Nbr22
New Member
I had the 18kpv inverter installed with two 48v Lifepower batteries by a certified electrician in November. During installation he had some questions because the installation instructions are unclear in certain parts. I called customer service (30 min wait) and the rep said don’t worry, the part in question is not needed for installation. When I told the electrician that he said ok but that he wanted that in writing to avoid liability. I called back (60 min wait) to ask for that in writing and the rep told me that it’s already in the instructions, we just need to look at a different diagram. I explained that the diagram he was pointing to did NOT apply to my situation (whole home vs partial home backup). After a few minutes of back and forth, he talked to a manager and then returned to say that yes, that part is legally necessary.
After installation was complete, the inverter was powering on but giving a ‘bat com failure’ error. I called customer service (10 min wait) and after trying some things that did not work, I mentioned that I had read that some people needed to upgrade the firmware on their batteries before it would work. The rep said yes that is what I needed to do and he would email me the link to download the new firmware (he did) and the link to buy the needed data cable (he did not and when I found it, it was out of stock). 3 weeks later it was delivered and I managed to figure out the software to find out that the firmware on my batteries actually WERE up to date.
I again called (50 min wait) and the rep said that the battery power connections and data cables were connected incorrectly and told me how to correct them. I couldn’t find anywhere in the instructions where they specified these connections so I thought this was finally the solution. It didn’t work. I called again (10 min wait) and the rep told me to change the battery setting to lead acid to override the communication error and force charge the batteries. I’m unsure if this worked or not but was not meant to be a long term solution anyway. I called back again (3 min wait) and the rep was confused as to why it was not working. She then said she updated the firmware on the inverter and after a minute said I was all set, I just needed to manually balance the batteries to get them to within 1 volt of one another (I thought the inverter did balancing itself?). I turned the batteries on one at a time and the inverter at times showed charging, but nothing it was doing was consistent. Eventually each battery individually showed 80% on the inverter so I turned both on. The inverter now shows ‘Normal’ instead of ‘Warning’ like it did before, but one battery is still flashing ‘Alarm’ and is showing a low state of charge on the battery pack itself.
I tried calling customer service back but the line was shut down for the day, a half hour before their website said it would be. Also the touchscreen is *terrible*, the fact that I don’t see other reviews mention this makes me wonder if mine is defective. Some spots only work if I touch the screen a quarter inch away from the button. Also when trying to change some settings it asks for a password. NOWHERE in any of the paperwork was a password mentioned (it’s ‘00000’). However even after entering the password it won’t let me change the settings. So the inverter is now stuck on Lead Acid which from what I understand it should not be left on long term with lithium ion batteries. At this point it had been two months after having this installed with storms coming soon and it still wasn’t working.
The next week I called back (60 min wait) before giving up when no one answered. I tried again later (45 min wait) and talked to a rep. He requested pics of the battery wiring which I sent to him. He said he saw the problem, my batteries were connected in parallel but needed to be connected in series. I explained that these are both 48 volt batteries connected to a 48 volt inverter and they definitely should not be connected in series. After he accepted that he said “ok, but they’re wired in parallel the wrong way” and sent me a diagram showing moving the negative from batt A to batt B. I understand that way is more optimal but I imagine it shouldn’t prevent the system from working, especially with only two batteries. I made the change but still no luck. He asked me to email him pics of the whole setup which I did. He said he would forward this to the level 2 techs (why is this the first I’m hearing about level 2 techs?) to see what they think. After a couple weeks I hadn’t heard anything and I emailed him asking if there was an update. He apologized for the delay and said he would escalate as needed. A couple weeks later I got an automated email saying that my ticket had been closed due to not hearing from me. I emailed the tech back asking if there was something I needed to do but no response. A week later I emailed him again asking what I’m supposed to do, but still no response.
In total I have spent around 20 hours on the phone (mostly waiting for someone to answer) and talked to seven different customer service reps. Most of the convos have gone the same way, “Try this”, doesn’t work. “Ok, try this instead”, doesn’t work. “Ok I know how to fix it but it takes a while, so do this and if it doesn’t work call us back”. I try it and it doesn’t work, it seems like they all just want to get off the phone.
