Review for Schneider Electric

SW 4048 230

10/29/2022
Cade Naranjito, PR

One good year

My system includes the inverter, a Schneider 60 amp MPPT controller and a Schneider SCP controller. On initial install, everything worked fine - though the option to set up for using lithium batteries took a little investigating; not well covered in the manual. The system had a noisy hum - sometimes a buzz, which I solved by removing the front cover (8 screws), and affixing pieces of masking tape to the metal surfaces of the chassis which contacted the cover. This filled a thin gap and gave some cushioning. After a little over one year of operation, on the first time the system shut down due to low battery voltage, it has failed to restart when battery power was restored. There are no apparent damages in the circuitry. The communications and control board, which supports the front panel switches has a 3V Panasonic ??1632A battery soldered to the board and not replaceable - this is still showing 2.9V and it is the only remotely serviceable component I have found so far. I will dig deeper and post results of my investigation in r/OffGrid on Reddit some time in November 2022. The SW 4048 has a one year warranty, which Schneider will freely extend if the owner registers online in the first six months. However they do not advertise that fact in their manuals or any other documentation that comes with the equipment - so the average individual would not likely discover this option in time, unless they investigate a warranty claim soon after installation. This equipment may yet prove to be repairable, but based on the reputation of Schneider and my investigations to date, I am doubtful. This piece of equipment cost $1450 and - together with the other system components - has saved me about $1200 in utility bills during its service life. I am very unlikely to buy another piece of Schneider equipment, even though I will lose the functionality of the system control panel (another $240).