Interesting poll results! Sol Ark VS Signature Solar

jrcromer said:

One big difference is Sol-Ark holds the warranty on their inverters and ancillary products, but Signature Solar does not, at least according to the Signature Solar website.

It would be nice to know if Signature Solar holds the warranty for EG4 brand, because it seems like Signature Solar provides most of the business operations for EG4 but are separate companies.

In my opinion, this survey should be specific to EG4 inverters rather than Signature Solar because one is the actual product, and the other is a material distributor that sells 3rd party equipment.

We usually reference Solar Reviews, which verifies their reviews.

Sol-Ark, LLC - Profile & Reviews - 2024 | EnergySage

Read reviews for Sol-Ark, LLC, a Energy Efficiency, Solar PV, Energy Storage, Backup Electricity Generation, EV Charging, Standalone Battery Storage company since 2013 based in Allen, TX.

www.energysage.com

Signature Solar - Profile & Reviews - 2023 | EnergySage

Read reviews for Signature Solar, a Energy Efficiency, High Efficiency HVAC, Solar Air-conditioning, Solar PV, Energy Storage company since 2018 based in Sulphur Springs, TX.

www.energysage.com

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Hey,
Shout out to Sol-Ark, Here in Alaska I purchased a Sol Ark inverter from a local installer. Price was good or about average for the lower 48 prices. Installer did a good job getting it put together with PV on my roof, main panel and safety switches. I am currently just waiting on a grid tie. Issues did arise with the local electric company regarding the grid tie. They have never had a Sol Ark grid tied before. This is a bigger city with many solar installs. NO JOKE, Sol Ark, did a zoom meeting with the electrical engineers from the local power company. They provided documents, drawings, diagrams and more. Made suggestions and worked things out with the installer, local electric company and myself. Things are moving forward with the grid tie and I hope to activate my system soon.
I did not purchase my Sol Ark from Signature Solar, though it was for sale at the time I went ahead with this project. Some items where purchased from Signature Solar and I had no issues working with them. Yes, they even shipped to Alaska though it was not cheap. A positive experience overall.
Look I am in Alaska and I need customer support. What ever I purchase, customer service and support above all else is most important to me. I do not own any EG4 equipment so I can not remark on that company. Due to my situation I went with Sol Ark and I am glad I did. Support so far has exceeded their reputation, which was stellar to start.

Sam

Tulex said:

Or, if it's really more about the customer support issue....

Purchased, didn't need support
Purchased, received needed support
Purchased, needed support was lacking and/or insufficient
Purchased, poor support was bad enough that I would never buy again
Didn't purchase, need to see the results

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Yes to this!! The problem is how they’re treating and resolving issues. If you’re lucky and your products were fine, and you never have an issue, you’ll be pleased. But one should be able to know in the event of an issue, if you’ll get the support you need. From my perspective, that’s where they are lacking.

SparkyJJO said:

I didn't have my first house inspected when I got it. The question never came up when getting insurance.

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I learned the hard way that when dealing with insurance companies never assume that they made a mistake or they don’t care or possibly forgot to ask. Their Butt’s are always covered!
Check deep in that contract and there is probably some clause that states that the Insured must present a Inspection Report within X days of signing or risk a possible denial of the claim in the event of something happening. If you don't present it they are more than happy to keep taking your premiums but don't be shocked if they deny a claim for a house fire.

Ampster said:

I have just found out that I may qualify for SGIP funding. If I go that route I would like to continue using a SolArk but upgrade my batteries to UL approved batteries. I see you also have DIY batteries. Did you have any issues getting inspected? I never tried because it seemed like too much hassle but I would like to get a building permit in the long run.

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Just for in case you are not aware of. All LXP models are on SGIP.

