OneSolar Review. One Word: Avoid

one solar solar panels

OneSolar make a lot a lot of claims on their website that just don’t stack up.

When it comes to choosing solar panels and inverters, we recommend sticking to well known brands.

Over the years we’ve seen lots of obscure panel brands hit Australian shores, often with slick websites, and almost always with dubious claims of being ‘engineered’ in anywhere-but-China.

Our experience is that the quality of these mysterious brands is often poor, and if they fail a few years down the line it can be very hard to find the company that originally imported or manufactured them.

An example of a panel and inverter brand we would not recommend is OneSolar 1.  We’ve seen reports that these panels are currently being offered for sale by various solar marketing companies.

OneSolar’s Australian headquarters are a serviced office in Sydney.  The website says it is “Copyright © 2017 OneSolar Pty Ltd.”. Unfortunately, according to ASIC there is no such company registered in Australia at the time of writing.

I rang the number on the website and the lady that answered had no idea which legal entity she was working for, except that it was called “OneSolar”. My guess is that she worked for an ‘answering service’.

The fact that OneSolar’s Australian website copyright claims to be owned by a non-existent company should be all the reason you need to not buy these panels when there are heaps of well known, low risk brands for you to choose from.

But if you need more reasons, OneSolar’s Australian site has no problem misleading customers.

The OneSolar Homepage

You can check out the Australian OneSolar website at onesolar.com.au , or if that’s not quite exotic enough, you can take a gander at their international page at one-solar.com .

(note: the URLs above give security warnings on some browsers – so we have not linked to them – visit them at your own risk)

Their Australian homepage doesn’t have a lot of text, but at the time of writing, two sentences in large blue type do stand out:

No other panels generate so much energy. Or envy.

“No other panels generate so much energy. Or envy.”

That is BS.

There are two ways the first part of that statement could be taken.  Either:

  • OneSolar panels are more efficient than others, or…
  • There are more OneSolar panels in existence than any other panel.

Neither is correct.  In fact, they are both pretty astoundingly wrong.

OneSolar’s Efficiency Is Not Good

OneSolar panels range from 14.8% to 16.0% efficient according to their specs.  That is fairly low by today’s standards, so they definitely do not produce more energy per panel.

The most efficient panel currently on the market is SunPower’s X22 which is 22.2% efficient.  Those of you who have taken the effort to better yourselves by watching Sesame Street have probably already deduced that 22.2% is larger than 16.0%.

Remember the name of the company that makes the most efficient panels – SunPower.  They’ll come up again in this article soon enough.

OneSolar Panels Hardly Exist

As for OneSolar panels being so popular there are more of them in existence than any other, well, according to the internet they hardly exist.  There is very little information about them at all.  As far as I can tell, OneSolar is a German installer that rebrands panels made in China as their own and has decided to come to Australia to grace us with their presence and certainly not at all to obtain revenge for Tobruk.

OneSolar Panels Are Apparently Pretty

OneSolar includes information on their homepage about how pretty their panels are:

Have the most beautiful roof in the street.

“Have the most beautiful roof in the street.”

As you can see in the screen capture above, they say how pretty they are right next to a picture of perfectly ordinary looking solar panels with 3 busbar wires across each cell and which look exactly like the very large majority of solar panels that have been produced in the world ever since round solar cells went out of fashion.

Now you might say beauty is in the retina of the beholder and perhaps they honestly think their panels are really good looking.  But if you check the panels OneSolar actually offers you’ll see they don’t have any panels with 3 busbar wires, so they don’t even sell the panels they claim will make your roof the most beautiful on the street.

OneSolar Uses SunPower’s Image

There are two types of panels on OneSolar’s Australian site.  A black series they call the Karbon panel and a blue series they call the Silicon42.

On the page devoted to their Karbon panel there is a large picture of it and I have taken this closeup showing the solar cells they use:

OneSolar's Karbon panel

“One! One busbar! Two! Two busbars! Three! Three busbars! Four! Four busbars! HA HA HA HA!”

Notice the 4 busbars?

