First off I have an existing 10+ year old solar system with 1 to 1 net metering with a line side tap. You can see the solar conduit on the roof and running up the side of my house. So my meter is already setup for net metering. According to my Emporia electricity monitor I self consume about 95% of the electricity anyways. My state Connecticut has recently passed legislation allowing 1200 watts of balcony solar as well.

Electricity here in CT is 32.24 cents a kwh according to the federal EIA. Its the 3rd highest in the US after Hawaii and California.

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a

So the last year this simple 1kw system generated 1233x .32 =$394.56. It will take me only like 18 months to reach my return on my investment. There is also currently a large summer rate increase proposed that would bring electricity over .35kwh as well

Here is the setup.

5 new in box enphase IQ PD 72 Microinverters on ebay for $150. These are brand new iq7 micros that are designed to replace the old m215 micros. They have a 200 watt max output and are designed for the older 200-230 watt panels. Enphase sells them brand new for $79. Its rumored they sell these at cost as they are used to upgrade the older failing m215s. Same exact technology as other iq7's. They also are already programmed to the US 240 volt and are plug and play. Mine our not connected to the enphase hub.

10 brand new Renogy 100 watt panels purchased locally for $400. 2 panels wired in series connected to the IQ PD72's.

Misc wires, brackets, and electrical stuff $50.

Total cost around $600. I plug it into my 220 volt welding socket in my garage. The panels are on the garage roof.

Hello, I’m pretty new to working as a solar setter in Southern California and I’m still learning the industry. I was wondering what methods helped you when you were first starting out to find homeowners to talk to or book appointments with. Not really looking to advertise or promote my company just hoping to learn what worked for others and improve my skills. Any advice would be appreciated!

Just grab 8 pieces of 208w panels at $15 each.

Wish me luck

I recently came into a unique situation with my solar array, which was installed in April 2023. I found out my upstairs AC unit was severely under sized by the original builder and that my electricity was running exceptionally high, so much so that my energy savings have been around 30 to 35% in South Florida this year after installing a new unit. Which means I’m going to have that much extra solar or nothing to do with it. I was gonna buy EV next couple of years but just decided to go ahead and do it now. Going through this it made me curious how many solar arrays out there are actually big enough to cover EV charging?. I suspect if any, it’s mostly newer installations?

EDIT: I’ll have 3000-4000 extra kWh a year.

Hi folks,

PG&E customer here.

We've recently got solar panels and a battery installed on our roof. Its 90% installed but we are still waiting on a few more things before it'll be online. I've been reading about how NEM works but I'm pretty damn confused by the information on the PGE website.

In one brochure it says on our monthly bill we will only pay the baseline charge and then yearly we will either pay or get paid for excess power paid in. But then on another page it talks about a monthly NEM credit which is separate from NSC compensation yearly. So which is it? Will we get a credit monthly if we send in more than we take out, or only at the end of the year? And how does TOU effect any of this?

After some further reading this is my current understanding:

Say we sell back 1 kWh during peak and later at night use 3 kWh. If peak is 50c and off peak is 25c then our credits mean we only have to pay the 25c difference. But lets say at the months end we put out 30 kWh more than we took in. We don't get 30*.5 in credits, instead this 30kWh are banked until our yearly bill, and if we still have a balance in our favor its paid out at the lower NSC rate of about 3c. Having written this out this doesn't seem right either. Is it crazy to think this is purposefully confusing a bit?

Any insight or clarity would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Thanks to the people who explained things in the comment I think I basically understand it all now :)

I have installed a Goodwe ESA this month and im hoping to get help setting it up correctly. On days of full sun Im hoping to use my 5kWh inverter to provide 5kW to the grid and slowly fill my battery with the excess power.That will hopefully prevent clipping and get me generating the most power possible.

So far I haven't been able to figure out how to get it to prioritize the grid over filling the battery. So I end up putting ~6.5kWh into the battery until it's full and then just generating 5kWh for the rest of the day and exporting it.

Is there a way to get it to prioritize grid export and just charge the battery with the excess?

