Vincent | 09/09/2019
Bad company
Bought 2 SMA inverters in the sommer of 2013. SMA says that the live time of an inverter is 10 till 15 years but in april 2019 one broke just a few months after the warranty period. You can not buy spare parts of an SMA inverter and SMA does not give any leniency. When you E-Mail SMA it takes a lot of time before they answer. Their answers are misleading, unclear and it is not possible to reply to their E-Mails. SMA is very customer unfriendly and I advice no one to buy anything from them.
repair man | 10/13/2018
so disappointed
I have become incredibly and increasingly disappointed with this company. I do all the maintenance for several solar companies in my area and the more I deal with this company the more frustrating it becomes. Their policies waste time for instance a month ago I was dealing with a damaged inverter. first they wanted to send a display, (two weeks shipping) once installed it broke. so they agreed to send a new inverter (2 weeks) once I received the inverter it came without the speedwire component as per new policy, because the old inverter was short circuiting all the new devices using the speedwire from it was obviously not going to work but that was in fact their customer service representatives plan. of course it didn't work and they had to ship a new one (2 weeks). How do you think my customer feels? <br /><br />Then calling in for customer service. Every call takes over an hour. I am not exaggerating and will gladly post my call logs and times for anyone who argues. you have to move up several levels of service before you can get help which costs me so much time and inevitably the ability to get to other customers all because they don't hire enough representatives or train the ones at the lower tiers well enough perhaps. I am always friendly with them because it is not their fault but it is becoming harder too keep up the facade. <br /><br />Sunny Portal is terribly designed. You can't search your customers name so you have to scroll through all of them to find it. This isn't a huge deal but a search bar is also basic internet since 1998. furthermore, there is so little that can be done from it that it is practically useless for anything other than just seeing if the system is operating. this would be the place that any other company would allow the installer to deal with the individual sites issues like swapping out old devices for the new one in order for the system to update. Not SMA. thats a different site which is as convoluted as everything else. <br /><br />Lastly, the designs of their inverters were obviously done by an engineer who has clearly never had to work with one. they are tightly packed in a way that makes it so much more difficult to remove and replace components especially when you add in all the wires. The 5,000 series is designed so the dc disconnect comes right into the bottom so tightly that removing the bottom portion of the inverter is difficult to remove and if one isn't careful can crack the plastic while trying to maneuver between the top of the inverter and the dc disconnect. <br /><br />The only reason I am giving them two stars is solely because their inverters function well when they are operating and because the people who work in customer service are always friendly and try their best. This company needs to hire more people in service, and fix the incredibly poor design of their websites. I can deal with the poor designs of their inverters, its just frustrating.
Rick21 | 09/10/2018
Very disappointing
I have had a residential solar system for 13 years. Sunny Boy, i was told, was the best. My 1800U inverters -- yes, that's plural because they only last about 6 years -- have been nothing but trouble, and Sunny Boy doesn't stand behind its product. The first inverter shut down every time PG&E burped and wouldn't restart till my tech came out to reset the innards. SMA did develop a fix for that, and the thing worked OK for about a year, then all sorts of problems developed. During a fix-it call to an SMA tech, my tech was instructed to do something that fried the whole machine. With the SMA tech on the line, we watched with horror. Did the SMA tech take any responsibility? No. I had to buy another inverter. Before long, this inverter also had all sorts of problems. For the past 2 years it periodically shuts down power-making even though the readout shows normal voltage and no error message, sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week. SMA's techs are uninterested in helping diagnose the problem. They just say buy a new inverter. Now the thing acts totally dead, nothing lights up, no output according to the electric meter. If you want to spend a lot of money on a 6-year inverter, SMA is your deal. I'm a green architect, so my experience with SMA's lousy tech backup and unwillingness to stand behind its products can hardly not affect guidance I provide others. What a shame.
D Salmasian | JUPITER, FL | 09/08/2018
Excellent Inverter
Picked by our installer. Highly advanced and modern unit. You can have an app on your phone and monitor your inverters and the system so you always know what it is doing.
Elyssa Edwards | 08/19/2018
SMA Sunny Boy 7.7 US Solar Inverter
Excited about secure power supply feature
rsr | Rapid City, SD | 08/13/2018
Not Recommended
I've installed many inverters with total success. But SMA has been an extreme disappointment. Selling Sunny Boy inverters could be the biggest mistake I've made in this business. Not only are the features of the inverter inferior to any other brand I've used, but their lack of effective support for the diagnosing issues is an major let down.<br /><br />Expectations for a Sunny Boy should include: high-pitched inverter sound, problematic, complicated and expensive rapid shut down system, poor range for wireless connectivity, very long wait times for customer service, and an unhappy customer.
LukePDX | 02/03/2018
Review added by LukePDX
I'd have appreciated a more plug and play wireless monitoring capability.
