Finn's Sunways Inverters Review & Verdict
Finn Peacock has been a Chartered Electrical Engineer since 1998, and is ex-CSIRO
Sunways is a comparatively new player in the Australian market. Somewhat reassuring was the company's connection with Suntech - a well established solar panel manufacturer.
While we also received positive feedback from independent local testing and SolarQuotes recommended the brand for a while, a customer's very negative experience with Sunways warranty support led me to kick them off the SQ recommended inverter list. The situation was such that the SolarQuotes guarantee came into play when Sunways wouldn't replace the inverter after initially agreeing to do so.
Sunways Inverters: Pros & Cons
- Reportedly good build quality
- Simple commissioning
- Affordable
- Current Australian warranty details unclear
- Warranty support in our experience was very poor
About Sunways
Sunways has been manufacturing inverters for residential, commercial and industrial applications for some years, and its products have been available in Australia since 2021.
Australian Office Contact Details
At the time of updating this page (September 2024) we couldn't find local contact details on the Sunways .com website, but they are on their .eu website. It shows a contact at Suntech (more on that below).
Tel: +61 2 8188 2450
Email: [email protected]
Add: Suite 1203, Level 12, Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue,
Chatswood, NSW 2067 Australia
Website (EU)
Company Info
Sunways was founded in Konstanz, Germany back in 1993. In 2018 after reinvestment from Puze Group, Ningbo Sunways Technologies Co., Ltd. was established. The funding enabled the firm to boost R&D activities, production and marketing, and its supply chain.
The firm was acquired by Suntech’s parent company, Shunfung Clean Energy Group in 2014. Suntech is a solar panel manufacturer that has been around for a very long time. After the acquisition by Shunfung, manufacturing of Sunways inverters was shifted to China to reduce production costs. Currently the firm states its annual production capacity as 7GW.
Sunways maintains an operations center in Frankfurt, Germany.
Residential Sunways Inverters
In early 2021, Suntech announced the first Sunways inverter products were to be made available in Australia. As at September 2024, the two product lines available locally for residential applications we have on SQ's solar inverter comparison table are the STS (single-phase ) and STT (three-phase).
STS Series
The single-phase STS comes in capacities from a tiny 1kW through to 11kW and have claimed efficiencies of 98.1%. The 3-6kW range have 2 MPPTs, measure 410 x 360 x 120 mm and weigh in at 11.5 kg. The 7-11kW models also have dual MPPTs, dimensions of 550 x 410 x 175 mm and weigh a much heftier 24 - 26 kilograms.
STT Series
The three-phase STT is available in capacities 4kW - 25kW and offer conversion efficiencies ranging from 98.1% to 98.6% depending on the model. They measure 550 x 410 x 175 mm and weigh 23 - 29 kg
Warranty?
It used to be that the standard Sunways warranty for the Australian market was 12 years on both single and three-phase products, which was quite generous. But the Sunways .com website doesn't have any warranty information we could find, and the .eu website states 5 years.
Conclusion
The relationship with Suntech via Shunfung was reassuring, as were results of local independent testing. However, the very poor warranty support we witnessed in one case means SolarQuotes *does not* currently recommend Sunways inverters.
Have a Sunways inverter? Share your thoughts on its performance and/or after-sales support by leaving a review.
Images from customers
Sunways has 9 solar inverters in our database
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Sunways Reviews (15)
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- 5 star 13
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13 May 2023
Panel Brand
System Cost
$6,000 to $8,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
13 April 2023
Inverter fails to find maximum power point constantly, locking at ~0.1A or ~80V, curtailing production dramatically (~300W when it should be multiple kW)
Months of followup with distributor and no fixes to date, only promises of future firmware fixes and that this is an entirely new issue for them to solve with R&D team.
Followup with installer has not resulted in any solution or alternatives and response has been minimal and delayed.
System installed at end of summer, but on the one clear sunny day (24C) in Jan the inverter thermally tripped out at 75C for an hour due to overheating, curtailing from 6kW to 1kW for 1hour until temp reached 55C (Passive cooled only, located in full shade, in Hobart, TAS)
System Cost
$8,000 to $10,000
System Size
8kW
Installed By
21 May 2024
Panel Brand
System Cost
$6,000 to $8,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
08 October 2023
Panel Brand
I don't know
System Cost
$4,000 to $6,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
08 August 2023
Panel Brand
System Cost
$10,000 to $12,500
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
31 July 2023
Panel Brand
System Cost
$2,000 to $4,000
System Size
3kW
Installed By
03 April 2023
Panel Brand
System Cost
$4,000 to $6,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
17 March 2023
Panel Brand
System Cost
$6,000 to $8,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
06 February 2023
Panel Brand
System Cost
$6,000 to $8,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
24 November 2022
Panel Brand
System Cost
$2,000 to $4,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
07 November 2022
Panel Brand
System Cost
$10,000 to $12,500
System Size
13kW
Installed By
11 March 2022
Panel Brand
System Cost
$6,000 to $8,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
18 February 2022
Panel Brand
System Cost
$6,000 to $8,000
System Size
5kW
Installed By
12 December 2021
Panel Brand
System Cost
$4,000 to $6,000
System Size
6.6kW
Installed By
16 July 2021
System Cost
$12,500 to $15,000
System Size
13kW
Installed By
Compact unit that fitted nicely inside the garage in a space that wasn't used.
Delighted with the generation of energy even on these cold Tassie mornings (when the sun was out)
A minor Switchboard upgrade was required, not a great cost.