3 SolarEdge 18XB7 Failures

[tee2nu]

I'm waiting on my 3rd replacement in 16 months. This has been the worst investment. They keep wanting to replace instead of fixing the damn problem by NOT using SolarEdge Inverters.

AND Tesla customer support refuses to transfer me beyond level 1 support.

Anyone know how we can start a Class Action Lawsuit? Imaging buying a car for tens of thousand of dollars that only work 80% of the time?

 

[MP3Mike]

I'm waiting on my 3rd replacement in 16 months. This has been the worst investment. They keep wanting to replace instead of fixing the damn problem by NOT using SolarEdge Inverters.

Of course, because they are warrantied by SolarEdge, so it probably doesn't cost them anything. (I would assume that SolarEdge pays the labor cost of the replacement as well, though Tesla might have to eat that.)

AND Tesla customer support refuses to transfer me beyond level 1 support.

No level of Tesla support is going to get SolarEdge to refurbish and ship a replacement inverter faster...

 

[tee2nu]

I'm waiting on my 3rd replacement in 16 months. This has been the worst investment. They keep wanting to replace instead of fixing the damn problem by NOT using SolarEdge Inverters.

AND Tesla customer support refuses to transfer me beyond level 1 support.

Anyone know how we can start a Class Action Lawsuit? Imaging buying a car for tens of thousand of dollars that only work 80% of the time?

Imagine buying a car for tens and thousands of dollars that only works 80% of the time. And to top it off this happens during the summer in AZ where our bill is around $700/mo.

 

[tee2nu]

Of course, because they are warrantied by SolarEdge, so it probably doesn't cost them anything. (I would assume that SolarEdge pays the labor cost of the replacement as well, though Tesla might have to eat that.)


No level of Tesla support is going to get SolarEdge to refurbish and ship a replacement inverter faster...

Unfortunately you are correct. I just wanted to keep going up the chain until someone with balls would actually do something about it. I know it was just wishful thinking.

 

[MP3Mike]

Unfortunately you are correct. I just wanted to keep going up the chain until someone with balls would actually do something about it. I know it was just wishful thinking.

You could ask how much it would cost to switch to Tesla inverters, but I suspect a lot because I think the panels would have to be rewired.

 

[BGbreeder]

If it were me, I would have bought my own spare to be pressed into service, just as one might buy a second car, though I do recognize it isn't as simple as grabbing the other set of keys. OTOH, as it keeps happening...

 

[boxgranch]

Does anyone have a way to contact SolarEdge? I called their number and got shunted to a message that said they would send an SMS with a link to a chat line and I never got it. Tesla does nothing but point fingers at SolarEdge and today quoted 20 weeks before a replacement arrives after 3 months offline. This is the third failure in20 months. A class action suit is starting to sound good. Any lawyers out there know how to get one started?

 

[Olly_]

There's a chat link available here if you log in using your monitoring details - Enjoy our Free Support Resources Center | SolarEdge

They're reasonably helpful but will just tell you that they're out of stock with no ETA every time

Phone wait times are lengthy but you can call them on (510) 498-3200. I waited over an hour last time I tried to call though...

They're probably closed for the day now.

 

[Leonard1]

Update: 3 SolarEdge inverters failed since January. 1 of the replacements is intermittent. No outlook on the 10K that is down. Net: down since January with no outlook as to when the system will be restored. Consulted attorney and this is clear breach of contract but the cost to pursue greater than the cost of the system. Anyone considering a Tesla solar system should seriously consider options and down stream impacts. I would not enter into an agreement with this company again.

 

[MP3Mike]

Anyone considering a Tesla solar system should seriously consider options and down stream impacts. I would not enter into an agreement with this company again.

Why are you calling out Tesla here. It is SolarEdge that isn't fulfilling their obligations in a timely manner. And Tesla no longer uses SolarEdge on new solar installs. (My guess is that if you sued Tesla they would just add SolarEdge as an additional defendant and pass the buck; "we would install a replacement inverter but SolarEdge hasn't held up their warranty with us." Or maybe Tesla would have to sue them separately?)

 

[Leonard1]

Why are you calling out Tesla here. It is SolarEdge that isn't fulfilling their obligations in a timely manner. And Tesla no longer uses SolarEdge on new solar installs. (My guess is that if you sued Tesla they would just add SolarEdge as an additional defendant and pass the buck; "we would install a replacement inverter but SolarEdge hasn't held up their warranty with us." Or maybe Tesla would have to sue them separately?)

Tesla has the ability to resolve the issue by replacing the inverters with a different brand. My agreement is with Tesla, not SolarEdge. Tesla has acknowledged to possibility of replacing the SolarEdge inverters, but they choose not to. At one point, they quoted the contract stated that any warranty replacement had to be the original manufacturer, but I could not find that in the contract, and when I confronted them, they backed down. This is clearly a Tesla issue in my case. I did not choose SolarEdge, I chose Tesla. And I regret that decision.

