Yes, that’s true. I was thinking more of a standard house with no powerwalls and the meter outside and the main panel inside. I don’t know if there is a code requirement for powerwall shut off to be accessible outside the house or not.
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Post Your Tesla Solar Layout
- Thread starter pdx_m3s
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Yes, that’s true. I was thinking more of a standard house with no powerwalls and the meter outside and the main panel inside. I don’t know if there is a code requirement for powerwall shut off to be accessible outside the house or not.
Yeah, I was talking about a "normal" house as well. Per code here, Tesla installed what they called a fireman's shutoff a few feet from the meter. The shutoff will kill the solar (and also, per code, there are rapid shutdown devices in our attic) and PWs. Along with pulling the meter, that should take care of the electric.
I imaging if nothing else there are big red placards directing first responders where to find the switches to shut off the power. For my house, they even have a placard with a map showing every switch location.
How many boxes of equipment need to be hung on the wall for a large system with 3 powerwalls? My plan says one Solar edge inverter plus a Gateway 2 plus the 3 PWs. Is there also a disconnect switch box and another box as well?
Can all of these be placed indoors on the same wall where the smart meter and the main electrical panel are located outside, ie, directly behind?
Because this wall faces the street, for aesthetic purposes I did not want a lot of equipment with lots of red stickers visible to driving by, so I want them inside the garage.
I am planning for the three PWs to be stacked outside on the ground but they look cleaner and are low.
Can all of these be placed indoors on the same wall where the smart meter and the main electrical panel are located outside, ie, directly behind?
Because this wall faces the street, for aesthetic purposes I did not want a lot of equipment with lots of red stickers visible to driving by, so I want them inside the garage.
I am planning for the three PWs to be stacked outside on the ground but they look cleaner and are low.
Is there a fence attached to the garage? On our house, there is, and the only thing we have visible from the street is the PG&E meter/switch box. They ran a conduit to the other boxes. Those are all located behind the fence on the outside wall of the garage. This hides most of the boxes from being viewable from the street. FWIW, the gray box with no stickers is the GW1. Yours would likely be the much nicer looking and smaller GW2 that they started installing this summer.
BTW, the boxes inside the fence are: (from left to right) Generation panel, Disconnect from PG&E, GW Version 1, Inverter 1, and Inverter 2
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Thanks for the photo. I have no fence because my house is placed on my lot sideways. Sounds strange but the house front faces the lawn with a small woods area beyond. The driveway comes from the street and turns to the left to the front of the house and the garage entrance.
It looks good as you approach the house from the west, but driving by the house you have a full view of the side of the house.
So in effect all your boxes would be facing the street in my setup.
Which box is your main electrical panel?
Can they be placed indoors, anyone know? I haven't seen any photos and the advisor I spoke with didn't give me a direct answer, just talk to the crew lead on installation day, now September 17th.
Our main electrical panel is inside the garage on an interior wall. All or part of the boxes inside the fence could be on an interior garage wall. And obviously, the PowerWalls can also be inside or outside. Of course, all of this is dependent upon space availability and your home's wiring.
Attached is our design. Excited to get the ball rolling. Might add another 3 panels... not sure how easy that is during the install.
Wow!. This is probably the largest install. 61 panels. 20.74 Kw. Cool. Just surprised that the production estimate is a bit less than I thought. Run this setup in Aurora or Helioscope and see if you can move some panels from your north roof to south.
I don’t believe that there is any option to add panels during the install. They have some leeway to move panels around in some cases, but not add additional panels. If you want additional panels you should call and request that now.
Sounds like at least a few of you have been getting layout changes done in just a few changes. I have a simple ask to add 2 new panels and change the orientation of the panels, and it's been 2 weeks! Turns out the guy who was supposed to push my layout change was out of office. But it's still been 3 days since he's back and he hasn't heard back from the design team!
Hello fellows. New member here. I have been a model 3 owner and recently decided to go solar. You might know Tesla has the lowest price and all local installers are at least $3k more expensive. Local installers tried to convince me that Tesla offered lower price because of inferior products and service, and I decided to go with Tesla because my Model 3 experience has been good and I'm willing to take the risk.
