What are tactics some manufactures use to make solar panel warranties difficult to claim?

Choosing quality solar products with good warranties is crucial. Dealing with Chinese-based warranty claims can be a long and frustrating process, which often yields little to no results. It's cheaper for manufacturers to replace panels than to pay legal fees, so they often make the claiming process difficult. We always advise our customers to invest in well-warranted panels and inverters from quality brands.

It's important to understand the difference between performance warranty and manufacturer's warranty. A performance warranty guarantees a certain percentage of power production over 20 to 25 years, while a manufacturer's warranty typically covers 10 to 12 years. If a panel fails after year 15, it won't be covered by the performance warranty, as it has exceeded its warranty limit. A manufacturer's warranty covers parts, labour and freight for everything on the rooftop exposed to the elements.

Yes, picking your quality products does give you a much greater warranted product. We know firsthand, we've had to deal with several Chinese-based warranty claims in the past. To claim your warranties the process is very extended, the muck you around with a lot of emails, a lot of photographs, a lot of running around on your behalf to ensure that the product is under warranty. And in the end, you get very little to nothing, and you've wasted a lot of time and effort in trying to reclaim these warranties. And these manufacturers know that, and they know it's cheaper for you almost to replace the panels, than to go get a lawyer to pursue them and make them pay against the Australian Consumer Law. We'd always suggest to our customers to get a good quality product, with a well warranted panel and inverter.

Performance warranty and manufacturer's warranty are two completely different things. A performance warranty is guaranteeing you that the panel will produce x amount of percentage of power in 20 to 25 years, is a performance warranty. The manufacturer's warranty on those panels generally 10 maybe 12 years. So if the panel fails at year 15, it won't conform with the performance warranty. It's a it's a panel warranty that's exceeded its warranty limit, so there's nothing left to claim on for that panel. So yeah performance warranty, is what you what you shouldn't be looking for, it's a manufacturer's warranty that you want to last. Basically means everything on the rooftop that's exposed to the elements, has the full manufacturer's warranty which is parts, labour, freight.