Hi Danny - We’ve been a SunPower dealer for close to 15 years and for the most part their modules have been solid. Thank goodness. However, we have a site installed in 2010 that is exhibiting “fern crack cell” and encapsulate browning. This is the first I’ve seen of this, so it is something I’m watching carefully. The modules are no longer within the original 10-yr product warranty range, but are still within the 25-yr power warranty range. In addition the SunnyBoy inverter is shot. So, our first step is to get them a running inverter which is tricky because the system requires positive grounding. On a side note, anyone find good inverter replacement options when positive grounding is required? It seems like either we find an old transformer based inverter or perhaps try one of the PID boxes on the market? I’m hesitant to try the PID box until we get official approval from SunPower.
Once we accomplish getting them a running inverter, we’ll see how the system is running and do some basic production vs irradiance tests. SunPower indicated that Maxeon may replace the modules after we go through the IV curve testing and/or infrared camera hot spot testing procedure. It is interesting that now that SunPower and Maxeon are separate companies, that the warranty holder is actually Maxeon but is facilitated through SunPower. Anyway, I don’t have any special tips dealing with SunPower getting back to your question. What model modules are you dealing with on your warranty claim and when were they installed, roughly? Best, August Luminalt On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 10:34 AM Daniel Young via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > Hello Wrenches, > > > > Any experience successfully submitting a performance warranty claim with > SunPower on their solar modules? Right now, in order to Provide what they > are asking for, we will likely spend more time/money testing to their > satisfaction than it would cost for us to likely buy new modules and just > replace the array. > > > > Anybody have a similar experience? Or suggestions on how to deal with > Sunpower? > > > > Don’t want to bog this down with all the details but suffice to say we I-V > traced the array at the string level as a sanity check (7-10 % lower than > anticipated performance), and a random selection of individual modules as > well and we are seeing roughly 8% lower performance than expected given the > array age and listed performance warranty. (STC corrected I-V trace is 8% > lower than it should be for an 8 year old solar module from SunPower) > > > > With Regards, > > > > -- > > > > Danny Young > > NABCEP PV Installation Professional #031508-90 > > Engineering Team Lead > Solar Energy Solutions > > Lexington | Louisville | Bloomington | Cincinnati | Evansville | > Indianapolis > > 513-448-5176 (mobile) > > 877-312-7456 (Main Office) > > da...@sesre.com > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > -- August Goers Luminalt o: 415.792.6666 m: 415.559.1525 aug...@luminalt.com
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