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I’m still learning…what did you mean by this?

So it sounds like, to maximize profit (let's be honest, that's what PG&E are doing too), we should set our backup reserve to 100% for much of the summer. Then during a VPP, we should set the backup reserve to 0% and use a bunch of power. Does that seem right according to what we know about VPP...

Ok, so this one is interesting...since this VPP is starting at 4pm while the solar is still producing, I'm experimenting with some things and found some interesting results. At the beginning of the event (4pm), I turned off as much as I could at the house (well, mostly just shut off the AC)...

Just got 3 warnings from the CA ISO app that the 28th, 29th and 30th are supposed to be "Grid Restricted Maintenance Operations" days. Hopefully they will be VPP days for us! :) Note: This is PG&E in the bay area.

Yeah, but it’s all about the margins…how much can they make while charging the general public as much as they can bear.

I wonder if these events are a good deal or bad deal for the power companies. We think getting paid $2/kWh is great, but I wonder if the power companies are saying “oh man, those suckers…we’d have to pay $10/kWh during this time to get the power from the leaker plants” 😂 I’ll gladly take my...

About $18 for me this time with 2 powerwalls. Do you have 3 sorka?

TIL: CAISO has an app 😂 Who knew? 🤷‍♂️

Huh…the only notification I got was “dailo posted in a thread…” Nothing from the Tesla app. Good thing I saw your post though, because my powerwall is certainly discharging as part of the event, so I turned off my AC (that had just come on) to contribute as much as possible. In the app it says...

Has anyone gotten any VPP event days yet this year? I signed up for VPP a few months ago and I've been looking forward to some event days to sell some power. I'm on PG&E and today is apparently supposed to be an event day (and apparently we had a few in June as well). I haven't gotten any...

Wow thank you for that detailed reply @Eric33432 ! I really appreciate it. I’ve been working hard all day to try to get ready for installation day which is right around the corner. I’m still trying to digest everything you said and will probably respond more tomorrow or the next day. I think...

Thanks for all the replies everyone, that all helps a ton. I felt like I was going at it alone against Tesla (not that I’m against them) and I wasn’t sure if I was wrong or they were wrong…but it sounds like maybe a little of both. All this extra support and education from you guys has helped a...

Bummer :( Good call on the bend radius of the wires…I hadn’t thought about that factor. So is it true that there are no bus bars in these types of meter/main boxes? And yeah, there’s no sticker any more. It sounds like even if I want to pay to have it done (and I do), they don’t seem to want to...

Oh man, I didn’t realize that these boxes were limited in the breaker size they can take. I know the boxes with the bus bars are limited (I’m guessing because the bus can only handle so much current). But aren’t these meter/main panels just a meter, wires and a circuit breaker? There’s no need...

Thanks for your $.02. If I had more time, that's probably what I would do. My limiting factor right now is that I have some really good financing locked in (3% with no down payment) that expires in early October. Tesla has already set up an installation date in late September...so I'm hesitant...

I'm still trying to get Tesla to do this upgrade... For a recap, right now, I have a 100A meter main and I'm trying to get Tesla to upgrade that breaker to 200A (pictures of everything above). I already contacted PG&E and they said that we could install "up to a 319A breaker". Tesla is saying...

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed explanation! And the summary :) I really appreciate you taking the time to explain all of that with words and pictures :) I read through it three times and understood it more each time. I had already submitted a request to Tesla...hopefully it won't slow...

But wouldn’t the western panels essentially be “in shade” in the morning, and the eastern facing panels be “in shade” in the evening? Even though the shade is created by the other side of the roof…the panels don’t know where the shade is coming from…just that they’re not getting sun. So if...

Darn…so that will be really bad to have an east facing and west facing array tied together…because one of them or the other will have shade on them for a good part of the day outside of direct noon because they face away from each other :/ The whole point of putting up an east and west array was...

Ok, thank you so much @Vines ...that makes me feel better...I was hoping I wouldn't need to go through the design phase again. I don't think I understood MPPTs very well before...but it sounds like they have a "window" of operation and as long as you're in that window of voltage, one panel...

I'm trying to learn about Power Optimizers to see if they would be a good idea to add to my array design or not. Does anyone have any experience with them and Tesla solar/inverter/powerwalls? I've heard they're typically only added when there's a good amount of shade on your array, but I'm...

Woah, someone had to actually remove panels that had already been installed?? Was that in PG&E territory?

