My 10kw All USA Solar system finally getting in..

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JasonA

Well-known member
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
587
Location
Sylmar, CA
Well no thanks to the LADWP and Dept of Bldg and Safety for endless dragging and so on... our new expanded 10kw SolarWorld mono 265's with full Enphase is being installed in these 3 days... (was set for Aug :lol: )

Basically.. and EVERYONE has asked "why a 10kw??" welp.. because there's a 85kw Model S in the near future.. and LADWP would not allow us to over size the system without the paperwork of the 2nd EV.. :D

So let's begin... :D
The best of the best.. SolarWorld 265 Mono's... This is the first stack and I help unload them (well.. they are mine.. paid in FULL!) Fresh from Oregon!
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Boxes and boxes of Enphase's...
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Main 250a rear with my TOU meter now pushing 100a to garage and side... (HPC)..
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Initial racking to start with new PV Quick Mounts (USA Cali made).. Inverters are now installed.. but it's dark out..
http://www.quickmountpv.com/made-in-usa.html
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more to come tomorrow.. and then power up! (PTO)
 
Congrats on that- solar was the best decision I made in my home. Truly a great idea and more than returned its investment.
 
Keep taking pictures! Is LADWP concerned with being oversized because of the state incentives or ? What do you expect 10kw to produce annually?

On your EV charging, you have three receptacles? I presume that's on the outside of your house, can you use FMC in wet locations?
 
QueenBee said:
Keep taking pictures! Is LADWP concerned with being oversized because of the state incentives or ? What do you expect 10kw to produce annually?

On your EV charging, you have three receptacles? I presume that's on the outside of your house, can you use FMC in wet locations?
Don't really have "wet" locations" nec here like up there. Code is different but I've had the EV/TOU system in place now for awhile. :lol: 4ga right from the drop/separate weather head. One side goes to my VersiCharge (70a ver- rare but you can find them.. I worked for Siemens for almost 9 years).. and I've modded it with a 14-50 (Water proof flip box).. This is side of house.. and it's dialed for 40a.. so Rav's, etc can charge.

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Inside the garage is where I have the POWER!! well.. 5 different connections.. Nema's and a my custom built 70a OpenEVSE. So I can have 2 EV's charging at the same time no problem.

And yes, they would not allow us to oversize the system without the Tesla paperwork or anyother knowledge of a 2nd EV's VIN because this is 140% currently over our system or so.. can't remember.. it's early.. Just the Leaf wasn't enough.. Only a 8kw was the MAX they were willing to do.

I think it's going to be "certified" for 14,980 kw/hrs -per year production.. the original 8kw was 12,320 something something something kw/hrs/year...

Again, early and I'm drinking coffee.. I wasn't expecting them to be here yesterday when I pulled up. Wed/Thur/Fri was install & inspection.

So pics were quick & dirty... From now on it'll be with the 5dmk2 :cool:
 
Best of luck with all the new toys... I planned for 10 more panels and inverters for my roof... in a year or 2 when I get some model X going on... we go from 34 panels to 44.
 
Nice.. great thing is you can always add more later to the string or the array! I'd love to just cut away and say BU-BYE to them since I have a nice battery array already in the garage and can add on to that..

But still gotta pay that garbage and water :roll:
 
Alright... Almost done!! one more side or array to put up but I'm registered on Enphase and "technically" the system is up and running right now.... we're going to have rain here today and possibly tomorrow so the guys took a break.

I'm waiting for enough juice or light this morning to kick in the inverters so the Envoy will pickup them up and register them. I have my Visio map and everything ready to go... I'm READY!!!... Let's begin...

Unloaded and patiently waiting in the morning light (sun) :(
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Beautiful quality I have to admit..
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I love their machining work and milled edged.. bummer that on some of them, we scratched them pulling them out (prob more me then him since he was totally buff and lifted them like paper :shock: ) I was dragging after the 20th panel or so...anodizing is beautiful..
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patiently waiting to provide this thing juice!!
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Astro in the background saying "HURRY UP!!!"
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Inverters installed.. but not wired up yet..
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Getting there!
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Front side of house done!..
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Rear garage array done!
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Next is the front garage array(small.. very small now) and that's that...
Thanks for looking! :D
 
Jason,

Nice system! I've just resubmitted paperwork for a friend's 7000W ground-mount array permit and hope soon to begin putting it in. I am sure he will be glad to clear the PV equipment out of the garage and get the car back in out of the cold.

SCE has already contacted me via email and said they are committed to completing their inspection for permission to connect within two weeks of the final Building & Safety inspection. Did they get yours done this quickly? Six to eight weeks seems to have been more typical over here in the AV in 2013. Ours took over three months in 2006, so they are improving! ;)

Thanks!
 
Ours took over HALF A YEAR!! :lol:

Install took just 3 days (well panel and roofing).. 250a main and 100a for the new garage run was a different story :roll:

But we signed and sealed the deal in May 2013 :shock: LADWP and DBS crap... dragging their feet, etc,etc.. BLAH BLAH BLAH..