The next thing OneSolar does is show a close up of an individual cell and here it is:

Stolen Image

You may have noticed the 4 busbars have disappeared from the cell.  Where did they go?  Did they walk out on strike?  Did someone scratch them off?  Did the busbar burglar stop by and steal them?

Actually, none of those things happened.  The reason why the illustration of their solar cell has no busbars is because it isn’t their cell.  It’s actually a picture of a SunPower Maxeon solar cell and they just took the image and changed the text.  Here’s the SunPower page it originally came from.

That’s pretty bloody cheeky of them, taking the image of what is possibly the best cell available and passing it off as their own.  I have to give OneSolar 10 out of 10 for balls, but since they’re not actually in the business of selling testicles, I have to give them 0 out of 10 for being a business you can trust.

Actually, with the track record they’ve established, I wouldn’t be surprised if they mine this article for quotes and use the following as a testimonial:

SolarQuotes®  : “I have to give OneSolar 10 out of 10”

Panels, Inverters, And Storage, Oh My!

On their Australian site they have one inverter they call the Power Qube.  I don’t know what it was originally called when it was made in an unknown factory, but Power Qube is what they have rebranded it as.

If you are interested in it, I can recommend a good manufacturer of 12 foot poles on account of how I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot one.

While I strongly suspect their inverter was made in China, they completely fail to mention where it is made.  Their Power Qube page has the following phrase frequencies:

  • “German quality standards” – 4 uses
  • “German and US engineering” – 1 use
  • “Made in Germany” – 3 uses
  • “Made in USA” – 3 uses
  • “Made in Japan” – 2 uses
  • “Made in Netherlands ” – 1 use
  • “Made in Austria” – 1 use
  • “Made in China” – 0 uses

If you are wondering how it could manage to be made in so many different countries that aren’t China, OneSolar has an image of the internals of their inverter that displays how 10 of its components are definitely not made in China.

But this doesn’t mean anything, as I could open up the cheapest inverter I could buy and find components in it from around the world.  That’s how modern supply chains work.  They allow factories to use the cheapest components no matter where they’re made.

China Don’t Get No Respect

Personally, I find it pretty tacky how a German based company can mention 6 different countries on its inverter page, but not the actual country it was made in.

I am not saying the German based OneSolar company is as prejudiced as my Grandfather on ANZAC day after he’s polished off a bottle and a half of whiskey.  I’m just saying they don’t seem to want to give China any credit.

The OneBattery System

The Australian OneSolar site has a page about their OneBattery energy storage system and I have to say I was was very impressed by its almost complete lack of information.

I think I have met disorientated green ants that have imparted more information to me than their battery page3.  If you want to know its storage capacity, power output, warranty, size, star sign, or anything like that you are out of luck.  But they do say:

“OneBattery has been the market leader and pioneer in fully integrated lithium-ion energy storage systems.”

Now that is pretty bloody amazing.  I’ve been writing about battery systems for years now and I never would have expected the market leader to turn out to be a system I have never heard of before.  That’s totes amazeballs.  I can state quite confidently, without any fear of contradiction, that my amazeballs have never been more toted.

All I can say is, they must be using some bloody good stealth technology.  No doubt one day soon they will flick a switch and all these OneSolar battery systems we didn’t know were installed will uncloak and everyone will be able to clearly see they are the market leader.  This will be quite unlike the situation we have today where they just appear to be making stuff up.

But I do have to give credit where credit is due.  OneSolar has solved a major problem of wall mounted battery systems, which is the best way to attach a system to a wall.  Normally there is a lot of mucking around with drills and bolts and frames and screws and things, but OneSolar has done away with all that.  Their solution is so simple it’s brilliant.  They just photoshop it to the wall.

Photoshop makes the best glue

The OneSolar Warranty

On their Australian site OneSolar doesn’t give any warranty information for their solar panels.  But they do state they have a 12 year warranty for their Power Qube inverter.  This is the longest warranty I know of for a string inverter.  Even Fronius, which makes some of the best inverters available, currently only offers a five year warranty plus an additional 5 years for parts.  [Update 17th March:  I overlooked SolarEdge which has a 12 year warranty on their inverters.]

