PYLONTECH FOUND OUR VIDEOS

This week we threatened our supplier with legal action in order to resolve the problem with our US3000C battery, and have also received a surprise email from Pylontech themselves!
The Pylontech batteries have posed an ongoing problem with our off grid solar power system, and now we are hoping that the issues can be resolved once and for all.
We are a young family living off grid in a woodland that we grew from scratch. We use solar power for electricity, collect and filter rain water and are growing an increasing amount of our own food.
The journey with our batteries so far:
Why we will never buy Pylontech batteries again:
• WHY WE WILL NEVER BUY ...
We wired our batteries 'wrong': (and other misconceptions)
• WHY WE WILL NEVER BUY ...
Answers to FAQs:
How much did your solar power system cost?
• HOW MUCH DOES SOLAR PO...
How did your solar power system perform in winter?
• SOLAR IN UK WINTER: Ho...
How long will it be before your system has paid for itself?
• DOES SOLAR POWER PAY F...
How did you install the system?
• OFF GRID SOLAR SYSTEM ...
What fuses did you use when fusing the Pylontech US3000C batteries?
• FUSING PYLONTECH BATTE...
How does your solar power system perform in winter?
• SOLAR POWER IN WINTER ...
How did you wire the panels in series parallel?
• WIRING SOLAR PANELS IN...
What is the Pylontech warranty like?
• PYLONTECH BATTERIES: U...
What appliances can you run on your solar power system?
• WHAT APPLIANCES CAN YO...
How did you update the firmware and settings on the Quattro 48V 10KVA Charger Inverter?
• VICTRON QUATTRO SET UP...
How did you install the solar panels?
• OFF GRID SOLAR PANEL I...
What does your solar power system generate in winter?
• SOLAR IN UK WINTER: Wh...
Do you have lightening protection?
• TOO LATE? Installing l...
Thanks for watching!
Fraser, Rachael, Grace and Albie
The Off Grid Family

[@davidbrodie5044]

Well done for getting this company to listen to you, I hope you are near to a successful conclusion to all the hassle.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you, so do we 😊👍

[@mfr58]

What a company! If they were worth their salt, they'd just send you a new battery and attempt to save their reputation....Well done and thanks, cos I've purchased SOK instead.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Well we wouldn’t say no if they offered…! 😂

[@davidniquot6423]

Maybe it's just a user error and they do not want to treat him differently then others just cause he got a "video" .. ! And i can understand that .

[@tanyajones1348]

I was just about to buy the us5000... X8 No longer

[@piterex7]

@@tanyajones1348 do not buy iPhone because is assembly in China do not buy any battery because 95% are made in China eve lg and all others Aor b cells Tesla or any other cars .I’m not a sheep. But I always read reviews about a lot and pylontech have most good reviews, I searched for any other brand and some of them looked good but can’t find many info about them or other overpriced make pylontech affordable

[@rogereverett9095]

excellent video, I'm currently waiting on my 4 x us5000 batteries which are on back order. After your issues I was very tempted to find alternative, so I watch with interest

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you and we wish you all the best with your batteries when they arrive 😊 so many people say they have never had any problems 👍

[@happyemojilearning2866]

Hope you guys get sorted. We the viewers are behind you and supporting ❤️

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you for your support 😊 We really appreciate it 👍

[@8uhayat]

Appreciate the update, hope all goes smoothly from here. Good luck 👍

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you, we’ll keep you updated 😊👍

[@_Miner]

You are right these videos are damaging to pylontech, they need to see these videos, comments and realise people are turning away from pylontech because of the customer service and warranty issue. Pylontech please sort youtself out and you could be the biggest player in the UK and EU right now.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

An improvement in customer service would make such a difference to the company overall 😊

[@AffordablePC1]

Thanks we really appreciate the time and especially the inspiration of this video. We are off the back of this video contacting major manufacturers suggesting we create UK harwdare support here in the UK. Good feedback already from various manufacturers as we have the back-ground to fix these issues.

