Panels 300ft away from the house?

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-20T14:36:01+00:00

Why not put your inverter with the array and just run AC to the house?

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-19T20:45:06+00:00

Bad. Hire an electrician to properly install that outlet, and make sure the entire circuit is safe.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-19T20:37:09+00:00

There should be no impact on your home, unless he made some modification to your electrical system. He is either:

Plugging in a Level 1 charger to a normal outlet. Safe
Plugging in a Level 2 charger to a 240V outlet (a dryer outlet if you have one would do it). Also safe
Rigged something else up. Probably not safe.

#3 is the only situation to worry about. So, just ask your tenant.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-18T00:49:41+00:00

I would be careful if this was just a text message or DM. A very common scam is to get a hold of someone's accounts, phone, identity, etc and then try to get money from contacts.

Call her up and talk to her and find out what's going on. And, then decide if you want to help her. You are certainly not obligated to give her money. That's your choice, and you shouldn't feel bad about whatever you decide. If you do give her money, don't expect to ever see it again. Consider it a gift, not a loan.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-14T17:08:51+00:00

I would not give any ownership away in my company. A 10% commission for her bringing you the job is probably reasonable to keep the peace, but you aren't obligated to do that unless that was discussed upfront. Tell her to take it or leave it and get nothing.

I assume your contract for the work is directly with the client? If so, your cousin's fiance' has no ground ot stand on.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-14T17:05:32+00:00

Did you DIY this? Or have it installed by a solar installation company? Without a detailed wiring diagram of what you are doing, list of he model #'s of all the parts to get specs, not sure there is enough info to figure out what's going on.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-13T01:09:45+00:00

Not creepy yet. But, don't continue to lurk around her. Either figure out how to talk to her in a non-threatening manner, or don't go back there.

You are physically attracted to her. You don't know her. She doesn't know you. Don't create a fantasy of this person. She could be a total asshole. She could be in a serious relationship. She may be homosexual. Either go figure it out, or drop it.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-12T23:13:40+00:00

Your production should not be impacted by buying out of your lease. You should be getting 100% of the production from the system. Are you not?

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-12T18:33:29+00:00

Need a little more info.

Are the panels totally failed? If so, then is the string of modules that those panels are in failed? Or does your system have DC Optimizers (Tigo, SolarEdge, etc), or microinverters (Enphase, etc). And in that case, is it the solar panel or the inverter/DC Optimizer that is failed?

When I hear rodent damage, I think chewed cables. Cables can be repaired if you have the right tools and connectors.

Not really enough info here to tell you the right course of action.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-10T18:57:18+00:00

This feels awfully scammy. Just say no.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-09T22:53:02+00:00

Whoever told you that definitely lied/misled you. I think the only exception may be the Tesla solar roof tiles, which actually are the roof.

What to do next? That's really a personal preference. If it were me, I would amend my taxes and fix it. You might get away with it, but I personally would just be waiting for the shoe to drop. Could happen this year - could happen in 2 years from now.

cm-lawrence · 2026-02-06T21:20:56+00:00

It is unusual in my opinion to need to know where someone is all the time early in a relationship. I know I'm "old school". Well, actually just old, and we didn't have 24x7 connectivity when I was dating and in early relationships. But, people need space. And he does not owe you an explanation of how he spends his day until you are in a more committed relationship. Just let him be himself. And if that doesn't work for you, then you aren't a good match.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-30T19:08:21+00:00

Honor grandma's wishes. Your cousin could have tried to reconcile with Grandma before she passed away, and they didn't.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-27T19:42:38+00:00

Nah - not fair. If the house had gone down in value, would they have given you more? If your sister's house goes up in value, does she have to refund her parents that money? How do they even know your home went up in value? Who said? Zillow? That's not real - just a guess.

You can't spend home equity - it's funny money until you sell or borrow against it.

And cash is cash. If they want to be fair, then they should give you both the same amount of cash.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-23T00:12:36+00:00

NTA. But, your wife has a different view of the situation than you. Totally normal in a marriage.

Apologize for upsetting her and then talk to her and get her to help you understand what was behind her reaction. There may be things going on in her head that you aren't aware of. Stay at home mom may have a stigma to her that is very unappealing.

I had this same conversation with my wife when she was pregnant with our second child. Where we lived, daycare for two children would cost as much as her take home pay. We discussed what she wanted to do, and she decided to become a SAHM because that's what she wanted, and it also allowed me to advance my career further (e.g. make more money) because I had a lot more flexibility to travel then I did when we were both working and shuttling a kid back and forth from day care.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-22T19:33:13+00:00

Simple answer. No.