Robbo9425 said:

You need to take third grade arithmetic again Will? 3% equals 15%? And 19% plus 3% equals 100% of responders to the poll? I did customer service and sales for years. I tried to buy from Signature, and as others have said they can’t even give you mediocre service on sales. I have lost complete faith in you and them after thinking you and they were great. I sent you an email about it and you haven’t responded either. Take some of that money you are spending on your now lavish lifestyle and hire some people to help. And tell Signature to take some of their enormous income and do the same and pay them enough to be competent and stay working there. I’ve seen this many times before. It is the same old boiler room tactics along with commission only sales people. Not to mention, 15.7% is one out of six. That is an abysmal number for a company you tout so cheerfully on your affiliate linked YouTube channel. That is an abysmal number for any business anywhere. In the work I do, I have had zero unsatisfied customers for the last 12 years. Have you looked at the reviews on that Renogy hybrid inverter, the one that is your favorite color scheme, even matched your shirt? They have TERRIBLE reviews, and I have been dealing with them for over 10 years. That is, until I bought there 30 amp Wanderer charge controller about 4 years ago. I called Renogy as well and the same thing, lots of fancy promises and zero results. Good luck.

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Please follow the posts from will.
He explains the statistics...

3rd grade math won't get you very far with a statistical survey... if 3rd grade math is all you are basing it on, then I'm sure you are confused.

jrcromer said:

One big difference is Sol-Ark holds the warranty on their inverters and ancillary products, but Signature Solar does not, at least according to the Signature Solar website.

It would be nice to know if Signature Solar holds the warranty for EG4 brand, because it seems like Signature Solar provides most of the business operations for EG4 but are separate companies.

In my opinion, this survey should be specific to EG4 inverters rather than Signature Solar because one is the actual product, and the other is a material distributor that sells 3rd party equipment.

We usually reference Solar Reviews, which verifies their reviews.

Sol-Ark, LLC - Profile & Reviews - 2024 | EnergySage

Read reviews for Sol-Ark, LLC, a Energy Efficiency, Solar PV, Energy Storage, Backup Electricity Generation, EV Charging, Standalone Battery Storage company since 2013 based in Allen, TX.

www.energysage.com

Signature Solar - Profile & Reviews - 2023 | EnergySage

Read reviews for Signature Solar, a Energy Efficiency, High Efficiency HVAC, Solar Air-conditioning, Solar PV, Energy Storage company since 2018 based in Sulphur Springs, TX.

www.energysage.com

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The relationship between Signature Solar vs EG4 is interesting. They apparently were started by the same person and it appears they have the same address in Sulphur Springs.

Kudos to SS for wanting to distribute their 'own' brand.

cdsolar said:

The relationship between Signature Solar vs EG4 is interesting. They apparently were started by the same person and it appears they have the same address in Sulphur Springs.

Kudos to SS for wanting to distribute their 'own' brand.

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Lots of companies do this. For example, dragonfly energy corporation owns battleborn. Or battery evo owned by big battery. Must be some benefit for so many companies to do this.

Will Prowse said:

Lots of companies do this. For example, dragonfly energy corporation owns battleborn. Or battery evo owned by big battery. Must be some benefit for so many companies to do this.

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It's just a good business decision. If you're going to spend money on advertising and branding anyway, it's better to promote 1 brand than multiple brands. Private labeling equipment also gets you better volume discounts and lower transportation charges. These manufacturers will even add your business name to their UL Report filing as an alternate brand ID for a reasonable price IF you commit to buying 400-1000 inverters. I would do it too if I had more than a nickel in the bank to fund it.

I agree it is a good thing overall. You may even be able to use your knowledge of this relationship if you have a bad interaction with SS as some have reported. It can't solely be EG4's problem and not something SS can't handle if they can literally walk down the hall and talk to someone about it. ?

Well, no experience with Sol-Ark, but for SS, I think I’ve had my first and last interaction just trying to buy a product. Poor system management, and it appears that there is very little consideration for the customer’s time. They apparently have enough business to be able to do so.

Will Prowse said:

Lots of companies do this. For example, dragonfly energy corporation owns battleborn. Or battery evo owned by big battery. Must be some benefit for so many companies to do this.

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I don’t know the last time you visited their location but dear god the expansion has been insane. I first met them when their entire operation was out of a ~5,000 square foot place next to a popular sandwich shop in town.

Multiple warehouses later it’s a super serious operation. Neat to see things grow.

I assume Signature Solar is on a similar path expansion wise.

How many Sol-Arks are in service compared to Signature Solar? If the market share for Sol-ark is higher that could skew the numbers.

k490 said:

How many Sol-Arks are in service compared to Signature Solar? If the market share for Sol-ark is higher that could skew the numbers.

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Good call, their market share must be VASTLY larger based on time alone.

k490 said:

How many Sol-Arks are in service compared to Signature Solar? If the market share for Sol-ark is higher that could skew the numbers.

