My reading of the posts is that @marloo2 has lost all confidence in doing anything other than passing on their experience.
The original supplier installer is gone. The subsequent representative for the product has turned up and after much to and fro also disappeared into oblivion, without providing a fix.
Seven years since the install, 5+yrs without resolution.
I can understand how some Choice members may be able to resolve similar situations on their own. However for many consumers who feel they have no options, and are confronted simultaneously with the challenges of technology and impossible businesses (also ones not located next door), is there a point where some of us just give in or up?
So should the industry send a reliable, competent, qualified and experienced expert who possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills for free to assess and report on @marloo2 installation? For free?
Perhaps @marloo2 might like to share some more detail? Of course we would all like to have the CEC turn up and provide such a service, for free. After all it is likely two or more of their ex members who have created this situation.
Some one might like to comment on how SA and the state government considers similar issues with the support of their state consumer legislation.
It is a real shame that there are companies who operate like this…and not in the interests of the customer. No wonder they went under.
It also gives a bad name to the whole of the industry…when often there are only a few rotten eggs in a dozen.
I don’t know the answer, but maybe others who read @marloo2 posts and advice of others, it may hopefully reduce the risks of others falling prey to the shonks in the industry. Having in effect no seller (retailer) or supplier (manufacturer) to take action against is possibly the worst situation to end up in…and a place no one should find themselves in.
Of even a local SA sparky experienced in solar to offer some free advice on what the problems are and what needs to be done to fix it. At least @marloo2 will know where they stand.
It may be an example Choice (@BrendanMays) may wish to do a case study on and communicate to others some solar pitfalls to watch out for…and what can go wrong when everything does go wrong.
Thank you for your info.
I do not think anything was actually made in Germany…overseas probably but possibly a speck closer… the home of most non working stuff, now deposited in landfill …or the sea! Not that I am sceptical…!
When company B sent the second electrician, he discovered that the smaller of the two boxes down on the wall below the panels, had been ‘destroyed/rusted’ by water. Difficult to see how water managed to get into it as the original installer was very fastidious … even cleaned up after himself, not leaving any plastic or wire cut offs anywhere. The small box was changed for $150 but it and possibly the larger of the two boxes (BlueLine) which had been swapped for one in a plain cardboard box, refused to work at all. The panels were then switched off at the switch just off the actual panels on the roof. That was the end of the whole fixing effort. Company was quick to demand and accept the payment by phone that day but refused to answer calls even through their questionable/non existent call service from then on.
There is a company here in SA which repairs Solar systems but I have not called them yet. No outgoing emails available as I am swapping ISPs to Aus. owned (at the moment) company. No Aus. speaking help available on line.
Lawyers challenging BlueLine sent a tome with a huge list of names of folks to whom money was owed…some around $300+ and others including me, around $800+. That was a couple of years ago… not holding my breath!
The ‘Sun’ company is the one promoted by Alan Border but my brain is refusing to cooperate at the moment.
Local electrician! Right!! However, not a good idea! That is why I no longer have overhead lights, just desk lamps everywhere… Also why the fuse ‘spits’ when attempts are made to switch it on. Obviously a major mismatch/crossing of wires somewhere. Difficult to see how this could have happened without a little help from …well, could not possibly be the clever born-and-bred locals (known for their nasty little tricks) now could it… Police I hear you say… like the three wise monkeys… and difficult to contact when they only work two hours a day…
I still think that there should be/have been, a dedicated inquiry into the whole industry. Might stop others getting burnt by these cowboys. Short ‘holiday’ at H.M’s pleasure for said cowboys might reinforce the point.
Thank you to everyone again.
That would be Sunboost?
Very mixed feedback on solarquotes.com
A large national solar marketing business is one way to consider them. It appears they use local subcontractors to actually deliver and install. This may explain the wide variation in customer outcomes and opinions. You likely get whoever Sunboost could contact for the job at or below their budget. Some good, some perhaps not so good?
There is enough feedback on solarquotes website to suggest that the Sunboost sales model does not always serve the best interests of consumers where there are installation or technical issues.
Yes, it is SunBoost as Mark says above. I notice they have a lot of good reviews lately, but that was not always the case.
Back in the days when I used to analyse solar company reviews as part of my job, I found that there were a lot of fake reviews mixed in amongst the real ones.
The little box you mention is no doubt the PV array isolator, it potentially could have had water in it if it was able to run down the conduit from the rooftop isolator- many of them leaked.
I suspect all you need done is have 2 new isolators and a good quality inverter installed, and you should be up and running again with your existing PV array.
