A few years ago, Ronald (Solarquotes’ Fact Checker) asked me for advice on buying a commuter -Push bike. I said to him:
“Whatever you do, don’t buy a bike from K-Mart!”
The next week I went to the office and saw a K-Mart bike that leaned against the wall. It died on his first trip from Ronald’s House. The lower bracket was toast, the gears were mutilated and the thing would not be pedal.
When I pulled it apart at home, I was surprised. The hardtail frame itself was not bad – good weld seams, decent geometry. But the components? Mostly garbage. I replaced the worst with spare parts from my garage and bought a correct lower bracket, headset and brakes. The components were worth around 600 US dollars via the 150 dollar bike. The result: a solid commuter who drives well and should last for years.
The lesson remained with me: With the correct parts that are properly adapted, even a K-Mart bike frame can be reliably transported. Manufacturing technology is so mature, even dirty bicycle frames can be appropriate quality these days.
The same applies to solar
Solar is in this phase. Most panels and inverter on the CEC list are fine. The frame is solid. The difference between a solar power system that saves them money for decades, and one that drives them crazy goes to design, installation, configuration and support.
There are some Chinese Chinese brands that are actually okay. I saw how they are reliably carried out, configured, configured and supported by the right people. Some good installers I know use without drama. However, you will not see these brands in our trustworthy brand chart – for two reasons:
- They are the business card of Bottom Feeder Solar dealers. The cheap end of the industry loves these brands. So if you don’t be careful, you will have an OK hardware that is installed by a bad design and installed.
- Your Australian support is at best stained. If your installer has your back, that’s fine. However, if you are together with a bottom-end retailer who does not carry out any customer support, try to get the manufacturer to help you, and without industry connections you have a world full of pain.
The circus “My Quote”
That brings me to the circus on the giant of my efficient Facebook group for Electric Home. This community has created a lot of value over the years, but nowadays these days are dominated by “rated” stings. Post a screenshot and wait until the mob decides whether this is too much (or too little) money for the brand offered.
This type of citate is poison. It reduces a complex system design, installation, commissioning, long-term support to two things: the logo on the hardware and the price below. It makes good installers look like rip -off dealers and at the same time encourage a race downwards, in which consumers are stranded when something goes wrong.
An example of the latest flood of social media posts, in which a public judgment was asked on a solar/battery offer.
An offer not only covers the hardware + installation
The truth is that you don’t buy panels, an inverter and a battery. You buy decades of lower bills – and maybe a power failure protection. This only happens if someone properly designs, installs, configured and supports the system.
Do you want evidence? Take a look at the first -class installers from Solarquotes. They often fit in a solid mid-range gang and support them with the service that continues. Your five-star ratings are also not only from shiny new installations, but also from customers who installed their systems half a decade ago and are still impressed because their installer is still taking their calls, or even better to call them proactively years later to check whether they are still satisfied with the system.
A beautifully installed, well -supported medium system on my dandruff.
The good news? Many Australians are smart enough to appreciate that. The bad news? Too many are still admitted to a brand and dollars quote, and the entire industry pays them.
And when K-Mart has ever started selling solar systems alongside the cheap mountain bikes, you know that we have reached the low point.
The phase shift is a weekly opinion column of the solar quotes founder Finn Peacock. Subscribe to the free newsletter from Solarquotes to receive it every week together with our other home electrification reporting by e -mail.
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