Giving up on Tesla solar.

[YNOT3]

I unfortunately had to cancel my order today.
TL: DR
Sorry, no financing
Sorry, no powerwalls
Sorry, no subscriptions.
LOL

Placed deposit at Tesla retail location and was pretty excited to get set up with a solar panel and power wall combo. Was told I would be in contact shortly, which I was.

About a month after that, my rep informed me that Tesla would no longer offer financing and the option would disappear from my order the following day. This was relayed to me by email at 5pm. Luckily I guess the rep was misinformed or trying to high pressure me into signing off on order that day. The option to finance is still available in the account.

Midway through the process and I’m contacted that the power walls are no longer offered with solar orders and now I’m just getting a solar system. Great, now I guess I’ll just subscribe to the solar rental system then

Called back a few days later, sorry your solar setup only has 1100 (units unknown and unable to be explained by rep) and LADWP requires 1300 (whatever units). Ok cool. Can you show me where I can get more information about that? No, of course not. And that is enough.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Almost my experience with Tesla Energy last year. Glad I went with local installer instead.

Look up Baker Electric Home Energy. They did well on installing our 2 PW and 32 Panel 11KW solar system, in Riverside.

I was also able to get $7K SGIP - Baker did all application and 5% fee. Got SGIP rebate in about 6 months post install.

There were at least 2 from this forum that I had referred and went with Baker. So far, so good.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

+1 for Baker. They put in my solar and I was extremely picky on visible conduit, etc. They accommodated.

However, when I had them bid on my 2 PW's but they were significantly more expensive and when I asked about SGIP, there was not a lot of knowledge around it and its availability.

 

[bob_p]

We had a 3rd party Tesla-approved installer - and they did a fantastic job.

They wrote up a proposal before we made our first payment - with an agreement on how they would be doing the installation on our concrete spanish tile roof and how they would be hiding all of the conduits. Other than the conduits at the electric panels on the outside of the house, the only exposed conduit runs from the underside of the roof eave straight down the outside wall to the electric panels - and they painted that conduit to match the wall color. No exposed conduit for the PowerWalls inside the garage or running on the roof (everything goes down into the attic below).

Our installer asked for 25% before they ordered the parts and started the project; 50% when the installation was completed and they were ready to start the PTO (Permission To Operate) process; and 25% once we had PTO and could use the system.

 

[YNOT3]

Not sure if Baker will work in Hollywood area of Los Angeles but will call them. @NathanielHrnblwr where did you end up getting the PW from? Also thanks for the tips everyone. Hidden conduit is the way to go. I actually didn’t think it was an option because I see so much conduit everywhere. Is Tesla solar the only place that puts the frames around the edge of the panels? It looks way better.

 

[YNOT3]

I’m still so annoyed that a company that’s desperately trying to sell solar can be so difficult and intransigent to deal with. Glad it wasn’t just me.

 

[FamilyT3sla]

had a similar experience. Told them I wanted solar and power walls at the same time so they told me to cancel my order since they couldn’t do that here in Florida due to the demand. Now looking at a local Tesla certified installer for power walls and LG panels.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

Not sure if Baker will work in Hollywood area of Los Angeles but will call them. @NathanielHrnblwr where did you end up getting the PW from? Also thanks for the tips everyone. Hidden conduit is the way to go. I actually didn’t think it was an option because I see so much conduit everywhere. Is Tesla solar the only place that puts the frames around the edge of the panels? It looks way better.

I got the PW's from Tesla directly.

You see conduit everyone due to crappy installers and dumb homeowners. Some of the installations I see in a neighborhood of 1MM homes is astounding. Conduit running across the roof instead of in the attic, down the roof and around the eaves and rain gutters then down the wall. Insane.

If you go with Baker, give @RoBoRaT the referral.

 

[SMAlset]

Well going through the attic isn't what everyone wants to do for a variety of reasons. And I get the lack of aesthetics.

We decided early on that we'd rather have less holes drilled in our cement roof tiles cutting down the probability of any rain-related leaks in the future; and besides we really don't want people traveling through our house getting to the attic for install or even repair later. Most of the homes in my area are two-story which is what ours is. I've seen the conduit painted the roof and house colors which is what we will do and what many of our two-story homes here do, and yes, guess the homes here in the SF Bay area are mostly worth over a mil. or close to it. We'll be just fine with paint color matching the conduit to the house and actually we are more concerned with how all the equipment will be laid out in our garage and outer house wall. Of course not having exposed conduit is a nicer look and if when we had the house built when PV was an option would have gone that route.

Personally I think solar panels on the roof look horrible (but everyone around here is installing them) and it's one of the reasons until the PG&E wildfire safety outages happened we have held off adding solar. I told my husband when solar roof tiles are a solid reality then we'd go that route. If we didn't still have about 15 years to go on our current roof would be doing that now.

 

[SMAlset]

OP actually our Tesla Energy contact was very well trained and professional. We were quite impressed with his knowledge base, and emails and calls were handled within a day or two. He was up on working with our City and PG&E as well. I think going over the contract and questions we had on what equipment we were buying that we had two hour-long conversations with him getting our questions and concerns answered, so never felt rushed. We opted to send photos in and had one roof panel layout revision done before we signed our contract. In our case it might have been a mistake to have just sent in the photos as our main breaker panel did not have a label on it saying what it was (had fallen off over the years), and so it wasn't until Tesla went to pull our permit did the City look up the panel for them from the developer's plans and then tell us we would need a main panel upgrade. We had 200A service and the City said something about wanting a higher busbar rating than what the developer spec'd. That extra work that wasn't anticipated has put a monkey wrench in our timing for the install of the solar right now.

