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Terrible Signature Solar / EG4 18Kpv Experience - Returning and Replaced with Sol-Ark 15k

You have a whole night to use that defective device and you're not going to use this as an opportunity to give me evidence to make videos on this? Are you joking me? And the time it took for you to write out that I could have that on my desk right now with a NEMA 1450 connected to it. Those straps in that tape are not hard to remove and I can do that in about 5 minutes. Connect it to the grid and show us it backfeeding with a meter on the conductors or I can't do anything. If I have evidence I can make a video and share it with the world. I don't trust the software or the CTs or the device. I want to see an actual meter on the conductor that is supplying it. And there's multiple types of firmware which I don't have access to so what am I supposed to say about that? I personally cannot conclude anything about firmware that I've never tested. So what I need you to do is hook it up in about 10 minutes and show it back feeding, and make a video or picture or something of it doing it so we can see it. A video on YouTube would be fantastic
Seriously? He did his part, he's done with it. Seriously Will, this isn't on him for what you want. If you want that info so badly, contact SS and see if they will send you the unit. Sorry, but this post isn't right.
 
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Seriously? He did his part, he's done with it. Seriously Will, this isn't on him for what you want. If you want that info so bad, contact SS and see if they will send it to you. Sorry, but this post isn't right.
The whole point of this forum is to report on problems with solar equipment. That is why I built it. We can help each other and share evidence of fault. All I am seeing is walls of text without evidence with a meter. I want to see actual evidence unless I cannot share this information in my videos.

And posting faults of companies requires evidence. Below is the rules for posting about companies:

If you had a bad experience with a vendor, you can post your experience in this forum. But be sure to follow the guidelines below to avoid problems:

  • You need to provide evidence of your claims (email threads with the company, videos of the faulty equipment, return shipping experience and processing, phone and email response time, etc.).

  • If you are found to be lying to tarnish the name of a company, said company may pursue legal action against you. This goes with any type of online review.

  • If you are found to be lying on this forum, it is grounds for account deletion.

  • Stick to the facts, and avoid emotional response. Provide evidence of every claim you state.

When I am making a complaint against a product or company, I need evidence. I typically rely on video evidence of a problem with a device that is in my hands. I then contrast my findings with official documents such as data sheets, user manuals or official advertising material from the company. If there is an inconsistency, I will then share my findings with the public. If I do not have evidence, I keep my mouth shut.

If you have a specific problem with a vendor and provide evidence of your experience, posting it here may help others.

If you have an old thread that you wish for me to move to this section, please tag my name in the thread and I will move it over here.

Thank you.
 
Seriously? He did his part, he's done with it. Seriously Will, this isn't on him for what you want. If you want that info so badly, contact SS and see if they will send you the unit. Sorry, but this post isn't right.
We did not get any pictures of meters to verify if the CT were accurate or not. Everyone was arguing about customer support and things that do not help me help others. If I want to post pictures of this issue on my youtube, I do not have enough evidence to make an actual complaint.
 
I'll just skip the other comments and get right to the meat and potatoes



Will, you're a young guy, I used to be single and not have a family, stuff like this was super simple. You'll get married and have kids, things change.

I've provided the evidence I'm going to provide, you clearly aren't going to accept it and that's that. I'm not going to spend my night unboxing and setting up an inverter in the hopes that it appeases the people of the internet with a test that does nothing for me either way. I can't tell you what firmware I have, I can't tell you what settings were changed, I'm not going to spend my night wasting that time I can otherwise be spending with my son.

I've repeatedly given information you could use yourself, load that 11.10 firmware they've said themselves backfields. I mean, for shit sake, if Signature Solar says they know it backfeeds, I'd sure like to think they've spend the time to ensure that is the case. I doubt they wrote me that email just for the hell of it.

There's a huge difference between making a video for financial gain and spending the time out of your day/night to unpack and set up an inverter with no real chance of attaining the same result. You think I just have some batch of firmware laying around? You think I have any desire to spend that time for nothing? It's heading back tomorrow, you can say I'm not doing enough work or whatever you'd like, but it's not my job to prove their stuff doesn't work.

In the world I live in, the company telling me they know a certain firmware backfields is all the proof I need.
And they are telling me that it backfeeds the same amount as sol ark. And they have them setup next to each other to show it. Now I need your evidence to see when it is not doing this. And I don't think they diagnosed the issue properly in my opinion.
 
You need to provide evidence of your claims (email threads with the company, videos of the faulty equipment, return shipping experience and processing, phone and email response time, etc.).

I feel like the first example you posted is exactly what I did?

I’ve posted a few ideas, haven’t seen you respond to them. Not sure what else to say here, I tried.
 
