Finally Turned system on....

[Hay2000]

Hi All,
Yesterday night I got approval from PGE. It took 4 Business days for PGE to approve since Tesla submitted all app.
No issue... All good.

Today morning turned system on at 8am. Then called Tesla ( talked to activation team ). She entered date and time when PGE approved. 10 mins call. And ...... all done.

Phone App started showing data. I've 5.1kw system ( 15 panels, SE 7600 ). so far App shows 9.1kwh ( exactly at noon time in Bay area ) and total 3.6kw output. I think nos looks correct. According to PVwatts, for Oct month, it shows 608kwh, which is 20kwh per day. So in my case, so far it's 9.1kwh , so my guess is by EOD , it will reach around that no.

However, I'm not sure if above calculations are correct or not. so pl let me know if this makes sense....

Also verified meter outside. It is going backward as of now. When I started system, it was showing 42226kwh. As of now it show 42220. Also two dotted lines moves backward, that tell me im generating more than what I'm using.

Will update at end of day with full day production.
Thank you all ..... This is great forum and help from all you experts is really appreciated.
Just in nutshell, My overall experience has been very positive,. Only few small issues but nothing significant.
I'll put my end-to-end experience summary. BTW, it took about 5 weeks to get from nothing to a working system.
Good luck to others who are in pipeline....
Go Solar....

 

[wjgjr]

Congrats on the install. The numbers you ran through all seem pretty reasonable. I'm not sure the orientation of your panels, and the max production time varies based on orientation, but one thing to note is that local noon is not solar noon. A quick look at SF suggests solar noon today is about 12:55 PM. And, since the almost hour from when you posted to noon is part of the biggest production portion of the day, you may well end up over that 20 kWh number.

However, also note that PVWatts estimates take into account average historical weather. So 20 kWh is the average. On a clear, sunny day, you should be above that number (by how much would depend on how variable your weather is - in a desert area, it may hardly vary, where in my area, the variability is very high.) Also, in Sept/Oct, there will be a large difference between beginning and end of month numbers (where I am, about a 25% drop from 10/1 to 11/1.) Since we are right in the middle of the month, 20 is a fair estimate for the average, but do not be surprised to see it below that by the end of the month.

 

[Hay2000]

Yes... thanks wjgjr.
PVwatts nos are under ideal conditions, which obviously we do not have. However based on current production nos, it seems close enough ( may be 20% down ) by end of month. But overall , it is behaving as expected.

 

[SMAlset]

That was quick turn around by PG&E. Our app was submitted 10/5 but nothing yet and told 4-5 weeks. Wonder if solar alone gets processed quicker as there is less for them to review. Maybe different departments involved?

Nice you are up and running. Congrats. Hope to join you soon.

 

[Hay2000]

Here is 1st day of production.... not bad. 24.3kwh
Few More questions...
1) My zigbee still shows "No Signal" . What should I see when it's connected ? OK ?
2) Tesla App shows only production nos. Is it supposed to show used ( or consumed ) nos as well ?
3) Is it because my zigbee is not connected ?
4) For Solaredge monitoring App, Advisor said , Solaredge will send you email with login credentials. Is this how it works ?

Started the day with meter reading 42226 and as of now its 42219. so I'm +7kwh . I'll charge clarity in night ( half full ) . so supposed to use another 8 or 9 kwh for half charge. Net will be +/- 1kwh.

 

[BrettS]

Something does not look right about that graph. It’s normal to get peaks and valleys as clouds pass in front of the sun, but your peaks and valleys are... at regular intervals. Unless you happened to have some really freaky cloud patterns today I feel like tesla has some work to do there on your monitoring.

 

[Hay2000]

I see.... Thanks for pointing it out. Like I said my zigbee still shows "NO Signal".
could it be because of that ?
The valley and peaks seems to be at regular interval or some pattern. could it be because of internet connection, not sending data properly ?

