Finn's Goodwe Inverters Review & Verdict
Finn Peacock has been a Chartered Electrical Engineer since 1998, and is ex-CSIRO
GoodWe are one of the better budget inverters out there. If you choose a GoodWe, you are likely to save about $1200 compared to a brand such as Fronius or SMA.
GoodWe inverters do what they promise and are straightforward to commission. Lots of installers like them and they consistently vote GoodWe as one of the top 3 inverter manufacturers selling in Australia.
The GoodWe inverter warranty wasn't always particularly good in terms of duration. There was only 5 years standard coverage, unless you have some particular models that offered a further 5 years parts only. But the company subsequently introduced a promotional 10 year warranty on its grid connect and some hybrid inverters installed in Australia. As with many manufacturers, there are exclusions on some of the ancillaries such as internet dongles, which I think is a sick joke when you're supposed to have internet to maintain the warranty in the first place.
Goodwe Inverters: Pros & Cons
- The price is right with good local support.
- In January 2021 GoodWe announced a boost to 10-years full warranty for all grid connect inverters.
- The range of inverters includes 3-phase models with high and low voltage battery hybrids
- Compatible solar PV inverters allow further expansion of hybrids.
- Extra solar capacity can be AC coupled, so 20kWp is possible on single phase
- Solar Analytics integrated
- Like anything that doesn't have a fan, GoodWe rely on convection cooling. This means they are prone to de-rate themselves - when they're working hard in summer, the energy yield falls because they go into a self protection mode.
- Warranty does not allow battery modules to be added after installation.
- App is a little clunky.
- "Homekit" consumption meter has some known issues with WiFi connection, which we believe are being addressed.
- Monitoring and metering issues can be happily resolved with a Catchpower relay. An expense but actually a good upgrade.
About Goodwe
Goodwe Customer Service: 03 9918 3905
GoodWe Technologies Co., Ltd is a Chinese inverter and energy storage solutions manufacturer. The firm is listed as a public limited company on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
GoodWe specialises in the production of string solar inverters, with power capacities ranging between 0.7kW and 250kW. As well as single-phase and three-phase inverters, the company also manufactures hybrid inverters and battery storage.
More than 52GW of GoodWe solar inverter capacity has been installed in countries throughout the world, including Australia.
Australian customers will be glad to know there is a local GoodWe office in Rowville (Melbourne, Victoria), so, should you have any specific question or issue, you can directly refer to the local team. Furthermore, the company has a pretty strong international profile, thanks to other offices located in countries including Germany, Netherlands and the UK.
GoodWe Inverter Quality And Awards
GoodWe is currently listed as a SolarQuotes approved brand, offering good quality solar inverter products for the budget end of the market.
The company was the recipient of EuPD Research’s Top Brand PV Award in Australia in 2019, 2020 and 2021, which is based on the recommendations of installers. It also achieved joint 3rd place in SQ's Installers Choice Awards 2021 in the budget inverter category, scored 2nd place in 2022, 3rd in 2023 and 2nd in 2024.
As well as producing inverters under their own banner, GoodWe also manufactures for several other companies - Australia's Redback Technologies, General Electric and LG. This is a big vote of confidence.
While a solid product with great features for the price, be warned that some Australian owners have commented very high ambient temperatures cause GoodWe inverters to "derate" significantly, which is the internally controlled reduction of inverter power.
GoodWe Inverter Warranty Notes
GoodWe solar inverters installed in Australia were originally accompanied by a 5 year product warranty, which is fairly standard among manufacturers. However, in January 2021 the company announced a boost to 10-years full warranty across its entire range of grid connect inverters installed in Australia, when registered on GoodWe’s portal.
The warranty extension applies to all GoodWe inverters manufactured after October 1, 2020 and installed in this country after January 1, 2021.
Beyond the standard warranty and depending on the model, the warranty can be extended to as long as 25 years, which is an incredibly long period for an inverter.
Regarding warranty claims, the installer who installed your Goodwe inverter is always the first to contact as it is their responsibility to remediate any warranty related issues.
But in the case of the original installation company no longer being in business or are otherwise uncontactable, GoodWe customers are advised to contact their customer warranty support department directly on the number listed above. GoodWe will then handle the process of sourcing an installer, and arrange for replacement of the solar inverter.
Goodwe has 21 solar inverters in our database
Filter by:
Goodwe Reviews (272)
Show Most Relevant reviews from All time
- 5 star 239
- 4 star 25
- 3 star 4
- 2 star 1
- 1 star 3
View Timeline
01 June 2024
The advertised functionality is unavailable.
The inverter is unreliable, and Goodwe do not provide support for the inverter.
Prior to this inverter, I recommended Goodwe inverters - now, IO would recommend against them.
22 May 2024
An incentive was offered by PSW Energy Perth Solar Warehouse for this review. Learn more here.
20 May 2024
An incentive was offered by Regen Power for this review. Learn more here.
17 May 2024
While some installers recommended Fronius due to brand factors, after heavy research I settled for the GoodWe, mainly due to warranty, system size, price and less movable components like Fronius.
14 May 2024
20 April 2024
08 April 2024
28 September 2024
With Goodwe, thank you for helping me and sent down 2 inverters. Now am still waiting from the installer to get his electrician to check and install the inverter. My electricity bill has gone up $150 coz of them. Been contacting them since early July.
I have lodged with NSW Fair Trading . Soon they will get involved.
Again great service from Goodwe Support teams.
Sam