Furbz

not a bad idea

thats all i am looking for. i need assurance that the work he has performed is to standard. he has been burnt before. but then so have I. so who is more correct? - neither of us. the question here is what is the usual process in the solar installation industry? in every other industry i have ever worked in until the service is rendered in full one cannot expect to be paid.

Hi All, i need some advice I had a new Victron system installed at my offices. part of the agreement i had with the installer was a full CoC for the system. i paid 70% of the price upfront, the system was installed in full but no CoC has been issued. the installer now claims i am withholding payment. From my side i believe the system is not complete without the CoC. i have offered to pay him 60% of the outstanding amount now as a sign of good faith and the remaining in front of him once he hands over the CoC. but the installer seems unwilling to come to the table. he wants payment first then he will give me the CoC. i used to have access to the online platform so that could change settings (to accommodate for load shedding). the installer has now changed my access to view only. so things have broken down substantially. what is the industry standard regarding when the installation service is complete? am i in the wrong here? the last install i had the installer was paid in full and disappeared into the wind. I never got my CoC hence why i am hesitant to now go paying in full without first

Got some time to look over the damage report. talk about being vague. i am 100% such a report will fall flat if challenged in court. any lawyers on here have some advise? damage report.pdf

So some feedback. It's been over a week and its radio silence from Mustek regarding the report. how long does it take to draw up a report? and why when voiding a R68k machine is this not standard practice? instead i keep getting sent a quote for R68k to replace the unit at my own cost.

Nope. it blew shortly after 9am in the morning on the 9th of October. Was a standard day, maybe a handful of small clouds in the sky. if needed i can pull video footage of the inverter blowing up. the below shows the last info i got from the system. pulled from Centurion Solar.

thanks for the advice but lets not derail this thread. i'll start a new thread regarding the new install. this thread is solely to ascertain if Mustek is unduly voiding my warranty

Thanks, yep still getting quotes. to rewire the entire setup with the Victron solution with new COC is R133k (eina!) the Mecer if not warranted is R68k to repurchase (with its history i'm most certainly not interested in this solution) i want a setup that can push power to my non-backup side but at the same time not push power to eskom. the Mecer cannot do this and so it's not a very efficient inverter. the batteries are great, i got enough to run us through a 4 hour load-shedding cycle. when load-shedding is not happening i then run them down overnight to further reduce our electrical spend.

i am currently looking at a quote to change to 3x single phase Victron MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-50 4000W Inverters it's an expensive exercise to change though

sure, i'll be heading to the office later today (i have painters at my home). i'll take comprehensive pictures to try aid in this discussion.

it is my belief that they are being difficult as i said i do not want the unit back. i'd rather have a refund. it's been in 4 times, each time for rather serious failures. i'd rather fall back on the CPA and get a refund at this point. and i think it is that makes them want to rather void the warranty. at this point i would be happy just to accept the repaired/replaced unit and sell it on at a loss. it's clearly not a good unit.

Thanks, i will certainly be taking this further if their report is not substantive. Hi, Nope it was business as usual. no load-shedding or power outage. surely if COJ did screw up and that did occur, my surge arrestors would have also blown? or at the least show damage? yeah thats my wonder, who is to say it was repaired correctly. the counterargument to this is it worked perfectly for a good number of months before it blew again. this is my AC surge arrestors. picture taken after the inverter blew on request of Mustek.

we do have an injection molder. it's not massive though. pulls around 2kw when on. this equipment IS NOT on the backup side so never pulls from the inverter at all. this equipment is also only run maybe twice a year and was not on when the inverter blew your second point: i'll have to get someone to look at that for me, i am not going to know what i am looking at without substantial help. maybe i can post pictures? the issue here is if i open the unit to look then that certainly voids the warranty. and i somehow doubt i'd get this info or pictures from Mustek. i have requested that Mustek include on their report how it is possible that nothing else blew at my offices and how this apparent surge got past my surge arrestors without them blowing up. i just do not see how only the inverter blew. it makes no sense.

pictures of the unit damage

I am now getting sent a formal damage report stating that the damage is caused by a surge. i also believe that Mustek will be responding to this thread. nice to know they are willing to have an open discussion. my question is this, is there any way a surge could get past my AC surge arrestors and cause this type of damage? surely my arrestors would have popped to? based on the pictures of the unit it must have been an enormous surge. so i cannot understand how only the inverter failed. and nothing else in my offices failed (surge arrestors, computers, aircons, alarm, irrigation).

No Problem, i'm looking for help/feedback of any kind. i'm not to technical in electrics but i know enough to get the info needed and to understand that pretty much all 3 of their points used to void the warranty are suspect. hence why i am here, to learn and figure out if going legal is a good option. I'm based in RSA, Midrand, Kyalami. i'm heading to the office today so i will take any additional pictures you want - just list them and i'll make it happen. on the picture. your higher circle - those lines come off our breaker at the top, go through that energy meter on the right(uses to ensure we do not feed back into eskom), then off to the inverter. the lower circle - those thick wires are my incoming COJ power lines. the breaker is my main breaker 150A breaker into the building and is massive overkill. we use at maximum about 30A.