[@leeebbrell9]

good to hear the other 6 battery are working well. i just bought 2 x us5000

[@dtvking]

Well done. Let's hope this gets sorted once and for all. The warranty is nothing without the customer service behind it. Shame its taken so long but fingers crossed for you all 🤞

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you. We are hoping the end is in sight now 😊

[@livingoffgridinscotland]

Well done Still proves there customer service is 💩 Why not just give you a new battery and fix the broken one themselves and sell it as refurbished as any other reputable company would do….

[@The_OffGridFamily]

We would have been very happy with that 😊

[@evil17]

@@The_OffGridFamily i think most of us would’ve been

[@vmlinuz10]

Seems like their warranty is only available to youtubers. Thanks for these videos. I was looking into batteries for a while now, you've convinced me not to get any Pylontech ones.

[@jimbosun2]

I'm happy you guys have got some movement from pylon tech on this. I for one am watching how they deal with this now including future changes in there customer service. Such an expensive piece of kit as batteries are no ones going to trust a company that doesn't sort problems that are clearly theres. I'll be watching before deciding on which battery company I will settle on.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you, we will be so glad when it is sorted 😊 it’s a big investment and a lot of money, and these problems have caused a lot of stress and worry 😩 Hopefully almost sorted now though 👍

[@EverydayLife621]

Great vlog - you live & learn, 2 years ago we knew nothing about Solar / battery storage etc., and agree (in the UK), that 24-12 months ago it was so difficult to get any kit. So you've done really well and made the best decision at the time - what more can you do? - all we could comment is that - its maybe slightly too many fuses / cable / connections as 300-500 Ah of batteries can easily run on 25mm2 cable at 48v for hours on end? (how did the balancing work? - we had no challenges in adding more US2000C's to our VE MPII - SOC is currently 99% in 12-24 months-as we have added, 15KW overall storage todate)

[@shitina.bucket9699]

Hope it all works out for ye, paid enough should get what ye paid for 🌞⚡💕

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you, we’ll keep you updated 😊

[@davetooes6179]

you've got me concerned I brought my batteries 6 months ago but until yesterday due to no available solar installers, we have had to wait to have the system installed. Currently, I am currently having discussions with my inverter supplier regarding the correct wiring of the cable from the battery to the inverter.

[@thamesmud]

At the end of the day it's just a faulty BMS. I can't see why they don't just allow the suppliers to swap them out.

[@MrWobling]

They lost at least one installation here - I've gone with GivEnergy for my install instead.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

All the best with your installation 😊

[@ukpete2892]

So glad it's getting sorted, having read so many other people are having problems with these batteries it's helped me realise they are a bad company that wriggle out of warranty issues, and have awful customer service, I was going to buy 5 of there batteries, but now have sourced a UK company and placed an order with them for a better battery with a good customer service I Hope all ends well for you

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you. It’s sad to hear there are other people out there experiencing similar problems 😩

[@whoguy4231]

Glad Pylontech are finally coming to the party. Shouldn't be this hard to get the ball rolling. Don't know why you'd risk your reputation rather than honour the warranty.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Well we never mentioned to our supplier or to Pylontech that we have a (somewhat small) KZbin channel as we aren’t looking for any special treatment 😊 Fingers crossed it’s all sorted soon 🤞

[@mastweiler22]

I'm glad your supplier was trying to fight your corner, even if they weren't great at telling you they were...

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Yes it was really interesting to see the emails between them and Pylontech 😊

[@Sanwizard1]

Too bad you need to expose them on a youtube channel to get them to respond. Your "supplier" should have replaced the battery and then THEY deal with Pylontech to get a new one.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

That would have made things a lot less stressful, but when we saw the emails between Pylontech and our supplier it seemed like Pylontech were very reluctant to repair modules, let alone replace them!

[@beresheeth]

Great news!

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Yes we are pleased 😊

[@Medea007]

Pylonshit, thanks for the heads up.

[@kevinmills5293]

AND WE ARE WATCHING PYLONTECH!

