Inverter failure and replacement

[The Solar King]

Interersted to hear others experience of this. Have had a spate of replacements recently. Most common failure has been Power One, but also had a couple of Sunny Boys.

If out of warranty, SMA will supply a refurbished unit for around €425.00 with a one year warranty. I have been using Sofar units that cost less and come with a ten year warranty.

Had always worked on the basis that an inverter should last around ten years, so a little surprised to see the number we are replacing. Its a 'nice little earner' though. Inevitably the original installer is no longer in business..

Happy Days.

 

[whinmoor]

We've had a few calls recently from random customers. Two took seconds to resolve:

1) Flicked an MCB, did a couple of basic tests and collected a cheque.
2) Re-inserted & tightened one of the meter tails that had somehow worked loose.

It can work the other way though. One of our own customers from 2013 had a Solar Edge inverter failure. SE firstly sent a replacement comms board from Hungary which didn't solve the problem. They then had to send a HD-wave inverter (again from Hungary) which wasn't immediately compatible with the old optimisers. We got £85 for two lengthy visits which involved calls to their service line whilst the disgruntled customer lost over a month of generation and FiTs.

If any Samils go bust, beware that they are in liquidation - I'm not sure if/how their 10 year warranty is affected but it may result in grumpy customers.