Search results

Hi, I have a week-old MY and we picked it up and logged a service ticket for cosmetic issues before taking ownership of it. Took it in for the service appointment and they refused to fix anything on it. The rear lift is askew and needs adjusting - they had 15 excuses as to why they couldn’t...

There are a bunch of installers that are no longer willing to install ESS inside garages due to the heat detection requirement. The problem is that there aren’t products available for purchase that satisfy the building code requirements. I’m not entirely sure how mine got signed off on aside...

Yes, they have already logged 16 days of outages! Thanks PG&E. I’d rather have reliable, safe power as you advertise, but the batteries are definitely a step up from a portable generator. However, they only last about 2.5-3 days before they’re depleted and we’re back on generator power (in the...

I have an update. I managed to get a full rebate check in the mail for $26.4K from the SGIP program from PG&E yesterday. So that happened and it’s real. The vendor I used had absolutely zero communication with me regarding when they made appointments, when they needed something from me, when...

Probably, if you’re talking about Santa Clara County building department….. they rank up there with the worst departments to work with.

You can see the disconnect it’s just on the other side of the Powerwall that’s outside of this picture. It doesn’t violate line of sight. This picture isn’t the entire install.

Well, just don’t try to add on sq ft or build a new home. Then all the departments are impossible. For example, they randomly decided about 10 years-ish ago to increase setbacks from 50 ft to 100 ft from the road. No reason why. No apparent safety issue cited, but it rendered almost every single...

My take on the SCC planning dept. is that they avoid issuing permits like the plague. They will pull all sorts of bizarre antics to avoid issuing a permit - and do. They are predatory and highly corrupt. Other planning departments haven’t had these issues. My parents got theirs installed in...

My disconnects are on the other side of the other PW - closer to the main. This isn’t the entire installation.

Actually, we do have a Honeywell 5602 heat detector attached to our sprinkler system with an audible alarm, so we do meet current building codes. That is what was installed on the original plans of the house, not what our vendor ‘told’ the county what we had. There Is zero chance the county...

I agree with you, the heat sensor is useless. This is what my idiotic county planning department wanted. YMMV. I have garage sprinklers, which may be a tad more useful - at least long enough to get everyone safely out of the house.

If you’re in LG Town, then you’ll be fine. My parents live downtown and had absolutely no issues with installing batteries. This is only if you live in the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. So I live in LG, but have to deal with the County planning department, which sucks.

Nah - not a first alert issue. Mine is a 1st alert - and they used a Kidde spec sheet. It’s not a problem here’s the picture: it has to be wired to the Tesla stuff, not the fire alarm.

I think they might only like the Kidde version. My husband is an electrician and he only buys Kidde brand - knows they pass inspection. Same with Eaton. He deals with inspectors constantly. I’ll ask him when he gets home about the heat detector. He has the full plans. I don’t.

Yes, you will need to add a heat detector (it’s a regular Kidde model) right above the inverter. They want one specifically for the batteries. It doesn’t matter what else you have installed in the garage. I have a full sprinkler system they completely ignored. So it looks like they integrated...

I should also mention that I had a 3rd party install them, not Tesla because they are fully rebated by PG&E under the SGIP program and Tesla had long run out of their money by the time I applied and were no longer participating in the program.

I can’t find the bulletin. In fact I can’t seem to locate the link with the code requirements at the moment. But County fire basically said that if there wasn’t a widely available interconnected heat detector product that would work with all the wired systems currently installed, then there...

Ok guys, my new PWs just passed inspection and just got PTO today. They are installed inside my garage on the left hand side wall (shared with house). They are 3ft from the garage door to the house, and they have a heat detector installed right above them that IS NOT connected to our fire...

I’m not remote - I’m off Black in LG. We had dry pavement yesterday for most of the day. We are also North facing, so very little wind damage. No pavement damage or access issues. They’re not sending trucks out this weekend at all. Day 8 of power outage…. Yes, there’s a lot of damaged roads on...