But if you think 12 years sounds impressive, just wait until I tell you that in Europe OneSolar offers a 20 year warranty.  That is astounding.  Those Chinese factory workers must be doing a hell of a job to make such a reliable inverter.  Such a good job that you’d think they’d deserve some credit for it, wouldn’t you?

I have no information on how reliable OneSolar’s inverter’s are.  For all I know they could be better than those of all the leading manufacturers and will last for decades without problems.  But it would be remiss of me if I did not state that I strongly doubt this is the case.  My spider senses are definitely tingling on this one.4

We have seen OneSolar has no problem exaggerating how much energy their panels produce or saying ones they don’t even sell will make your home the most beautiful on the street.  They took an image of SunPower’s solar cell and claimed it was their own.  They bent over backwards to not give the impression their made in China inverter is made in China.  Also, they claim their battery system has been a market leader when I’ve never even heard of it and their best illustration is a photoshop.

The Moral Of This Story

Unfortunately the Australian solar industry suffers from a constant stream of new panel and inverter brands5 who turn up with flashy websites, glossy brochures with lashings of photoshopped images, and claims that their rebranded cheap Chinese panels or inverters are somehow equal to or better than the very best on the market.

There are a few common warning signs to look out for if you want to avoid these brands:

  • They give the impression their panels are made in Australia but they are not Tindo panels, which are the only ones made in this country.
  • They talk a lot about ‘German Engineering’.
  • They claim their panels or inverters are as good as or better than the best currently on the market.
  • The only information about their panels and inverters you can find online comes from their own website.
  • The companies selling them use door to door salespeople.

To get a reliable system that will deliver low bills for decades we strongly suggest the following:

  • Use only Tier 1 solar panels or Tier 2 ones that are known to be reliable such as Tindo Solar or Opal solar panels.
  • Use a well known brand of inverter.
  • Use a reputable installer who has proven themselves to be trustworthy.

You can find out which panels are reputable and which inverters are reliable by checking out SolarQuotes’ Solar 101: A Beginner’s Guide.  And if you go here SolarQuotes will be more than happy to put you in touch with reputable installers.

But for those who feel like taking a punt on a brand like OneSolar, I would just like to say that the first Sydney Harbour Bridge I am selling today is solid gold on the inside, all its components were made in Germany, and it comes with a 20 year warranty.  Bidding starts at $100,000.

Footnotes

  1. Further we would not recommend using any installer who sells OneSolar
  2. OneSolar sometimes writes Silicon4 as Silicon to the power of 4.  So if Silicon to the power of 2 is silicon squared and silicon to the power of 3 is silicon cubed, then I guess Silicon to the power of 4 must be Silicon Teseracted.  I presume the next step would be Silicon Penteracted or possibly Silicon the 5 dimensional timecube.
  3. Mainly that a green ant, no matter how disorientated, can still sting.
  4. You need good spider senses to survive growing up in Toowoomba.  When I was a kid we hated spiders falling on our heads.  Not because we were afraid of being bitten, but because they were so large we were afraid of being knocked out.
  5. and soon – battery brands
About Ronald Brakels

Joining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.

Comments

  1. I see Firefox when visiting the site’s link reports:

    “Your connection is not secure

    The owner of www_onesolar_com_au has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website.”

    It’s using a ‘shttp’ but the certificates is either not valid or the encryption is not good enough. Same for the www_onesolar_com domain.

  2. When I first came across OneSolar mid last year, they were showing a rebadged SolarX inverter on their website.

    But now the photo they’re using for their “Power Qube” is a rebadged INVT inverter.

    • Ronald Brakels says

      Thanks for that. Comparing their pictures, they are quite obviously the same thing. Made in Shenzhen China.

