Post Your Tesla Solar Layout

[pilotSteve]

Question for Arizona Powerwall owners: do you have them mounted an outside wall? I have space on a SW or NE facing wall (both are somewhat shaded from trees) but in Az the temps get 100-120° in the summer. I understand that PW's have active temperature control and hope they can be placed outside.

My garage is already barely big enough for two cars and adding 2 PWs and panels will really cramp further the space. I've asked the installer to see if they can design our system that way.

 

[jboy210]

Do they ever move the main electrical panel? Could my main panel be moved from the exterior garage wall onto the interior garage wall right behind it? The main electrical panel currently faces the street hanging above my smart meter. My house sits on the lot sideways, so the side of the house/and garage face the street and the garage entrance is facing the side of the lot.
I would like to have all the various boxes put on the interior garage wall behind the electric smart meter with my 3 PWs stacked outside on the ground of the exterior garage wall facing the street.
The site plan I received had it in reverse, with the 3 PWs inside and the equipment outside. Hanging 3PWs on the interior garage wall would be too tight a fit for my car beside them. And there is no other place to fit them in the garage. My weather is moderate in North SF Bay with rarely if ever in winter reaching freezing, 32 F, in the middle of the night. The garage wall faces northerly and gets very little direct sun in am. Temperatures here in summer/fall do reach the 90s but not for extended periods of time, not more than 4-5 days. It is mostly in the low to mid 80s.
I saw on the layout that the crew will discuss this on installation day. I am looking for advice/suggestions now in advance to think about.
TIA

Interesting. We were just the opposite I wanted my Powerwalls inside where I can see than and away from prying eyes and careless gardeners and contractors. They are kind of pretty and I prefer to see them rather the ugly power boxes we put on the outside wall. If we would have been got the new Powerwall Gateway 2 box they are now installing I would have wanted that inside also. It looks like a mini powerwall.

The crew will discuss the Powerwall and other box locations with you on day of or ahead of their install. We went through several options (floor/wall, inside/outside) and ended up being wall mounted on the inside. We were worried about the space from the car, but it turned out to be a non-issue.

 

[mnsweeps]

jboy210, good stuff. Just curious why u did not floor mount and stack them? I understand stacking can close the gap between the wall and the parked car. I heard floor mounting reduces the hum or slight noise it creates.

 

[BrettS]

jboy210, good stuff. Just curious why u did not floor mount and stack them? I understand stacking can close the gap between the wall and the parked car. I heard floor mounting reduces the hum or slight noise it creates.

With the little curb on his garage floor, floor mounting becomes difficult. It’s possible, but either the floor has to be built up or the wall has to be built out. I suspect that the blue tape was marking the position of where they might go if they were floor mounted and stacked.

As far as the noise, it’s probably less of an issue if there isn’t living space behind the wall they are mounted on. However, even when they are floor mounted they are still attached to the wall, so I don’t know that it would make too much of a difference for noise.

 

[jboy210]

With the little curb on his garage floor, floor mounting becomes difficult. It’s possible, but either the floor has to be built up or the wall has to be built out. I suspect that the blue tape was marking the position of where they might go if they were floor mounted and stacked.

As far as the noise, it’s probably less of an issue if there isn’t living space behind the wall they are mounted on. However, even when they are floor mounted they are still attached to the wall, so I don’t know that it would make too much of a difference for noise.

Exactly correct. The curb would require putting a concrete or other material pad to raise the Powerwalls up to allow them to be solidly tied to the wall with spacers to fill part of the gap. Plan A was to put them in the area with the painter's tape. But after discussing it with the installers we ended up the wall mounted.

No issue with sound since the only thing on other side of the wall is the house exterior with all of the other boxes (PG&E meter, gateway, generation panel, inverters, etc). And the only noise the PWs make inside is a very quiet fan noise and slight gurgle of coolant being pumped around. I can only hear them when I am less that 2 feet from the unit. And you cannot hear at all them from the outside even with your head up to the wall.

 

[LadyLion]

Interesting. We were just the opposite I wanted my Powerwalls inside where I can see than and away from prying eyes and careless gardeners and contractors. They are kind of pretty and I prefer to see them rather the ugly power boxes we put on the outside wall. If we would have been got the new Powerwall Gateway 2 box they are now installing I would have wanted that inside also. It looks like a mini powerwall.

The crew will discuss the Powerwall and other box locations with you on day of or ahead of their install. We went through several options (floor/wall, inside/outside) and ended up being wall mounted on the inside. We were worried about the space from the car, but it turned out to be a non-issue.

View attachment 571951

That looks great, very clean
Where does your door open, beyond/in front of the PWs on the wall?

 

[jboy210]

That looks great, very clean
Where does your door open, beyond/in front of the PWs on the wall?

If you mean the front passenger door, it swings opens about a foot in front of the PowerWall. I was concerned about this. The car is a Model 3.

If you are interested, in this thread and this thread, I asked questions about where to mount the powerwalls before we had ours installed and got lots of great advice.