The whole point of this forum is to report on problems with solar equipment. That is why I built it. We can help each other and share evidence of fault. All I am seeing is walls of text without evidence with a meter. I want to see actual evidence unless I cannot share this information in my videos.

And posting faults of companies requires evidence. Below is the rules for posting about companies:

If you had a bad experience with a vendor, you can post your experience in this forum. But be sure to follow the guidelines below to avoid problems:

  • You need to provide evidence of your claims (email threads with the company, videos of the faulty equipment, return shipping experience and processing, phone and email response time, etc.).

  • If you are found to be lying to tarnish the name of a company, said company may pursue legal action against you. This goes with any type of online review.

  • If you are found to be lying on this forum, it is grounds for account deletion.

  • Stick to the facts, and avoid emotional response. Provide evidence of every claim you state.

When I am making a complaint against a product or company, I need evidence. I typically rely on video evidence of a problem with a device that is in my hands. I then contrast my findings with official documents such as data sheets, user manuals or official advertising material from the company. If there is an inconsistency, I will then share my findings with the public. If I do not have evidence, I keep my mouth shut.

If you have a specific problem with a vendor and provide evidence of your experience, posting it here may help others.

If you have an old thread that you wish for me to move to this section, please tag my name in the thread and I will move it over here.

Thank you.
He very clearly laid out the issue and how things transpired. People do that all the time on here, though usually not as clearly or fairly.
I can understand that you want to get to the bottom of this. But, your approach is coming off as desperate and defensive. Again, it's not on him to solve this, or even try to help solve this. He was more than fair in how he handled it. He has a right to be done with it. It's really that simple.
 
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And they are telling me that it backfeeds the same amount as sol ark. And they have them setup next to each other to show it. Now I need your evidence to see when it is not doing this. And I don't think they diagnosed the issue properly in my opinion.
In their discussion of telling you it backfeeds the same as a Sol-Ark, did they happen to mention why Ty called Marcus when he saw mine backfeeding, or why Marcus would apologize and offer to pay any fines?

Or why Ty would say they found there is a problem in the firmware?

Or why @Quattrohead observes the same thing?

Or why Gilbert specifically installs a different firmware to avoid backfeeding?

I feel like the evidence here is STROOOOONG. Now if that doesn’t make it to a video of yours, I survive, so does everyone on here. Every member is free to take the evidence at face value or ignore it.

I’m sure they will soon have it corrected. I’m even more sure they don’t want you posting a video talking about their unit backfeeding. Think about that.

One of the parties here has a vested financial interest. It isn’t me. My refund will happen, my life will go on.

A video talking about multiple members experiencing the same problem, the owner offering to pay fines and high up support admitting to firmware backfeeding sounds like a lot of money lost…
 
After looking into this you did not export. Your load is greater then what it says it exported at the time.

The engineers also looked into this and verified.

This problem happened because zero export and grid peak shaving were both active and fighting each other.

I am sorry for being rude I hope this helps everyone in this matter.
 

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In their discussion of telling you it backfeeds the same as a Sol-Ark, did they happen to mention why Ty called Marcus when he saw mine backfeeding, or why Marcus would apologize and offer to pay any fines?

Or why Ty would say they found there is a problem in the firmware?

Or why @Quattrohead observes the same thing?

Or why Gilbert specifically installs a different firmware to avoid backfeeding?

I feel like the evidence here is STROOOOONG. Now if that doesn’t make it to a video of yours, I survive, so does everyone on here. Every member is free to take the evidence at face value or ignore it.

I’m sure they will soon have it corrected. I’m even more sure they don’t want you posting a video talking about their unit backfeeding. Think about that.

One of the parties here has a vested financial interest. It isn’t me. My refund will happen, my life will go on.

A video talking about multiple members experiencing the same problem, the owner offering to pay fines and high up support admitting to firmware backfeeding sounds like a lot of money lost…
Yeah and no one put a clamp meter on those conductors to see if the CT were correct. I don't think SS did a good job with the customer service , but I want someone to do see what is going on with the actual unit so I can figure it out and share it on my youtube channel.

I still do not understand the back feed issue. Everyone is telling me it is fixed. Again, if someone wants me to share it on my channel, they need to provide evidence of it. People are saying I am backing up SS and that pissed me off. I am trying to find evidence to show that the 18K is not working properly and all I am getting is messages between people and logs from a device that has firmware I do not have and CT's that I havent been able to test. It just doesnt help me solve the issue at all here. I need a picture of a meter reading showing it backfeeding and proof that the CT's are not working which would explain the data logging being incorrect. I can't do any of these things because I do not have the unit.
 
In their discussion of telling you it backfeeds the same as a Sol-Ark, did they happen to mention why Ty called Marcus when he saw mine backfeeding, or why Marcus would apologize and offer to pay any fines?

