I tell my offgrid clients this is new and you need to have knowledge to operate a Schneider or Outback system manually. They both have control panels that can do this without being in the "cloud" The inverters and chargers are very reliable and the client needs to take some responsibility and be told that at the start. If I can't support them by text or email I send them to XYZ company. Kind of like batteries and gensets offgrid, expendable.
I personally do not want to be involved with either company except for warranty or field testing. After that the client has to think about spares and just ask me questions. The last thing I want is elderly people living offgrid. I send them to XYZ also. It may be harsh. I think we both need our free time and to enjoy life! Maybe you should charge a support fee as that will get the client to understand that there is no "free shipping" on this one. You have to stay in business and not be so concerned with billing them. I guess it is different for all of us. Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar "we go where powerlines don't" http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/ [1] e-mail [email protected] [2] text 209 813 0060 On Wed, 04 Dec 2019 08:18:49 -0500, [email protected] wrote: My quandary is "who is supposed to pay for this time?" How many free hours/ days are we supposed to spend? What is a reasonable amount for a client to pay? ----- Original Message ----- From: "RE-wrenches" To: "Glenn Burt" , "RE-wrenches" Cc: Sent: Tue, 3 Dec 2019 14:33:30 -0500 Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Schneider support? Hi Glen, My experience with Schneider Support over the last several months has been very variable in terms of how accessible they are. There have been times when I ring right through, and others when I'm on hold for more than an hour (I think my personal record was a total of 2.5 hours in one day due to my call being dropped after 70 minutes of waiting. I have tried the online request for support route several times and I can't remember if I've ever received a call or email back from that, other than once when I got a call back maybe 5 days after I submitted my request - clearly that is not a very functional system. I also think it would be quite helpful if there was a way to reference a case number on line to see what the current status of a support issue was if it was something that I was waiting for a more information about or a higher tier response from, but as far as I know that is not available to us. When I do get through, I mostly feel like I've gotten decent to really good support, although my impression is that there is a fair amount of siloing between the various design, engineering, and support departments which has caused frustration for me in getting clear answers or solutions to issues and problems. As far as the gateway, I am happy with the interface and functionality when onsite, but the Insight 2 portal seems extremely limited and for the most part useless from an installer perspective, mostly geared toward making things easy to read for end users, but not supplying some real basic information and functionality needed to even keep track of a site, no less troubleshoot it offsite. So far it is a big disappointment since I had the impression that it was promised to give total transparency and programability into a remote site. I can only hope that Schneider is doing due diligence in developing those capabilities before releasing them on us - perhaps wishful thinking... Howie On Mon, Dec 2, 2019 at 3:57 PM Glenn Burt wrote: First time in about a year that I have had to use Schneider support - I find that now the special number has no one answering it!? I created a case online 5 days ago and received receipt of a case number - do I now have to wait for my number to come up and for them to call me? Anyone else experiencing this, or did I miss something? I am registered with Schneider as an installer... I have an off-grid customer I talked into using their equipment partially based on feedback I got here about the new Gateway...so far I am unimpressed with internet connectivity and the Insight 2 portal... He is now snowed in for the winter here and access is only by snowmobile. Two identical systems and I need to get answers ASAP! Thanks for any feedback. Glenn _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: [email protected] [4] Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org [5] List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html [6] List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm [7] Check out or update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org [8] -- Links: ------ [1] http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/ [2] mailto:[email protected] [3] mailto:[email protected] [4] mailto:[email protected] [5] http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org [6] http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html [7] http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm [8] http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
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