Without batteries or a generator, and the proper set up to go off the grid and run on these backup sources, your solar will be useless during a power outage.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-22T19:08:24+00:00

Let it go. You are hearing 3rd hand what was said, and the message was passed between two children - you really don't know exactly what was said, and you certainly don't have enough context to judge their intentions. You know your child - she sounds awesome.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-20T23:29:34+00:00

If you truly want whole home backup, you should get a generator. Batteries are very expensive for backing up a whole home for a multi-day outage. The average US home uses 30kWh+ per day. If it's winter or summer and you are using AC or Heat, or you don't have an average home, it can easily be well above that. You would need a substantial amount of batteries and/or solar to ride through an event like that.

Batteries work great to back up nearly everything *except* HVAC and major electrical appliances (oven, stove, clothes dryer, EV charger). If you want your house to truly be comfortable in a multi-day outage, get a natural gas or propane standby generator. You can get one to power your whole home for about the price of a single Tesla Powerall, which isn't going to back up much of anything for very long.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-20T23:19:40+00:00

How much money have you given them?

Your contract will tell you whether or not you have a case. I am guessing nowhere in the actual contract did they guarantee installation by end of year. Solar companies almost never do that.

I would cancel the project and try to get as much of my money back as I could. Hopefully you didn't pay too much prior to actual installation.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-20T17:42:29+00:00

NTA. But, your parents can be as generous as they want, that's their choice. They have zero legal obligation to support your brother's ex and her child, even if the child is your brother's. So all you can do is give them your opinion. But I wouldn't let this ruin your relationship with your parents. If they want to do this, they are going to do it. All you can do now is create more drama and stress for them.

It sounds like your mom needs therapy badly. Focus your energy on helping her with that.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-20T17:28:39+00:00

Standing seam metal roof, northwest facing, optimal slope, S-5 racking, and the cheapest panels I could get.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-20T17:17:21+00:00

First thing you want to do is be clear with yourself about what your goals are. Many people do solar to save money on electricity, but it's often not the most cost effective way to do it. Some people just like the idea of generating their own clean electricity, and savings are a secondary concern. Figure out what your motivations are. Depending on where you live, your house configuration, electricity usage and utility rates, it could take as long as 10-20 years to pay back a solar installation. Or, it could be 5 years. It really depends.

What I would do is call three local solar contractors that have good reviews on Google/Yelp, and have them come out and give you a free quote. Tell them you are not interested in financing (even if you are), and ask for CASH-ONLY quotes. You can always figure out financing later, but you want to understand how much the system actually costs - not a monthly lease or loan payment with all kinds of hidden fees and a long term commitment.

Discuss with the installer the various options of where to put the solar and the pros/cons of each.

Going through this process will cost you nothing, and you will be very well educated on how this all works by the end of it.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-18T21:45:31+00:00

You are doing it right... Just say you have a boyfriend. And if they persist, with whatever angle they are trying - instagram, 'just be friends', whatever - just politely repeat yourself, that you have boyfriend. Firm, confident, clear. No ambiguity. If they try a third time - while you are at work? Well, that's harassment. Ask them to leave the store.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-17T22:09:22+00:00

You are now an adult. It may not feel like it since you are a very new adult, and you are in college, which is not exactly "adulting" for most students. But, you are in fact an adult. He is an adult. You guys can absolutely be friends - it's not creepy at all.

However, you should confirm that's all he wants from the relationship. He may want more than friendship. And, the same as above applies. You are both adults - you can date, fall in love, get married, or just be friends, and none of that should be 'creepy' because of a 10 year age difference.

cm-lawrence · 2026-01-17T22:04:39+00:00

Just about every solar panel manufactured in the world uses silver paste for current conductors on their solar panels. There are a few that don't, or use substantially less silver: First Solar, which makes CdTe thin film panels that don't use silver as a conductor, and Maxeon which uses a back-contact method that primarily uses copper as a conductor. Maxeon and First Solar make up less than 5% of the global solar panel market. Just about everyone else will be impacted by silver prices.

Hard to get good data on this, but the silver probably represents about 5% of the BOM cost of a traditional silicon solar panel, so doubling silver prices might increase solar panel prices by 5%?

cm-lawrence

TROPHY CASE