[@bryank3133]

Hi, what other rack mount batteries did you consider, currently weve got 24v using lifepo4 in 2s2p with all victron kit apart from the batteries, decided to move to 48v got anew multiplus inverter, i could wire my 4 batteries in series, but have you seen the Fogstar Energy Server Rack Battery 48V

[@mikefiatx19]

Damn. I am looking at a Pylontech battery right now because they are cheaper than the competition but I am not sure I want to invest in a system that won't be supported.

[@dopiaza2006]

I have 4 (possibly 6) 5 year old pylontech batteries which are now bulging. Any hints on how to skip the bullshit and get a warranty replacement/repair? Thanks!

[@waterboy8999]

I hope Pylontech isn't the guy that does bore holes... glad you might be getting somewhere at long last. I can't imagine how stressful the whole experience has been, trying to be self sufficient, green and all that, and a bit of a pioneer if that's not going to far,, not mention the expense! This channel should or could have been a platform for Pylontech. Here's hoping you get sorted out.

[@MichaelPickles]

As you were lowering that battery, I thought to myself would be good to insulate underneath the building battery room.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Definitely, that’s something we’ve been trying to get round to 😊 There is wool insulation under there but we need to finish boarding it.

[@opentrail]

Glad your making progress albeit using a legal process. It seems they still have a long way to go before they will match a UK or US Customer Service experience.

[@PhilipHollowaychannel]

Good luck. I was going to use there batteries but I think I might use Victron instead 😮

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Haven’t experienced Victron batteries. Ironically it was the longer warranty that drew us to Pylontech 😩

[@w3bb0y]

@phillip why not look into making your own batteries? Just need the lifepo4 cells, a BMS and a breaker/fuse. It'll be 1/3 the price of plyontech/victron. I just got 15kwh of lifepo4 cells delivered today in the UK for £2300

[@PhilipHollowaychannel]

@@w3bb0y I might have a look into that. Just cautious about fire risks.

[@leeebbrell9]

Hi what breakers are you using between batteries and inverter only asking i bought 2 x us5000 and need icu 10ka as per manual.

[@evil17]

Sad it took a shaming to get some action. It is stressful enough buying batteries & solar components as a large investment for the future, you need to know it is going to work and if you have such issues, they require a quick response to resolve as you are relying on this to power your home. When it is new gear giving trouble it should be either fixed or replaced asap. Glad to see you are finally getting some attention. Cheers

[@The_OffGridFamily]

You’re right and it’s the speed of response that has disappointed us. Yes 2/8 batteries having issues isn’t great but these things happen. It’s the way it’s dealt with that matters most 😩

[@craigchamberlain]

I’ve just bought two US5000 batteries so will be watching this story very carefully. My first impressions of the batteries is that they appear to be very well constructed but ultimately it is a £2000 “black box” which has to work, and work reliably for many years to come otherwise it will become a false economy. Given your experience, I will be keeping a detailed log book of my commissioning procedure with photographs etc to ensure that nobody can say I did something wrong if in fact I did not. Thanks, and I hope you get your battery issue resolved.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Thank you 😊 Hopefully it’s almost sorted now. Lots of people seem to have these batteries with no problems, but we would definitely recommend keeping a record of what you do just in case there is a problem. All the best with your installation 👍

[@Umski]

Just received a US5000 too - little worried now as only just unvoxed it and not even sure it starts up - need to hook it up fully and check everything - this experience doesn’t fill me with confidence if it is problematic 😢

[@craigchamberlain]

@@Umski I have been running my pair of US5000’s for a couple of weeks now and have had zero issues. When they arrived, I powered them on and checked voltage levels and they were both exactly the same (49.4V if I recall correctly). If you wanted to check yours in the same way you can flick the power switch on and then press the SW button for a few seconds to start it up. Then take off one red and one black battery connection cover and check the voltage with a multimeter. Just make sure the meter is on volts scale and the probes are plugged into the correct sockets. Once checked, put the battery connection covers back on and power the battery off again. My setup has been charging from a Multiplus-II at 60A (max is 70A but I don’t want to max it out every day) and it has been charging and discharging between 100% and 10% state of charge every day without any issues. Cell voltage differences have been negligible and well within limits, and the battery modules run cool and quiet, unlike the Multiplus which gets pretty warm and makes quite a bit of noise… Hopefully this gives you some reassurance. Good luck with your installation.

