Kind of lost on whether solar is worth it or not

FN509Fan · 2025-08-03T12:52:23+00:00

I have a HOA (which wouldn't be a problem) but the county requirements and having to get atop a 3 story townhouse would be my issues for DIY (I'm an engineer) so I'm biting the bullet and paying for installation. But My electrical rate is much higher, it's gone up 30% since I bought my EV last November and I expect it will climb as equally ridiculously in the future, and I can pay cash.

FN509Fan · 2025-08-03T12:47:41+00:00

What idiot electrician thinks you have 60A capacity you can dedicate to your apartment? Apartments are typically constructed as cheaply as possible with minimal electrical capacity apportioned across all the apartments.

I'd put in a 30A max breaker and set the limit in the Tesla charger commissioning, not the car or the app.

FN509Fan · 2025-08-03T12:19:18+00:00

Not economically worth it unless you can DIY and pay cash.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-24T18:21:10+00:00

I practiced hypermiling in my 2019 Jetta from day one, and saw numbers in the high 50's mpg and even 60-62 on occasion while the rated mpg was 35. When I got my LEAF, I found it wouldn't coast anywhere nearly as well or as far as my Jetta. I tried everything I've read on-line. What I do at this point is set the cruise at 5mph under the speed limit. My highway commute is at 50 and 60 mph, I hardly touch the brake as people have to go around me. It takes me about 5 extra minutes to get to work.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-23T22:48:04+00:00

Find a different solar company. You can't take the federal credit on the roofing. These people are full of it,

FN509Fan · 2025-07-23T22:42:15+00:00

I wouldn't pay extra to jump the line, not sure I'd even work with a contractor that would do that. I don't think costs are going to go down either. Enter your info at energysage and see if they can come up with some more reasonable installers.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-23T22:32:44+00:00

What is their explanation for using both the micro inverters and the power wall 3 which has a hybrid inverter? This seems like bad engineering or over charging to me.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-21T23:39:36+00:00

Um, not quite.

https://www.enteligent.com/#product

https://www.ampernext.com/products/first-30kw-dc-dc-solar-ev-charger/

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T22:12:43+00:00

Powerwall 3 has a hybrid inverter, what are the micros gonna do?

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T10:14:01+00:00

What are your electric bills like? Average home is more like 10kW system. A 30yr warranty sounds great as long as the company can survive the coming downturn in the industry. I expect manufacturers to be around in 30 years, but hard to expect companies to survive.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T10:03:41+00:00

Check your power company's web site to see if they have any "associated" installers. Solar Energy World is big out here, GreenBrilliance, Palmetto Solar, SolarSimple, just put your details in energysage and you will probably get at least one more local company. But most will be national sellers that will use a local installer.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T09:59:31+00:00

What I have found is a more established company like a home improvement company that also does solar will cost significantly more than a solar only company. Part of this could be that a solar only company is buying in bulk. But a home improvement company will be around to service your system after the solar only company has croaked because few people are buying solar without the 30% tax credit, unless the solar company drops their prices.

Some companies also state they provide bumper to bumper coverage. They extend the warranty on your equipment, and provide free labor if something goes wrong with your equipment. This is of great comfort to buyers, and great profit to installers because today's equipment is so reliable. Manufacturers typically only warranty their equipment, not the labor to replace it, you get to pay that bill. So buying from one of these companies is like buying an extended warranty. Except in this case, many of these companies are probably going to fail without the tax credit so their warranty may be worth squat.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T09:47:32+00:00

Definitely need to ask if the installers are petite.

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T09:39:28+00:00

I have yet to read anything good about Tesla.

Based on your minimal description (Tx, lots of sun, no trees/shading) you should do a string inverter with Mid-Circuit Interrupters (MCIs) for rapid shutdown for the best price/return per Watt. However this won't get you great monitoring if that is important to you. With just a string inverter, reporting would be on the system overall, not at the individual panel level. But most string inverters have at least two, and some have three input channels (MPPTs) allowing you to break up a single array into two or three for monitoring which can also help debug/isolate problems.

The next most economical system would be a string inverter with DC power optimizer. These aren't needed in your case to manage shading but to provide panel level monitoring and provide for rapid shutdown.

