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I am starting a new thread as the lest ended up being diverted to diverters! Then dried up

Can people say if they have had problems with any brands/warranties. Do any manufacturers have parts and labour?
Looking for an established supplier, gives a decent 10 - 15 year warranty as standard, a company that looks like they will be around for 10-15 years to honour it. I am looking to install a 9kw system.

Thanks

Mine is an SMA 2.5kW Sunny Boy which has worked faultlessly since September 2011.

My experience with Solis is mixed.
Decent but basic equipment, no real smarts though (SOC based charge schedule, etc).

Mine has been reliable, I ended up designing a custom controller stick / dongle to make it smarter.
A friend has one that blew up after a component went VERY bang inside, but was replaced under warranty with no quibbles.

If you had one available cheaply such as second hand, no issue. If you're buying new, possibly spend more and get something higher spec.

Victron have been around for donkeys years, are compatible with most stuff, and can be controlled by opensource or home assistant etc.
They will be around for many more donkeys years, and imo, excel in doing what they are meant to do, in a simple no nonsense way.

I only have experience of their 12/24v stuff for boats so far, but that spand 30 years of useage. it is my brand of choice for my home install.

Have a sunny boy 1700 in for 13 years and no issues.

Have an another system on a sunny boy 2500 on for nearly 2 days now and no issues so far!

Thanks for those answers. None of the quotes have offered any of those brands, nor the Aurora Power One I had in my previous set up,. That seems to have disappeared from the UK market, but there is a plethora of you tube videos when you google it.

SMA were the default inverters for good quality installations at the beginning of the PV boom. Victron are also good with good support but back then they were mainly used in off grid systems, boats and RVs mainly. They are at the more expensive end of the market so most installers aren't going to specify them these days.

My first was an SB1800 installed in 2011 and still working when we left that house 8 years later.

Since then I've had 14 SMA inverters, 8 are currently in use, the oldest is over 13. I've found SMA service to be excellent although sometimes a bit slow. They don't like to deal with end users directly so they will try to refer you to an installer if you have problems.

There have been 4 failures. The first was a secondhand SB2000HF. I think they were not the most reliable inverters. That was replaced by an SB1600TL which failed early but was replaced by SMA under warranty. I blew up an SB8.0H when it was 8 years old by inadvertently overloading it. SMA supplied an exchange unit for a not outrageous price. An SB4000 died for no apparent reason at about 8 years old.

SMA sunny boy 4000tl on my FIT system, been running since 2011 with zero issues at all. Great piece of kit, but obviously basic and unavailible (other than secondhand) now. Deffo wont be changing it till it dies.

Other one is Sunsynk 3.6kw Ecco. Great invertor, a serioisly pants manual thats in essense a total waste of paper, but ive had great patient help from the contact centre with it when inhad to get some installer goolies corrected. Pleased with it. Can incubate eggs on the top of it though as it runs very hot - most owners, inc myself, have installed small fans to provide cooling as the fitted fan is rubbish and it makes a huge difference. Lots of features, but takes a while to understand. I'd buy another.

If Sunny boy have a good reputation, and I am not questioning that, why have they not been offered in any of the quotes? I know I looked at SB for an install 11 years ago, and couldnt afford it. Now they seem resonably priced at the wholesalers at least.

Sunsynk....yes they are top on the list of the inverters I am being offered. But a previous idea was avoiding inverters with fans....but you couldnt do that with a computer, and dont all inverters have inbuilt fans?

Snuggy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 5:28 pm If Sunny boy have a good reputation, and I am not questioning that, why have they not been offered in any of the quotes?

I would guess that it's because they are more expensive than the Chinese inverters. Most people want the cheapest possible install so that's what they will get offered. There's also the issue of battery systems. AFAIK SMA don't offer a one box integrated battery / grid system and it would seem that more customers want.