SSonnentag
埃隆•馬斯克
You guys' installations all look so nice and tidy. Take a look at this mess! LOL! 
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Arizona Powerwall Installs
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- arizona Powerwall Tesla Energy
Chancellor32
Member
Ultimately I stuck with it because I have wanted solar for years and with their price drop it made my ROI at a level I was comfortable with. Plus I wanted to support the brand. Biggest hesitation was after sales support I have heard horror stories so I’m hoping that only gets better. First month in it looks like my bill dropped about $160.
I assume everyone is installing solar panels. What about the Tesla solar shingles or solar tiles? Are they available and has anyone installed them? Also, how close to running out of availability for the SRP $3600 check? I heard maybe there are only a certain number of slots available for this.
My house is new, so we didn't consider the solar tiles, I don't think I've heard of anybody in the valley/az installing the solar shingles.
SRP has a page that shows remaining battery rebate reservations. It started at 4500, and seemed to stay close to that upper end for a year or so, but now sits around 3600 it looks like, and I feel like most of these have come in the last few months.
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Chancellor32
Member
Solar tiles are a vapor product at this point. Less than like 100 installations. We have a new home so went with the solar panels instead. SRP isn’t close to running out and it will most likely expire before 4,500 use it.
You guys' installations all look so nice and tidy. Take a look at this mess! LOL!
View attachment 446655 View attachment 446656
Looks quite impressive. Any chance you could repost your pictures with labels on what each box on the wall does? Thanks.
Chancellor32
Member
That is crazy. My California install is a gutter box, the Gateway, a generation panel, and conduit. There are no disconnects or extra meters in my system. The conduit exiting the right of the frame goes to the Powerwalls. Arizona utility requirements are over the top.
Thanks for the pics Chancellor. Question....you mention the inverter as a separate unit/box in the garage. I thought Tesla's inverter was inside the Powerwall. Am I wrong?
Another question for someone out there. I was wondering if you could mount two power walls on the wall basically touching each other side by side. The reason I ask (I was reading the owners manual) is that I see there is an air inlet on the left side and an air exhaust on the right side. Putting the power walls that close I would think would interfere with the airflow. Is this the case?
Chancellor is presumably referring to the solar inverter. The Powerwalls do have their own inverters, but they just handle the batteries, not the solar panels.
No you can't. The install guide has the specs for how far apart they are required to be.
Chancellor32
Member
Exactly, there is a SolarEdge inverter for the PV system and then each of the PW's have their own internal inverter to convert DC power to AC power for the home. SRP requirements are pretty strict and over the top but not much we can do about that lol.
SSonnentag
埃隆•馬斯克
Click to view the entire image to be able to read the tiny text. You may have to right-click to open the image in a new tab in order to see the entire image.
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woferry
Member
Curious, the left-most box doesn't look like a normal Gateway, is that really what it is? Main difference is the lack of antennae on the top, do the two boxes share a Neurio or something? The two utility disconnects, seemingly in series with each other, also seems odd, but presumably there are two circuits passing through, with each disconnect switching one of them. Also surprised to see both DC and AC disconnects on the inverters, granted I have a different inverter (Delta Solivia), it has the DC disconnect built-in and the only AC disconnect is the breaker where it connects. But clearly this utility/city seems to be in love with separate AC disconnects, glad that none of those seem to be required in my area.
Just remember whenever you throw one of those big switches, stand off to the side of the box, not in front of it. Something I learned years ago when I did a lot of work involving connecting lighting & sound gear to disconnects. Thankfully I never had one explode on activation, but a helpful tip from the electrician who trained me that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise (especially being right-handed and the levers usually being on the right-side of the box). The other tip was to close your fist and push it up with your palm, so that if the case suddenly became electrified you wouldn't end up involuntarily grabbing the handle.
Oh, and why two Gateways? How many PWs do you have?
Just remember whenever you throw one of those big switches, stand off to the side of the box, not in front of it. Something I learned years ago when I did a lot of work involving connecting lighting & sound gear to disconnects. Thankfully I never had one explode on activation, but a helpful tip from the electrician who trained me that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise (especially being right-handed and the levers usually being on the right-side of the box). The other tip was to close your fist and push it up with your palm, so that if the case suddenly became electrified you wouldn't end up involuntarily grabbing the handle.
Oh, and why two Gateways? How many PWs do you have?
SSonnentag
埃隆•馬斯克
I honestly don't have a great handle on all the boxes the SolarCity/Powerwall folks installed. I'll see if I can figure out more details on what I have labeled as gateways and utility disconnects. I was expecting some sort of documents that would define and explain the system, but that didn't happen. Our site is a bit more complex than the average as we have PV systems an two adjacent buildings, each with their own inverters. The power to both buildings comes to the 400A panel here before splitting off to the second building, making the PV system on the second building completely stand-alone except that it's power somehow feeds back through the PV generation meter on this building before rejoining the grid tie. So the 3 powerwalls do not backup the second building, but there is a feed to our pump house and well. Also complicating the setup is the fact that the Powerwalls replaced a lead acid battery backup system that was in a third building (note the feed to the shed). This "solar shed" housed the LA batteries and two additional inverters/chargers. Frankly, I'm just thankful the Solar City guys were able to figure out the whole mess and everything is working.
I honestly don't have a great handle on all the boxes the SolarCity/Powerwall folks installed. I'll see if I can figure out more details on what I have labeled as gateways and utility disconnects. I was expecting some sort of documents that would define and explain the system, but that didn't happen. Our site is a bit more complex than the average as we have PV systems an two adjacent buildings, each with their own inverters. The power to both buildings comes to the 400A panel here before splitting off to the second building, making the PV system on the second building completely stand-alone except that it's power somehow feeds back through the PV generation meter on this building before rejoining the grid tie. So the 3 powerwalls do not backup the second building, but there is a feed to our pump house and well. Also complicating the setup is the fact that the Powerwalls replaced a lead acid battery backup system that was in a third building (note the feed to the shed). This "solar shed" housed the LA batteries and two additional inverters/chargers. Frankly, I'm just thankful the Solar City guys were able to figure out the whole mess and everything is working.
Thanks SSonn for taking the time to label everything. I can see I have some work ahead of me to educate myself.
Chancellor32
Member
Freak man where are you located here in AZ? Lol three buildings and a shed? You at the base of superstition mountain?I honestly don't have a great handle on all the boxes the SolarCity/Powerwall folks installed. I'll see if I can figure out more details on what I have labeled as gateways and utility disconnects. I was expecting some sort of documents that would define and explain the system, but that didn't happen. Our site is a bit more complex than the average as we have PV systems an two adjacent buildings, each with their own inverters. The power to both buildings comes to the 400A panel here before splitting off to the second building, making the PV system on the second building completely stand-alone except that it's power somehow feeds back through the PV generation meter on this building before rejoining the grid tie. So the 3 powerwalls do not backup the second building, but there is a feed to our pump house and well. Also complicating the setup is the fact that the Powerwalls replaced a lead acid battery backup system that was in a third building (note the feed to the shed). This "solar shed" housed the LA batteries and two additional inverters/chargers. Frankly, I'm just thankful the Solar City guys were able to figure out the whole mess and everything is working.
