SolarPanels Brisbane Smart Panel

This is the comprehensive Solar Panels Brisbane SolarEdge review of HD Wave, a hi-tech market leading solar inverter and the new Solar Edge Smart Panel review SPV300-60MMJ

SolarEdge is not a new brand: they have been making and perfecting inverters since 2006 and have since accrued a 70% market share in DC Optimisers, been listed on the NY stock exchange, acquired an electric car company and a battery company. They are friends with Tesla.

As a brand, I consider SolarEdge as a trust worthy brand. They are a large company based in Israel with offices all over the world, particularly in the USA. They have a 45% market share of all Solar inverters in USA, let that sink in for a moment

If you check their Management page of their company site, they have an impressive roster:

  • CEO and Chairman, Founder: Bachelor of Science, Engineering
  • VP Global Sales: Chemical Engineer
  • VP Marketing: Electrical Engineer
  • Euro Manager: Industrial Engineer
  • VP R&D: Electrical Engineer
  • CTO: Master of Science Electrical Engineering
  • VP Hardware: Electrical Engineer & Masters in Biomedical Engineering
  • VP Operations: Mechanical Engineer
  • VP Quality & Reliability: Electrical Engineer

Where are the Sparkies???

Having eclipsed a 3 year Apprenticeship or TAFE course, the SolarEdge crew are a tight knit bunch of Israeli Engineers who, in my opinion, would have a market leading grasp of technology and future trends.

For comparison, lets review the team of a popular Chinese inverter brand like Sungrow. We like Sungrow inverters but they are a cheaper brand inverter. Do they spend as much as SolarEdge? Do they rock the market with crazy new ideas? We don t know.

Solaredge SE100KUS

SolarEdge Inveter Review Vs. Sungrow

What we do know is SolarEdge like to spend money because they have a lot of it. Solar Edge works with Google on Electric Cars. Solar Edge works with Tesla. They re publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange so you can see what they spend money on too. They re like the Pfizer (Viagra inventors) of Solar. Trying new things. Trusting in their ideas. Knowing that a product is so good that it will sell based on its value-add, not just what people want. They can actually see what people WILL want and they start selling that. SolarEdge are solar game-changers. Sure, they do do marketing but they offer a very different setup that a traditional string inverter.

Am I a SolarEdge Guinea Pig?

No, SolarEdge uses a combination of existing and proven tech to achieve a market leading advantage. SolarEdge Optimisers + SolarEdge Inverter + SolarEdge App

SolarEdge Smart Module Panel Review

SolarEdge Smart Panel Review diagram of 60 cell Mono PERC solar PV module with integrated power optimiser and 25 year warranty.

smart panel2

SolarPanels Brisbane Smart Panel

The new SolarEdge panels are a 40mm black framed MONO PERC Panel branded by SolarEdge. They have in built optimisers and a 12 year product warranty with an industry standard 25 year performance warranty.

The panels are most likely manufactured in the same factory and under license of a reputable MONO Perc brand. Without confirming, I d say LONGi since they are the industry leader of MONO modules. If so, then yes, they re a good panel.

They also have in built optimisers ready for the HD Wave inverter.

Cons: You should use a SolarEdge inverter with SolarEdge Panels

Pros: You should use a SolarEdge inverter with SolarEdge panels.

Who do you trust with your 5-10k for solar?

Consider your decision to get solar: what options do you have as a consumer?

  1. I want a good product,
  2. with a good warranty,
  3. with good support and
  4. good workmanship by a good company,
  5. using good brands.

Solar in a nutshell! So then, what are my options?

SolarEdge is a Good product

Solar Edge is a good product. I didn t say it s the best, I didn t say it s the worst. It s good, it works, it will reduce your power bill and it is built to last. It is manufactured under contract by a company called Flextronics. Flex are also a good company.

SolarEdge is not the same as all the other Chinese inverters. They use DC Optimisers on a per-panel basis. This means for each panel that you have on your roof, you get a SolarEdge Optimiser that clips on the back of the panel (retrofitted). Why do they use these? The Optimisers are there to optimise panel performance. In a solar system string, there are factors that will affect the performance of a system. Shading is an example. Optimisers allow the system to skip shaded panels and produce more power than a bunch of panels without optimisers.