[@Umski]

@@craigchamberlain thanks, panic over, I watched a few other videos and realised that once all the lights have come on, they then go off and the run light flashes intermittently - also getting 49+V at the main terminals so all good (just need some long leads now to connect to the inverter - wasn't able to just 'pick some up' from Midsummer unfortunately even though I was in the area and near to the warehouse - no answer at main office to arrange it - seems to be that all these wholesalers are too busy fulfilling orders which is fine when everything is working fine, not so much if there's an issue!)

[@craigchamberlain]

​@@Umski If you need battery cables, try ESS and Solar Solutions. They are my supplier and I know Etienne (the owner) said he had 20 sets of cables in stock when he sent me mine a couple of weeks ago. I can't recommend them enough as Etienne has helped me a lot to get up and running. Glad to hear you are feeling a bit more relaxed - I know it's a big investment buying these batteries and inverters and you never fully relax until it starts working! Good luck! :)

[@nicholasviney5975]

No product is perfect and things go wrong, but what shows if something is worth buying is how you are dealt with when a problem arises. Good luck

[@KarlAlfredRoemer]

After a year, do you now know what caused the malfunction report?

[@craigbutler6243]

This is an emerging industry & reputable manufacturers can not afford to treat customers so badly. Im a electrician about to gain my mcs & researching battery techs, this kind of behaviour scores pylontech a big red cross & I won't go near companies like this if aftersales is so bad.

[@davidw460]

Sorry to say but this company has not behaved how we would expect in the UK.

[@davidw460]

Without your vids I don’t see evidence they would have responded prior to court judgements.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

It’s such a shame, but we think you might be right 😩

[@peterraymond1853]

Im in Australia Do you know where o can contact someone I have EX2000 48V And as you found, PylonTech in China is uncontactable I have unworking units, and wouod like to buy new 12V battery modules, or the individual flat batteries and rebuild mine Thanks

[@madworld5762]

Which company did you buy the batteries from?

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Midsummer Energy

[@bert1274]

@@The_OffGridFamily I got my panels from them, was thinking about upgrading to pylontech and going with Midsummer again. Now I'm not so sure. Nobody should have to go through this

[@rumpa09]

thats a shame really, cause the Pylontech batts seems to be really good stuff, good value for money as well ....

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Lots of people have had really positive experiences with them, which is good, but there have been quite a few people get in touch with us who haven’t. Bit of a mixed bag.

[@PeterLawton]

As a software developer, I can tell you the 3 important steps in error/failure handling: tell user what failed; say *why* it failed; tell user what to do about it. The battery firmware did none of this and as a result, much of your time was wasted and Pylontech's reputation took a big hit, which they deserved.

[@kingpolu]

have they fixed the issue 7 months later ?

[@don1mclean]

I feel your pain! I have a small system (2 x US3000C Pylontech), & am now slightly concerned, though ~7 months in & no issues. ...With the batteries at least: I have an Epever 'all in one' inverter/charger, bought with the batteries but it has never communicated with them properly. Epever have been communicative, but this has involved endless emails & software updates. None of which helped. After requesting a return & refund from the retailer (Bimble Solar, who evidently then contacted Epever for me) I had my quickest ever email from Epever, who are promising to send a new BMS Link. Well done for persisting, & I hope you get a good result. Though, as others have said here, you might have hoped they'd simply have replaced the battery. Which reminds me, didn't you initially have an 8th Pylontech battery that was faulty out of the box that they said would have to be repaired rather than replaced (which would have been far better customer service)? Any news on that?

