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Considering solar panels, looking for sizing/financing advice

Az_Rael

Supporting Member
Jan 26, 2016
5,602
8,751
Palmdale, CA
They refuse to do say, saying we should trust that they will install the equipment we selected

Two years ago, I had them show up with an equipment substitution day of install - wrong panels. They were giving us better power output panels, but we had chosen the ones we wanted due to asthetic reasons since a portion of the install is visible from the street. Luckily, the older contracts stated any changes had to be agreed upon, so they reluctantly set up a 2nd install to put the correct panels on the house.

We did not have the inverter in writing, so despite the sales person telling us we were getting a Solar Edge inverter, what we got was two Delta string inverters. Those we still have, didn’t have recourse on that one. My understanding is they don’t use the Delta inverters anymore, but that isn’t to say they won’t show up with something you don’t want despite the verbal agreements.

I am looking at this solely as supporting a company that Is providing me with terrific stock value returns. However, I am very close to giving up on solar.

If you don’t want solar that badly, this is not a great reason to choose Tesla Energy. Getting a solar system from them involves watching every step like a hawk to make sure it doesn’t go south on you. You DO need to get everything in writing if that is what you want, the sales people are just that: sales. They will tell you a lot of things to keep you on the hook that aren’t going to be true in the end. I have also had bad experiences with after sale customer service, so the fun doesn’t stop after the install.

We chose to go with Tesla Energy because we liked the company and trusted they would do an excellent job. That was a very bad decision, and one major $57k purchase I regret giving them a dime for in hindsight.

Think about it this way: if you are already having issues with them, do you really want to deal with them for 25 years or more? It isn’t like a car, where you can just buy a new one in a few years if you hate it.
 
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willow_hiller

Active Member
Apr 3, 2019
2,950
12,683
Maryland
County inspector came by; nice guy but he was extremely busy. Said he's been doing about 30 sites a day :eek:

I got a pass, but he said something about one of the exterior boxes not being grounded, and he wanted Tesla to come back and do that.
 
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jboy210

Supporting Member
Dec 2, 2016
4,640
2,889
Northern California
Two years ago, I had them show up with an equipment substitution day of install - wrong panels. They were giving us better power output panels, but we had chosen the ones we wanted due to asthetic reasons since a portion of the install is visible from the street. Luckily, the older contracts stated any changes had to be agreed upon, so they reluctantly set up a 2nd install to put the correct panels on the house.

We did not have the inverter in writing, so despite the sales person telling us we were getting a Solar Edge inverter, what we got was two Delta string inverters. Those we still have, didn’t have recourse on that one. My understanding is they don’t use the Delta inverters anymore, but that isn’t to say they won’t show up with something you don’t want despite the verbal agreements.
...

My brand new solar roof uses Delta M series inverters. They seem to work fine. What issue are you seeing?

This post warns against the Solar Edge Inverters
 
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Az_Rael

Supporting Member
Jan 26, 2016
5,602
8,751
Palmdale, CA
My brand new solar roof uses Delta M series inverters. They seem to work fine. What issue are you seeing?

This post warns against the Solar Edge Inverters

Haven’t seen any issues as of yet. We wanted the solar edge for the ability to see panel performance on an individual basis. An issue we ended up having when 6 panels weren’t hooked up properly that took us 4 months to convince Tesla was an issue. Had to buy a FLIR to troubleshoot the problem myself as much as I could without getting on the roof.

At the time Solar Edge was not known for issues. Maybe we dodged a bullet, but the Deltas aren’t exactly known as being great either Delta Solivia 3.8 Inverter Issues - figure we will have to replace them before their warranty is up. We have the Solivia ones which are the “value” line I believe, Maybe the M is better.
 
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strago13

Member
Feb 9, 2018
129
564
Washington dc
Tesla installed my 16 kwh system with 3 power walls today. Had 4 crews here working and they were killing it. Will finish up first thing tomorrow, pretty happy with the install and layout. Tesla told me its about a ~6 week wait time for BGE to come connect the system to the grid, so frustrating!
 

willow_hiller

Active Member
Apr 3, 2019
2,950
12,683
Maryland
Got a little "How did we do?" survey from Tesla today. Suggested adding dedicated advisors much earlier in the process. Things went a lot more smoothly once I had a single point of contact.