  3. Thanks for the investigative journalism.

    Some of these scams need to be exposed.
    I have a quote from an ACT installer to install an LG Chem RESU6.5 for over $13k (before ACT gov rebate of ~$3.8k). The unit price is only $6.6k. Can’t imagine why the cost of installation is almost equal to the unit price. An air conditioner is cheaper to install and that needs plumbing.

  4. Hi Finn,

    Nice work. Love to read those foot notes. Have you ever reviewed natural solar.

    Thanks

    • Finn Peacock says

      Hi Stewart,

      A few months ago the head of sales for Natural Solar publicly declared he intended to ‘destroy SolarQuotes’.

      Apparently he is not pleased that we write articles that have criticised the Powerwall.

      For that and lots of other reasons, I would not recommend Natural Solar to anyone.

      Hope That Helps,

      Finn

  5. Martin Kalyniuk says

    A most convincing expose, I must say. You had me by “totes amazeballs.”

    So what’s substantive in this clearly impartial, intelligent and professional review?

    1) Conversion rate of usable sunlight is not the highest on the market.

    2) The site used a picture of panels with three busbars rather than the four the Silicon model has.

    3) They also used a picture of a cell allegedly taken from SunPower’s site.

    4) It claims not to be made in China. Author suspects it is not the case with no evidence to support his suspicion.

    5) Battery can’t be that great because the author hasn’t heard of it (ironcaste reasoning there!).

    6) They used a computerised image to show how it would look on a wall.

    7) Author’s spider sense [sic] is tingling.

    Let’s take them one by one.

    1) The specs for the Silicon model are 18.26 and that is the highest for any panel occupying the same amount of roof-space. Any panels that do more will require more space and weigh more as well.

    2) OneSolar has sold panels with three busbars before (I personally sold them myself). The picture most likely dates from that time.

    Some retailers may still sell them as well.

    3) I don’t have operations training about the Karbon panels, but two solar companies can manufacture the same cell. You know, just like the “perfectly ordinary looking solar panels with 3 busbar wires across each cell and which look exactly like the very large majority of solar panels that have been produced in the world ever since round solar cells went out of fashion.”

    4) I can’t speak for every retailer, but we are open about the fact that they will be assembled in China.

    In Australia in particular, it is purely for proximity’s sake. It doesn’t make sense to ship them from Germany to Australia when you can put it together in the Asia Pacific region for considerably less.

    And, the Chinese don’t get credit because the systems are put together by German robots out of components that are not manafuctured in China by companies that are not Chinese.

    But they are paid for the factory space and shipping. That for them is thanks enough you’ll find.

    5) Honestly, considering you are just a random person with an electrical engineering background and a blog. You are not, I’m afraid to inform you, the measure of all things solar.

    If you were serious and sincere, you would admit that you can’t comment until you have more information.

    But is it not amazing and equally convenient how the author’s very ignorance is an argument?

    6) Half of your review (the half that wasn’t sardonic jesting from your throne of solar omniscience) is concerned with the advertising.

    I can show you Hanover spec sheets with basic errors in English and the warranties in German.

    Your site banner looks like it was made with Windows 95.

    Who cares?

    I still read your article thoughtfully anyway because to judge a person or product purely on how well the visual marketing staff have done, is thoroughly idiotic.

    7) First of all, it’s spidey sense.

    Peter Parker is possessed of the power to sense danger that he refers to as his “spidey sense.” Not spider sense. When you get even your own facetious references wrong, one has to wonder what you are getting right. Alarm bulls are running.

    In any event, that such a trenchant review could be based on, admittedly among other things, a superpower possessed by a comic character. (?!)

    It is to be hoped intelligent consumers aren’t really basing their investments on some blogger’s spidey sense.

    But, well done. Trashing a company on the basis of what you don’t know about the product’s performance characterstics, some pictures on the website and on account of your not having heard of some things.

    Bravo.

    • Ok, so we had a nice young gentleman come visit us on Saturday morning representing the OneSolar company. Without a lot of background information I took all he said on face value. If everything he said was true then signing up seemed a logical choice. I was always told though if something seems to good to be true … then it usually is. I wish I had visited this page before puting pen to paper. Although not locked in to any thing I now have to go through the messy process of cancelling what I thought would be a money saving venture.

