Northern California PW installs BUMPED to 2020!!

[charlesj]

That's not how the 120% rule works, the size of the loads don't matter. What matters is the size of the sources of power feeding the bus in the panel. For the utility, the size is the rating of the breaker. For inverters (like solar and battery), the size is typically also the rating of the breaker but may be a little less (details omitted).

So if you have a 200A bus with a 200A main breaker, you can back feed up to 40A of breakers of solar/battery. With a 225A bus with a 200A main breaker, you are up to 70A of allowable back feed. Or with a 200A bus and a 175A main breaker, you are at 65A.

Cheers, Wayne

Thanks. Interesting. What I have not, before the installation are two 100A breakers in the main panel feeding two subpanels in the house, main floor and 2nd story. Solar 20A breaker is tied into the 2nd story subpanel. That solar power finds its way to the main floor at the main panel.
Now with the 2 PW, another panel will be installed after the Gateway with two 100A for the two subpanels and the 2 30A for battery.
My quandary is the downsizing of original 2-100A in the main panel not to a single 200A but to a 150A after pressure on the designer as he wanted only a 100A as the breaker
The main breaker will see the same original 2-100A loadwise. Same ampacity as before.

 

[miimura]

Thanks. Interesting. What I have not, before the installation are two 100A breakers in the main panel feeding two subpanels in the house, main floor and 2nd story. Solar 20A breaker is tied into the 2nd story subpanel. That solar power finds its way to the main floor at the main panel.
Now with the 2 PW, another panel will be installed after the Gateway with two 100A for the two subpanels and the 2 30A for battery.
My quandary is the downsizing of original 2-100A in the main panel not to a single 200A but to a 150A after pressure on the designer as he wanted only a 100A as the breaker
The main breaker will see the same original 2-100A loadwise. Same ampacity as before.

I don't see the problem. Imagine your worst case of turning on every conceivable coincident load. How many amps is that? I doubt you can come up with more than 150A of coincident loads.

 

[Zorg]

Making progress. There are apparently 6 crews for the bay area

 

[jboy210]

View attachment 514723

Making progress. There are apparently 6 crews for the bay area

Nice. Our SolarGlass roof and 2 PW install starts next Monday. And the drought will likely break as soon as they rip the roof off the house.

 

[Zorg]

Nice. Our SolarGlass roof and 2 PW install starts next Monday. And the drought will likely break as soon as they rip the roof off the house.

They go pretty quickly. Started at 9am, looks like we will be done by 3 at the latest.

 

[jboy210]

They go pretty quickly. Started at 9am, looks like we will be done by 3 at the latest.

What will they get done in that time period? We were give a 7-14 day time frame for the roof replacement and PW/Gateway install.

 

[Zorg]

What will they get done in that time period? We were give a 7-14 day time frame for the roof replacement and PW/Gateway install.

Installing 2 PW. I already have solar and my installation is straightforward

 

[jboy210]

Installing 2 PW. I already have solar and my installation is straightforward

Great. Are you mounting on a wall or ground? Still trying to make that decision.

 

[Zorg]

Great. Are you mounting on a wall or ground? Still trying to make that decision.

Ground outside, double stacked

 

[charlesj]

... And the drought will likely break as soon as they rip the roof off the house.

That's the best time.

 

[charlesj]

They go pretty quickly. Started at 9am, looks like we will be done by 3 at the latest.

Is that 9 on site or actual start drilling, etc. My notification indicated arrival before 7-9am.
My install crew comes from Santa Maria, 3 hours away.

 

[Zorg]

Actually they arrived around 8:40 and then unloaded and got to work.

 

[Zorg]

Gateway and subpanel

 

[dancudds]

everyone here has such nice looking garages! I have plywood interior or direct studs to the outside wall

 

[aesculus]

everyone here has such nice looking garages! I have plywood interior or direct studs to the outside wall

Don't let these influencers shame you. It's all about the angles of their photos.

 

[charlesj]

everyone here has such nice looking garages! I have plywood interior or direct studs to the outside wall

That makes installation real easy, no hunting for stud locations, etc.

 

[jboy210]

Don't let these influencers shame you. It's all about the angles of their photos.

And the photoshopping.

 

[jboy210]

Gateway and subpanel View attachment 514852

They did these and the Powerwalls all in one day?

 

[Zorg]

They did these and the Powerwalls all in one day?

Under 8 hours

 

[Incredulocious]

I’m having Powerwalls added to an existing, non-Tesla/Solarcity solar panel installation and I do see my April 20th installation date on my account page...

I ended up getting an opportunity for an earlier installation date in mid-February rather than April (started the process in late September) and I'm now enjoying time-shifting my excess solar production.

However, I did have a series of installation issues and mishaps: mismatch of plans vs my wishes, my water pressure pump being not supported, forgotten heat pump soft start installation and then mis-wired installation, trouble with moving my existing energy usage monitoring CT's, etc.

I wrote up the details here, if you're interested: Tesla Powerwalls Installed