Anyone have any experience with solar?

[00tec]

I have been on multiple outages related to Xcel power going down. Lakewood, and West Denver area. People come out to the truck to see when power will be up. Middle of the day so I asked the guy why he cares, and point at his panels. He tells me its require to power down when power goes down. So the linemen don't get lit up with feed FROM house. Not sure why they cant just disconnect from the grid, I've seen this a few times. I'm not sure if all areas do the same, however I have heard it from multiple excel customers during power outages.

The transfer switch is extra $. Systems without a transfer switch are required to monitor line voltage so the system goes down with the grid so you dont fry the line guys or firefighters that have to shut down a block.

[BushMasterBoy]

The idea of solar I like. But I don't want it on the roof. I want it in the back yard. And I want a system I can maintain my self. A few of my neighbors have it, but I think they drank some of the salesfolks koolaid. I'll just build my own. If you really want to get into it subscribe to this magazine. I used to subscribe, but have been way too busy last few years to even consider it.

https://www.homepower.com/articles/s...ion/diy-or-pro

[theGinsue]

I have been on multiple outages related to Xcel power going down. Lakewood, and West Denver area. People come out to the truck to see when power will be up. Middle of the day so I asked the guy why he cares, and point at his panels. He tells me its require to power down when power goes down. So the linemen don't get lit up with feed FROM house. Not sure why they cant just disconnect from the grid, I've seen this a few times. I'm not sure if all areas do the same, however I have heard it from multiple excel customers during power outages.

As 00tec said, there are transfer switches you can install to avoid the grid feed issue. These are also used on homes that have backup generators. The transfer switches also ensure nothing gets fried when the grid power comes back on. There are manual switches and the more expensive automatic switches which take the guess work out of the prcess and ensure you've got power if you're not at home when the grid power goes out.

[Great-Kazoo]

Yeah, they're uber expensive. The comparison I read about was $61K for a roof with 40% solar shingles, $17K for real slate, and $5K for asphalt. You will likely never make that cost difference back. I'll see if I can find the article.

Not the same article, but was updated on May 10th with estimates. For my home, it would cost about $72,700. I'm not sure I'd live long enough to ever make it out of the red on the extra expense.

How much will a Tesla Solar Roof cost on my home?
http://www.teslarati.com/consumer-re...lar-roof-cost/

$61 K ! that's more than my house cost

[ben4372]

As 00tec said, there are transfer switches you can install to avoid the grid feed issue. These are also used on homes that have backup generators. The transfer switches also ensure nothing gets fried when the grid power comes back on. There are manual switches and the more expensive automatic switches which take the guess work out of the prcess and ensure you've got power if you're not at home when the grid power goes out.

No, I get the transfer switch thing as looking at a system that had battery and generator back ups. I would not have a system that needed grid power. It could be the regs during period of install. Things might have evolved? If not a legal requirement why you do something so dumb as to need grid power to make it work? Either way, I'd wait for solar to refine itself a bit.

[Eric P]

The developer wants you to get solar so they can advertise the community as being green, bringing in more lefties to the unsold hood.

Just saying, refusing solar may land you neighbors you want, not despise.

[gnihcraes]

I'm probably wrong, but all grid tied systems need to be run with an inverter that is Line Powered, so when the line is down it's not back feeding the grid. Safety.

My solar city setup is line powered.

There are many providers of solar now locally. I'd suggest looking into someone other than solar city. A recent thread on the nextdoor website here showed multiple vendors outside of solar city and namaste. Customer service after sale with solar city sucks. I've had no issues to report, yet a friend who had roof damage and suspected the solar city install, couldn't get them to respond. Finally ended up paying a lawyer to sue them to get a response out of them. So, avoid solar city.

Mine is a lease system. Many folks frown on the lease and a lot of the negative involves re-sale of the home etc. I haven't planned on moving and probably never will, moot point to me, but if you're a person who is nomad all the time and moving, don't get a solar system, bought or leased.

Mine is a small system due to house structure issues with old house. 1922. I recently have had one of the best days produced! The system has produced half our usage. I pay solar city $20 month on the lease.

20.9kWh



as for hail damage, none taken here on solar system, yet roof took a beating and will be replaced. On the lease, solar city is on the hook for everything if it quits working or damaged. It will be interesting to see how quickly solar city will come out to remove the panels to allow the roof repairs like they claim during the "sale". Hopefully I don't need a lawyer.