Dead Morningstar SS-MPPT with a good ending...

I installed a Sunsaver MPPT in my 5th wheel about 15 months ago, and it has been flawless. It was a good choice. We went camping two weekends ago and after setting up, I noticed that the Error/Alarm light was blinking. That has NEVER happened. Not knowing what the issue was, I disconnected it from the batteries (which were charged) and reset it. It went back to normal, and a full charge indication. Four hours later I went in and it was dead. I mean NO lights. Stunk bad. Burned plastic/resin smell. On further investigation, it had blown the 20amp fuse to the batteries. So no solar power for the weekend.

When I got home Sunday evening I put a trouble ticket in with Morningstar. It was labor day weekend. I called in Wednesday morning because I hadn't heard anything back. The tech asked my name and finally found the ticket. He said He was glad I called as the ticket was "in the wrong place." He read the ticked, saw the unit was only 15months old and said that it was basically brand new. Should not have broken, and the average was 10 years on them. With no other questions, he said he would start an RMA, and that the turnaround was about four days. I was thinking four days to get an RMA number??? Then the surprise came, he said they were going to ship me another unit. Post paid for the return, and just put the old one in the box and send it back. They wanted to take it apart and see what happened. That's it! End of story. I was SO surprised. I bought a Morningstar because of the reputation, but I was still surprised by the service. I got the new unit in, installed it, and it works great. That is what I call REAL service.

I have no idea what happened to the old one. We towed the 5th wheel about 180 miles, setup camp, and nothing was out of the ordinary. So I just wanted to share my experience with morningstar's warranty support. It was simply great.

Greg
WB7DUO