Xantrex Inverter Recall

In late January 2011 the inverter company, Xantrex, announced a voluntary recall of their GT series inverters.  Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) sent notices to all residential solar power customers in their territories.  Not all of these customers are affected by this recall.

HelioPower used Xantrex inverters in a limited number of residential solar power installations up to 2008.  Our team is actively contacting all customers who have Xantrex inverters affected by the recall.

HelioPower is advising our affected clients to turn off the unit immediately to avoid any problems.  Please note that no injuries or property damage have been reported to date, as communicated by the recall notice.  HelioPower has ordered the replacement parts and as soon as the part is available we will come out to your home and replace the part.

What does the inverter do?

As the ‘brains’ of a solar power system, the inverter contains sophisticated electronics that convert the direct current (DC) produced by the photovoltaic (PV) array into alternating current (AC) to allow interaction with the rest of the residential utility grid. The inverter, while typically very reliable and guaranteed for 10 years under the California Solar Initiative program, is the most likely component in a PV system to fail.  A common MTBF (mean time between failures) for inverters is 15 years.

How to determine if you need to turn off your inverter

Only Xantrex inverters manufactured between September 2005 and August 2010 with the matching recalled part numbers are affected by this recall.

Please confirm that you have the recalled Xantrex inverter before turning off your inverter!  Once the inverter is turned off you are not receiving any of the electricity generated from your solar power system.

Steps to identify the inverter

Go out to your inverter - it’s usually next to your electric meter or in the garage.

If it’s grey in color with vertical cooling fins and has the word XANTREX on the front, it may be one of the recalled units. It should look like the picture here.

You can go to this link as well on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission which describes how to identify the unit: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11099.html

Steps to confirm the part number

Please provide us with the information outlined below. We will call you as soon as possible (if we have not already spoken with you!) and walk you through how to turn off the inverter. Or we can email or fax you the information.

How will be inverter be repaired?

Xantrex is shipping out repair parts starting in late March. We will contact you as soon as possible to ensure you are up and running again as quickly as possible.

Is there a cost to repair the inverter?

There is no cost to you to repair the inverter.

How do I get more help?

Call us at 87 SOLAR 888.