 

[sorka]

Hi All,
Yesterday night I got approval from PGE. It took 4 Business days for PGE to approve since Tesla submitted all app.
No issue... All good.

Today morning turned system on at 8am. Then called Tesla ( talked to activation team ). She entered date and time when PGE approved. 10 mins call. And ...... all done.

Phone App started showing data. I've 5.1kw system ( 15 panels, SE 7600 ). so far App shows 9.1kwh ( exactly at noon time in Bay area ) and total 3.6kw output. I think nos looks correct. According to PVwatts, for Oct month, it shows 608kwh, which is 20kwh per day. So in my case, so far it's 9.1kwh , so my guess is by EOD , it will reach around that no.

Why did you have to wait for PTO before tesla activated the system? Did you not perform testing? Many on this forum have reported turning it on full time and just being off grid by keeping the main service breaker disconnected while they're waiting for PTO.

 

[BrettS]

Why did you have to wait for PTO before tesla activated the system? Did you not perform testing? Many on this forum have reported turning it on full time and just being off grid by keeping the main service breaker disconnected while they're waiting for PTO.

That only works with a system with powerwalls. If you are solar only, like the OP, then as soon as you turn off the breaker everything shuts off.

 

[BrettS]

I see.... Thanks for pointing it out. Like I said my zigbee still shows "NO Signal".
could it be because of that ?
The valley and peaks seems to be at regular interval or some pattern. could it be because of internet connection, not sending data properly ?

No, that’s unlikely. Even if there were missed data transmissions they wouldn’t result in missing data. It would simply keep retrying until it was able to get the data transmitted.

I believe the No Signal light can indicate no zigbee connection as well as no connection to tesla through the internet, so it can be kind of ambiguous. But frankly, it seems odd that you are getting any data in your app with no signal on your gateway. Tesla definitely needs to sort some things out to get your app working properly.

 

[getakey]

Something does not look right about that graph. It’s normal to get peaks and valleys as clouds pass in front of the sun, but your peaks and valleys are... at regular intervals. Unless you happened to have some really freaky cloud patterns today I feel like tesla has some work to do there on your monitoring.

Agree - wierd graph

 

[Hay2000]

ok.... will call them tomorrow. This also means that production it shows may not be true nos.
BTW.. all peaks and valley occur at 15 mins interval. peaks are at 1:15 , 1:45, 2:15.... and valley at 1:00,1:30, 2:00 , 2:30
I was able to move slide bar on graph and it shows time related to data point.
some more work to do...

 

[albertm3]

Hi Hay2000,
Thanks for sharing your experience. Actually, I don't think, it's related to your connection problem. It could related to the serve setup in Tesla side. The production value doesn't get send out every second/min. It's batched into a table, with time, and kW. Then server gets that every 15 mins is about right.

I started my project on 9/24, and after site survey done last week. Then spend a few days to update the panel layout. It was setup for 14 panels, and SE3800H. They just submitted the plan to the city. But my wife is thinking moving to 16 panels to make it looks better. Then I message Tesla for the change. Not sure whether this is OK. I talked to some of the advisor on the phone, she told me that's OK. It happens a lot. Still waiting for the answer. So far my experience is very positive, everyone I talked to are very nice.

Your system is 15 panels, they pair that up with SE7600H. I guess if I go to 16 panels, they might go to SE7600H as well. What is your request to do SE7600 or Tesla just match with your system sizing automatically ?

 

[Hay2000]

Hi albertm3,
I did not request anything. They decided on their own. But it doesn't hurt to ask for it.

EDIT: on sizing, with 15 panels and just one day of data, Now I'm thinking 6k system would have been better. Personally I think, good idea to go 10-15% above your max usage. Do not want to spend more time/money later on.

 

[sorka]

That only works with a system with powerwalls. If you are solar only, like the OP, then as soon as you turn off the breaker everything shuts off.

Doh. Of course. For some reason I thought this was battery backed.

