Update on Gen 2 Inverters

My installer is having to install a gen 1 inverter and retrofit the ordered gen 2 when it becomes available. The gear was ordered early last April. The installer (large company, platinum provider) has no idea when the gen 2 gear will be available and is just as frustrated as me.

No gen 2 means I'll be operating at 60% of planned capacity and wasting money.

What is happening with gen 2 please and why can't even a large supplier or wholesaler get any information from Givenergy? On top of the SoC drift issues, the lack of promised equipment and no communication is proving very frustrating. Givenergy, what's happening please? Just some clear communication would allow us to plan accordingly.

Similar problem for me, but the installer is not offering an alternative inverter, which means no point having the panels installed to degrade over time but having no generation.

5kW Gen2 hybrid ordered beginning of June, original install date planned in line with wholesalers forecast delivery date for beginning of September, now moved back to early November as still waiting for the inverter. All the other equipment such as panels and battery are now in stock with the installer.

If this delay continues I am tempted to purchase a cheap and simple 2 string inverter that is available from stock (even if limited to 3kW), get it all installed, then get the installer to swap out for the GivEnergy inverter and battery when available.
No doubt with demand as it is, the hardly used inverter could be sold on without losing too much from the purchase price.

Simon_C After waiting so long, I'll take what is offered (within reason) simply to get going. At least all the wiring will be in place and we'll be running with some charge in the batteries. I'm on Octopus Go Faster so needed the gen 2 to charge 19kwh of storage on cheap rate - I'll be at around 60% of that now but better than nowt. Plus the discharge capacity is considerably worse.
Is it too much to expect the supplier to keep us in the loop? I guess we'd be far more accommodating if they simply provided some sensible updates. Come on Givenergy, please tell us what to expect!

i had a solar edge inverter and ac3 battery inverter as that was available now..

Same here. My installers have installed a Gen1 inverter for me this week with a promise I can have it upgraded to Gen2 when they become available. All installed, battery calibrated, and working well. Now wondering if I will just keep the Gen1 and give up on the Gen2.

Rubikcube I was offered the Gen1 over a Gen2. Kicking myself a little as the battery charge/discharge is limited to 2.5kw. So if you have high demand cooking appliances you might be pulling from the grid. The Gen2 is 3.6kW (16A).

Having waited twelve weeks for my batterys and now over eight weeks and counting for stupid free cables that I have had to pay for I still have no cables . I am forming the opinion this company is not fit for purpose . come on GIVENERGY what is going on ???

JohnDawson
If it's any consolation, I waited 8 months for my 8.2kWh battery. The parking of the Ever Given ship sideways in the Suez canal was a large part of that.

Seeing wholesalers now saying mid 2023 for supply of the gen 2 inverters! If that's correct it's 15 months after I ordered mine. As I mentioned above my installer has offered a gen 1 with a gen 2 retrofit - better than nothing but still a huge compromise on the system performance.

Does anyone have any feedback from Givenergy on the availability please? They haven't answered my email and appear to be ducking it. I suspect there's quite a few of us left guessing which is pretty poor form. Any update appreciated. Cheers.

sponev When the installer says a "retrofit" does he mean fit new internals to the gen 1 to make it have charge and discharge capacity of gen 2 OR does he mean he will swap the gen out for a gen 2?
Either way I can't see the installer doing this for free (labour) and doubt the Gen 2 and cables etc will be supplied for free.
What did he mean?

Jerry2604 The installer is swapping for a new gen 2 when available. There is an agreed retention on the project sufficient to cover the cost of the new unit as security. I ordered gen 2 originally so that's what I expect to get - at no extra charge. I sympathise with the installer in that the wholesaler/Givenergy have let him down, but my contract is with him. If he's got any sense he'll be claiming any additional costs from his suppliers. I guess he's "doing the right thing" as he knows that it's taken 7 months to even get this far, not the 8-10 weeks promised initially. Simply saying "sod off" until the new gear is available would leave him on a very sticky wicket contractually/legally - so I think it's a fair compromise for my patience.

Jerry2604
I've also agreed to this, fitted gen1 inverters until available. This is also the same company as Sponev, again with a decent retainer.
Should anything change/not happen it would be addressed by Section 75 credit card.

chickengeorge Yes, I agree the 2.6k limit is a bit annoying. We just work around it by trying to use high draw stuff when the sun is out (pretty obvious for a solar system, lol). If I had the choice now I'd definitely go for Gen 2 equipment, but I had everything installed in a timely fashion and it pretty much does what we want. The main issue with the Gen 1 is that my wife thinks I'm being an energy Nazi, Gen 2 definitely smooths over the issues and I can see it being a system you pretty much forget about.

I could have waited for gen 2 inverters , decided to go with gen 1 as the installer could get one. Balancing the 2.6kw limit V actually having one installed and working with a battery glad I went with Gen 1.

Wb1 Tend to agree, at least it gets us moving. Tomorrow we get told if the installation is actually happening or not - if not it will be the third cancellation at which point I reckon I'll actually be knocking on the installer's door. 7 months 3 weeks and counting....

Also still no reply regarding availability from Givenergy - 2 emails ignored. Not good enough.

I wanted a Gen 2 - but wanted to get solar more. With 6.4kw of panels and 9.5kwh battery it does enough to take the edge off... but yes the 2.6kw limit can be frustrating especially in the winter when you're going to be using appliances when it's dark. However, it is still taking a significant chunk off the bills - especially if you're on an eco 7 tariff and charging the batteries at night when it's cheap (for the winter months at least).