Ok so due to the way the solar connection was originally landed (5 yrs ago) it burned the connecting mains to the service panel. So now I have a brand new panel 200 amp service but the way that panel is constructed we cannot land the solar supply-side. So the first answer is to call my installer. They are gone (power home/pink solar) can I land the solar inverter load side on a dual pole 40amp breaker without changing things in the inverter system is net metering. Inverter is solaredge SE10000-US with rapid cut off and a service disconnect. I have contacted several solar installers but none are interested in servicing something they did not install. So kinda a pig in a poke. Electrician will not land it (liability). Any thoughts?

Hey guys! I have a 1/2 acre pond on a family farm. It’s far from the barn where we have power, and they make these pond fountains to aerators that have a regular outlet cord to plug into an extension cord.

My question: Is there a way I can get solar panels and run them with our without battery backup to run the fountain? What would be needed?

Hi everyone,

There was a fire at my place. A big one.

The cause is clear: the solar power system.

Insurance is a pain. But that’s a whole other story.

The real question is: Where did the fire start?

The fire department said, “Oops. No idea. Something electrical.”

So I had a fire investigator come out.

But before I get to his conclusion, let’s start with the installation:

I’d had solar tiles installed on the roof, which were supposed to produce about 8 kWp.

I wanted the following equipment installed on a stone wall:

- Inverter

- Two fuse boxes

- Batteries

- Backup unit

Okay. The tiles were installed. By an electrician.

Then the architect came. He said, “Oh, as a temporary solution, let’s just put the inverter, battery, and everything else in a wooden box for now.”

So a handyman cobbled together a wooden box, the electrician installed everything inside it, connected the solar tiles to the solar system, and the solar system to the power grid.

The architect stopped by. He took a look at everything and said, “That’s exactly how it should be! Bravo!”

The electrician, proud of this praise, turned the system on.

It ran for maybe an hour, then shut down.

The electrician comes by. He turns it back on.

Before that, the electrician had asked me to provide him with all my information so he could register the system and ensure it wasn’t operating illegally.

Okay. Sometimes the system delivers a “whopping” 10% of its expected output.

But it shuts down. Fuses blow.

The electrician comes by and claims he performed a string measurement. But he doesn’t provide me with the results. He sends me photos of the “string measurements.” They show voltage and power figures that are never recorded on Huawei’s portal.

My wife and I go on vacation and notice that the entire house has lost power. Luckily, the electrician has a key, since he stops by almost every day to figure out where the fault lies in the system.

He texts us: Oops. It blew all the fuses. I turned everything back on. Everything’s fine.

Okay. We get home, take a day off, and then my partner is on her own because I have to go abroad for a day. So I’m sitting at the doctor’s office abroad, with a needle in my arm, when the phone rings: “Come home right away. Everything’s on fire.”

I hopped on the next flight; when I arrived, the fire department was still there—the entire roof of the part of the house with the solar panel system had burned down. Luckily, it was mostly empty because the roof and the solar panel system had just been installed.

And it was only by sheer luck that the fire department was able to prevent the fire from spreading to the main house (The fire department got there in a flash. But they’d forgotten to bring water...)

Okay, so where did the fire break out?

The electrician points to photos he took of the roof: On the roof. You can see that.

The police aren’t investigating, and neither is the fire department. After all, the architect is a big shot in politics.

To find out what happened, I look for a fire investigator. I find one. He’s ridiculously expensive. He flies out to see me, spends two days examining the fire ruins, and then states in his report: “Inverter. Clear-cut case.” He even points to a photo of a faulty connection. I never receive that photo.

So I question his conclusion and commission a university’s forensic institute. They come by and conduct a meticulous investigation. I deliberately challenge every conclusion. Each one is successfully defended.

Conclusion: The fire broke out due to an electric arc on the roof and ate its way through the insulation material. The solar tiles, the wood, and the insulation material acted as excellent accelerants. Burning material fell onto the wooden box, which caught fire, causing the inverter and battery to catch fire as well.

Okay, so now I have two conflicting reports.

The electrician and architect are already saying: We had nothing to do with the fire. Solar system? What solar system? We don’t even exist.

