Browse Forums Eco Living 1 Jan 24, 2012 9:35 am I’ve installed 1.5 KW solar panel in my house with connection to grid in late 2010. It was working fine for more than a year and recently stopped working. I have tried to contact the installer however it looks like they have closed their business. I’ve also contacted the distributer of the inverter and they are in liquidation as well. I’ve talked to NSW Fair Trading and lodged a complaint. I was given 10 and 25 years of warranty on the inverter and panels respectively. Every day I’m losing money as the panels are not producing electricity during the peak period. Does anybody have any suggestion where I can get reliable service (near Blacktown, NSW) to fix the issue? Re: Solar System Not Working 2Jan 24, 2012 9:37 am Have you contacted another solar specialist? Building with Jandson Homes - Eclipse 18. http://adgnetworks.blogspot.com/ Re: Solar System Not Working 5Jan 30, 2012 3:54 pm Abeed I have tried to contact the installer however it looks like they have closed their business. I've also contacted the distributor of the inverter and they are in liquidation as well. You dont mention the brand of your components. I believe this will be the first of many complaints from customers of 'get in, get out quick, grab the cash merchants' who have moved on and their warranty is worth ZERO. Hopefully yours is not one of the elcheapo Aero-sharp Inverters that have had more failures than successes. I have read of one customer having 3 replaced in under 2 years before changing to another reputable brand. It sounds like you will be at the whim of a licenced solar electrician who has the time to look at it. I strongly suggest posting your plight on the Whirlpool website in the Green-Tech forum where several installers regularly give advice and who may come to your assistance, but it will cost you Arfur Re: Solar System Not Working 6Jun 06, 2012 10:42 pm Im afraid, it sounds like you may have a faulty inverter.. you need to contact a solar installer who can test the panels and cables for outgoing voltage and cable continuity.. the same goes for inverter ac cabling. hope this helps chris Electrical - Automation - Smart wiring - New homes - Commercial - Data cabling] 1300 050 315 www.cenemelectrical.com.au www.facebook.com/cenemelectrical Re: Solar System Not Working 7Jun 07, 2012 3:12 pm Abeed Yes I have checked both the circuit breakers are in "On" position. The indicator led and led display in the inverter panel is off and the solar meter is not moving, that's how i know its not working. I had my system die a while back. Like you both isolators were on, but one had shorted out, apparently due to a loose connection, and needed replacing. Thankfully the electrician was still in business. Arfur Re: Solar System Not Working 8Jun 08, 2012 8:36 pm Uncle Arfur You dont mention the brand of your components. I believe this will be the first of many complaints from customers of 'get in, get out quick, grab the cash merchants' who have moved on and their warranty is worth ZERO. So true. Instead of throwing money at people to install 'sustainable' home improvements the government ought to be ensuring that the 'sustainable' home improvement industry is infact sustainable. We thought about getting solar panels but started to hear the horror stories and decided to wait and see. Re: Solar System Not Working 9Jun 09, 2012 1:17 pm JazzyJess We thought about getting solar panels but started to hear the horror stories and decided to wait and see. Couldn't agree more. About 15 months ago I was totally confused but wanted to sign quickly to get the rebates. I spent several days doing my homework on the Whirlpool site in the Green forum, reading everything I could about the quality of systems etc. I decided what I wanted then set out to find a firm to install it. Sadly that firm ended up letting me down, leaving broken tiles on the roof and virtually called me a liar among other things. I have since had my Inverter come loose on the wall and a circuit breaker die, both of which the electrician came back to fix. So while the components were great the installers were crap. Thankfully it wasn't the other way around. My system earnt a little over $1800 last year. Ive had no electricity bills since and the 'earnings' covered all my gas bills and returned me a little over $1000, which was a good $10K investment. With electricity charges escalating I wish I had gone for a slightly larger system, which was financially out of reach. Arfur Re: Solar System Not Working 10Jun 19, 2012 9:00 pm Uncle Arfur . . totally confused but wanted to sign quickly to get the rebates . . I know what you mean. I'm sorry about your ordeal with the installers but glad the system is working well for you. Re: Solar System Not Working 11Jun 19, 2012 11:01 pm Oh that's not the half of it JJ. After reading all the horror stories on Whirlpool I kept a log of all contact between the installation company and myself and wrote a factual critique on WP. The solar proprietor flew into rage, denying all my complaints, site unseen, virtually calling me a liar and threatening legal action claiming my post had cost him work and demanded I remove them. It didn't occur to him other customers may have found his service wanting and word had spread. With the bottom dropping out of the solar industry this grub wanted me to supplement his income. I sought legal advice and was assured he had nothing to act upon, but rather than have to deal with this creep I deleted the posts, but it gave me satisfaction that the posts had remained active for over a year Arfur Re: Solar System Not Working 12Jun 27, 2012 10:47 pm Even if such people succeed in bullying customers into retracting their complaints online, they can't follow customers around stopping every private conversation they have with family and friends. Word gets out. Why don't they just put some effort into their work? I had a similar issue with my fridge not too long ago. It wasn't the same model, but the symptoms were pretty much the same: the compressor would start and then stop… 3 7540 Okay sorry silly me, my wife has solves the mystery for me. It’s because the labels on the ports are all wrongly positioned by the builder hence it confuses me. 2 1382 I looked into it a few years ago and my conclusion was to just build a carport that will support panels and get a system installed separately. The company I looked at had… 1 6481 |