Also suggested they allow people to see their home energy consumption while waiting for PTO. I figure the CTs are wired up in the main panel, and the Gateway is powered and networked, it would be nice if I could see my usage in the app before the solar comes online. Right now all I get is a failure to fetch data on the solar page of the Tesla app.
 

willow_hiller

Active Member
Apr 3, 2019
2,950
12,683
Maryland
"There has been the following activity on your Solar PV project. Your project is in the Technical Review Completed status."

Hurray! Tesla can begin installation now ... oh wait :rolleyes:

Oh well. A step forward is a step forward, even if Pepco is 2 steps behind.
 

pdx_m3s

Active Member
May 18, 2019
1,230
1,054
Portland, OR
Got a little "How did we do?" survey from Tesla today. Suggested adding dedicated advisors much earlier in the process. Things went a lot more smoothly once I had a single point of contact.

Also suggested they allow people to see their home energy consumption while waiting for PTO. I figure the CTs are wired up in the main panel, and the Gateway is powered and networked, it would be nice if I could see my usage in the app before the solar comes online. Right now all I get is a failure to fetch data on the solar page of the Tesla app.

I love the "You can always track the status of your solar project in your Tesla account." Uh.... no you really can't. There's far more steps and intricacies (many region-specific) than are listed in one's Tesla account.
 
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willow_hiller

Active Member
Apr 3, 2019
2,950
12,683
Maryland
Pepco moved to "Approval To Install status" and within 8 minutes of that email Tesla requested final payment. I was still given the choice to pay through Credit Card / PayPal.

I'm hopeful this means I'm on a good pace for a "speedy" PTO.
 

k-mal_808

Member
Jun 19, 2020
70
49
Makakilo, Hawaii
...it would be nice if I could see my usage in the app before the solar comes online. Right now all I get is a failure to fetch data on the solar page of the Tesla app.

That’s interesting as I’m able to see consumption pre-PTO with the solar & PW’s turned off.
DF01B799-AF64-4D0E-8F72-6BD10D1B9D16.png
 

BrettS

Active Member
Mar 28, 2017
2,108
2,511
Orlando, FL
That’s interesting as I’m able to see consumption pre-PTO with the solar & PW’s turned off.

It seems different for solar only installs and solar/powerwall installs. I think on the powerwall installs you get the usage data from the time the system is installed and commissioned. But for the solar only installs they don’t turn it on until after PTO. It likely has to do with the fact that the data is collected different ways. For powerwall installs the data is collected through the TEG, but solar only installs don’t have a TEG, so their data comes from the little black box zigbee gateway.
 
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wjgjr

Member
May 11, 2020
974
731
Silver Spring, MD
It seems different for solar only installs and solar/powerwall installs. I think on the powerwall installs you get the usage data from the time the system is installed and commissioned. But for the solar only installs they don’t turn it on until after PTO. It likely has to do with the fact that the data is collected different ways. For powerwall installs the data is collected through the TEG, but solar only installs don’t have a TEG, so their data comes from the little black box zigbee gateway.
That is probably part of the reason, though I do wonder how much Tesla recognized that customers would have a working off-grid solution with PWs and didn't want to interfere with operation of that system off-grid (even if that is a gray area, depending on the utility) where it is more clear that a solar-only system - which can only operate on-grid - should remain off until PTO. The one thing I really do appreciate is that they actually commission everything and test it during install so if there is a problem with the CTs or an app issue, it can be addressed while the installers are on site.
 
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BrettS

Active Member
Mar 28, 2017
2,108
2,511
Orlando, FL
That is probably part of the reason, though I do wonder how much Tesla recognized that customers would have a working off-grid solution with PWs and didn't want to interfere with operation of that system off-grid (even if that is a gray area, depending on the utility) where it is more clear that a solar-only system - which can only operate on-grid - should remain off until PTO. The one thing I really do appreciate is that they actually commission everything and test it during install so if there is a problem with the CTs or an app issue, it can be addressed while the installers are on site.

Yeah, that’s true. And the TEG really needs to be online and operational when they finish the install because all of the power from the grid to the house (or at least the grid to the backed up loads) passes through the TEG.
 
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