[Question] Suppliers Liability for Faulty Equipment

[paulbloggs]

Hi All,

Ten months ago I supplied and installed a 1kW UPS for a client. A steel box with inverter and 2x 100Ah 12V batteries. The load is a TV, DSTV, router and some LED downlights.

Ten months later the batteries have lost capacity and do not last for the required 2 hours of load shedding.
He complained, I fetched the batteries and returned them to my supplier who has returned them to her supplier who is the importer (I think).

Of course the importer is looking for any excuse not to honour the 12 month guarantee and has been asking for charging voltages and inverter specs etc. which I have supplied.

I am constantly nagging my supplier and I believe she is nagging hers.

Now he is threatening to sue me for the faulty batteries.
As I understand it the manufacturer carries the guarantee not the supplier?
What more can I do?

Help!
Paul

[ACEsterhuizen]

consumer protection act.pdf

With that unreasonable customer's attitude, let him/her sue you.

Yo have nothing to worry about. Been there. Done that. Got the dress.


For example, here is Willard Batteries warranty procedures:

https://willard.co.za/warrantyprocedure

[GCE]

With batteries and inverters even though you plan the load to be light and load shedding to be 2 hours you do not know what is actually happening.
Had a similar with a client - When I reminded him about the printer that he had plugged in the one load shed and the 3 times his area was off for close on 12 hours each time it changed things. There was also his wife's hair straightener the one time.

We inform the clients that unless they go lithium with a decent inverter we cannot see history and therefore no warranty on lead acid/ gel batteries

Had a contractor in our area that was running back and forth to a client over what was perceived as faulty batteries - They found out that the domestic worker had come to realize that if she plugged the iron into the inverter she could finish the ironing during loadshedding. She managed to finish the batteries as well.

With the cheaper low cost system you cannot give a warranty

[ians]

There are ways to monitor "other" batteries ... shunts for SOC and DOD ... you can also use a Pi3 with software to monitor the power in the cheaper inverters ... the problem ... it all starts adding up ... by the time you finish playing around ... you could rather spend a little more and get a decent setup.

AGM batteries where supposed to be a big hit ... the only thing I see is them hitting the wall ... they advertise a 12 year lifespan ... but only offer a 5 year warranty and the batteries are dying after 1 year.

As for those meccer/ellies units on the trolleys ... I personally made the mistake of wasting money on one of those ... fortunately I only paid R2k with the battery for mine ... I see some of the units I have installed for customers ... they are paying around R8-10k ... eeeesish ... leave it standing for a couple months between load shedding gaps and your battery will be dead by the time to recharge it.

I suppose people get desperate and make silly decisions.

Load shedding is going to be around for a long time ... takes the time to prepare a decent system which is specifically designed for your application ... without having to switch off appliances

[paulbloggs]

Thanks all for the reassuring posts.

I just want to be clear - the guarantees on equipment are made by the manufacturer and not the supplier?
I will happily guarantee my workmanship and any items I make - mostly in wood - but I cannot guarantee - say - an inverter since I have no control over its design and manufacture?

With these trolley inverters - is it best to disconnect them when there is no load shedding and turn them off after charging the batteries? And then dust them off when load shedding starts?

Regards
Paul

[Justloadit]

Thanks all for the reassuring posts.

I just want to be clear - the guarantees on equipment are made by the manufacturer and not the supplier?
I will happily guarantee my workmanship and any items I make - mostly in wood - but I cannot guarantee - say - an inverter since I have no control over its design and manufacture?

With these trolley inverters - is it best to disconnect them when there is no load shedding and turn them off after charging the batteries? And then dust them off when load shedding starts?

Regards
Paul

I have been fiddling around with solar systems and lead acid batteries for about 10 years.
My conclusion is don't waste your money on any lead acid battery. After 8 months they all lose 50% capacity. The simple reason, is that there is always a trickle charge on the battery which causes it to plate out (see PC UPSs, home alarms, standby PSUs, etc that have their battery replaced regularly). The only way to get the 10 year lifespan stated, is to disconnect the battery from the equipment once it is charged, and when I mean disconnect, I mean with a mechanical switch, not an electronic switch, as this draws a small amount of power and eventually discharges the battery.

If you discharge a lead acid beyond the DOD, you can do this between 20 and 30 times, and you throw the battery out. Most of the UPSs and standby PSUs, use 10.5V as the disconnect voltage, this is the DOD point of the lead acid. And lets me honest here, consumers will use the UPS/Inverter until the battery is completely discharged.

Prices of Lithium have come down a lot, and if you match the supposedly amount of energy from a lead acid to get a 'reasonable' (8 months) out of the battery, then a Lithium is only about 30% more expensive. In other words, you must take 50% ofthe Lead Acid battery capacity as the equivalent Lithium capacity.