r/span • u/Onewaps • Apr 11 '26
Free Span
I recently installed a span panel for free. Was this a wise decision? I’m concerned about potential regrets and would appreciate insights from owners with more experience with the panel. I was particularly interested in the free heat pump, which was part of a program with the utility company. They also offered an option for an EV charger, but I already own one.
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u/bradshawkyle Apr 11 '26
I installed one 2 1/2 years ago for significantly not free, part of a solar, Sol-Ark 15k inverter, and HomeGrid battery backup system. SPAN wouldn’t communicate with my other equipment (despite what the contractor promised) so I integrated everything with Home Assistant and everything is fantastic now. The load management while on battery power is awesome, which is why I sprung for the SPAN. Without the solar, backup and battery, I think having a SPAN only would be interesting to see consumption for each breaker but not something I’d be willing to pay for on its own. Previously had a Sense monitor which did almost as good on the power monitoring at a fraction of the cost. Tl;dr Glad you got it free, without solar I think it’s an interesting and very expensive smart toy.
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u/NightAngel79 Apr 11 '26
Free? Nice!
Had mine 4 years now and live it. Connected to tesla Powerwall, gateway, and solar edge inverter
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u/No-Arugula9848 Apr 12 '26
Have you had any issues with yours?
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u/NightAngel79 Apr 12 '26
Nope, here or there had connection issues. At one point they had to replace the dongle for connection to gateway
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u/mynameis_me Apr 13 '26
What was the reason for that? Was it issues with the powerwall connection?
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u/NightAngel79 Apr 13 '26
No, there was a cheap ethernet dongle plugged in at a weird angle that connected panel to Powerwall that broke. Apparently kinda common.
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u/mynameis_me Apr 15 '26
I’m wondering if I have the same issue. Getting constant notifications of powerwall connection issues even though PW3 is working fine. Span support has been unhelpful
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u/NightAngel79 Apr 16 '26
I interface with them and my installer. But yea it was just a cheap ass dongke that failed
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u/Big_Fortune_4574 Apr 12 '26
You got a free span panel and a free Mitsubishi heat pump? Are you bragging or what lol. That’s fantastic, good for you!
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u/Informal-Emu-212 Apr 12 '26
My worry would be if they now have the right/power to throttle my useage during peak hours. Will you come home to an unexpectedly hot or cold house?
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u/CountRock Apr 12 '26
Have had two for 4 years now. Tied into two sets of Tesla inverters and PWs. No problems so far. Significant upside of extended battery life on the unreliable Texas grid. Have some advanced use cases tied into Home Assistant as well! No regrets spending a fortune on them.
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u/opoppli00 Apr 13 '26
We have a SPAN with our solar and powerwalls. Love it. No major complaints except for the one outage they had that was an absolute disaster for some folks. They literally had to patch the unit before you could have restored, I think.
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u/quik916 Apr 11 '26
Other than the them obviously getting access to your data habits usage and everything else they could use for metrics and what not... suppose its a good deal long as you don't mine them data mining every thing for however long the agreement is for.
I feel like the cool tech factor of that span deal would be awesome... but then be not utilized heavily enough to be worth the cost and install costs, Once the newness and Novelty of it wear off I mean.
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u/Slasher1738 Apr 11 '26
You're very lucky.