      To Martin and Finn above, I would like to see you debate the merits (without the sarcasm) of the OneSolar claims.

      Things like “better than Tier 1, ie Tier 0.5
      Starts working earlier and finishes later than most brands.
      23.5kwh on a dull winters day and 42+ on a hot summers day
      Will work in temperatures ranging from -10 to 80 degress.
      3kW set up – $80 a week for 50 months. Including upgrading meter box (Total $21,600) This includes your amount you pay to your electricity supplier (calculated weekly)

      I am sitting here feeling deflated and disappointed.

      • Finn Peacock says

        Things like “better than Tier 1, ie Tier 0.5
        There is no such thing as Tier 0.5

        23.5kwh on a dull winters day and 42+ on a hot summers day
        The energy you’ll get depends on the size of the system (peak kW) and your location. If you are getting a 3kW system this is absolute Bullshit.
        A 3kW system will average about 12kWh per day in Australia – more in summer – less in winter.

        $21,600 for 3kW is INSANELY expensive. You should be paying about $4,500 for a good 3kW system.

        • Upgrading a meter box is expensive so how much was the solar system alone?

          Sounds like the sales person quoted 5kw yields.

          I know the powerqube kicks in at 120 volts which is quite low compared to other inverters isn’t it? If so wouldn’t that mean better conversion mornings night and overcast days?

    • Damien Shortal says

      I made the fatal error of believing the rubbish spouted by the OneSolar doorknocker. Shame on me. The product is not what it is claimed to be. I shelled out $6000+ for a system that will probably never pay for itself. Savings are negligible. Feed in credits are neglible. A total waste of money. Are they scammers? Well, let’s just say that honesty doesn’t seem to be high on their priority list, when it comes to selling to gullible suckers like me. The reviewer is right when he advises people to AVOID.

  6. Ok, so we had a nice young gentleman come visit us on Saturday morning representing the OneSolar company. Without a lot of background information I took all he said on face value. If everything he said was true then signing up seemed a logical choice. I was always told though if something seems to good to be true … then it usually is. I wish I had visited this page before puting pen to paper. Although not locked in to any thing I now have to go through the messy process of cancelling what I thought would be a money saving venture.

    To Martin and Finn above, I would like to see you debate the merits (without the sarcasm) of the OneSolar claims.

    Things like “better than Tier 1, ie Tier 0.5
    Starts working earlier and finishes later than most brands.
    23.5kwh on a dull winters day and 42+ on a hot summers day
    Will work in temperatures ranging from -10 to 80 degress.
    3kW set up – $80 a week for 50 months. Including upgrading meter box (Total $21,600) This includes your amount you pay to your electricity supplier (calculated weekly)

    I am sitting here feeling deflated and disappointed.

  7. David Brown says

    I had someone from “clean energy company” knock on the door the other day. I thought I would have them go through the spiel for a laugh.

    I seriously cannot work out how someone like this can still be operating. Last month the amount of STC;’s traded by VIC SOLAR (Clean energy company’s principal company) was very high there is some serious ripping off going on out there.

    I would urge someone to come forward and make an ACCC complaint. The One solar panel and the inverter they are using are rebranded rubbish and they are selling their systems higher than anyone else in the country.

    I actually felt sorry for the sales rep he had no idea what he was talking about and had just been feed utter rubbish by his managers. Talking about duraflex glass (a seraphim trademark), 99.99 N type cell. Its all garbage and anyone representing this product should talk to an independent consultant about what they are saying. It is very embarrassing to hear.

    The sales rep then tried to put the crunch on me, I had to tell him to leave.

    I come from small country town in victoria and I know there are many folk around here that are being misled, I work in the industry so can smell a rat, unfortunately most cannot. Thanks Solar Quotes for surfacing these shonks.

    • David Brown says

      oh and forgot to mention; I asked about N type cells as advertised on the one solar website.

      Rep knew nothing and all pictures of the modules show P type. Another misleading claim.

