Questions and issues with Sunpower in recently purchased home.

[bcroe]

DC arc faults have nothing to do with the grid AC voltage from POCO's. If the DC arc faults are real (i.e. not bad sensors) then you would want to make sure all wiring/insulation and connections from the solar panels to the inverter are checked to be good. DC arc faults are a main cause of solar panel fires.

Agree with that, what I am suspecting is the fault reporting stuff.
Very easy to check the voltage. Bruce Roe

[Davidoo]

Update..... I had a 4 man Sunpower crew here who arrived right on the scheduled time at 8:00 yesterday. They said it is believed the Arc Detected warnings are false and due to some type of failing diode in the wiring that they have seen before. They took all the panels off and rewired them, plus put in a new junction box. We have 28 panels and it took them about 2.5 hours to get done. I thought they were very professional, even crime taping the house off to avoid injury in case something fell off the roof. The technicians were good about explaining the system and what they feel was causing the arc message. They restarted the system and checked the voltages on all 4 strings (7 panels each line) that come into the inverter. Based on the readings, they felt all 4 strings were working. The system started producing right away, and based on the app, for some reason it produced a bit more power each hour during the peak part of the day than it did during the last few days, all of which were clear. Not a big difference, but I was getting around 7 kwh yesterday and 6.7 to 6.8 the prior days. In June I was getting 7.8 kwh, but the sun angle is much lower now. It looks like they wiped them off, so that could be it.

The only disappointment was regarding the graphic display screen on the inverter. I had mentioned earlier that the right side of the screen (inside the clouded over cover) was cracked on the right side, so only the left side worked. The techs thought that would be covered by warranty, but called Sunpower while they were here and they told them something like "the screen is still partially working, so we don't owe a replacement." Wow, way to weasel out of it. That's like Samsung saying my TV isn't covered by their warranty because part of the screen is working. Anyway, I can get that information in the app, so it is not a disaster, but disappointing.

I was able to find a replacement screen on e-bay for $89.99, and they just pop out and the ribbon type wires plug into the new one. I'm thinking of replacing it myself, but wonder if it would work? Is it just a screen, or would it not work if the serial number doesn't match the one in the inverter? Would replacing that require re-provisioning of the device, or would it just display the same info as the old one and not miss a beat? Thanks for the help!

[azdave]

The only disappointment was regarding the graphic display screen on the inverter. I had mentioned earlier that the right side of the screen (inside the clouded over cover) was cracked on the right side, so only the left side worked.

If the entire display is not able to be read, then it is defective. How can they claim otherwise? Ask them if only seeing half a screen on their smart phone would also qualify as a fully functioning product.

[Calsun]

My Sunpower inverter failed within the warranty period and it took more than 6 months for Sunpower to send a replacement inverter that was inadequate to handle the power from our panels. I ended up buying a Solis inverter as it was costing me money every month I could not produce power. If I had it to do over again I would have simply bought the new Solis inverter and not tried to get SunPower to honor its warranty.

[Davidoo]

If the entire display is not able to be read, then it is defective. How can they claim otherwise? Ask them if only seeing half a screen on their smart phone would also qualify as a fully functioning product.

I know, a really flimsy excuse to get out of something that doesn't cost much. I'm going to call customer service next week and make an argument, maybe threaten to go to a media outlet about it. Even the tech who was here laughed at the excuse. I know I can change it out myself, but shouldn't have to. The only thing stopping me is I don't know if the screen if plug and play, and if I put in a new screen, will it remember the data that the old one displayed such as lifetime power generation. Don't know if the screen module actually holds and generates the information, or if it just displays what is stored in memory somewhere else.

[Davidoo]

My Sunpower inverter failed within the warranty period and it took more than 6 months for Sunpower to send a replacement inverter that was inadequate to handle the power from our panels. I ended up buying a Solis inverter as it was costing me money every month I could not produce power. If I had it to do over again I would have simply bought the new Solis inverter and not tried to get SunPower to honor its warranty.

That is unfortunate that these companies are allowed to treat paying customers that way. They are so quick to take your money and do installs.

A question for you is, when you installed the Solis inverter, did it still report to the Sunpower "supervisor" unit and did data still show up in the Sunpower app, or do you monitor some other way now?

[Davidoo]

I know, a really flimsy excuse to get out of something that doesn't cost much. I'm going to call customer service next week and make an argument, maybe threaten to go to a media outlet about it. Even the tech who was here laughed at the excuse. I know I can change it out myself, but shouldn't have to. The only thing stopping me is I don't know if the screen if plug and play, and if I put in a new screen, will it remember the data that the old one displayed such as lifetime power generation. Don't know if the screen module actually holds and generates the information, or if it just displays what is stored in memory somewhere else.

As an update to this, I've still been going back and forth with Sunpower and SMA about the broken display on the inverter. SMA says that should be covered under warranty. I sent that information to Sunpower and threatened legal action if they don't honor the warranty. They decided to ship me a new display screen, which I have already received. They also scheduled a Sunpower tech to come out and install it in about 3 weeks. Looks like they are finally doing the right think. Too bad it took at least 10 emails and phone calls to get them to steop up.

[azdave]

Good to hear it may be resolved soon. Sad that we all have to fight for things like basic customer care and getting warranties honored.

[Mauthedog]

I'm a new SunPower customer and my experience has been mixed at best.
On the + side, the green light is on and my two most recent electric bills have been cut in half. The panels appear to operate well.

On the negative side, the PV box has never worked properly; so, I have rare/intermittent reports on how the system is operating.
I got a ticket opened with SP and they closed it almost immediately saying I needed a wifi extender.
I told them the wifi router is less than 15 feet from their box!
It took two months for them to agree to open another ticket. A week ago they told me they had informed Viridis about the situation and that Viridis would arrange a site visit.
Crickets.

Folks, I don't know how well or badly the average solar panel company treats its customers, but SunPower and Viridis don't make me feel good at all.
Before they stopped responding, Viridis kept telling me to go to SP, and SP kept telling me to go through Viridis.
The process seems designed to let the 20 year warranty expire.

[New info 3/24/2024]
I followed the advice here---Be persistent. And finally got the local dealer to install a new PVS box on 3/21.
The breakthrough occurred after my posts and emails and phone calls caught the attention of the local dealer CEO, who actually wrote "Sorry about this" to me.
So far--after three day--everything seems to be working correctly.
Only took from December 13th to March 20th.
Form what folk here are writing, it appears my experience is above average!