Post Your Tesla Solar Layout

[GHTech]

Greeting,

Just got to see the plans that were submitted for permits to the city (Los Angeles). All the equipment is next to the electrical meter on the outside of the house. Currently I have my meter and the disconnect to the old PV system on the outside and the current inverter is on the other side of the wall, inside my garage. The old system is being disposed when we reroof. I am wondering if they can put the new inverter and batteries on the inside so that they don't cook in the sun when we hit 100+ degrees. Thoughts?

Regards,

GHTech

 

[ragedogg69]

If you removed/re-routed the vents on the south facing roof,

I am curious how much of an issue moving vents are for Tesla. I am trying to avoid it, but my HOA may make me. Anyone have experience?

 

[pdx_m3s]

I am curious how much of an issue moving vents are for Tesla. I am trying to avoid it, but my HOA may make me. Anyone have experience?

I don't think Tesla will do this. You would probably need to hire a contractor to do this. The vents can be a myriad of different things (sewer, radon, attic vent, exhaust fan vent, etc.).

 

[Southpasfan]

Greeting,

Just got to see the plans that were submitted for permits to the city (Los Angeles). All the equipment is next to the electrical meter on the outside of the house. Currently I have my meter and the disconnect to the old PV system on the outside and the current inverter is on the other side of the wall, inside my garage. The old system is being disposed when we reroof. I am wondering if they can put the new inverter and batteries on the inside so that they don't cook in the sun when we hit 100+ degrees. Thoughts?

Regards,

GHTech

Interesting, I am also in Los Angeles and about a week behind GHtech (ordered July 2 instead of June 27), and I had the initial physical inspection on July 10. I wonder if I will see actual plans this week.

 

[GHTech]

Interesting, I am also in Los Angeles and about a week behind GHtech (ordered July 2 instead of June 27), and I had the initial physical inspection on July 10. I wonder if I will see actual plans this week.

Hi Southpasfan,

I kept changing my order a number of times, and finalized it this Mon. morning. My original design had 8.1 kW and no PW. Then it was 6.8 kW. Then I added 2 PW's. Finally, went with 8.1 kW and 2 PW. They are really rolling. They submitted for permits today, and are expecting the permits back by 7/24. Had the site inspection last Fri. based on my earlier size of PV and Powerwalls.

Regards,

GHTech

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I am curious how much of an issue moving vents are for Tesla. I am trying to avoid it, but my HOA may make me. Anyone have experience?

I don't think Tesla will do this. You would probably need to hire a contractor to do this. The vents can be a myriad of different things (sewer, radon, attic vent, exhaust fan vent, etc.).

It wasn't a problem at all for our install. Tesla didn't need to relocate the plumbing vent but was able to shorten it and place panels over it. I think they attached something were the old vent was located but I don't remember what they called it.

 

[Southpasfan]

Hi Southpasfan,

I kept changing my order a number of times, and finalized it this Mon. morning. My original design had 8.1 kW and no PW. Then it was 6.8 kW. Then I added 2 PW's. Finally, went with 8.1 kW and 2 PW. They are really rolling. They submitted for permits today, and are expecting the permits back by 7/24. Had the site inspection last Fri. based on my earlier size of PV and Powerwalls.

Regards,

GHTech

I only changed the order once, to add a powerwall which the inspector picked up at the Friday inspection. He also confirmed that a couple of vents had been moved. The wildcard would be how long the city takes on permits. A week estimate sounds pretty good there as well. Of course, one wonders where the permit department stands on Covid lockdowns.

By the way, I assume they sent you an email notice with the actual plans?

 

[GHTech]

I only changed the order once, to add a powerwall which the inspector picked up at the Friday inspection. He also confirmed that a couple of vents had been moved. The wildcard would be how long the city takes on permits. A week estimate sounds pretty good there as well. Of course, one wonders where the permit department stands on Covid lockdowns.

By the way, I assume they sent you an email notice with the actual plans?

Hi Southpasfan,

I have a fairly responsive Project Advisor. I asked him for plans as I just wanted to double check if they included all the components I wanted, and also the optimizers. I saw all the equipment on the outside, instead of having most of it inside the garage. I may have used up all my favors with him. I also seems to have a responsive project coordinator. He has to wait till I finish the re-roof (wants to see the photos of the finished roof) so that he can schedule it.

Regards,

GHTech

 

[Southpasfan]

Hi Southpasfan,

I have a fairly responsive Project Advisor. I asked him for plans as I just wanted to double check if they included all the components I wanted, and also the optimizers. I saw all the equipment on the outside, instead of having most of it inside the garage. I may have used up all my favors with him. I also seems to have a responsive project coordinator. He has to wait till I finish the re-roof (wants to see the photos of the finished roof) so that he can schedule it.

Regards,

GHTech

I wonder if I even have a Project Advisor. So far, my actions have been (1) submit initial order and get layout hours later via email notice, (2) call the general number, point out I the non-existence of vents, (3) get a call from a guy, who says another guy is coming out to inspect, (4) guy inspects, and (5) I get email saying order is updated.

Item (5) is not "plans" its just the basic layout of the panels and copies of the specs on the inverters and powerwalls, one can now see it as part of the log in. As updated, the layout and number of powerwalls is correct though.