Thank you phb, Gordon and Fred 123. Apologies for long delay in replying, dodging storms and snakes to get to the system.
The smaller box is like the one in your link. I have been looking for the replaced one but am now sure that the ‘repairer’ took it with him. I see that there was a recall on the one in question so the company probably returned it to the supplier for a refund. The new one is marked as a DC isolator BENY (73/2 ??) IPLL prARRA (???) Would it be safe to open it to check for water damage? System is switched off on the roof.
I am having great difficulty working out just how this box came to be ruined by water. It is actually under the larger box on the wall and its conduit comes down the wall and then turns upwards for some distance before turning again and going in a horizontal line into said box . As most folks accept, water does not flow upwards without assistance. Even the blood circulating in our bodies only manages to do so with the help of a powerful pump (our heart) and valves within the circulatory system. Pooling of blood and failure to circulate properly is most evident in varicose veins, caused mainly by failure of valves in legs and possibly compromised heart function. As far as I know, most free falling rain does not have a pump or valves to assist it. Hmm!
So, with that in mind, only moving both of the boxes and everything else, including the original power box, to somewhere nothing can be accessed by marauding locals is the only sensible solution. Difficult with an odd shaped residence.
Cost would also be enormous as it would also have to involve the energy provider. Not good!
Just while we are on the subject of ‘locals’, does anyone know anything about the regulations regarding use of satellite dishes in residential areas? My TV reception has been disrupted for almost 30 years (when neighbours installed their dish to watch god-bothering broadcasts for O/S… so (not!) good for the brain! Now they are watching cricket, other sporting events and programs, so the rest of us have to watch DVDs. The authorities advised me that I would need a report filled out by the installer but since that was me and I refuse to allow other local installers into my house, I just have to put up with it. Laws for locals here are different to those for the rest of Australia.
Thank you again for your help.
All I could suggest re the TV reception issues is installing a more directional antenna, moved as far away as possible from the offending dish next door.
We’ve had an NBN satellite dish installed for nearly 2 years, but it didn’t have any effect on our already abysmal TV reception - antenna pointing directly away from tower to catch a weak reflection from the top of the ridge a couple of km away on the other side of the valley we are in. We are over 150m below the ridge immediately behind out house, totally blocking any direct signal.
We rely on ABC iView and SBS online a lot, although that is rather unsatisfactory much of the time due to how poor our internet is.
It can in a vapour form…water vapour can rise and then condense due to change in temperature resulting in water droplet formation. This is how the rain water cycle works and can also occur in electrical conduit.
If you mean unscrewing something or opening something containing potentially live wires, no, unless you are suirably qualified and can carry out a secondary test to determine that any wires entering or leaving the switch are not live. Otherwise there could be live wires (…and with moisture) could pose a significant risk.
I do get up onto the roof to readjust the antenna periodically (wind!) but no matter what I do ABC has not been available all of this year and most of last year. Reception was always good here until…
Are these direction antennas automatic? Problem is that interference always seems to be when something worthwhile is presented on various channels. No New Year’s Day from Vienna (SBS) last year. The world could have ended on the spot!
The offending dish is across and up the road, (about 60meters), so not in direct line between my antenna and the local relay point. I get green and pink stripes and strange vague images on some channels if they are working but usually just blank screens. Thought I would be clever one day and retune the set…ended up with no channels at all. Took weeks of waiting until the wee hours of the a.m. to get some restored so even if the invitation to retune comes up on my screen, I am very wary of using it. Computer viewing for TV seems to use a great deal of data. I do get most of my News from ABC website.
Seems some of us could use a relay balloon tethered a huge distance above our houses… but then that would interfere with the local helicopter zooming around well below the mandatory 500 ft. height for all flight above residential areas.
Thank you. I thought that might be the case, even though it has been switched off at the roof panels. I have a very healthy respect for electricity, especially where water is concerned! Best to be terrified than fried I think!
They have a narrower beam width than regular urban area antennae, so are a bit less prone to interference from signals to the side. Often there will be additional off-centre lobes of increased sensitivity in any antenna, which may be contributing to your problem.
Re data usage- I’ve found that watching iView rather than live streaming does reduce the amount of data used. I also have a reasonable amount of data on my phone plan, so use my phone as a hotspot for the online TV shows through my old laptop quite often, particularly when it is raining (no NBN satellite, butalmost never lately!) or other times when NBN dropouts cause lots of gaps in a show.
Sorry, thought ‘directional’ meant it would adjust its position to use the best strength of the signal. The narrow focus sounds better in my case.
