Solar Panel Meter Swap Zapped Garage Door Opener

[boaterva]

Title is pretty much it! Finally had the main meter swapped today for solar panel PTO with no notice, of course. Saw the microwave blinking, went outside to check, woohoo, digital meter!

Let my Tesla guy know, he will check for PTO, since nothing left by the crew.

Then GF gets home and texts me, can you open garage door? WTF. After manually opening the door and then much checking on popped GFCIs, etc, looks like the spike of replacing the meter blew the power board in the door opener.

I’ll call the guys that installed it later today but:

Any chance in getting the power company to pay for this? Tesla thinks they will blame it on coincidence.

Why can’t they let you know so you can pull the main breaker when swapping meters. Be happy to. Can’t tbink ripping out the meter is a good idea surge-wise unless there’s no other choice.

 

[boaterva]

So, update on this.. they had to replace the main board for the opener. Parts and labor, about $312. Not too bad for what's been running perfectly for 6 years. But still... why can't they tell you when they are going to pull power...

 

[Rockster]

My power company called me to make an appointment to meet me at the house so they could swap the meter. He asked if I wanted to shut things down before he did and I replied that everything important was on a UPS. I'm glad it didn't fry anything!

 

[boaterva]

My power company called me to make an appointment to meet me at the house so they could swap the meter. He asked if I wanted to shut things down before he did and I replied that everything important was on a UPS. I'm glad it didn't fry anything!

Yeah, good for them! All I can think of (on mine) is they ‘bounced’ the meter a bit causing a spark/surge which was enough to fry the closest fragile item.

The board didnt even have a fuse, just rectifiers and the like, so maybe it was time to go, anyway!

 

[Shygar]

When I had to request for our meter to be disconnected, they gave me two options. Schedule a rough time (4 hour window) at least 2 weeks in advance or they can basically just come whenever they are free. My panel happens to have the main breaker right below the meter so it was easy for them to switch it off first before disconnecting it, but my guess is if they don't have that option then it's difficult for them to coordinate something like that.

 

[Maximapolak]

So, update on this.. they had to replace the main board for the opener. Parts and labor, about $312. Not too bad for what's been running perfectly for 6 years. But still... why can't they tell you when they are going to pull power...

For that much, you could have bought a brand new belt driven opener with battery backup.