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The never ending saga continues of my solar escapades. I have an installer in replacing my existing 13 year old solar panels for which I receive a FIT payment.
The panels are fitted on two arrays one of which I receive my FIT payment. The inverter that deals with the FIT panels had been switched off during the work. When it was switched back on it didn’t work. The electrician had a look at it and confirmed it was broken and a replacement would be needed. I assumed he would be paying for it but it wasn’t made clear during the discussion. He has came back to me today asking how much I want to spend on the new inverter. I’ve told him I’m not paying anything so he’s saying he’s not fitting it unless he gets paid up front.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect him to pay as it worked perfectly well before he started but I’m open to being convinced otherwise.
I think a reasonable solution would be for me to pay him what it actually costs for the unit and for him to fit it for free as I am aware that there is a benefit to me in this situation as the inverter was maybe 7 years old.
What do you think my position should be?
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
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By electrician, are you refering to the solar panel installer or the old electrician, who wotked for the now defunk company?
An inverter should work reliabely for well over 10 years, which begs the question on where you would stand if you bought a newinverter and that to didnt work because of a fault elsewhere like loose or incorrect wiring and or no reliable power from the panals or not enough to kick start start the inverter, after being off, to simply a blown fuse or tripped breaker from the inrush current!
I feel some investigative work (by someone who knows what they are doing) is required before simply going out and buying a new one leaving you potentially being lumbered with the cost of a new inverter, when it might not be needed through lack of contract or incompetence!
What make and model is the inverter?
Another thing come to mind, with the recent weather being crap, is the lack of sufficient sunlight to power the inverter up.
It’s a new company who are MCS accredited.
I don’t have a clue on what went wrong, they switched the isolater switches off, of which there are two, one for each array? when they switched both the isolators switches back on the inverter screen stated dark. He took the front face off it and checked various parts of it and checked the fuse box etc but nothing worked. The Aurora inverter doesn’t appear to have an on/off switch which I thought was strange.
The new FIT system uses only one of the mppt so I don’t know if that’s a problem. He said there was power coming from the solar panels but for some reason the inverter wouldn’t start up.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.If I can remember it was a very good day up here so that shouldn’t have been a problem.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.It’s an Aurora Power One 3.6Kw
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.I’ll check out the inverter in morning.
Ultimately the installer has got to take some responsibilty, as it was working fine prior,whether that is 50:50 with free installation or you pay for the inverter and he installs it for free. Ultimately, I prefer the former option, as fairness all round but, what ever you do ensuure its written in the contract/final invoice, thus providing a solid warranty for future reference. I would also gain some proof that if a new inverter is the go forward plan and it doesn’t work due to some other fault or problem previosly stated, the installer takes full responsibility for any costs incurred! If it were me, I’d be cchecking and fault finding my work before proceeding, ensuring nothing silly is causing it to not power up.
Take a look at this Solis fault finding guide, which explains in detail what I’m trying to get across 🙂
Aurora Power One inverters were introduced in 2013, so many of the initial installs are over 12 years old and worth replacing. However, if yours is only 7-8 years old, there is still a reasonable amount of life left in it, if you can start it!
Scroll down to “How to restart an ABB / Power One Aurora Solar Inverter:
https://www.inbalance-energy.co.uk/Inverter-Faults/abb-power-one-inverter-faults-repairs.html
Thanks for the info/advice Kezo. He emailed me this morning saying his supplier has offered two inverters a Growatt and an Instagen. No info on price etc
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.Guy just turned up at my door with an Instagen inverter. I had no prior notice and no choice by the look of it. A quick scan of the inter web and it looks ok. Just waiting on an electrician now 🤞
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.He said in an email earlier today the cheapest inverter they could find was £300 but they didn’t mention a make. I’d be happy to pay £300 so hopefully that’s the final amount.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.Growatt and an Instagen. No info on price etc The only person
InstaGEN inverters are from longstanding british supplier Instagroup, who perhaps uniquely offer integrated systems these days but, you don’t have to use their solar panels for it to work.
The InstaGen “INS-3.6LV-EUA1” 3.6kW hybid inverter has a retail price of £500. They also do a soley grid tied inverter INS-SI-3.6 not sure on retail, as not on my suppliers list.
Growatt, is perhaps more well known in the public domain, therefore better user backup?
Growatt MIN 3.6kW hybrid inverter is around the same price, as the InstaGen hybrid and also can be grid tied.
Brydo it’s fine just put the charges on the @Joss account, he’s loaded..😆
ajn I might just try that lol
Electrician Just about finished the install talk about money will probably start tomorrow.
At this point I’m just happy to have my FIT payments back up and running.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.😂😂😂😂😂😜😜😜😜😜🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
It absolutely must be me, no matter who is carrying out the work for this project there is a problem.
I haven’t recieved a price from them as the work isn’t yet complete. There were two scratched panels, one on each array, that I spotted, to be replaced. The guys arrived, took one panel onto the roof, to discover there the wrong panels. I’m waiting for the correct panels to be delivered and fitted.
They had scaffold up to the back and side of the house. The side scaffold is above my garage and is quite substantial. They call me and say it’s being removed, I tell them one of the scratched panels is on the array the scaffold is built for. They took no notice and removed the scaffold. When the guys arrived to fit the two, incorrect panels, they said they couldn’t fit one of the panels as the scaffold has been removed 😂😂😂😂😂
So I’m waiting on the scaffold being replaced and two correct panels to be supplied and fitted. Once this is done the final account will be the only thing to be discussed.
Both array are working so once the money is agreed that should be everything complete 🤞
I took the opportunity to go onto the roof and inspect it. It’s likely to need replaced or need some maintenance on it in the next few years. If I had looked at it before the solar panel renewal I would have had it replaced.
Ive reset a number of ridge tiles and tidied up some pointing but it’s a bit of a stopgap measure.
They had quoted the cheapest inverter as £300 so I’m looking to pay no more than this as fair and final amount price for supply and fitting. Let’s see what the next few days bring.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.You must be one of the most unluclkiest people in the world lol
Perhaps I should have been more serious and come up for a week and done it for you..
Yes Kezo that would have been the answer 👍
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.Who’d have thunk it, scaffolders arrived this morning unannounced, erected enough scaffold to change the scratch panel above my garage. They finished about 12 noon.
Half an hour later the owner of the company installing my solar panels arrived with another member of his team.
Two hours later the panels are changed and my APP is on my phone (this took as long as the panel replacement and how they expect a member of the public to sort the app is beyond me).
No mention of cost/prices etc he shook my hand and off he went.
Literally 30 seconds later the invoice for the works pinged into my email. £300 for the inverter and no charge for fitting. There are couple of things on the invoice I won’t be paying for but the £300 I’m ok with.
I hate to speak too soon but it looks like I’m finished.
From the previous contract I installed an air source heat pump and 7Kwp of solar. This guy installed 3No 16.1kwh solar batteries and removed my existing 14 year old 16No 250W solar panels and replaced them with 16 No 440 W.
I have a North/North East facing roof that has no solar but as the saying goes “Never say never” 😂
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.I take it the new app is for the inverter?
Hope the saga is finally comming to an end, it’s been long time comming mate!
Lests hope they see sense with the bill and knock off bits where needed 🙂
I will have a chat with him but I’m just glad it’s finished, it’s been a journey and not a good one.
Yes the App for the inverter.
There’s a ten year warranty with the inverter so need to get that sorted.
Not sure when the scaffold will be removed but at least that’s all that’s left.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
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