Finally get to charge my M3 with solar

[MaxPowers]

I'm super excited. After watching other people install solar on youtube I finally get to install solar myself. I don't know how long it will take me to install it on my house because I'm not familiar with the whole process of getting solar however I have basic idea from watching youtube. Can't wait to get started.

 

[MaxPowers]

With advice from some guys on Solar Talk I used PVWatts to calculate my PV generation on my first house. I thought that a 7.3kW system would generate 1,111kWh per month but turns out that's only for states in the south like California. Up north a 7.3kW will average out to 866kW per month. That's a big drop of performance.

That could have been a costly mistake if I bought a system that would under performed.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

With advice from some guys on Solar Talk I used PVWatts to calculate my PV generation on my first house. I thought that a 7.3kW system would generate 1,111kWh per month but turns out that's only for states in the south like California. Up north a 7.3kW will average out to 866kW per month. That's a big drop of performance.

That could have been a costly mistake if I bought a system that would under performed.

It's not really a drop in performance. It's just performance. Anything that converts energy from the local environment depends on the local environment.

So, you can't say "Production in <State> is this". You have to measure more locally.

 

[MaxPowers]

I just received my documents I need to get a permit from the vendor however they don't create the site map so I had to spend several hours learning how to create one. That was a nice learning experience.

So far I've spent 23 hours and I haven't even ordered the panels yet. I really wasn't expecting for my 1st install to involve that much work.

Onto getting the permit.

 

[MaxPowers]

I can't believe it but I made a big mistake. Fortunately I caught it before the vendor shipped out the inverter. The kit ordered was SMA SunnyBoy with TS4-R-F optimizer which turns out isn't really an optimizer. It's just a rapid shutdown.
After spending several weeks trying to determine how to get optimizers to work with SunnyBoy I just gave up and ordered SolarEdge instead.