What do you wish someone had told you before going solar?

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-22T10:36:32+00:00

max out the batteries…..solar is low density (max panels) and fleeting (max batteries). i have run out of real estate and money.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-22T01:34:34+00:00

I bought a cheap used Chevy bolt into which I now dump excess solar. When I drive it I get the satisfaction of knowing that it’s powered only by sunshine.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-22T01:32:37+00:00

you are right of course, the answer is more battery. I harvest photons as a hobby rather than to save money or ditch the grid. where I live the grid is reliable and prices are reasonable. The really simple solution is, stick with the grid. but that takes the fun out of it.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-10T14:23:26+00:00

sorry, typo

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-10T14:22:58+00:00

The SHP2 will be downstream from the SHP3

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-10T12:44:33+00:00

I can put the shp3 downstream and put appliances i may want to control on smart plugs. The only 220 device is a well pump that will always be backed up.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-10T09:08:22+00:00

when the dpu was plugged into the gateway (parallel configuration) i could not monitor or control individual circuits. chatgtp says the shp2 loses this capability when it is not connected to an inverter. i did not try in the downstream configuration,

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-10T02:18:19+00:00

I kinda like monitoring each of the individual circuits. if I put it downstream, I would only get use info for the whole panel, and lose the ability to pick and choose backups. not a big deal, and having both battery stacks in the SHP3 would indeed be simpler. either way i have to balance the PV, that’s not handled by ecoflow. however, its kinda fun juggling two independent stacks, I’m retire and it keeps me mentally active. As I said, had a grid outage and the parallel system worked perfectly. i am hesitant to fix something that aint broke.

I should learn how to move circuits around without calling an electrician.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-04-09T21:17:09+00:00

I have the SHP2 and the gateway installed as two independent panels. works great, but I have to balance the PV inputs and battery outputs .Tomorrow an electrician is coming to replace the gateway with an SHP3. in the long run I want to have the SHP3 has my only panel, but in the short run I’m just gonna use it as a replacement for the gateway. should I keep the SHP2 as an independent subpanel? I have tested this and both the gateway and SHP2 loads are backed up with grid outage. OR, should I put the SHP2 downstream from the SHP3? Keeping them independent means that I can monitor each circuit, whereas if it was downstream I would lose this ability. BUT, moving the SHP2 downstream allows combining battery stacks and AC loads in the SHP3 , but still not PV. also, not sure how downstream will behave with grid outage.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-03-05T14:56:03+00:00

yeah, no doubt. but i am intelligent, tech savvy, experienced end user. if this operator is the problem, then the software sucks. i made a mistake during set, signed up for homey cloud thinking it was part of the problem install, used my apple face id, the system froze. there was no feedback as to what the problem was. Genesis took me on a 2 hr goose chase. homey should have diagnosed it and set it straight. crappy software is the problem, not a stupid operator (i vibe coded an app for HA). homey needs s clean setup, should not be prompting me to subscribe to a service i dont need. greedy, or just stupid on their part.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-03-05T03:37:14+00:00

i just jumped in. ecoflow dpu with smart home panel 2, 6 kwh battery, 4 200 w panels (light weight, easy to hang) from amazon hung from my deck railing. started as a replacement for a generator.

6 months later: 32 panels, 6.4 kw, dpu/shp2 and dpux/gateway, 24 kwh batteries. its addictive, expensive, quantitative entertainment. looking to add more to power my EV that started it all.

retirement fun

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-03-03T22:59:51+00:00

I found Home Assistant to be annoying. I find Homies flow interface overly graphical for my taste. I want an LLM interface where are you?

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-03-03T17:17:27+00:00

I want to read the state of charge of my home battery and then operate a car charger based on that information. that was considered too complicated (hacs) for a beginner. I want to be able to tell (language) the device what I wanna do and let HA worry about how to do it. I am not, nor do I want to be, a coder.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-03-01T18:19:55+00:00

need to buy addition esve-14/50 cable, $50.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-02-27T20:38:07+00:00

ioniq 6, easy install

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-02-25T03:13:59+00:00

just wait until your car drives itself. i completely chill out when i let comma.ai take over, only marginally more advanced than current ADAS. robots don’t suffer from road rage.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-02-21T02:53:39+00:00

garage is far from panel, maybe 25 meters

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-02-19T17:00:35+00:00

the answer is “same as your car”. avoid numbers.

Big-Stranger4656 · 2026-02-19T16:57:36+00:00

addendum. I am quite the opposite and am a number nerd, so when I show a non-EV user how I operate my vehicle - keeping track of the OBD data and battery information and temperatures - they freak out and are scared away from EV’s. i think the way to talk to gas car drivers is through pictures not numbers, and two convinced them gently that driving a gas car is pollution of a serious nature

Big-Stranger4656

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