I think this sounds like the most reasonable solution to a 30 year old problem. Pity all of the Dick Smith outlets have closed but the antennas are probably available on line.
The ‘7’ channels which are usually the only ones available, also sulk and refuse to work during rain.
I do not (shock, horror!) have a smart phone so will follow your suggestion and watch ‘unavailable’ programs on my laptop which as a rather large unit, will give a better presentation…
Thank you again for your help.
If you have Win 10 and a smart TV use your WiFi to cast from your Laptop to your TV (right click the show and select cast) or plug your Laptop HDMI/DVI output into the TV to get a much bigger image.
Another choice is to get a phased array antenna and point it at the/toward the signal source, this will improve your reception (just get a decent one with decent gain eg 12 dBi).
Sorry, do not have smart TV so above would be difficult.
Thank you for your info about other sites. I will go to one of the retailers and seek advice and hopefully purchase an antenna which can sort out the problem. The prices are much more realistic than the $700+ advertised on other sites.
Update:
Final word from the lawyers ‘managing’ the financial situation with BlueLine…
Basically, no money for ‘unsecured’ claimants’ into which category we the customers unfortunately fall. So $14000 for 6 now useless panels…
Apparently the ACCC has decided not to investigate the situation
In reality, I do not imagine there would be much money left for anyone after the chief investigating accountant was, some 12 months ago, collecting >$640 per hour!
Re the antenna: Local providers of the suggested antenna have advised me that it would not help as the problem is too close to my house. They are having the same problems.
Thank you again for all who have helped with these problems.
That doesn’t make much sense what they have advised you. You get some channels eg 7 which works but can be affected by rain. This indicates to me that signal strength at your premises is marginal. The phased array are great at making the most of marginal signals including issues with reflected signals. It may need horizontal mounting sometimes rather than vertical but that is easily done, most allow that adjustment by adjusting the orientation of the bracketing hardware (U bolt assembly hardware). Many of the phased array often come with LTE low pass filters to cut interference from the 4G/LTE Telephone and FW systems. If the filter is on it cuts channels from 52 to 69 (this low pass filter normally blocks 694 MHz band).
The Phased Array is what I got my father to put in at his house when they had issues similar to your’s. The reception improved such that they no longer had channels unavailable, weak or no signal notifications, banding, snowing, and similar signal problems. My father has since died but my mother remains at the house and has never since had an issue with watching any channel on the TV while using the Phased Array except when they moved it to test where to put the FW dish. They ended up placing the dish near where the antenna was originally placed and placed the antenna back at it’s original site. The only thing they did do was switch the filter on. This antenna had the ability to switch it on and off, some just come with it built in & on.
The whole thing is really just too strange but I do believe that the problem is more connected to the satellite dish used by my neighbours. Sports nights, forget watching TV on most channels! No fogging or snowing, just no channels…‘No signal’. When/if the channels reappear, there can be green and pink
messages or very blurred striped images including ‘Foxtel’, gambling type pictures or people shown.
The day I spoke to the local retailors, I was very surprised to find that absolutely every channel was working perfectly later that night. First time that I have been able to watch ABC…all channels… this year! Second for a few years…
Perhaps the neighbours have spy listening devices planted around the place…
Seriously though, I think it will be a good idea if I do get the new antenna if just to beat the rain. The plastic/ whatever glove I have put over the bare wire where the wires attach to the antenna at the top,
does not seem to be keeping the rain at bay… The electricity lines (now owned by o/s interests) were installed eons ago, far too close to the house with the antenna only a few metres away but this has never been a problem in the past. I am wondering if the new antenna would have a problem with the proximity of said wires.
The retailers suggested I find and connect a small device I bought some years ago to help with this problem but it is, unfortunately,in the room with the long thin Brown very unwelcome visitor sliding around… so I have not found it yet. .I cannot remember the details but it is fairly small and plugs into the power but .that would be near the slithering creature… not good. Better to settle for DVDs!
That is probably an signal amplifier. It boosts the signal you receive from the antenna, however if the signal is poor such that you get banding (striped images) or other things like snowing this may not fix the problem, it is more useful when you have reasonable images but have a few TVs using the one antenna. Some of these can be on mast amps (fitted externally usually on the mast of the antenna) or they can be in house ones. Yes, they have to be plugged into a power supply so they can boost the signal. I am not saying don’t try it, it just may not improve what channels you get. The price of them is nearly as much as a new antenna anyway. A couple of examples of the amps:
The Electricity power supply wires should not create a problem for your antenna if they haven’t done so in the past, they do produce EMF interference but you would have noticed this previously.