Or why Ty would say they found there is a problem in the firmware?

Or why @Quattrohead observes the same thing?

Or why Gilbert specifically installs a different firmware to avoid backfeeding?

I feel like the evidence here is STROOOOONG. Now if that doesn’t make it to a video of yours, I survive, so does everyone on here. Every member is free to take the evidence at face value or ignore it.

I’m sure they will soon have it corrected. I’m even more sure they don’t want you posting a video talking about their unit backfeeding. Think about that.

One of the parties here has a vested financial interest. It isn’t me. My refund will happen, my life will go on.

A video talking about multiple members experiencing the same problem, the owner offering to pay fines and high up support admitting to firmware backfeeding sounds like a lot of money lost…
If it is doing it, why not connect it the the grid really quick and show us a current reading with a clamp meter of it back feeding? All I am concerned about is the actual device not working as advertised. And I am independent of signature solar. Did you see my 8K videos? But I am not seeing proof here of backfeeding. I cannot do my job if I do not have actual evidence.
 
After looking into this you did not export. Your load is greater then what it says it exported at the time.

The engineers also looked into this and verified.

This problem happened because zero export and grid peak shaving were both active and fighting each other.

I am sorry for being rude I hope this helps everyone in this matter.
Thank you Markus
 
After looking into this you did not export. Your load is greater then what it says it exported at the time.

The engineers also looked into this and verified.

This problem happened because zero export and grid peak shaving were both active and fighting each other.

I am sorry for being rude I hope this helps everyone in this matter.
I appreciate the apology Markus, and I'm sorry I've been a tough customer. I sincerely wish you continued success.
 
After looking into this you did not export. Your load is greater then what it says it exported at the time.

The engineers also looked into this and verified.

This problem happened because zero export and grid peak shaving were both active and fighting each other.

I am sorry for being rude I hope this helps everyone in this matter.
What is the column on the right, and why such a short timeframe?
 
If it is doing it, why not connect it the the grid really quick and show us a current reading with a clamp meter of it back feeding? All I am concerned about is the actual device not working as advertised. And I am independent of signature solar. Did you see my 8K videos? But I am not seeing proof here of backfeeding. I cannot do my job if I do not have actual evidence.
Again, it is packed and leaving tomorrow, I have a family and don't have the time, nor desire at this point.

It's not just a "connect and watch it happen". The firmware has since been changed by Markus, or Ty, or whomever did it (doesn't really matter). I can't just plug it in and replicate it, it's not that simple.

If @Markus_SignatureSolar wants to send me a refund and leave it here for us to fiddle fuck around with his inverter and try to prove it had a problem, I mean sure, but that sounds like a REALLY ridiculous request.

Also, Markus, I'm eyeballing the screenshot you sent and I think I'm interpreting it differently than you/the engineers but I'd like to clarify. I'm seeing power delivered to the grid, but I'm not seeing any indication that the higher number is power coming from the grid. From what I can see, that number is representative of the power the inverter is providing to the load, and in this instance it is coming from the battery bank. If you look lower down in this selection, you'll see numbers indicating power coming from the grid. Can you please explain that further for everyone?

Screenshot 2023-08-09 at 6.43.20 PM.png
 
The circle on the left is Power to Grid thats when it Sold back or we thought it did. The one on the right is your actual Load you were consuming at the time.
 

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The circle on the left is Power to Grid thats when it Sold back or we thought it did. The one on the right is your actual Load you were consuming at the time.
We’re in agreement there. I’m contending that both the load AND the grid feed were coming from my batteries, thus it actually was backfeeding. But, I could be interpreting that incorrectly.
 
Also, Markus, I'm eyeballing the screenshot you sent and I think I'm interpreting it differently than you/the engineers but I'd like to clarify. I'm seeing power delivered to the grid, but I'm not seeing any indication that the higher number is power coming from the grid. From what I can see, that number is representative of the power the inverter is providing to the load, and in this instance it is coming from the battery bank. If you look lower down in this selection, you'll see numbers indicating power coming from the grid. Can you please explain that further for everyone?

@Markus_SignatureSolar
I'm not clear on it either.. what is the number I highlighted in blue/yellow .. what is that column. It looks like it's pretty close to some sort of INVERTER/INVERTING number.. and the two other columns add up to just about that much (accounting for a smidgen of loss), implying it backfed?

I don't have one of these inverters, so I'm not used to it's output log.

Capture.JPG
 
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A major problem with getting a better understanding on any of this is people are rarely specifying what version of firmware they are using. If someone has an issue or states that they DON'T have the issue should include what version of firmware they are on.
I have asked Will multiple times myself and never received an answer, so do as I say not as I do.
 
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