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I'll try to make a long story short but I'm in desperate need of advice/guidance from those of you who know far more than I do.
In July of 2023, I purchased solar for my home from Fluent Solar. There are 19 SEG panels on my barn with a SolarEdge inverter (no battery). Towards the end of that summer, my production was not as expected and I was told that things looks fine and that it could take some time to build credits with the electric company. After continuing to receive electric bills all summer this year, I started looking in deeper and reaching out for help. I realized that two panels in my system do not even show in the mySolarEdge app and another of the remaining 17 barely produces 1/2 of what the others do. It turns out that Fluent moved to Canada and is not responding to any correspondence or honoring any kind of warranty. SEG said that it is likely that the panel producing less than the others has a bad diode and asked for the serial numbers of all three bad panels. They came back with the name of a company in Cincinnati that Fluent purchased my panels from and said to let them know if I encountered any issues. This company says that since Fluent bought the panels and not myself (though they had record of all of my information from the transaction), there is nothing they can do. I relayed that to SEG and now they are not returning any kind of correspondence.
My barn is a two-story gambrel roof so it is difficult to get to the panels. I borrowed a long extension ladder to get up and see if I could see anything wrong. In the attached pic, you will see that it is the last two panels on the bottom right of the layout that are missing. Right between the last one that is working and the one that is not (2nd to last), I found a squirrel's nest underneath. I removed it and looked as good as I could and did not see any issues. The wiring is tucked up nicely so I'm not certain that is the issue, although it is a pretty strange coincidence. Are these panels daisy chained, meaning if the break in connection is between 1.1.17 and the missing one to the right, the far right missing panel will be out too?
Should I unbolt the two panels and confirm all wiring underneath and/or what would you do in my position? This was a lot of money for a system with 25-year warranted panels and everyone is throwing their hands up and saying "Not I". I'm considering legal involvement but I'm trying to avoid losing anymore money on the situation. I'm pretty handy so I am not afraid to do things myself; I just need a better understanding of how things work.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
In July of 2023, I purchased solar for my home from Fluent Solar. There are 19 SEG panels on my barn with a SolarEdge inverter (no battery). Towards the end of that summer, my production was not as expected and I was told that things looks fine and that it could take some time to build credits with the electric company. After continuing to receive electric bills all summer this year, I started looking in deeper and reaching out for help. I realized that two panels in my system do not even show in the mySolarEdge app and another of the remaining 17 barely produces 1/2 of what the others do. It turns out that Fluent moved to Canada and is not responding to any correspondence or honoring any kind of warranty. SEG said that it is likely that the panel producing less than the others has a bad diode and asked for the serial numbers of all three bad panels. They came back with the name of a company in Cincinnati that Fluent purchased my panels from and said to let them know if I encountered any issues. This company says that since Fluent bought the panels and not myself (though they had record of all of my information from the transaction), there is nothing they can do. I relayed that to SEG and now they are not returning any kind of correspondence.
My barn is a two-story gambrel roof so it is difficult to get to the panels. I borrowed a long extension ladder to get up and see if I could see anything wrong. In the attached pic, you will see that it is the last two panels on the bottom right of the layout that are missing. Right between the last one that is working and the one that is not (2nd to last), I found a squirrel's nest underneath. I removed it and looked as good as I could and did not see any issues. The wiring is tucked up nicely so I'm not certain that is the issue, although it is a pretty strange coincidence. Are these panels daisy chained, meaning if the break in connection is between 1.1.17 and the missing one to the right, the far right missing panel will be out too?
Should I unbolt the two panels and confirm all wiring underneath and/or what would you do in my position? This was a lot of money for a system with 25-year warranted panels and everyone is throwing their hands up and saying "Not I". I'm considering legal involvement but I'm trying to avoid losing anymore money on the situation. I'm pretty handy so I am not afraid to do things myself; I just need a better understanding of how things work.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
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