 

[Jester~]

My layout. I thought it was pretty good, but the roof is an easy one too (I thought)

Ordered Saturday July 18
Layout done on Monday July 20
July 24 asked me to upload 1 million in insurance coverage
Online notary scheduled for August 5 to sign something for the city for the permit to be submitted.

Moving along well so far!

 

[GHTech]

My layout. I thought it was pretty good, but the roof is an easy one too (I thought)

Ordered Saturday July 18
Layout done on Monday July 20
July 24 asked me to upload 1 million in insurance coverage
Online notary scheduled for August 5 to sign something for the city for the permit to be submitted.

Moving along well so far!

View attachment 572162

Hi!

Just wonder why they did not use up the south-west facing roof. I see the 2 vents there, but ....

Regards,

GHTech

 

[miimura]

Hi!

Just wonder why they did not use up the south-west facing roof. I see the 2 vents there, but ....

Regards,

GHTech

Agree. The SW facing roof area would be much more productive than the NW area shown with panels.

 

[Jester~]

If I already approved the layout, is it too late to have them re-do it?

 

[Jester~]

...although, we get so much sun on that part of the roof. And in the afternoon we seem to get a lot of showers...so maybe not too bad as-is?

 

[BrettS]

If I already approved the layout, is it too late to have them re-do it?

It’s not too late, but it might cause some short delays in your process.

 

[LadyLion]

I think the signature on the layout is an acknowledgement that you received it I remember correctly. I changed mine twice after that. In fact they insisted on a site visit due to my vents after I called 're the first layout. Then I had a shade concern and they moved four panels to a higher roof farther from the trees for the third layout. My final has 36 panels, v.1 had 34 panels. I am happy with v.3. I had a good discussion with the advisors who relayed my input to the designers. I think being at my own house and seeing the shade on the lower roof near very tall trees was good input for my design that they may not have been able to visualize in their office setting. The delay was minimal, maybe 2-3 days for the revision to arrive in my account.

 

[SMAlset]

Do they ever move the main electrical panel? Could my main panel be moved from the exterior garage wall onto the interior garage wall right behind it? The main electrical panel currently faces the street hanging above my smart meter. My house sits on the lot sideways, so the side of the house/and garage face the street and the garage entrance is facing the side of the lot.
I would like to have all the various boxes put on the interior garage wall behind the electric smart meter with my 3 PWs stacked outside on the ground of the exterior garage wall facing the street.
The site plan I received had it in reverse, with the 3 PWs inside and the equipment outside. Hanging 3PWs on the interior garage wall would be too tight a fit for my car beside them. And there is no other place to fit them in the garage. My weather is moderate in North SF Bay with rarely if ever in winter reaching freezing, 32 F, in the middle of the night. The garage wall faces northerly and gets very little direct sun in am. Temperatures here in summer/fall do reach the 90s but not for extended periods of time, not more than 4-5 days. It is mostly in the low to mid 80s.
I saw on the layout that the crew will discuss this on installation day. I am looking for advice/suggestions now in advance to think about.
TIA

I have to wonder whether a main service panel can be moved inside, especially if located in a closed off, locked area. Thinking not if there’s a fire and emergency crews need to shut down power to the home. Seconds count in cases like that.

 

[Zinc_Saucier]

I have to wonder whether a main service panel can be moved inside, especially if located in a closed off, locked area. Thinking not if there’s a fire and emergency crews need to shut down power to the home. Seconds count in cases like that.

I’ve never had a outdoor main service panel here in the NE, always in the basement (mix of new and old construction). When living down in NC, it was in the garage, but still inside (new construction).

 

[BrettS]

Here in Florida it’s pretty common for panels to be outside, but when I lived in NY state the panel was always inside in the basement. As long as the meter is outside emergency crews can always cut power to the building quickly and easily by pulling the meter.

 

[wjgjr]

I’ve never had a outdoor main service panel here in the NE, always in the basement (mix of new and old construction). When living down in NC, it was in the garage, but still inside (new construction).

I think this came up in another thread too, but it is surprising how big the regional differences are. I have always lived places where the breaker box was found in the basement, but I have never lived in the south or west.

For those talking about safety, everywhere I have been, the meter has also been outside, so I assume the firefighters could very quickly remove the meter to kill power if they wanted. Probably of more concern, honestly, is that in my old house the gas main is located in the basement and there is no exterior shutoff for that.

 

[jboy210]

Here in Florida it’s pretty common for panels to be outside, but when I lived in NY state the panel was always inside in the basement. As long as the meter is outside emergency crews can always cut power to the building quickly and easily by pulling the meter.

If they pull the meter doesn't the Gateway see this as a grid fail and switch over to the powerwall supplying power to the home?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

If they pull the meter doesn't the Gateway see this as a grid fail and switch over to the powerwall supplying power to the home?

Yes, it should. That's why you should have other shut-off switches for solar, any Powerwalls, the gateway, etc. since the system would still run if the meter is removed or the grid goes down.