 

[albertm3]

Hay2000,

Just want to share one more thing with you. Solaredge inverter has 12 years warranty. It can be extended to 20-25 years with $200.00 from solar edge.

From the purchase agreement, Tesla stated that
"System repairs" refers to actions needed to fix your System if it is malfunctioning. System repairs ARE provided by the installer.
If system repairs are included, the coverage periods for each hardware component of you system (in years) are:
solar panels: at least 12 years
inverter: at least 10 years.
Please check the manufacturer's warranty for coverage period of other hardware components.
If system repairs ARE included, the coverage periods for the labor/workmanship for each component of your system (in years) are: 20 years.

My understanding is Tesla will warranty the repairs for 20 years. But after the component warranty expired, Tesla will still responsible to repair the system. But owner will need to pay for the hardware cost.

Solar panel 25 years product and performance warranty. (Some of the doc list 12 years product warranty)
Solaredge optimizer - 25 years
Solaredge inverter - 12 years

For the 13th-20th year, if your inverter fail, Tesla should include labor to repair. But you will need to pay for the inverter.
I think it make sense to add extended warranty for the inverter to match up to 20/25 years.

I think the advantage.
1. Solaredge will responsible to get you a compatible inverter if the model was end-of-life.
2. Normally inverter is the first component failed.

Disadvantage
1. Solar edge might close door before the extended warranty expired, then your extended warranty cost go down to drain.
2. Cost $200.00

FYI, Tesla changed my 16 panels to use SE7600H as well.

Inverter Warranty Extension | SolarEdge US
https://www.solaredge.com/sites/default/files/warranty-extension-pricelist-na.pdf

 

[Hay2000]

Thanks albertm3 for your suggestion.
I'm going to buy extended warranty.

It's been a week and seems system is performing well. Average daily prod is 23.5 kwh for 5.1kw. I also monitored actual meter readings and
seems correct.
However, My Tesla App still shows graph with peaks and valley. After a week long phone calls, they confirmed everything ok on their end. It's just inverter picks some other router or internet connection. My zigbee still shows No signal.
I also got solar edge monitoring a/c and data is very similar. BTW, I did NOT connect ethernet cable to inverter.
So looks like Tesla is sharing some data with solaredge.
Next I'm going to buy one of those extender , and keep it close to inverter and see if it helps to get my zigbee working.

Does any one know how to get panel-wise production from solar edge app ? Currently solaredge App shows very similar ONLY total production data. Not panelwise. I've panel mapping from Installers.

 

[BrettS]

However, My Tesla App still shows graph with peaks and valley

Peaks and valleys are totally normal in the graph. But they should be completely random. You’ll see them as clouds pass overhead and whatever, but what was very odd in the graph that you posted was that the peaks and valleys were all exactly the same and happened at regular intervals. That’s definitely not normal.

When you say that you’re still seeing peaks and valleys are you seeing random ones throughout the day or are they appearing at regular intervals like the graph you posted before? Does the graph that you’re seeing in the tesla app closely match the graph that you can see in the solaredge app?

Does any one know how to get panel-wise production from solar edge app ? Currently solaredge App shows very similar ONLY total production data. Not panelwise. I've panel mapping from Installers.

Someone else ran into this recently as well. Apparently when tesla grants you access for monitoring there are several levels of access that they can grant. It looks like they gave you dashboard only access, but you need dashboard + layout access to be able to see the per panel data. You will need to go back to tesla and request that they change your access level.

 

[Hay2000]

Thank you Bretts.
You have got answers for everything.... Great resource to this forum.

Since yesterday I',m seeing random pattern, I will give few more days to see if thats the case.
Ok.... will call then next week to grant more access.

BTW, i purchased inverter extended warranty for 25 yrs, it was $214.
Not sure, if I mentioned earlier, but you can pay Tesla Invoice with CC , just have to call them. I split it into two cards.