  8. Colin Wedd says

    We had a young guy make an appointment to talk to us about a system, I like to think I’m across most sales tactics and look for them, sadly I think what these guys do is get young guys in and give them all the good words strung together to sound.. well, great!
    We ended up buying a 3.5kw system with a 5kw inverter so we could upgrade at a later date along with a battery system. We paid by Certegy so we are locked in to repayments for a few years. To be honest we have lowered our power bill from around $280 to $120. So they are working but is all the hype real?
    The problem I now have after reading the blog and the subsequent comments is that I have been unable to get anyone to return a phone call about a fault in our system. The OneSolar website has one number to ring to contact them, that’s always answered by someone taking a message… so that seems right with the serviced office comment. The number we have for them on the sales brochures is a Sydney number… haven’t tried that one yet, but will be on Monday.
    Would love to hear from anyone else with similar issues.

    Thanks for the blog.

    • Waty Idris says

      Colin, we are going through this too! Have you been able to get in touch with someone?

      • Can ANYONE provide information about what to do as I too have a system from Clean Energy Co and the inverter is displaying an error message. What should I do?

        • Ronald Brakels says

          Hi Danno,

          Clean Energy Co. still appears to be active so you can try contacting them. You could also google the message and see if anything helpful comes up.

  9. Thanks for this…. I will be honest I have no idea about Solar and when we had a group by the name of Community Bulk Buy come by our door some weeks ago my wife (who has previously worked in the energy retail industry) felt it was a good time to start looking into this. The representatives at the door booked an appointment for a sales representative to come out which lead to a sales rep from Clean Energy Co (http://www.cleanenergyco.com.au/) meeting us, no mention of them prior to his visit, and he ended up quoting $17k for a 5kw system. The sales pitch was all about how the system was top quality and used only the best components from Germany the USA and the like as mentioned in your article and that they would be heaps more expensive due to this (but would give us a great finance deal with 0% interest but there is a small fee each fortnight taken by the finance company!!). We were advised to take a photo of the specs in the reps book as they did not have the specifications of the system appear on their website (I am glad I did as it all linked back to OneSolar, and I ended up here). We have no reached out to a number of your recommended installers… I feel like we have missed a very painful experience…

  10. I wish i had found this website also before i got conned and signed the bottom line. I ended up with 16 OneSolar panels (250Wp) and one of their 5kw powerqubes. The Inverter is a rebadged INVT IMars BG5KTL, and im not sure what the panels are. i also got 4 Enphase AC batterys and Enphase Envoy monitoring. Totalling $24.5k.

    At least the Enphase system is legit @ roughly 2.5k per unit and Envoy @$700
    Have probably been ripped of to the tune of 6 or 7k for the panels/inverter though.

  11. Martin Kalyniuk says

    I would like to publically retract my earlier comment.

    The article is a service to anyone seriously considering investing in solar who has had the poor fortune to come into contact with those who sell OneSolar.

    In an interesting turn of events, I now sell SunPower for the retailer VicSolar, CleanEnergyCo, et al, lifted the more attractive portions of their collateral from (EnergyMatters).

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  12. I am quite saddened , upset, disgusted that my elderly parents were talked in to buying a one solar system on finance by bullshit salespeople. It was “community bulk buy”, that knocked on their door. And I believe it was “clean energy co” that sold it to them. What’s sad is that it was a salesman that was the same nationality as them so he made things sound so good. So much so that he even said that with this system they won’t hsve to pay any electricity bills at all. I’ll be honest I shed some tears from anger. I don’t know much about solar and don’t know how well the system is working. I wish I could pay their debt and rip that shit off their roof.