Hi Barry, i had a reputable company install it for me: My Generation This inverter can feed into the grid if we wanted it to. as this is illegal, it was setup in a way that used the power first on our backup, then to charge the batteries. when the batteries were full the inverter limited itself to ensure no power returned to Eskom. The breakers you are showing is a fireman's switch on the outside of the building to isolate the panels(DC side) in the event of a fire. as you can see these lines each have their own set of surge arresters the surge arresters are inside the building and shown in the pictures. there are 4x surge arrestors in a separate box just next to our Main DB board linked to Eskom line. i hope the above helps. if needed i am happy to take further pictures to help aid in this

Hi All, i am looking for some 3rd party advice. it is my feeling that Mustek is trying to hide behind weak excuses to claim my warranty has been voided. as i am not knowledgeable in this field i'm looking for some input from members to help me figure if they are full of it or if what they are telling me is true. First off the unit i have is a Mecer 3Ph 10kw Hybrid Inverter. the unit has been a real lemon and has had to be fixed by mustek 4 times now (this being the 4th). thats 4 times since April 2019. the unit has spent more time at Mustek than on my actual wall working. So here is the detail of this last failure. the unit had been working flawlessly since the 3rd failure at the end of January 2020. when it did blow it was a massive bang, complete with black smoke. i sent the unit in to Mustek and was contact by a representative who was assessing the unit. the below are his comments based on the attached pictures of my install. comments in red are my own " Hi Keith, I had a case of food poisoning and back today. After the review of the installation photos the installation has a lot of problems that could have stopped the inverter from being damaged. There is no protection on the incoming side of the AC from Eskom. The AC and DC cables are running in the same trunking that is against the regulation. It creates thermal transfer to the inverter. The battery cable was lengthened and probably not the same length that creates a volt drop. I will send you the quote for repair of the inverter. If there is further questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Kind Regards <NAME REMOVED>" the above remarks i believe are is insane. for Mustek to hide behind them i feel is unreal as this assessment was done via pictures and assumptions based theron. we have surge arrestors on the incoming Eskom side. this is clear from the pictures sent. the AC and DC cables are very clearly in separate conduit in the pictures. the AC on the left, the DC on the right. the battery cables may be differing lengths, but has not actually been measured. i will measure them up tomorrow to find out if this indeed the case. if they are how much of an impact could this have? and is this grounds to void a warranty where the damage caused was on the AC side? Here is the second correspondence: "Hi Keith To clarify the warranty has been voided on Installation Error. The Inverter has been in at 4 different occasions and that is way we asked for the installation pictures. The damage to the main board is so extensive that all three phases is burned. Refer to pictures attached. The damage is caused by a surge and is not cover under the warranty. To repair all the damage to the inverter is not economical and I would suggest a new unit. Please let me know if you would like an quote for a replacement inverter. Regards <NAME REMOVED>" what are you thoughts? This is not a cheap piece of equipment. and i am fully happy to go the legal route if needed - especially as Mustek would then be legally bound to inform their supplier(Mecer). i'd love to hear Mecers thoughts on this.

can you help me with my existing 3ph 10kva mecer install?

anyone?

Hi all, i need some assistance with my inverter. the gent i got to install it i do not feel understands what he is doing. is there anyone who can come out and assist me in setting up this inverter correctly? i see i now have one of the strings of panels no longer sending any power to the inverter - so will also need help with this. if anyone knows a installer that is good please let me know

Hello all, i am new to solar and still learning so please excuse the million odd noob questions. i have 2x solar installations and i need help ensure i am getting the most out of them. at home i have a Goodwe 4.6 Hybrid Inverter with 3x US3000 batteries coupled to 14x Canadian Solar 330w panels. this system occasionally trips(usually when the coffee machine and kettle are on, and then my wife turns on a hairdryer) and for some reason the batteries seem to still be utilized when the now the tripping is tough to get around due to the way my house is wired. so many needed plugs are wired to other plugs that really should not be on backup. the only way to fix this is to run new cables. case and point, my microwave and fridge are on the same circuit. its a little painful and irritating that we cannot use power as normal when we have eskom power. but again it is seldom that we pull such an amount. the next issue is if my lights dimming when a larger load is turned on - ie a kettle. i get lights flickering and dimming which is also slightly irritating. i was told to put the Power Factor to 0.9. which seems to help. i know this effectively reduced my 4.6kw to more like a 4.14kw. but it does help tremendously. At my offices i have a Mecer 10kw Hybrid inverter, with 4x US3000 batteries coupled to 30x Canadian Solar 330w panels. this unit has been sheer hell. its blow up twice and been repaired under warranty each time. its spend more time being repaired at Mustek than it has actually working. my issue here is excess power generated does not seem to be feeding to the non-backup side of our factory (like my goodwe does at home) i will pay someone to get this unit running optimally. the installer i used blamed the issue on the newer power monitor?(i'm not sure what it's really called, but it makes sure no additional power is pushed toward eskom). i find that hard to believe and imagine it might just be a setting issue anyway, hello! and thanks for your patience with me!