I do have a phone number for guy (3).

 

[GHTech]

I wonder if I even have a Project Advisor. So far, my actions have been (1) submit initial order and get layout hours later via email notice, (2) call the general number, point out I the non-existence of vents, (3) get a call from a guy, who says another guy is coming out to inspect, (4) guy inspects, and (5) I get email saying order is updated.

Item (5) is not "plans" its just the basic layout of the panels and copies of the specs on the inverters and powerwalls, one can now see it as part of the log in. As updated, the layout and number of powerwalls is correct though.

I do have a phone number for guy (3).

Might want to reach out to see if you can get the plans just to make sure. I am no engineer, but some info will be useful just to make sure. In my case, the plans state that all the equipment is suppsed to be outside.

 

[sleevemedia]

Greeting,

Just got to see the plans that were submitted for permits to the city (Los Angeles). All the equipment is next to the electrical meter on the outside of the house. Currently I have my meter and the disconnect to the old PV system on the outside and the current inverter is on the other side of the wall, inside my garage. The old system is being disposed when we reroof. I am wondering if they can put the new inverter and batteries on the inside so that they don't cook in the sun when we hit 100+ degrees. Thoughts?

Regards,

GHTech

I've asked for my inverters to be installed inside, also for heat/sun exposure. They forwarded the question, waiting for an answer today or tomorrow. They said they might add a line item to the cost for the conduit.

 

[willow_hiller]

I've asked for my inverters to be installed inside, also for heat/sun exposure. They forwarded the question, waiting for an answer today or tomorrow. They said they might add a line item to the cost for the conduit.

Are you installing them somewhere where noise wouldn't be a concern? Last I read, the SolarEdge inverters greater than 7.6 kW AC produce between 25-50 dBA during daytime operation.

 

[sleevemedia]

Are you installing them somewhere where noise wouldn't be a concern? Last I read, the SolarEdge inverters greater than 7.6 kW AC produce between 25-50 dBA during daytime operation.

I see that on the inverter spec sheet now, thanks for pointing that out because that matters to me very much. You saved me some hassle, much appreciated. It was planned to go in a garage, but that garage is next to our dining room and next to a large open floor plan area. I think I'll just ask to get the inverters mounted closer to the soffit than the ground unless their on/off switch must be reachable by an adult standing on the ground due to Code.

 

[willow_hiller]

I see that on the inverter spec sheet now, thanks for pointing that out because that matters to me very much. You saved me some hassle, much appreciated. It was planned to go in a garage, but that garage is next to our dining room and next to a large open floor plan area. I think I'll just ask to get the inverters mounted closer to the soffit than the ground unless their on/off switch must be reachable by an adult standing on the ground due to Code.

Decibels are logarithmic, so 50 dBA isn't as bad as it sounds, but it's still noise. I've heard it described as the sound of a refrigerator compressor. Perdue University describes 50 dBA as "Quiet suburb, conversation at home. Large electrical transformers at 100 ft"

 

[pdx_m3s]

I will be putting the inverter inside as well. We had our builder put in conduit (in-wall 1.5" EMT) from the attic to a junction box in the garage near the main panel.

The lower the temperature variability, the better it is for electronics. Note that the large-format SolarEdge inverters (10kW+) are louder than the smaller-format ones.

 

[sleevemedia]

With my setup, I'll end up with 2 10kWs. Is this hum or fan noise? I could tolerate a steady hum during the day, because they'd be next to an air handler anyway. Plus, I can always insulate away noise, I can't make the left front corner of my house less sunny.

 

[pdx_m3s]

With my setup, I'll end up with 2 10kWs. Is this hum or fan noise? I could tolerate a steady hum during the day, because they'd be next to an air handler anyway. Plus, I can always insulate away noise, I can't make the left front corner of my house less sunny.

Unsure. Did you ever get your layout updated?

 

[sleevemedia]

Unsure. Did you ever get your layout updated?

It's with design since yesterday, not posted yet. They probably want to dig into code since I want panels near the edge of my roof because I saw other Florida installs like that.

 

[willow_hiller]

With my setup, I'll end up with 2 10kWs. Is this hum or fan noise? I could tolerate a steady hum during the day, because they'd be next to an air handler anyway. Plus, I can always insulate away noise, I can't make the left front corner of my house less sunny.

Not a recent video, but it does seem like it would be fan noise:

Someone had an awful electric clicking, but the comments make me think this isn't normal operation:

 

[mamaway]

So this is what I got in January:

And this is what I just got from them just the other day:

Considerably less output. I talked to the guy who did the survey yesterday and he wondered why they're not using more of the south facing sections of roof. The pitch is about 34% so the north side won't get anything in winter. He said he would request a redesign and I emailed Tesla too and they replied back today that they're gonna try to move the panels off of the north side. There are plenty of sections that would generate more.

So in January I decided to cancel the project because the value wasn't quite there, but I decided to give them another chance because of the price cuts. I was shocked how fast they came back with the design. I thought that it must be automated or they're paying some intern to handle preliminary designs. Or they're incentivized to get these up as quick as possible, as if nobody there cares about actual production, only time to install.

Now I'm just patiently waiting for the redesign. I post it when they come back with it.