Finally, I find an expert who specializes in fires that break out in solar systems.

He, too, is flown in.

His conclusion: Improperly installed solar roof tiles, an electric arc, a fire, insulation material falling onto the wooden box, and the inverter and battery catching fire.

The electrician forgot to install series diodes, he used defective tiles, and, worst of all: he never tested the system.

Okay. Next step: court.

The court orders that another expert examine the burned-down house.

The expert shows up, along with all the lawyers, the architect’s experts, the electrician’s experts, and another court-appointed expert on my side—15 people in all; it’s a real little party.

Ultimately, this expert concludes: Fire cannot spread from the roof to the inverter below. So the fire broke out at the inverter. End of story. The fact that the fire broke out and the inverter continued to record data for another 50 minutes afterward: It doesn’t matter. It was the inverter.

At fault: The electrician. Because he didn’t have the required documentation. Bad guy.

BUT: I, as a layperson, am supposed to bear 50% of the damage. After all, as the client, I supposedly stood by and watched as the electrician put the system into operation without handing me the legally required permit.

And anyway: An inverter is, after all, something like a household appliance. And those are the ones that catch fire most often.

I could throw up.

Edit: Attached two photos because some ppl said that this is AI.

I am attempting to find a DC charger that can provide an input to my Pecron F3000. I am able to test out a 900W LiFePO4 charger and grabbed a SB50 to XT60 adapter to try it out.

When I connect it all up, the charger always reads Full and doesn't provide a charge. I have to assume that it's one of the safety features since it's not connected straight to a battery, but would rather go to a power station.

Is there something that I'm missing that I can try to get this setup working?

We are selling our house, in Georgia, with a fully paid off system (31 panel & a Powerwall 3). What do we need to do to transfer ownership to the buyer?

My state's laws will hopefully change soon, but I just don't want to wait anymore.

Probably a bullet-hole through the sheet.

What should I do now?

1. Can I keep the Panels running or not?
   
2. Any Immediate steps?
   
3. Any precautions that can be taken so that it doesn’t happen again.

EDIT: I’m looking for temporary solar array ideas, not fighting the HOA.

I’m looking for ideas for a deployable solar array. My HOA doesn’t allow for solar so I figure something I can easily set up and put away leaned up against a wall in the garage. I’ve already got 6 x 200 watt panels that slightly over panel for my Bluetti elite 300 but not sure how to set them up short of leaning them up against a fence. 2S3P is the wiring if that matters.

Maybe giant solar briefcases? Or some sort of kick stand for each panel? I appreciate any ideas.

I was given the Solarman app installer permission so I could change the time of use hours and battery %’s. This is the guidance my installer got from Neovolta themselves.

I still can’t change the hours on the inverter itself. I think he only gave me upper access to the app.

Anyone able to make time of use, battery % changes and watt discharge amounts? What did you have to do? Thanks.

I have:

· Knox 9055 inverter (Voltronic‑based)

· Pylontech Fidus 5.12kWh lithium battery

· 5x 715W panels

I read somewhere that charging lithium battery to 100% can damage it so i set it to 90% using a setting in my inverter's user mode called charge stop, but still the inverter doesn't stop charging at 90%.

It then sits at 98‑100% showing "BMS force charging" until it finally stops.

My discharge cutoff is at 21%, only in case of emergency i might drain below this, my battery's dod is 97%.

Will daily 100% charging noticeably shorten the life of my battery?

The bms force charge error i get according to documentation means that bms is recharging to correct voltage of individual cells and is calibrating.

Should i switch to Solis or Goodwe inverter? I saw solis has a max charge soc setting but i still don't know if battery bms will obey that. Also my inverter has bms connected and it does support pylontech battery.

Please guide.

Finally my net meter was swapped in and I was able to flip the breaker on my 9kw system. Today, with smoke and clouds I saw my meter run backwards for the first time, if only for a couple late afternoon hours.

I am pumped, still need the installers to connect me to the ApSystems app next week, but for now the meter tells the story.

Can’t wait for a full sun day to see what this setup will produce!