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your system. We know first hand how stressful this can be and that fighting to get the service and support you require can be draining. We have however heard very positive things about Bimble Solar so hopefully you have an added layer of protection there. You’re right about the 8th battery. They wanted to repair it rather than replace it, though we asked for a replacement. They said we would have to get a refund and buy another one instead, so in the end we just sent it back and didn’t bother buying another 😩

[@nanocube]

Watched cause I was thinking of buying pylontech

[@grimreaper6221]

eish bud......when you say warranty is crap....100%spot on....i had 2 out of 3 of my batteries fail sent them for warranty in year 4 of there 10year warranty... came back and said they have been over charged and have damaged cells inside so no warranty ,they further said anything over 54 volt is over voltage ,if you read the manual if the battery hits 54volts the bms will put it into a fault mode and shut down ......so my question to supplier was how is it possible that i have over charged them if the BMS should have never allowed it in the first place................after 8months of fighting i gave up dont know where else to turn to

[@kingpolu]

did you get any further ? how your batterys working now, iv just bought some and then i looked them up, & im little worried

[@grimreaper6221]

@@kingpolu had 2 fail so stripped them down and used the cells to build one decent battery

[@minwang102]

😀Sok Battery is always here...

[@aureltanasan1413]

In my view, the supplier should take it of you and replace it with a brand new one. After all they are the importer and stand behind the products they sell. Then they should shove it up to Pylontech to honour their warranty. No warranty, don’t import of the same stuff if you don’t stand behind it as a manufacturer, end off. Victron, fronius, sma, and more respectable brands, will not even quibble on a new replacement. They investigate the fault, learn from it and build strong relation with suppliers and customers.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

You’ve raised a good point here. We have a lot of time for Victron and have been really happy with all of their products 😊

[@kroozer5215]

To be honest Frasier, i am so glad i did not see your videos before i watched others regarding pylontech otherwise i would never have purchased so many myself, all other vids i have watched have had good reviews with good feedback - but the way you have been treated is just not on, its not like these batteries are a few pounds, they cost too much to be fobbed off with some lame excuse.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

That’s our main point really. We know all products can be faulty. It can’t be helped sometimes, but it’s how companies deal with these problems that count and we’ve been disappointed up to this point 😩

[@mviertel]

You know, I am in the market for additional batteries and I was starting to consider Pylontech, despite their terrible availability for the last months. I mean it's like golddust still. I finally managed to get my hands on a Rosen Solar Powerwall this summer, but it's not enough and I was thinking of getting a few 3000s or even the new 5000s to cover the needs for our main house, but after seeing what kind of customer service we may face ... I'm not really sure anymore.

[@ACPilot]

What about the Pylontech 96V FORCE-H2, also crappy? Anyone with experiences?

[@alancwright]

I have 8 us5000 on order since August, they still have not arrived and watching your channel for updates, hope all goes well with the return. Pylontech seem to be a victim of their own success, growing massively over the past couple of years and their support hasn’t evolved as quickly as it should have.🤞

[@carlostejada6782]

I have two US5000 working since February, and so far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed though.

[@Mozambezi]

​@@carlostejada6782 my US5000C were struggling to get charge above 60% with Pylontech manual settings. Then Installer used non standard settings from his experience. Now it so far, so good. But measuring I feel battery capacity is close to 4000Ah rather 5000 :) I expected it, so no drama. Hopefully will settle at 60-70% of useful capacity. How your batteries are going now?

[@simontredwell991]

Fact is that the best customer service is no customer service (in other words service is so good didn’t need customer service). I am all for people putting videos up like yours because many buyers will use you tube to decide where to put there money. So come on pylontech if you want to be a market leader then lead it with service.

[@MarkSmith-wc1ek]

It seems that the only way to get things sorted is to name and shame them hope it works out

[@PabloTBrave]

Pylontech should make firmware available more easily, it cost them very little , will save a lot of support cells and is a sign of a good company. I wouldn't expect lots of firmware on a battery but there should be a few to add the odd feature and no software is ever 100% safe , bug free or efficient

[@fridolinoberboersch9425]

never had any problem with Pylontech Batteries. Guess in this case they are not properly installed

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Pylontech didn’t have any problem with the installation, and were happy to repair the battery….eventually.

