Considering solar panels, looking for sizing/financing advice

[BrettS]

Yeah it's definitely backwards. And for some reason the long-term data part of the app seems to know it, but the live data part does not. It somehow thinks I've supplied 40 kWh to the grid via means other than solar.

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Perhaps it thinks that you have a bunch of trained hamsters running on wheels generating power day and night to feed into the grid

The solar production data comes from your inverter and the data about the power going to or coming from the grid comes from the power blaster, so it’s possible that your inverter just hasn’t been associated with your account yet. Hopefully once they get that done things will look more normal.

 

[willow_hiller]

Perhaps it thinks that you have a bunch of trained hamsters running on wheels generating power day and night to feed into the grid

The solar production data comes from your inverter and the data about the power going to or coming from the grid comes from the power blaster, so it’s possible that your inverter just hasn’t been associated with your account yet. Hopefully once they get that done things will look more normal.

It's definitely worth checking out some of the support videos: Troubleshooting Your System | Tesla Support

I was considering power-cycling my inverters and/or the gateway, and then at the very end of the video it says "Production may take 24 hours to appear."

So I'll give it a day and see what happens!

EDIT: I'm also guessing that while the live data monitor doesn't know about the inverter, it's got an automatic flip for negative numbers. It would be really funny if they thought they had installed my CTs correct, and came back to "correct' them and only end up doing it wrong.

Also @wjgjr , the way this wonky data is coming in might help answer some of your questions about production measurement. I'm not seeing anything on the live data page, but the aggregate data page is updated once every 15 minutes in sync with those DNS requests I'm seeing on my home network. So I'm guessing it's polling the total production from the inverter itself at that interval. Maybe the odd data artifacts you were experiencing earlier are from a disparity between the CT data and the inverter data.

 

[willow_hiller]

No luck with monitoring this morning. Tried resetting the gateway, resetting the powerblaster, resetting the inverter. At least this is a good opportunity to test the "Service" button within my Tesla app.

Immediately got an email and a text message after submitting a request, promising a response within 3 days. And it shows up when I click "Service" again in the app.

 

[willow_hiller]

Looks like I was granted an extra 1,000 panels or so

 

[jjrandorin]

I definitely would have called energy support, vs putting something in the app, myself. 3 days sounds like forever, especially when you JUST got official PTO, lol.

 

[pdx_m3s]

How is Tesla so bad at this.

 

[MrRant]

Looks like I was granted an extra 1,000 panels or so

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You will now know the full power of this battlestation.

 

[willow_hiller]

And we're golden! They must just have 101 different configuration options on the home server that need to be set right.

After plugging the car in:



Fixed within hours of submitting the in-app service request. Definitely worth trying! I wish it was easier to set the car's charging amps from the app.

 

[willow_hiller]

Although the live data was a bit wonky, it seems like I got a nice curve in the data. Peak of 8.2 kW, and lasts from 7 AM to 7 PM. Seems a little bit steep, but I guess that's due to the time of year? And no sign of clipping, so I can check that unwarranted fear off the list!

 

[BrettS]

I’m glad you finally got it working. Too bad they didn’t let you keep producing 280kW though.

 

[wjgjr]

Although the live data was a bit wonky, it seems like I got a nice curve in the data. Peak of 8.2 kW, and lasts from 7 AM to 7 PM. Seems a little bit steep, but I guess that's due to the time of year? And no sign of clipping, so I can check that unwarranted fear off the list!

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That seems about what my chart looked like today (other than being barely over half what you generated with my smaller system.) What size is/are your inverter(s)? I ask because at least in my case, the max instantaneous generation today is roughly 80% of its June peak. Realizing that ratio is somewhat array-dependent, if it does hold for you, you might see peaks a bit above 10 kW.

 

[willow_hiller]

What size is/are your inverter(s)?

One 11.4 kW SolarEdge inverter. I was telling my wife this evening, if this is what we're getting in late September, I'm excited to see next Summer!

 

[pdx_m3s]

Living vicariously through you as I wait for my install date. Already have an approved interconnection agreement with my utility. Just need some panels on the roof and an inspection!

 

[willow_hiller]

Living vicariously through you as I wait for my install date. Already have an approved interconnection agreement with my utility. Just need some panels on the roof and an inspection!

Hang in there! It's all worth it in the end

If nothing else, this whole process has taught me a lot of patience.

 

[jboy210]

One 11.4 kW SolarEdge inverter. I was telling my wife this evening, if this is what we're getting in late September, I'm excited to see next Summer!

Definitely. We saw 55+ kWh/day in June and I was shutting down the system at 1PM because we did not have PTO. Now down to mid 20 kWh/day with the system up all day because of more shading and low sun.

 

[willow_hiller]

I was spoiled by sunshine for the first few days of operation... I've never been more disappointed by a cloudy day in my life

 

[BrettS]

I was spoiled by sunshine for the first few days of operation... I've never been more disappointed by a cloudy day in my life

Haha, I totally understand that. I never really paid much attention to clouds before I went solar. Now I curse them whenever they appear.

 

[morbidz]

Although the live data was a bit wonky, it seems like I got a nice curve in the data. Peak of 8.2 kW, and lasts from 7 AM to 7 PM. Seems a little bit steep, but I guess that's due to the time of year? And no sign of clipping, so I can check that unwarranted fear off the list!

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always good to see the same size system in the same geographical area to compare results.

 

[wjgjr]

I was spoiled by sunshine for the first few days of operation... I've never been more disappointed by a cloudy day in my life

And the forecasts had been for "partly cloudy" today - I get most annoyed when I'm expecting more sun than what is actually delivered.

 

[willow_hiller]

Just as an aside, does anyone else have odd historical data? When I go to see Lifetime stats, it says my total is 56.4 kWh. But when I download the CSV it shows an "Energy" column (that sums to 56.4 kWh and seems to forget most days) as well as a "Cumulative Energy" column that does appear to be working correctly, but isn't graphed when I do the bar charts.

It's such a minor inconvenience I don't know if I want to bother Tesla about it, but it would be nice to have the graphs in the phone app working okay.