If you have been trying to contact Biosolar to claim a solar warranty you may have found they went into liquidation and closed their doors in September 2014. Another solar sales company goes bust, and a host of customers left trying work out if their warranty is still valid. The faults your solar system will have will either be with your panels, your installation, or your inverter. The labour content of your warranty will no longer be covered – but it’s not all bad!
*DISCLAIMER: MC Electrical is not affiliated with BioSolar or any other third party sales companies. However, we have been in the solar industry for over 12 years, we know who does good work and who doesn’t. Although we’re too busy to do any service or repair work ourselves, we can definitely point you in the right direction, so feel free to call the office on 07 3268 3836 and we’ll be happy to recommend someone for your area.
Panels fault
Your panel will probably be CSUN, Yingli or Sungrid. All three panels were considered quality.
CSun is a still tier 1 panel, but is a lower grade tier 1 from a look at their price, their MC4 connectors, and their JBoxes. In saying this, we have not had to replace a CSun panel to date.
Yingli has always been considered a quality panel, though recently they have gone through significant financial difficulties as a company. We had had a faulty Yingli panel recently. After a several emails with Yingli, we were able to prove the fault was indeed with the panel (inside the junction box). Yingli somewhat reluctantly honoured the warranty.
Sungrid. From what I can tell, The Australian company Sungrid is no longer. Philip Livingston was the founder, and has now started up Redback Technologies. In January 2013, Sungrid was acquired by Urban Group, where Phil was director. Urban group of companies included the now notorious CO2 Markets and Go Energy. These companies were wound up in April 2016. Here are the contact details below – let me know if you find something I couldn’t!
I have had two cases where Sungrid panels had “spider legs” in the cell. If this is the case and your system is performing poorly, it will be worth replacing all panels. Fortunately, the REC scheme covers most of the cost of replacing panels. It still may cost you $1000 or more for the labour and bringing the system up to current standards so we can claim the REC’s.
Installer error
Bio-solar used subcontractors to do their installations, which often would mean installation issues. However Bio-solar were exceptionally good at quality control, sending inspectors around to every installation after it was complete. So, while your installation is probably not a disaster, mistakes do happen, and you may have workmanship fault. The most common workmanship fault we find is water ingress in DC isolators and hot connections in MC4 plugs. These issues are an easy and often inexpensive fix. Again, we can help you with that.
Inverter faults
BioSolar mostly used Aurora (now ABB) inverters, and they occasionally used Samil inverters. As these inverters both come standard with a 5-year warranty, and BioSolar was founded just over five years ago, your inverter is probably still in warranty.
ABB inverters were, it seemed, one of the best inverters on the market at the time. However, in the last 12 months we have seen our fair share of ABB faults, to the point that we have formed a good working relationship with the ABB warranty department.
Samil inverters, on the other hand, are more of an average inverter – especially the earlier models that BioSolar installed. Getting warranties through the Chinese company can be a little more tricky, and you may be waiting a while – but we’ve never failed to eventually get one replaced. Samil no longer pay for the labour to replace the inverter, so you may be up for 2 callout fees if required.
So who covers the warranty?
Although BioSolar is closed, your panels and inverter should still be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty by the manufacturer. However identifying the issue and workmanship errors are not.
MC Electrical is not affiliated with Biosolar in any way, and we have not taken over their warranty. However, for a charge, we can identify and repair a fault, or lodge a warranty with the manufacturer. You should be able to have your solar up and running for less than $300 providing the inverter manufacturer pays for the second call out.
If you’d like help you getting your solar up and running again, give us a call on 3268 3836.
Mark Cavanagh