Overall though I have to say the initial stages of our install have gone pretty well and we have been pleased. Now to just get our main panel replaced and get the rest of the installation set up. I am a bit disappointed that our install of the solar and PWs has had to be split into two different time windows. PW work won't be done until the fall. I think they are swamped with installs and just not enough installers to keep up with the orders is what I guess. We took a look at a PW install done at a neighbor's house just a week or so ago and it was very cleanly laid out. He had his PW only order placed last October after the shutoff happened, so I know they are backlogged.

 

[charlesj]

...

We decided early on that we'd rather have less holes drilled in our cement roof tiles ...

If it is the flat cement tiles, what I have, I didn't have to drill through them. There are hook mounts or were available in 2012
Spanish half circle is a bear though.

Yep, crawling through attic is also a bear, you bet. finding and drilling into the cavity where the sub panel is is even worse.

 

[SMAlset]

Our cement roof tiles are fairly flat as I recall. Might have a slight wave pattern to them. Tesla Energy said they use some metal flashing I think they called it and drill through. Insert some anchors and then there’s some black sealant that fills the holes — or that’s the best as I understood it. Haven’t had it done yet but I did see someone’s photos showing the sealant. rather disappointed we’ll need the main panel removed from the stucco wall. Had hoped a new unit could just be screwed into where the current one is and just rewired. Not sure the manufacturer is still around or making panels.

I know when we had a furnace check (Furnace unit in attic) the tech said that some of our attic space would be really tight to get to due to the roof angles. Also lots of nails sticking out of the beams.

 

[bob_p]

We have concrete spanish tiles. Installation of 44 solar panels took about a week. The installation was time consuming to mount the brackets, having to pull up individual tiles, fasten the bracket holder to the roof/stud and then replace the tile. They also were able to run the conduit into the attic below, going through the tiles. And - they didn't break a single tile...

We were concerned about how the panels would look on our red tile roof - especially because the installers were able to hide all of the conduit (except one conduit running down the side of the building, painted to match the wall color), the installation looks pretty good - and many of the panels aren't even visible from ground level.

 

[charlesj]

Our cement roof tiles are fairly flat as I recall. Might have a slight wave pattern to them. Tesla Energy said they use some metal flashing I think they called it and drill through.....

From this I assume they don't lift the tiles off to place the anchors then just put the tiles back? Then they are relying on that flashing on top to keep water out? No wonder they don't want to do that. I removed tile , placed hook that overhangs the tile and attached to rafters, sealed that off, replaced tile. If and when need roof replaced, no need to remove those hooks.

 

[charlesj]

We have concrete spanish tiles. Installation of 44 solar panels took about a week. The installation was time consuming to mount the brackets, having to pull up individual tiles, fasten the bracket holder to the roof/stud and then replace the tile. They also were able to run the conduit into the attic below, going through the tiles. And - they didn't break a single tile...


...

Boy, what a job on those small roof segments. Yes, I can see it taking that long.

Exactly how I did my installation, lift tiles screw to rafters, seal the stand and replace tiles. I cut a tile for the electrical conduit through the roof.

 

[bob_p]

It's ironic that the more expensive homes have roofs with irregular and smaller roof sections, making them more difficult for solar panels, while the less expensive homes have fewer and larger roof segments, making it much easier to installer larger clusters of panels.

 

[charlesj]

It's ironic that the more expensive homes have roofs with irregular and smaller roof sections, making them more difficult for solar panels, while the less expensive homes have fewer and larger roof segments, making it much easier to installer larger clusters of panels.

Except for my house.

 

[jeremymc7]

Almost my experience with Tesla Energy last year. Glad I went with local installer instead.

Look up Baker Electric Home Energy. They did well on installing our 2 PW and 32 Panel 11KW solar system, in Riverside.View attachment 515790 View attachment 515792

I was also able to get $7K SGIP - Baker did all application and 5% fee. Got SGIP rebate in about 6 months post install.

There were at least 2 from this forum that I had referred and went with Baker. So far, so good.

I might have to check them out myself. Unfortunately, they seem to be centered in SD county but do work in OC as well. But I'm a few miles outside OC in SE LA. Maybe they'll be flexible.

I like that they seem to "do it all" not just solar. I could get them to do my HVAC as well. Hmmm... hope they'll do a job in SE LA.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

I might have to check them out myself. Unfortunately, they seem to be centered in SD county but do work in OC as well. But I'm a few miles outside OC in SE LA. Maybe they'll be flexible.

I like that they seem to "do it all" not just solar. I could get them to do my HVAC as well. Hmmm... hope they'll do a job in SE LA.

I'm not sure how far they go, but I can say they back up their work. I had a small issue and they could have just said they weren't the cause of the issue and I wouldn't have known any different, but they owned it and sorted it very quickly. Remember, you're not just buying the install, you're buying the company that'll warranty the roof labor for 10/20 years.