Well, it’s way better than dealing with the generator, which wasn’t on an ATS… lol. I don’t have to do anything! The power did go out and we have no update for restoration and are now back on generator for a 5th day of power outage. Apparently, lightning hit the grid somewhere and PG&E had no...

Thanks for the update. I will buy more gas for the generator. PWs are now at 8%….. lol. They will be great for 95% of our power outages and I love the seamless transition. It appears they will save us a little bit of money during the summer as well.

The installer made them grid restricted. Is there a way to jail break them?

Update: Rain intensity eased and solar producing now. PWs are charging from array, although not much. Is there anything we can do to get them to charge from the grid? Hi, newbie here. Just got power from PG&E after a 4+ day outage. We had depleted our Powerwalls and had shut them down and...

I have an update. The Powerwalls were installed the Monday after they issued the permit (it actually took until Wednesday to complete everything). So no wait. As I’ve mentioned before my husband is a union electrician and he said that the work was really well done and exceptionally high quality...

Well, it took a couple of weeks to ‘process’ but they finally issues the permit. This is officially the slowest building department in the country. If they replaced the office with shelter cats, random walking on keyboards would produce permits at the same rate - without all the animosity. And...

Sorry guys I’ve been busy with work and my boys. I do have an update. It’s a ‘pissing contest’ of sorts between those two entities. They are both behaving less than shall we say, professional (As if that wasn’t apparent from the time that has passed since the permit was applied for on 6/1)...

Oh boy. I’m sorry to report that Rick Gomez and Semper Solaris aren’t friends. Upon the 3rd submission, the vendor again screwed up the paperwork so bad that they put my house in violation. But it’s not in violation. I don’t have the violation they said I have on the plans they submitted, but of...

I fully intend to bring myself and the mountain residents to provide feedback. There are ~2500 of us on this circuit comprising 92 miles of wire. You haven’t lived in terror until you’ve had 80 mph winds during a shutoff and no means of outside communication to summon help. And only a 60 year...

Oh don’t get me started on PG&E. I was out of power 20 days last year. I now have a shiny new fire-resistant pole, insulated lines and a new transformer. I also had to replace my main panel - they melted it finally. In 2018, they had to pay me nearly $8k in stuff they fried due to a surge they...

The vendor knows how to comply - they just installed backup batteries at my parent’s house. They’re a very large vendor with thousands of installs all over the state. The problem is that our permit department is corrupt.

I’m in agreement with you. I’ve pulled several permits myself with them. I find them to be the same as your experience, except with this permit. However, I have always found them to be cryptic and less helpful than the other building departments I have experience with.

Just found out the neighbor had to get an attorney to get their permit through (not for PWs) - they really hate issuing permits - for any reason.

Hey, they just kicked the permit out again for resubmittal. I will find out tomorrow what for, but it’s clear they’re playing games with it now. So it’s not a matter of playing nice. They might not know how to operate their computer. I’ll have to escalate to the county supervisors office.

No, I’ve been really nice. I‘ve dealt with enough permit departments to know better. There’s no way they can think 4 month SLA for these permits is reasonable….

Ah - he’s a building inspector. I haven’t had any luck with emailing the permit dept. they are rude. After 3 months, I had to email the county supervisors office and miraculously, the permit came out of review the same day, only it was kicked back for very petty text changes (that the vendor...

Who is Rick Gomes?

The county has eliminated their counter permit program. I did have to pull a permit to replace our main electrical panel (100amp side of a 200amp service melted, so we still had 100amps). So what should’ve been a counter permit, same day took 3 days to obtain. My husband is an electrician, so...

Nope, they are going on a sheer wall 5/8” Sheetrock as per code and are laid out as per code. They kicked out the permit for resubmittal after 12 weeks. Wanted 2 notes on the 1st page removed and some minor text change on the 2nd page made. Vendor updated the paperwork as instructed and...

A permit taking only 3 weeks? I wish. I’ve been waiting since 6/1 for my permit for 2 PWs to be added to our current permitted solar array. There’s something really really wrong with Santa Clara County’s building dept. - they’ve completely canceled all counter permits and service is crawled to a...