Getting solar at the house

[al_g]

tmleadr03

Yeah! Glad to hear it's installed and operating. Keep us posted on the performance etc.

Mine is doing ok. I'm waiting to see the leaves fall off the ash tree and then I'll finally get some sun on the east portion of the system. West side after about noon, I crank out 1200-1400 watts. Highest yet has been 1490 watts for several hours until sunset. I'll trim up the ash some more in the summer after I see how much it blocks it again.

Talked to my contractor today, we'll meet up on monday to discuss the additional support structure I need in the attic, then get that done and approved. I'll call solar city back and say "upgrade please" and see what happens. I'd be golden then, plenty of sun on the roof not shaded by the tree.

Pretty cool to see the watt readout. While blowing out our sprinklers today I glanced at the panel was we were make almost 7680 watts. I'm so glad the previous owners were using a lot of power for salt water tanks and we got a pretty big system that they pre-paid the lease for. Every time a bulb burns out it is getting replaced with a LED one so we can drop our power usage bit by bit. I don't think Xcel will be too thrilled with the amount of power we use versus generate ourselves

[gnihcraes]

Xcel put in my meters a couple weekends back. Funny too...

Daughter called the wife while we were on a short errand. Xcel is here, when will you be back? OMG, I've got the system on bypass since the meter is not there, using up free energy! This is a saturday! What is Xcel doing out on a saturday? I'm sweating a bit. Haha.

I bypass the house and go around the block, dang if the service guy is in the back driveway where the meters are. SH*T. (i was hoping it was just some other issue)

I pull in and he yells out the truck window as I approach his truck, "You're all Set". (Puzzled?) Ok, sounds good. Just to see what he'd say, I apologized for using the system, we're trying to get a handle on how many watts it's really putting out on the sunny days before going live. (lie)

Well, you shouldn't be doing that, anytime that meter spins, forwards or backwards, it's charging you. Interesting, I didn't know that? Well anyways, I'm neutral on my generation/useage. So it shouldn't be much of a deal.

Tmleadr03: It appears you're right, if the Xcel guy isn't lying. My friend who has been using his 8kw system, says his bill did come in more than when not having the system. He's been spinning his meter backwards a bit without the new meters. (he was also using AC though, so it's hard to really tell)

My bill went down $25 according to the wife, so my system being nearly neutral on general useage days, apparently is helping save $.

I thought I might catch up to my useage, but with the last week or so of no sun, I'm not doing very well. Solar is at 69kw generated and the useage meter is at 238 or something. Obviously the cold weather and heaters aren't helping.

[jhirsh5280]

I have a system on my house and Ive run a surplus every month its been installed. That included the summer where I kept the house at a constant 70 degrees. Bill from Xcel went from around $100 a month to $8 a month and only because I have to pay stupid fees, otherwise it would be $0. I do pay $49.50 a month to SolarCity so technically it cut my bill $50 a month on average.

[gnihcraes]

I have a system on my house and Ive run a surplus every month its been installed. That included the summer where I kept the house at a constant 70 degrees. Bill from Xcel went from around $100 a month to $8 a month and only because I have to pay stupid fees, otherwise it would be $0. I do pay $49.50 a month to SolarCity so technically it cut my bill $50 a month on average.

Unfortunately my system ended up being small, 3.4kw due to structure issues in the OLD house. I'm working on getting that corrected in the next few weeks and looking into ordering up the additional panels. Hopefully I can get the larger system and start saving a bit more.

[T-Giv]

Just got my system installed yesterday. Came out great! Now the long wait for Excel to get their poop in a group...

[gnihcraes]

Just got my system installed yesterday. Came out great! Now the long wait for Excel to get their poop in a group...

Cool! Time went by pretty quickly really. Just don't use it with the current meters, apparently it does charge you even if the meter is spinning backwards. ? Teamldr was right.

I've got the contractors coming in next week to add some more structure to the roof in my house, then I'll call solar city back for a reevaluation and hopefully more panels.

[T-Giv]

That should work nicely if/when they up your system size. I will post some pics of mine once the ice melts off of it. I also had them design mine with some open panel space so that if I find I am using more than I thought I would I can expand the system down the line.

[TFOGGER]

I've been talking to a friend of mine about installing a system. He advocated buying the panels (currently about $1-$1.25/watt, including the inverters) and doing the install ourselves. He designs the systems for a living, so after we get the roof on the house, I'm going to look into it. At $1.25 a watt, the system will pay for itself (with tax credits) in about 4.3 years, assuming 11.2 cents a kilowatt hour.

[tmleadr03]

Just logged into my online account. Since my meter was installed I have made 824 KWh. Not too horrible for the winter months.

[gnihcraes]

Just logged into my online account. Since my meter was installed I have made 824 KWh. Not too horrible for the winter months.

280.14 kWh on my small system here.

I'm getting about 4 or 5 kWh a day with clear skies. One of the best days I observed was partially cloudy, lots of reflective light it appears.