SoCal and LA is bankrupt... yet the unions back tens of millions behind our candidates and I see LADWP trucks parked under trees for hrs with the guys either asleep or just doing "paperwork" :roll:

So it was along process
 
I'm sure glad I live in small town Wisconsin, where the head building inspector is seriously interested in PVs, and where getting my permit cost $25 and took 15 minutes. Three inspections and then one by the utility engineer (just to make sure the inverters shut down when power was cut) and we were good to go. My concern about roof top installations is that the PVs will outlast the roofing material in many cases, meaning that the PVs may need to be removed and reinstalled at some point in the future.
 
HighDesertDriver said:
Nice system! I've just resubmitted paperwork for a friend's 7000W ground-mount array permit and hope soon to begin putting it in. I am sure he will be glad to clear the PV equipment out of the garage and get the car back in out of the cold.

SCE has already contacted me via email and said they are committed to completing their inspection for permission to connect within two weeks of the final Building & Safety inspection.
SCE's independent SCI inspection contractor just made the third inspection prior to issuance of the California solar rebate. That's over 7 months since completion, but at least they are done before the refund reservation expired.

On a related subject, we have received a pallet of SolarWorld 275 mono panels to replace our 2006 array of BP 175 panels. We recently suffered the failure of two more panels and BP opted to either replace the entire array with another brand (BP got out of the solar business a couple years ago), or just buy them back and let us replace them. The advantage of the simple buy-back is we'll have a new 25-year warranty instead of the remaining 17 years of our BP warranty.
 
HighDesertDriver said:
On a related subject, we have received a pallet of SolarWorld 275 mono panels to replace our 2006 array of BP 175 panels. We recently suffered the failure of two more panels and BP opted to either replace the entire array with another brand (BP got out of the solar business a couple years ago), or just buy them back and let us replace them. The advantage of the simple buy-back is we'll have a new 25-year warranty instead of the remaining 17 years of our BP warranty.
The SolarWorld mono's are coming up consistently in either #1 or 2 positions for long term durability and output testing. We are going to be adding another row or 2 here soon to our array (doing it myself) and probably 10 more 300's.

I'm thinking about SunPower's but they are still too new of a company. Yes, I like "highest" efficiency and smaller panel size, but that doesn't guarantee quality. I know a few people at SunPower in the Anaheim office (a lot moved from RGS) and I can get some panels cheap... but again.. the old saying. "better to burn out then fade away"

I've been tracking SP's progress and while nice, maybe a little too new still. I have some old Siemens panels (SM55's) that are still kicking :mrgreen:

I think it's like saying... take a Camry over Corvette? the vette gets you there quick and fast... but the Camry will go steady forever.

P.S. YTD as of today since PTO (2-17-14) is 10.8MWh. We had initial shading issues on back side of garage, so we'll see how the 1 year mark is.
 
Ours took over HALF A YEAR!! :lol:

Install took just 3 days (well panel and roofing).. 250a main and 100a for the new garage run was a different story

Been Working on my "Solar Leaf Charger".

The good news is my permit from PECO was only in the soup for 2 weeks, and surprisingly they could not have been nicer and more patient with my questions.

The bad news is I'm at least 3 weeks into this install just to get to this point.
(doing it all myself)
It's sort of a combination of Ground mount and roof mount components.

Ready to start putting panels up in another day or two, and yes, I have some serious meter and service work to do.

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KillaWhat said:
It's sort of a combination of Ground mount and roof mount components.

Any concern about the snow load/wind load on the cantilever? Was it difficult to get the engineering on the loads and capacities reasonable such that you were comfortable with it?
 
QueenBee said:
KillaWhat said:
It's sort of a combination of Ground mount and roof mount components.

Any concern about the snow load/wind load on the cantilever? Was it difficult to get the engineering on the loads and capacities reasonable such that you were comfortable with it?

Good question.
The support system is way over designed.
The rails that support the racking are rated at 680 lbs support (each) at mid-span.
The roof mounts are Zilla double stud mounts with 2-3/8” x 5” stainless lag bolts into a pair of sistered 2X8 douglass fir joists, 14 in total, with a PER BOLT pull out load of 1300 lbs.

Since the struts are supported at the mid point, the static dead load is balanced, and in theory, there is no up or down load on the lower mounts (static)

I evaluated that the weak point in the system (in theory) was actually the connection between the roof joists and the vertical wall assembly.

Modern construction is very reliant on “gravity” and an adhesive :oops:

So while I couldn’t come up with a real world scenario that could exert enough force on the system to do any damage to the mounting system without completely destroying the panels first, I installed hurricane straps between the Roof Joists, and top plate, and the top plate and the wall studs.

Typical engineer. It’s got a safety factor of about 500%.

Looks like a lot of shade. May need to trim or remove a tree.

Yes, I have some shade problems.
I have 2 trees coming down, and this picture was taken at 6:30 pm in late October.
I will have between 5.5 and 6 hours of decent sun in winter, and more in summer.
I live very much In The Woods!

This system will put out a max of 4kW/hr and at 6 hours that’s 24kW.
My non-charging daily load is about 19kW (LOTS of LED lighting)
So we will see how this goes.

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Very cool! I miss the greenery of my Aunt/Uncle's place in PA.. :D We're just like a desert now :cry:

Nice setup so far on the rack and inverters. A+ work! ;) Which panels have you decided on yet?

pchilds came over here last week when Tony was demoing the CHAdeMO on the Rav and I showed him my whole house UPS/enphase setup!

We now have plans for him! ;)

hehehe.. mad scientists we all are... :twisted:
 
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