[@fridolinoberboersch9425]

@@The_OffGridFamily eventually

[@steveeggleton876]

can't unstained these people, £1000 to you £800 to the distributor, £500 at the factory gate, cost of manufacture £250 if that. And how much will they spend on advertising to try to convert your 18K viewers into buyers???? its always better (for them) and cheaper in the long run, even if it ends up that it was you. by now you would be praising pylon tech as the best thing since sliced bread. makes me wonder what their failure rate is? you will have to ask your supplier.

[@The_OffGridFamily]

That’s an interesting question 😊 At the end of the day we aren’t angling for any special treatment and just wanted to share our experiences so that other people can make informed decisions 👍

[@hedfuka8608]

Hope it all works out for you.. i have had dealings with Midsummer and found their customer service to be very good,just wanted to give them a fair mention..👍

[@The_OffGridFamily]

We were really happy with the service pre-sale. Think communication has been the main problem as it left us feeling unsupported at times 😩

[@mike-sm8to]

p you are right to complain as the RMA should not take this long your issue perhaps is the BMS board which will balance the batteries so some cells may not have enough voltage if this is not working properly, other things maybe the grade of cells in the battery if it is lower grade the quality is less and this should"not" be for company like pylontech which should use grade A cells.If you look into some like airsoft and the radio control toys you can find out a lot about the different types of battery and charging for lithium ion, lithium polymer and lithium ferrous last one being very similar as your pylontech battery. As i said earlier about RMA (or as they refer to it warranty) this should not take long to get the paperwork only stock, shipping and replacement takes the time everything is done on computers and emails and is very quick to get an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorisation). Good luck and do not take any crap consumers agreement covers you 😀

[@jochengundlach1547]

Hi watched you on KZbin no e-mail works Delivey failed even UK one

[@The_OffGridFamily]

Sorry to hear this as they said it would be back up and running yesterday 😩

[@jochengundlach1547]

Translated from Chinese 550 Mail content denied Cause of error: The content of the email is suspected of being sent in large numbers and is complained by most users as spam. For mass email, if users generally express disgust or gather complaints, Tencent Mail will prohibit the content of similar emails from being sent further. Suggestions for improvement: If you are an administrator of this mass mailing, please stop sending mass ads and promotional messages that cause harassment to users. If you are an individual email user, please report this to your email provider.

[@brotherkith]

Ridiculous! Why not just send you another new battery.

[@semirauthsala]

I got us3000c. Turned on months ago. Never turned off. Running small servers from it. No downtime. No hiccups. Nothing. Rock solid batteries. I think your issue may be due to wrong cabling or communication between victron gear.

[@jmpcrx]

If you end up getting a refund, go diy. 14.2kw for £2500. 6000+ cycles... More reliable too when you build it yourself.. 👍

[@Linuxhippy2]

What you experienced most likely has more to do with mentallity than how much the company grew over the past few years. You are a private customer in a different overseas country and even your customer-rights don't mean anything to pylontech in china. So by stalling you, they can only win except you start generating bad publicity which would damage their brand and hurt sales - what is exactly what you did and what made them realize it is cheaper to replace your battery than to save the battery costs but sell 20-50 batteries less because your clips scare potential customers away. Good to know - when my pylontech us5000 should die I will immediatly start with youtube clips and link them in the support emails to pylontech ;)

[@piterex7]

Many peopels uses pylontech and don’t have problems ,I see you have problems with one battery ont all batteries.problem my be unbalanced cells or BMS. If all of them have same problem I would understand but we not going to buy Tesla because one Tesla burnout one In 100k or more. Not need to panic but I would always close the number of batteries 2 instead 3 /or 4 instead of 5 or 6 instead of 7

[@abdurkhan6903]

they are the best batteries after tesla

[@kingpolu]

do work for them ?

[@malcolmtill]

I am intrigued why the e-mail address ends in .cn ?

[@bernardgarrett3897]

That's the Top Level Domain for China.