Hi guys,
I don’t know if it’s worth paying an extra $85/per microinverter to extend its 10 year warranty to 25 years. My solar set up would have 4 of the APSystems QS1A microinverters and this would then cost me $340 to extend their warranty.
Is this worth it or is it a waste of money?
Thanks 🙏
Posted Jun 24, 2022, 5:09 PM UTC
Does the warranty extension include labor costs?
I asked but if it isn’t, what do you think?
I’d look into the meantime between failures for the specific micro inverter manufacturer. They should last longer than a typical inverter by 5-8 years (sometimes 12+ depending on the manufacturer). My assumption is this changes your math.
Commenting from Australia here.
APS launched here a while ago however have had severe problems with their communications and reliability and aren’t to industry standard here anymore.
Since they had such a bad run here in Australia during the “solar boom” no installer wants to touch them.
We prefer Enphase micro inverters IQ7 range for far better reliability, safety, monitoring portal and of course customer support. Correct me if I’m wrong but hasn’t the IQ8 launched over there yet?
Thus giving you daylight back up, if the grid were to go down without the need of a battery?
If the costs aren’t that expensive to upgrade your equipment then I would steer in this direction.
Here in Australia it only costs $300 per 5 years worth of incremented warranty for 18 micros.
Yeah I read some of that. But it seems like APS has been decent now and installers are kind of swearing by it. I was never quoted emphase so I'm not exactly sure what model is available here.
I could still try asking about enphase but I'm actually getting my solar installed in 2 days so I might be out of luck lol
ahh understood! either way a micro inverter system > string + optimisers so enjoy!
I’d pay for it… $300 bucks is a drop in a bucket 🪣
Ok, if it doesn't include labor, thats a bummer but the difficulty level of swapping these shouldn't be too hard as from what I've read the QS1A micro inverter powers 4 modules each inverter. Pretty cool set up if you ask me. I just worry about any issues that may arise with the inverter then your down a total of 4 modules worth of production instead of only a single panel but thats what design engineers get paid for not me.
The QS1A micro inverter is roughly around $100 - $460 not including shipping if you purchased it out of pocket. Its a fair deal if you ask me, the average cost of a unit right now is more expensive than the coverage of $85 a module. I say go for it, one less thing for you to worry about knowing your covered under product warranty below the average cost for another 15 years.
I'm more worried about the labor you will have to source out if you decide to have a contractor fix the issue. If Apsystems warranty agreement doesn't cover the labor you can either attempt to fix this yourself or hire a local solar company to assist in the swap of defective parts in the event any of these units go down. To be honest, im all about supporting local businesses where you reside, whether its solar contractors or another business, your local community thanks you.
With that being said, current inflation and recession issue we are all experiencing I've seen some outrageous labor costs to cover rising hourly man power and gas expenses. Don't be surprised at the current rates and shop around, find a good reputable local solar company or licensed electrical contractor with great reviews/reputation. Going cheap with a fly by night solar contractor may leave you with more issues down the line if the workmanship is poor. Also, try to avoid HANDYMAN SERVICES i feel like thats a given.. You get what you pay for in most cases. If your having running i to difficulties finding a contractor online, go to your nearest home depot/hardware store or local electrical supply store and ask if they can recommend a local contractor with solar experience.
If you have electrical experience personally, well then your in luck. Call Apsystems and ask them if they allow system owners to change out the micro inverters themselves without harming their extended warranty agreement. If they say no and you feel your up for the task yourself and save some money, read up on the Installion process of the system and call their support line for questions on DIY tips. You will need to know how solar works being NABCEP certified is a for sure way to truly understand how the process of it all works. Honestly, by looking at the way this micro inverter is built by just pictures alone, it shouldn't take an experienced solar expert more than an hour to swap this out physically. After they swap the part out they will need to upload the serial number of the new microinverter to your monitoring site so you can monitor production data.
Hope this all helps and sorry for the overload of info. Lol
This is phenomenal information. Thank you so much for taking the time to write that for me! I really appreciate it. I did see some people say that the one thing that you'd likely see failure on a solar system are these inverters/microinverters.
I'm still somewhat getting conflicting information out there suggesting either I take it absolutely or some day don't because the device is obsolete. But id imagine they'd replace it with a comparable device if it's no longer manufactured.
True, tbh Apsystems as a company isn't as large as enphase or Tesla but with most warranty situations especially when it's for such a long period of time, they'll have a third party company that'll support the product afterward but by that time, there is a chance that third party warranty company doesn't manufacture the parts. In that case scenario your just going to get a reimbursement of a dollar amount.
You could take it on yourself and just buy the microinverters yourself and hold on to your own stock that you purchased out of pocket which is a sure way to buy your own piece of mind