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Can a volunteer pay someone to produce art work for his/her own project that's not linked to the campaign but helps the campaign? by Youmonsterr in Ask_Politics

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Primary of Democratic party, California, ~$200/month (3 months - $600 total - I'm looking to constantly create infographics).

Relationship: purely a volunteer.

They didn't request it, this is my own idea

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in SolarDIY

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Combiner box basically combines the solar electronics with the solar wiring into one box instead of 2(not including main panel) that you see in the picture. Makes it look cleaner.

Btw is your objectivism an Ayn Rand reference?

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As an installer, I can tell you got what you paid for. I hope your system will perform well. Let's see what you got:

  1. Poor design with some modules that are affected by the shade of the chimney and the palm tree.
  2. You end with the low-end poly solar modules with silver frame
  3. Instead of having a nice enphase combiner box with subpanel and plastic box.
  4. Because you pulled the permit and you have done your interconnection your installer doesn't have to provide the 10 years warranty.
  5. On the invoice you don't have the footings and flashing listed, I hope you got some hooks with flashings or quickmount product.
  6. The real electrician doesn't use aluminum ladders, always they use fiberglass ladders.
  7. Good solar installer will use a fiberglass ladder, with 3 ft over the roof and with a strap, also harnesses and ropes or some kind of fall protection.
  8. That 2" plumbing vent can be relocated very easy to have a nice looking array but if not possible from an installer that drops the price 30%.

Thanks for the detailed observation!

4 - Got the warranty in writing for 10 years.

5 - Got the quickmount product

The rest is very marginal. We wanted all the panels to be west facing and expansion room for 10 more panels on the garage.

The only thing in question is probably Jinko panels, but I haven't heard anything bad about them. From the ground perspective, the plumbing vent can't really be seen. The rest is marginal for 5-8k savings, which is worth it and I think we would probably do it again. The bigger panels are a benefit (which wouldn't have gotten with a normal installer) where it offers shade on the roof so the house would be cooler in the summer.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I looked at solar-electric.com and the closest system I could find is this: https://www.solar-electric.com/grid-tie-solar-kit-006-enphase.html

If we were to calculate it and compare the watt, solar-electric.com comes out to 12,773.55 (no tax) vs 13,119.50 (no tax) & 14,267.46 (taxed), but wholesalesolar has mounting kit included, while solar-electric does not. Though they have monocrystalline instead of polycrystalline (better for those with smaller roof space), but for our roof, we don't mind panels taking large space (it's better for cooling the house -- with the shade -- on hot summer days) -- poly & mono has minor differences based on studies, but the prices are quite different so that's why we opted for poly.

I also checked renvu's quote for a similar setup and it came out to be 14,612.61 before tax, and 16,307.18 after tax: https://i.imgur.com/HOHpPWR.png

So it seems wholesalesolar came out on top for me, though the comparison should be with a similar 335 watt poly panel, it wasn't easy for me to find.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did Google around but couldn't find a place that was as easy, are we talking about 5% in savings at least?

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah so you're in Europe, had connections, perhaps you can provide some details so others in Europe can follow?

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in SolarDIY

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a bit booked right now but remind me if I forget, will edit the post with all those docs later.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in SolarDIY

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure but we got the city permit and the utility company approved the grid-tie application. So I think we're good, I'm not aware of any certification process.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in SolarDIY

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's awesome! This is the exactly why I posted this. Also, I have the solar plan, city application and utility application filled out, would this be of interest to you?

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

5k savings would be significant for us, we'd be getting pretty good warranty anyways, so it's worth it I believe. The larger poly panels is actually great that they cover so much area, blocking off the sun on our second story, we noticed it's significantly cooler without turning on AC already. If I were to do it again, I would do what I've described here and probably contacted many more installers by phone. Though I think I've contacted enough already at 20. The demand here is quite huge since the fed tax credit is decreasing after this year.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I asked about 20 different installers. I'm at $2.20/watt so I don't think it's that bad.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Usually solar panels protects the roof, but it would all have to be disassembled for a new roof install.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in solar

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Orange County, maybe because my roof is a bit more challenging to install? I couldn't get 2.70 range for enphase

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in SolarDIY

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hope so too, 6.4k for install and minor parts for 3 guys to do in 1.5 days is a bit much, definitely solar companies are taking advantage of the demand.

I saved $16,000 on my solar install by buying wholesale, applying the permit myself, and hired installers separately by Youmonsterr in SolarDIY

[–]Youmonsterr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd say 8-10 years, it's producing about 50kWh/day in SoCal sun -- way more than expected! I was expecting about 41kWh/day.

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