The Tesla engery rep was very responsive BEFORE I placed the order, emailing/callming me on a daily basis. However, once I place the order, I never heard from him again. I received the design a week ago and was disappointed to find that they put the majority of the panel on the North roof. I interviewed more than five local isntallers and all of them said they will not put panels on the north. The design also has no panel on the west facing roof, which technically will generate more $ because of the TOU at SDGE. I have called and emailed the Tesla rep three to four times since then but he never responded. This has been a week.
I am quite disappointed. To make me feel worse, one of the local installer emailed me this with their quote. They were not aware of the Tesla design but pointed out that "the other critical reason why Tesla solar systems underperform compared to just about everyone else is because of their cookie-cutter racking system. 1. The Tesla racking system requires wide open roof spaces because the panels can only be installed in a certain configuration. 2. This is really problematic for your house because the two roofs which will offer the best efficiency and ROI are going to be the south side of your house, facing Longshore Way, and the front of your house. Neither of these roofs are going to jive very well with the Tesla racking system. Instead, I’d anticipate that they will likely install the majority of your panels on the north facing side of the house which is worst case scenario."
I am pretty new to solar so would appreciate any comments/suggestion. Is the "cookie-cutter raking" really damaging to the roof or just trash talks from Tesla competitors? Why did Tesla decide to put so many panels on the north panels while all local installers choose not to in their design for me (one of them even climbed to the roof and did an inspection)? What is my option of working with Tesla (I assume I can't still cancel the order now?)
Thank you in advance.
The Tesla engery rep was very responsive BEFORE I placed the order, emailing/callming me on a daily basis. However, once I place the order, I never heard from him again. I received the design a week ago and was disappointed to find that they put the majority of the panel on the North roof. I interviewed more than five local isntallers and all of them said they will not put panels on the north. The design also has no panel on the west facing roof, which technically will generate more $ because of the TOU at SDGE. I have called and emailed the Tesla rep three to four times since then but he never responded. This has been a week.
I am quite disappointed. To make me feel worse, one of the local installer emailed me this with their quote. They were not aware of the Tesla design but pointed out that "the other critical reason why Tesla solar systems underperform compared to just about everyone else is because of their cookie-cutter racking system. 1. The Tesla racking system requires wide open roof spaces because the panels can only be installed in a certain configuration. 2. This is really problematic for your house because the two roofs which will offer the best efficiency and ROI are going to be the south side of your house, facing Longshore Way, and the front of your house. Neither of these roofs are going to jive very well with the Tesla racking system. Instead, I’d anticipate that they will likely install the majority of your panels on the north facing side of the house which is worst case scenario."
I am pretty new to solar so would appreciate any comments/suggestion. Is the "cookie-cutter raking" really damaging to the roof or just trash talks from Tesla competitors? Why did Tesla decide to put so many panels on the north panels while all local installers choose not to in their design for me (one of them even climbed to the roof and did an inspection)? What is my option of working with Tesla (I assume I can't still cancel the order now?)
Thank you in advance.
I’m not sure I really agree with everything that they are saying. I mean if you look at some of your panels they are definitely not installed in a grid pattern or anything like that. I’m not sure how much more of custom configuration the other installer could have done.
I do agree that tesla doesn’t always come up with the most optimal configuration at first, but they are usually pretty willing to work with you to redo the config to meet your desires. If you can’t get through to them via email, try calling 877-571-7652. They are usually more responsive by the phone.
Tesla solar is not for everyone in every situation. They are very streamlined and geared towards repeatable volume, not highly specialized, low-volume installs. They leave that for the local installers. It's unfortunate, but it's how they keep their fixed low cost possible. Tesla is a business and they operate it as such.
I was not. When my install was scheduled it was about 2.5 weeks out. I asked the scheduler if they had anything sooner and she said that she didn’t, but she said she did note in my account that I was open to an earlier date if they had a cancellation. I tried calling after a week or so to see if there were any cancelations, but there were not. My install happened on the date it was originally scheduled.
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