    As for Martin saying that he works for VicSolar. Hope that place burns down…

  13. joseph stevenage says

    unfortunately I purchased these panels and they don’t work is there any thing I can do as I am paying it off still please help me with some advice

    • Ronald Brakels says

      Hello Joseph

      It’s possible consumer affairs in your state can help you. Also, we may be able to look into it for you. Are you currently paying for the solar system through Certegy? (If you prefer to communicate through email my address is [email protected])

  14. Hi guys,

    Listening to some of these disheartening stories is sad. I recently purchased a property that already had 36 panels on roof and 9.3 Kw Onesolar inverter also with 2 Enphase batteries. As the property has a pool and spa looking to add more panels. Solar system seems to be generating on a good winter sunny day around 32 to 35 KWH. I rang the guys who installed it, he mentioned that he had subcontracted this job out and that the people who had installed it went bust. Not sure what to think or do in this situation and concerned that at any time the product “OneSolar” inverter is going to die on me. open to any suggestions?

    • Ronald Brakels says

      Hi Greg,

      The person who received money for the solar system is responsible for providing warranty support. (And under Australian consumer law they can also be required to provide support beyond the terms and lengths of any warranties.) This means it doesn’t matter if a subcontractor went bust, which ever company was paid for the system is responsible. And if that company goes bust the manufacturer, or the importer if the manufacturer doesn’t have an office in Australia, is still responsible for the product and performance warranties. So if the One Solar inverter dies while it is under warranty the solar installation company still has to repair or replace it.

      If you want more solar the easiest option is usually to have a second system installed. It’s rarely worth expanding an existing system. Some people prefer to have older systems removed and replaced with one large new system. Because larger systems have relatively low costs per kilowatt this can make sense, especially if it is replacing a low quality system.

    • Ronald Brakels says

      If you can tell me the name of the company that said you couldn’t make a warranty claim because a subcontractor went bust, we can make a note of them. If you would prefer not to tell me here in the comments you can send an email to:

      [email protected]

  15. Hi Ronald,

    Thank you for the info, I don’t mind sharing. The company name is – Hardy Electrical and Solar.

    I also asked for a quote to either upgrade and or replace or add additional solar system, he seems ok, only that in his email said 1 thing that made me a little suspicious.

    “Hey Greg,

    I have worked out a few options for your property

    As I told you yesterday, the company that we installed this system for is not longer in business and they held all of your warranties.
    This is a common occurrence in this industry which is unfortunate”

    Having said this, there is nothing wrong with this current system, other than wanting to increase solar and only after trying to investigate about the current system we have could not find any information until coming across SolarQuotes which has made me nervous.

    • Ronald Brakels says

      Sorry Greg, I thought you were saying the company that installed the system said the subcontractor had gone broke. I’m afraid that if the company that was paid for the solar system in has gone bankrupt then they are no longer around to support the warranties and the sub-contractor, Hardy Electrical and Solar, aren’t responsible. But, the importer of the inverter will be responsible for its manufacturer’s warranty. Unfortunately, I don’t know who they are. So I suggest just waiting and seeing if it lasts and if it doesn’t then you could try to located the importer. Here’s hoping you won’t need to do that.

      • Thanks for the info Ronald, Have a question. So I have a 9.3kw Onesolar inverter with 36 * 260 watt panel. Can i upgrade the panels to 315 watts and also add more panels to total 50 panels of 315 watts to run on a 9.3kw OneSolar inverter? And at some point down the line( While saving money to upgrade inverter) upgrade the inverter to match?

        • Ronald Brakels says

          Hi Greg

          Your suggestion may be technically possible depending on the characteristics of the inverter, but I don’t recommend it. If you want to increase your solar capacity you can get a second separate new solar system if there is room on your roof. If you have 3 phase power adding an additional system shouldn’t be a problem provided there is room for it. Another option is to remove your current system and install an entirely new one. Either of these options would be cheaper and the new work will have a set of new warranties.

  16. Stephen Burgess says

    PQ3000 OneSolar relay fault,any suggestions.
    Thanks Stephen

Speak Your Mind

Please keep the SolarQuotes blog constructive and useful with these 5 rules:

1. Real names are preferred - you should be happy to put your name to your comments.
2. Put down your weapons.
3. Assume positive intention.
4. If you are in the solar industry - try to get to the truth, not the sale.
5. Please stay on topic.

Get The SolarQuotes Weekly Newsletter