:
You really have an amazing imagination, how about you tell some more about the 4 hours you spent so that you can look exactly like a Japanese Tv Actress?
Click to expand...
Look it was kind of funny to start, but in my opinion she seems like a real person not some random Chinese sales person you despise so much.
Her post's are very thoughtful and accurate.
Probably time to stop the school boy bully tactics.

You are both right, they love to grab $$ and then leave you hanging if something does not work.
This is why real ROW companies have such a high mark up....they become your after sales support.
 
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