I've been retired now for a bit less than three years. I've not kept up
much with the twists and turns of the solar coaster, except for staying
on the Wrenches list as mostly a lurker. In October, I received the
message from Blue Planet Energy to Blue Planet dealers about the
impending unavailability of replacement BMUs for Blue Ion home-scale
battery systems, and offering me the opportunity to buy spare BMUs for
my customers for the closeout price of $1,000 each. After communicating
with my former sales rep at Blue Planet, I sent BPE's message on to my
seven former clients who purchased Blue Ion LiFP battery systems, all
but one of which went in as upgrades to existing off grid systems. I
included a cover message explaining what this is about but without
encouragement for or against buying a spare BMU. To the best of my
knowledge, these Blue Ion systems have performed well, and I have heard
of no BMU troubles. Of course, they'll ask me what I would do, which is
why I'm posting here.
Have you had any Blue Ion battery or BMU failures? If so, how many
systems have you installed, and how many failures have you had? What
failed, and what did you do to resolve the issue? If you replaced a BMU,
was the process straightforward, and were you given a complete set of
documentation with the unit? Was the factory warranty process honored?
On a related track, how have you responded to Blue Planet's offer? Does
it come across as a valid solution? Have you bought one or more spare
BMUs? How are you supporting your Blue Ion customers going forward? Have
you received support of any kind from Blue Planet?
And finally the wild card questions: Is anyone considering investing in
a stock of BPE BMUs for private out-of-warranty dealer support? And has
anyone here explored adapting the BMU from another LiFP battery or BMU
manufacturer?
I'd like to spark a discussion here, so that all of us who installed
Blue Ion systems may offer better informed advice to our customers (and
to my former customers).
Thanks, Allan Sindelar
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