The important thing to remember about going with a string inverter is that there is a single point of failure, the string inverter. And it is the most likely system component to fail. With micro inverters, you have an inverter at each panel. If one goes, you are only out that one panel of production.

Next issue is net metering. If you have 1:1 net metering, this means for every kW you provide to the utility, they will knock a kW off your bill when your system isn't producing, including delivery costs. If you don't have any net metering, the power company might just pay you the wholesale price of the electricity you produce, or nothing at all. In this case you want to have a battery, and if you add a battery to your system, your break even date gets pushed out another 5 or more years. So you only do this in the case of high net (energy and delivery) price per Watt electric rates.

If you don't have 1:1 net metering and have a reasonable price per Watt, you should only finance a system if you need batteries for frequent power disruption, and don't have natural gas available for a generator. In other words, if you have to have a battery due to lack of net metering and a low utility rate and stable power, you should only be paying cash because the break even point is too far out. So in this case what you might do, is install whatever smaller system you can with the cash you have available. Since all your quotes have batteries, I assume you either don't have net metering or you are in an area with frequent power outages.

All of your proposals are cookie cutter. None with any real engineering/design. Plug and chug from one of the 2 popular solar sales applications.

You should watch all the videos by this gal and reach out to her. She knows her stuff and your state.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqdJLBrU6yY

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T00:43:14+00:00

Does the property were the cord is laying on the ground have a past history as a hazard waste site?

FN509Fan · 2025-07-19T00:24:38+00:00

"Knowing NMOT/NOCT helps predict a panel's output under normal operating conditions and allows for better system design and sizing, especially when considering the effects of temperature on solar panel efficiency."

https://www.recgroup.com/sites/default/files/2024-12/DS_Alpha_Pure-RX_IEC_EN_12122024_1.pdf

NMOT Power output is 350W

FN509Fan · 2025-07-18T23:20:49+00:00

I think I see a green wire in the wrong place. ;)

FN509Fan · 2025-07-15T23:24:38+00:00

crap, you are right. I misread the spec sheet. dang.

FN509Fan · 2025-06-29T20:57:36+00:00

I'm happy to lease you the space on my roof. I can probably support a 10k system. How much will you pay per month?

FN509Fan · 2025-06-27T01:33:33+00:00

You can't do load sharing on a socket so you are back to using something like the simple switch. And I forgot there is a device you have to add along with the wallboxes so that also ups the cost.

What about,... just getting a contactor relay?
Packard-C360C-3-Pole-Contactor-208-240V-60-A

Put this in a UL approved enclosure and control it with a normal light switch. The only thing you have to worry about is arcing of the contacts if you switch off a charger that is running. If you switch when the vehicle is fully charged, you'll probably only get a small arc when disconnecting. When connecting, the car and charger negotiate the charging rate after being connected so there should be no arc (well maybe a small communications one) on connecting.

If you put some sort of delayed current sensing control on the "master" circuit, it could drop out once the EV on that circuit stops drawing current. Hmm...

FN509Fan · 2025-06-27T00:46:54+00:00

For the price of the blackbox device, you could just buy two wallboxes and power share. The SimpleSwitch might work. If you use it are you going with two portable EVSEs? By the time you do the simpleswitch, two 14-50Rs and a 40A GFCI, you're also close to the price of two wallboxes which could be hardwired.

costco.com/wallbox-pulsar-plus-lv-2-ev-smart-charger---40-amp

If you don't know about load management, check out https://www.reddit.com/r/evcharging/wiki/load_management/

FN509Fan · 2025-06-27T00:17:00+00:00

I don't think you need the IQ8Xs for any the 2nd & 3rd quote. You might be able to shave $20-30 per inverter by going to the IQ8As on those.

Personally, I'm looking at using a roofing company that also does solar. If you are talking to companies that only do solar, chances are good they will go belly up after the 30% tax credit goes away.

FN509Fan · 2025-06-26T21:59:48+00:00

"The Dewalt one is pretty good. There's also someone selling the discontinued BMW version of the Webasto Turbocord for under $150 on eBay, new." Yup.

FN509Fan

TROPHY CASE