Well, SolarEdge optimisers do something extra. They have an app to scan each panel onto your account so that you can see each panel like a spreadsheet on their website or on your phone. You also have the SolarEdge inverter. This inverter is built to talk with the SolarEdge Optimisers. The app tells you, the homeowner, how each panel is performing. This also allows the people who installed the SolarEdge system for you to be able to monitor your system too. Heck, even the CEO of SolarEdge can see your system!!

Closer to home, you and your electrician can both see how much power each and every panel is making. This saves you from any call out fees because you can see if the system is working properly just on the app. You ll be the first to know if a panel is broken, or if it s shaded, or under-performing.

Solar Edge Warranty

  • SolarEdge Optimiser Warranty: 25 year warranty from the date they are shipped from SE + 4 months.

  • SolarEdge Inverter (HD Wave) Warranty: 12 years from the date the inverter was shipped from factory + 4 months OR date of install, whichever is earlier.

  • StoreEdge Battery Charger Warranty: 10 years from the date it left factory + 4 months

  • SolarEdge Smart Meter Warranty: 5 years + 4 months after date it left factory OR date of install.

SolarEdge has the longest inverter warranty in the industry, period. 12 year inverter warranty and 25 year optimiser warranty. These are extremely long times. If you called us in 2015 and asked how long our inverters and panel warranties are, we would ve said 5 years on the inverters and 10 years on the panels. Things have changed. Solar is proven now and companies are stronger than ever.

When a company offers a long warranty, what is your feeling as a consumer? How does it make you feel when a company says we re gonna be around for 12 years?

Why stop at 12 years? SolarEdge: Let s double that warranty plus one and offer a 25 year warranty on inverters. Unheard of, but SolarEdge offers a manual warranty extension to 25 years on their HD Wave 5kW for 269USD.

Most Chinese brand inverters come off the boat with a 5 year warranty

Note: if you are in any of these cool places, the SolarEdge inverter warranty in Africa is only 7 years:

Algeria, Gabon, Niger, Angola, Gambia, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Rwanda, Botswana, Guinea, S o Tom and Pr ncipe, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Seychelles, Cameroon, Kenya, Sierra Leon, Central African Republic, Lesotho, Somalia, Chad, Liberia, South Sudan, Comoros, Libya, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Swaziland, Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Tanzania, Djibouti, Mauritania, Togo, Egypt, Mali, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Uganda, Eritrea, Mozambique, Zambia, Ethiopia, Namibia, Zimbabwe

SolarEdge Support

What do you expect the brand to do if something goes wrong? Well, you re paying a bit extra for the SolarEdge system, not a lot extra, but

First, ring the guys who installed it.

If you went with a cheap solar company that doesn t exist anymore, ring the Australian office for that brand.

If you got a SolarEdge installed, they have an Australian office:

support at solaredge.net.au
1800 465 567
07:30 18:30 AEST

If you can t get through to them, ring the US Office or any other English speaking office. If you can t get onto them, message the SolarEdge Facebook page. If you can t get heard from on there, go to the SolarEdge website and email one of the directors/engineers.

SolarEdge is a publicly traded company which means they have stakeholders and shareholders. They have a brand to protect and are bound by law to operate in the interest of the company and the brand. They have a lot of money and they know how money works.

SolarEdge investors speak English, the same language as their customers.

Contrary to Chinese inverters

Should I get SolarEdge?

Do you want a market leading warranty of 12 years or 10 years on a comparable inverter?

Do you want to be able to look at your solar on the app?

Do you have shading or difficult multi-facet roof that requires optimisers?

Do you prefer American/Israeli based Company or a Chinese based company inverter?

Do you want a run-of-the-mill inverter or a ground-breaking inverter?

Do you have a Tesla car?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you probably want a SolarEdge Inverter. Send us an enquiry about SolarEdge inverters in Brisbane and we ll be happy to assist!