On top of all of this, the online chat function hasn’t worked once and I tried to leave a review on their website and, surprise surprise, it just gives me an error. I’m at a complete loss as of what to do and couldn’t regret using this company more. Has anyone else had a similar experience or know what could possibly be wrong?
After installation was complete, the inverter was powering on but giving a ‘bat com failure’ error. I called customer service (10 min wait) and after trying some things that did not work, I mentioned that I had read that some people needed to upgrade the firmware on their batteries before it would work. The rep said yes that is what I needed to do and he would email me the link to download the new firmware (he did) and the link to buy the needed data cable (he did not and when I found it, it was out of stock). 3 weeks later it was delivered and I managed to figure out the software to find out that the firmware on my batteries actually WERE up to date.
I again called (50 min wait) and the rep said that the battery power connections and data cables were connected incorrectly and told me how to correct them. I couldn’t find anywhere in the instructions where they specified these connections so I thought this was finally the solution. It didn’t work. I called again (10 min wait) and the rep told me to change the battery setting to lead acid to override the communication error and force charge the batteries. I’m unsure if this worked or not but was not meant to be a long term solution anyway. I called back again (3 min wait) and the rep was confused as to why it was not working. She then said she updated the firmware on the inverter and after a minute said I was all set, I just needed to manually balance the batteries to get them to within 1 volt of one another (I thought the inverter did balancing itself?). I turned the batteries on one at a time and the inverter at times showed charging, but nothing it was doing was consistent. Eventually each battery individually showed 80% on the inverter so I turned both on. The inverter now shows ‘Normal’ instead of ‘Warning’ like it did before, but one battery is still flashing ‘Alarm’ and is showing a low state of charge on the battery pack itself.
I tried calling customer service back but the line was shut down for the day, a half hour before their website said it would be. Also the touchscreen is *terrible*, the fact that I don’t see other reviews mention this makes me wonder if mine is defective. Some spots only work if I touch the screen a quarter inch away from the button. Also when trying to change some settings it asks for a password. NOWHERE in any of the paperwork was a password mentioned (it’s ‘00000’). However even after entering the password it won’t let me change the settings. So the inverter is now stuck on Lead Acid which from what I understand it should not be left on long term with lithium ion batteries. At this point it had been two months after having this installed with storms coming soon and it still wasn’t working.
The next week I called back (60 min wait) before giving up when no one answered. I tried again later (45 min wait) and talked to a rep. He requested pics of the battery wiring which I sent to him. He said he saw the problem, my batteries were connected in parallel but needed to be connected in series. I explained that these are both 48 volt batteries connected to a 48 volt inverter and they definitely should not be connected in series. After he accepted that he said “ok, but they’re wired in parallel the wrong way” and sent me a diagram showing moving the negative from batt A to batt B. I understand that way is more optimal but I imagine it shouldn’t prevent the system from working, especially with only two batteries. I made the change but still no luck. He asked me to email him pics of the whole setup which I did. He said he would forward this to the level 2 techs (why is this the first I’m hearing about level 2 techs?) to see what they think. After a couple weeks I hadn’t heard anything and I emailed him asking if there was an update. He apologized for the delay and said he would escalate as needed. A couple weeks later I got an automated email saying that my ticket had been closed due to not hearing from me. I emailed the tech back asking if there was something I needed to do but no response. A week later I emailed him again asking what I’m supposed to do, but still no response.
In total I have spent around 20 hours on the phone (mostly waiting for someone to answer) and talked to seven different customer service reps. Most of the convos have gone the same way, “Try this”, doesn’t work. “Ok, try this instead”, doesn’t work. “Ok I know how to fix it but it takes a while, so do this and if it doesn’t work call us back”. I try it and it doesn’t work, it seems like they all just want to get off the phone.
On top of all of this, the online chat function hasn’t worked once and I tried to leave a review on their website and, surprise surprise, it just gives me an error. I’m at a complete loss as of what to do and couldn’t regret using this company more. Has anyone else had a similar experience or know what could possibly be wrong?