I'm in San Jose getting our transmission from PG&E (and generation from SJCE). We just moved into our house, so we don't know exactly how much electricity we'll need throughout the year. But regardless of how much we need right now, we want to get WAY more than we need to be "future proof" (to...

Ok good, thanks @jgleigh and @Vines! I was trying to reconcile that "wiring diagram" 😂 from Tesla with what I thought would actually be logical. It sounds like the gateway really is the brains of the operation and decides how much power is needed from each source (and how to combine them if...

I'm still wondering if I'm understanding things right...all the block diagrams I see have the grid coming into the gateway, and then there's a line from the gateway to the main panel...and that's it for that side. Then, the battery and solar both go into the main panel from the otherside...not...

Yeah, I’m going to try to avoid charging the car off the PWs whenever possible. I’m planning on just charging the car from any excess solar once the PWs are filled up. But it would be nice to be on the backup side in case I ever need to get a little juice from the PWs in a desperate...

Ok, I talked to PG&E again, and they again said that I can put a new breaker "up to a 319A"...the guy even said that our meter wouldn't even need to be upgraded...it's ready for 319A. So I'm starting to believe them :) So if that's possible, I'd like some advice on what I'm thinking of asking...

Oh my goodness...I think you're right, @jgleigh! I feel so silly now. At some point I guess I assumed those wires were going into the meter (maybe because they're accessible from the outside of the house?) But I think you're right...I think those wires on the right side of the meter are actually...

Ok, so I just got off the phone with PG&E and they said that my service is currently 200A...and that I "can go up to 320A" (but I think they said they would just need to put in a new panel for that). That's great news, but, I find it hard to believe. For one they said "if your main breaker...

Ok, so if I understand this correctly, this is the setup you had before Tesla: service-->metermain-->"single, all-in-one load center/house panel". I think that's the setup that I currently have. Then, Tesla added another circuit breaker panel right off the output of the gateway that's now the...

Since we seem to have 100A service and since it seems that the current load center is pretty much maxed out, it would be nice to have the ability to expand more in the future (adding/upgrading circuits for faster EV charging, heat pump, more circuits, etc) since we will have three power sources...

Nice, yeah, it looks like we have a very similar setup. Even your gas meter and placement are just like mine. Do you have a 100A breaker in that box next to the meter? Also, how much solar are you getting? And is that box next to the gateway the main (only?) panel for all of your house loads...

I wonder if there’s a chance that I have a 100A service (meaning that’s the most that can come on through the wires coming to the house), but they put a meter on at some point that’s capable of “up to” 200A. Or is that not how it works? The meter is definitely newer than the house…so I’m sure it...

Hmm…I’m a little confused, because my meter says CL200…but the main breaker is only 100A. What do you make of that?

Wow, @Vines …you are so helpful…once again! I wish I could have you as our installer 😂 That’s so good to hear! Out of curiosity, and wanting to see the big picture, I’m trying to understand this a little better…if I wasn’t doing a whole house backup, would I need a panel upgrade? Would they...

I'm a beginner when it comes to solar and residential electric (and newly a homeowner for the first time) and trying to figure out some things about my specific setup...it seems to be a little different from what others have and Tesla is of course, not very helpful in answering my questions...

I think (hope) my system is going in this year...the site survey guys said that "once I sign off on the design (which I should get within a week of their visit), the installation should be scheduled within 2-3 weeks". So for now (2022), does SJ not have any bollard requirements at all? Or are...

@holeydonut That's hilarious 🤣 "Excuse me sir, but you're going to need another bollard to protect your solar powered bollard." "No problem...is it ok if I use this solar powered bollard to protect my other solar powered bollard?" "Sure, but you're gonna need a bollard to protect it......"...

Thanks @Vines for volunteering your time and for helping all of us out! So that California Fire Code will become the document that all the inspectors throughout all of California will reference for what's required? Or is that just the "top level" requirement for all of CA and then each county...

Wow, thank you so much @Vines ! Where is that diagram from? Is it specific to San Jose? I'd love to have the whole publication to show the inspector if he/she starts talking about bollards. And, from the diagram, it looks like even if they did say we need a bollard, it would only have to be 6"...

@Vines - Do you know if there is anything official in that regard? Whether bollards are required in San Jose or not?

Has anyone else gotten powerwalls installed in San Jose recently? I'm also wondering about the bollards. So far it seems we have just one report in this thread of someone who got powerwalls in SJ (Benjamin Brooks) and wasn't required to put in bollards. We had the site survey guys out today...