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Sol-Ark has been around a little longer, so I could see them having more product in service. But then Sig Solar has been selling product at a scale like no other vendor (my personal opinion, I don't know for sure).

Watts Happening said:

Good call, their market share must be VASTLY larger based on time alone.

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The owner of the installation company I bought my Sol-Ark from has become a friend of mine, he does me a lot of favors and in return I help him with some technical problems.
He sells Sol-Ark, Fronius, Victron and the Fortress power Envy which is the same as the 18KPV.
He told me one day last month that he has sold over 400 Sol-Arks vs only one Envoy in inverter.
He recently decided that he would no longer buy any EG4 equipment because he cannot get customer support from them.
so yes Sol-Ark most certainly has several thousand inverters installed and if there was any problems with them you would be seeing tons of negative post about them, while in fact the opposite is true.

robby said:

The owner of the installation company I bought my Sol-Ark from has become a friend of mine, he does me a lot of favors and in return I help him with some technical problems.
He sells Sol-Ark, Fronius, Victron and the Fortress power Envy which is the same as the 18KPV.
He told me one day last month that he has sold over 400 Sol-Arks vs only one Envoy in inverter.
He recently decided that he would no longer buy any EG4 equipment because he cannot get customer support from them.
so yes Sol-Ark most certainly has several thousand inverters installed and if there was any problems with them you would be seeing tons of negative post about them, while in fact the opposite is true.

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Makes sense, I have no idea what the actual numbers are but I imagine they are staggering. If your one friend has sold 400+, imagine nationwide, wild.

Would you say Signature Solutions is more of a DIY supplier where Sol-ark has a bigger footprint with the professional contractor installer.

k490 said:

Would you say Signature Solutions is more of a DIY supplier where Sol-ark has a bigger footprint with the professional contractor installer.

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I’d damn near guarantee it.

I cannot imagine a well established professional contractor/business installing the EG4 at scale right out of the box. I’m not saying it won’t trend that way over time, but as a business you are stuck servicing your clients and you would be crazy to install a new and unproven product knowing you have to be there on the back end.

I’m SURE they’re being installed “professionally”, I just have to imagine it’s a much more limited scenario than the Sol-Ark right now, again I’m sure that will change in time as it’s proven and more mature.

Lots of these things go into big business, they aren’t going to care about the small cost difference, they need reliable power, and they aren’t willing to be a test bed. Smaller business, sure, they may give it a whirl.

k490 said:

Would you say Signature Solutions is more of a DIY supplier where Sol-ark has a bigger footprint with the professional contractor installer.

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Absolutely a much bigger footprint.
Installers have no time or desire to deal with problems. They just want to setup the system, program it and leave. Any issues that occur after the Installation is just money being lost on the Installation profits.

As the guy I deal with said, he just installs a Sol-Ark and it works. He gets almost no phone calls about issues and if by chance there is a problem he can always direct them to Sol-Ark customer Support who will log in and fix any settings. He told me he purchased around Fifty EG4 batteries but got pissed off when he could not reach customer support for help on every occasion when they had an issue.

As I said he has an Envoy Inverter (Same 18Kpv) in his shop and I got to play with it long before EG4 got and renamed it the 18Kpv.
He found enough issues with it that he refused to order any more of them from Fortress Power.

I was telling people on here from day one that 18Kpv had generator issues. My Installer friend asked me to look at the settings and wiring and I could find no reason why it would not start the Generator except for a Firmware issue. Now a few members on here that did not listen have experienced it and I hear one member saying they just released a firmware update to fix it. Imagine your an Installer and you put in an off grid system 3 months ago for a client. Just imagine the amount of Trips and Phone calls that would have plagued you, only to find out it's not an issue with your work or the Generator but an issue with the Inverters Firmware.

Murphyslaww said:

Well, no experience with Sol-Ark, but for SS, I think I’ve had my first and last interaction just trying to buy a product. Poor system management, and it appears that there is very little consideration for the customer’s time. They apparently have enough business to be able to do so.

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Great experience with my two 12k’s! Same here for SS. Never again!

9/26/23. Edit: Signature Solar provided great customer service, tech support and we arrived at a fair resolution. I highly recommend them now and what a stress relief! Thank you!