Hopefully I can upgrade to gen 2 next year as and when they are available.

wmr1980 I'd already placed my order a few weeks before they'd annouced the Gen2 back in the day and I find I can manage the 2.6kWh limit fairly successfully. Its only ever an issue when cooking dinner, just careful to not go full tilt on the induction hob/kettle if the oven has just been switched on etc.

Ra Indeed I'm not finding it too bad... as you say just need to learn to balance things. I find our induction hob is pretty good, much bette than the halogen hob we had previously. Our oven on the other hand is old and not very efficient so that's next on the ever growing list! 😆

Ultimately, I don't mind drawing from the grid if I have to, I'm using a third of what I used to use, so it's hard to be too upset about it.

I think as and when I will upgrade just because it would be daft not to (if you can afford it) I'm sure you can get some cash back from the gen 1.

https://www.itstechnologies.shop/pages/order-status

This is a little concerning - any update from Givenergy themselves?

alphabeta77 On their online chat today they gave absolutely nothing useful, only available in the "coming months". Blamed it on the energy crisis and huge demand which makes little sense. Dismal. I wish I'd used a different manufacturer but a bit too late now. Also two emails to them gone unanswered. An issue upstream they don't want to discuss?

Just emailed my installer with that announcement from ITS.

Ordered a 5kW Gen2 hybrid at the beginning of June.

I will be on the phone to them tomorrow to find out what they are going to provide for my installation in less than 2 weeks time. Not the installers fault I know, but very annoying that GivEnergy have not indicated any manufacturing or delivery problems and just leave us hanging.

Yes, have a concern if even the distributors are calling out unprofessional practices and giving up on Givenergy, then it does feel like fairly major problems....

@Adam-Reynolds Adam - any chance of a quick steer in your Friday update today here? It'd be good to know your sense of when/If Gen 2 inverters are arriving

alphabeta77

I have to admit that given the number of bugs and customer service examples recently it does concern me where givenergy are going.

@GeorgeRawding has been trying his best but I think it is time that givenergy put up a number of formal statements around the following:

Hardware availability.
The SOC issues people are seeing.
The myriad of bugs that seem to be present.

I'm sure Jason Howlett / Clive Oakley have this in hand.

alphabeta77 We've had lots of Gen 1.5's as customers call them in over the year, and are still getting some installed now. But the new chassis Gen 2's with the clip connections etc are going through production lines now, and should be arriving in Jan from what I know.

@sponev We aren't ignoring your emails, we're just behind at the moment because of solar and storage as well as a huge surge of recruitment we've done on the support desk, it's a little bit wild at the moment just training everybody up. We're all in early working late/weekends, spending our nights online on social media etc to keep up.

Adam-Reynolds

Hey Adam thanks very much for that reply, much appreciated and actually great to have the detail of all the challenges and chaos at Givenergy - fully appreciate a growing firm is always challenging; whilst a growing firm in an unprecedented explosion in demand like at the moment must be a nightmare! But really helpful to have this colour as brings things to life. As comparison, your buddy Adam seems to be stirring the nest in the other thread.... 😉

Thanks for honesty re January - the delay is an irritation in the scale of things, but great to know so I'm not wasting time thinking it'll be next week and then the next week etc.

Just for clarity are 1.5 inverters 3.6 KW charge/discharge inverters (ie Gen 2) with an older chassis or are they Gen 1 (still 2.6kw)?

As an aside - have you thought about creating moderators and a small hidden forum for them to help deal with the queries (but for free!). There's some great folk in this forum (eg Tim et Al), you could naturally give them a more detailed weekly briefing and they could help answer the questions/queries - esp as a lot are pretty repetitive! Just a thought.

alphabeta77 Yes it is very chaotic, but we don't ignore anything, if somebody hasn't had a reply its either in the queue, or didn't get too us or in a section of the ticketing on a reply thread that isn't monitored often that gets checked in batch.

We have a very good mindset, we all love what we do and we love helping customers I can assure you none of my staff members would ignore something on purpose, I keep a very close eye on this side of things.

Gen 1.5's are all the same specs of Gen 2, including inbuilt WIFI. Only difference is the connections on the bottom, it still uses ring terminal DC connections.

Not thought about moderators as of yet, but its a good idea and I don't disagree at all. Definitely something I can look to implement down the line, our whole customer experience is due to change with internal system changes/processes in the near future

Adam-Reynolds can a Gen 2 or 1.5 inverter be used as part of a plant with an existing Gen 1 hybrid? Am considering increasing battery and output capacity.

Adam-Reynolds

Ah ok, so it's a Gen 2 in Gen 1 clothing... 😉 Ta for clarity!

Thanks for detail - totally understand, keep the chins up - incredibly challenging for any firm at the moment with supply challenges, geopolitical issues, economic mess, inflation, looney politicians, Brexit and so on and so on!

Certainly rooting for you all - really pleased with the kit so far, mobile app is great also and API works beautifully with home assistant (I work in technology, so know the feeling well!) - but I'm very pleased with the kit.

Thanks for update - the EMS and gen 2 inverters will utterly transform our setup, so very much looking forward to them!

Have a great weekend in the meantime!

dcsh It uses all the same firmware logic as Gen 1 pretty much. I mean we still advise against dual hybrids in any circumstance as we have no logic to support it, that reigns true for Gen 1 > Gen 1, Gen 2 > Gen 2 or Gen 1 > 2.

Adam-Reynolds thanks, good to know.

Adam-Reynolds Thanks Adam. Good to get feedback about the current situation. If there's a comms vacuum it causes big problems as you can see, so please try to make sure that we are all updated, good or bad. Folk will work with you that way but they won't if they're kept in the dark. Cheers.

sponev I echo this. One thing I can't find which may get rid of the noise is a thread of known issues with formal updates on it. Seems an odd thing not to have.