 

[Leonard1]

Tesla has the ability to resolve the issue by replacing the inverters with a different brand. My agreement is with Tesla, not SolarEdge. Tesla has acknowledged to possibility of replacing the SolarEdge inverters, but they choose not to. At one point, they quoted the contract stated that any warranty replacement had to be the original manufacturer, but I could not find that in the contract, and when I confronted them, they backed down. This is clearly a Tesla issue in my case. I did not choose SolarEdge, I chose Tesla. And I regret that decision.

 

[MP3Mike]

Tesla has the ability to resolve the issue by replacing the inverters with a different brand.

I'm not sure it is as easy as replacing the inverter with a different brand. You probably have a SolarEdge optimizer on every panel, and I'm not sure if they are compatible with other systems. For example, to switch to Delta or Tesla inverters the entire system would likely have to be rewired with different rapid shutdown hardware on the roof.

 

[Leonard1]

I'm not sure it is as easy as replacing the inverter with a different brand. You probably have a SolarEdge optimizer on every panel, and I'm not sure if they are compatible with other systems. For example, to switch to Delta or Tesla inverters the entire system would likely have to be rewired with different rapid shutdown hardware on the roof.

You are correct. The optimizer will need to replaced and some wiring changes will need to be made. I questioned an install team on this aspect, when I saw them during an install, and talked to them about this change. Work yes, but definitely not something that is out of the question. This team I spoke with was so embarrassed by the way Tesla was handling this issue, that they would gladly sign up to fix the issue.

By the way, I heard that the optimizers from SolarEdge have a very high failure rate. Tesla has no way to monitor panel performance so we can have panels that are down and never know it.

 

[cwied]

FWIW, I've had a SolarEdge system since 2016. I've had one optimizer replaced and no inverter problems so far (knock on wood). I think SolarEdge's failure rate is way too high, but it doesn't necessarily mean that none of their inverters work.

 

[eml2]

I also have a SolarEdge system since 2017 and 28 optimizers. Nothing has failed yet. (also knock on wood). My SolarEdge inverter is the old SE model. I think the higher failure rate is the newer HD model.

 

[Leonard1]

My system was installed in 2019. As I understand, this vintage of SolarEdge inverters has been built with bad capacitors. I told the majority of these inverters will fail as it is only a matter of time before the capacitors are unable to handle surges. Both SolarEdge and Tesla were aware of these impending failures and took no proactive action to mitigate these long customer outages. Engineering 101 does single point of failure analysis and has plans to mitigate. Draw your own conclusions but my understanding of the situation is much worse than just not having a replacement part.

 

[chudiddy]

add me to the list of failed inverters. This is the 3rd one since 2017 and now who knows how long a replacement will take. I am missing out on peak production while still paying on this contract. What recourse do we have. I don't even want this system anymore. Beyond frustrated.

 

[Olly_]

My inverter was finally replaced yesterday after nearly two months of lost production.

To be fair to Tesla they installed it 3 working days after the replacement arrived at their warehouse from SolarEdge so I can't really blame them for the huge delay, it just sucks to have lost two months of production at the best time of year - particularly because the weather has been so great this year!

 

[Redhill_qik]

Not a 18XB7 issue, that I know of, but do we need another Solaredge thread?

I lost my solar production yesterday in the afternoon. We were having some rain over the last day and it was cloudy at the time, but I was getting production throughout the day and I also lost direct IP login connection to my TEG. Using the TEG WiFi I was able to login and see that the solar production was 0 kW and my meter was reporting only draw that matched what the TEG was reporting. My Solaredge SE7600H-US (non-LCD) had a solid green LED indicating that it was producing and an occasional blue LED indicating that it was communicating with the Zigbee monitoring gateway.

I did a TEG reset with an unused pencil through the opening with no change other than being able to use the house WiFi IP login again. I did a Solaredge shutdown and restart (switch to O, turn off DC, AC breaker open waited 30 secs then the reverse) again no change. I don't have a Solaredge account, but I was able to use the Solaredge SetApp to connect with the inverter WiFi in view mode, but nothing was really there to report. I tried holding the switch to P for 5 seconds to re-pair the optimizers result in flashing red/green/blue LEDs for about 2 minutes and then back to solid green with no change. After sundown the Inverter did start blinking green indicating that it wasn't producing which makes sense as it was night.

I was hoping that something might resolve over night, but the same behavior in the morning with a solid green and occasional blue. Started a chat with Telsa Support and their remote diagnostics indicated that none of the optimizers were paired with the inverter. They couldn't do anything on their end beyond that, so now I have a service appointment scheduled for October 3rd and at least 2 weeks without any production.

Any thoughts? I've got pigeons that like my roof could they have caused some problem that impacts the optimizer communication, but still allows the inverter to think that it is producing?