Should I postpone?

[daveh85]

Hi folks,

We are scheduled on Monday to have our solar installed after waiting almost a year-very excited.

A skeleton crew came out yesterday and shared that the install would now be using the Tesla inverters (3 of them) rather than the Solar Edge that was previously communicated (1x10k, 1x7.6k).

I’m told if I want to have solar edge I can but it would delay by weeks or months.

What would you do? I’m miffed that they made the change without telling me, and am concerned about the string vs. optimizers.

for context, this is a 61-panel install with 6 powerwalls.

 

[h2ofun]

I would go with tesla inverters

 

[fragchild]

You're never going to get Solar Edge at this point. I'd move forward with the install.

 

[jjrandorin]

Hi folks,

We are scheduled on Monday to have our solar installed after waiting almost a year-very excited.

A skeleton crew came out yesterday and shared that the install would now be using the Tesla inverters (3 of them) rather than the Solar Edge that was previously communicated (1x10k, 1x7.6k).

I’m told if I want to have solar edge I can but it would delay by weeks or months.

What would you do? I’m miffed that they made the change without telling me, and am concerned about the string vs. optimizers.

for context, this is a 61-panel install with 6 powerwalls.

Since Tesla is your installer, and they basically are not installing solar edge any longer ( except when forced to by people who say "i must have what you quoted me", I would take the tesla inverters if I was in your situation.,

From what is reported here, teslas contract seems to allow them to substitute equipment as long as it does not materially impact production. You also have the issue where, since tesla no longer wants to sell solar edge inverters, if you have a problem with one you will be waiting much longer for replacement, etc. There are quite a few reports here of people who have had issues with a solar edge inverter installed by tesla waiting weeks or even more than a month before getting any sort of part replacement.

So, I would take the tesla ones if it were me, since tesla is your installer.

With that being said, you are spending quite a decent sum of money, on a 61 panel 6 powerwall install. I would think that if you really wanted to, you could put the screws down to them and ask for a different inverter and would likely get it. They just are going to "slow play" you, because they dont want to install those any longer.

I personally am not a big fan in "forcing" a company to install something they dont like / arent installing any longer, but if you are not comfortable, you are spending quite a large chunk of change so you should be comfortable.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Is this going to be a 20.74 kW system? Do you know if the three Tesla solar inverters will all be the 7.6 kW models or two 7.6 kW and one 3.8 kW? Is there much shading around your house?

We have a 20.5 kW system that uses Delta Solivia inverters (7.6 kW, 5.2 kW, 5.2 kW) and a SolarEdge HDWave 3.8 inverter. The Solivia inverters use several strings each and have virtually no shading. The HDWave has optimizers and has some seasonal shading. We have no clipping and while we don't have the individual panel production data, our system works great and we've seen it generating over 22 kW at times. I don't think you have anything to worry about with Tesla's inverters, especially if you don't have much shading.

I'm sure @nwdiver can provide some input on your the string vs. optimizer concerns.

 

[daveh85]

@MorrisonHiker You nailed the size perfectly. Very little shading, few things like vent stacks but otherwise clear.

 

[SoCalSolarRoof]

Hi folks,

We are scheduled on Monday to have our solar installed after waiting almost a year-very excited.

A skeleton crew came out yesterday and shared that the install would now be using the Tesla inverters (3 of them) rather than the Solar Edge that was previously communicated (1x10k, 1x7.6k).

I’m told if I want to have solar edge I can but it would delay by weeks or months.

What would you do? I’m miffed that they made the change without telling me, and am concerned about the string vs. optimizers.

for context, this is a 61-panel install with 6 powerwalls.

Based on your answers little shading, I wouldn't worry about it. Why did you want the SE inverters?

 

[daveh85]

Mostly due to them being part of the original spec.

The challenge with going Tesla Inverters is the runs from the panels will be ~150-200ft long which isn't ideal when dealing with DC. They're going to have to come up with a creative solution. I'd also heard they were "better" but that I guess is open to debate.

Does anyone know if the disconnect between solar and inverter needs to be accessible on the outside of the property?

 

[h2ofun]

Mostly due to them being part of the original spec.

The challenge with going Tesla Inverters is the runs from the panels will be ~150-200ft long which isn't ideal when dealing with DC. They're going to have to come up with a creative solution. I'd also heard they were "better" but that I guess is open to debate.

Does anyone know if the disconnect between solar and inverter needs to be accessible on the outside of the property?

I have disconnects outside between inverter and generation panel

 

[SMAlset]

Yes, the contract does say they can substitute for similar product. This worked in our favor last year when our 315kW panels were subsituted with 340kW and the spec'd Gateway 1 was replaced by the newer Gateway 2. No extra cost and better products that we were very happy to be getting. Also no notice although when we heard the new GW2s were out we asked about getting that one and were told that and the solar panels were being substitued with the newer equipment.

We had our install last summer and have a Solar Edge inverter. I do wonder however whether having a Tesla product won't down the road be better for an integrated approach, maybe viewable in the app? With our Solar Edge we had to request Tesla to authorize Solar Edge to let us set up an account with them. We can now through that app see our individual panels but they are in linear format only so not appearing in roof layout. They are numbered and they do indicate the power being generated on each panel but aside from knowing they are producing within expected range, that's about as useful as the app is for us. There is a Solar Edge thread showing the layout here on the forum if you aren't familiar with this.

Solar Edge won't customize the panels from the linear to your set up and you can't do it either from what I understand. Tesla doesn't either. So given the above maybe you might be better off with Tesla's inverters and getting support for them. As for the delay in getting installed, I don't think at this point I would want to wait and miss the increasing sunlight that would be generated now that winter is almost over.

 

[jboy210]

Yes, the contract does say they can substitute for similar product. This worked in our favor last year when our 315kW panels were subsituted with 340kW and the spec'd Gateway 1 was replaced by the newer Gateway 2. No extra cost and better products that we were very happy to be getting. Also no notice although when we heard the new GW2s were out we asked about getting that one and were told that and the solar panels were being substitued with the newer equipment.

We had our install last summer and have a Solar Edge inverter. I do wonder however whether having a Tesla product won't down the road be better for an integrated approach, maybe viewable in the app? With our Solar Edge we had to request Tesla to authorize Solar Edge to let us set up an account with them. We can now through that app see our individual panels but they are in linear format only so not appearing in roof layout. They are numbered and they do indicate the power being generated on each panel but aside from knowing they are producing within expected range, that's about as useful as the app is for us. There is a Solar Edge thread showing the layout here on the forum if you aren't familiar with this.

Solar Edge won't customize the panels from the linear to your set up and you can't do it either from what I understand. Tesla doesn't either. So given the above maybe you might be better off with Tesla's inverters and getting support for them. As for the delay in getting installed, I don't think at this point I would want to wait and miss the increasing sunlight that would be generated now that winter is almost over.

I agree with the part about the Tesla inverter having the potential for greater integration. Looking through the owner's manual it shows wifi connection and data sent to Tesla. So some of its big brother TEGs capabilities are built-in. One can imagine over time new capabilities for control and reporting will be added via firmware updates.