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Hello from CT -- Just got our solar installed (with pics)

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  • Hello from CT -- Just got our solar installed (with pics)

    Howdy!

    We just got our solar installed last week. I'm joining this forum to keep up-to-dat on news, speak with other about solar, ask questions, etc. I look forward to reading and posting!

    Cheers!

    Install details:
    18kW system (50 panels)
    Panels: 360W LG NeON R (LG360Q1C-A5)
    Attached Files
    Last edited by Rothgarr; 09-19-2018, 06:59 PM.

  • #2
    Looks nice, how about some details on the setup?

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by magic8192 View Post
      Looks nice, how about some details on the setup?
      Thanks. I updated my OP with some details. Honestly, I have pages and pages of details and model numbers but my head spins trying to understand it all. Even though I have the system, I'm still learning!

      Comment


      • #4
        Im in CT as well. Good timing as im sure you know net metering will end early next year. I had mine installed last year and you will be grandfathered in untill 2039 with net metering. How much was your ct green bank incentive for? I think i got $2600 for my 5kw system.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by BFW577 View Post
          Im in CT as well. Good timing as im sure you know net metering will end early next year. I had mine installed last year and you will be grandfathered in untill 2039 with net metering. How much was your ct green bank incentive for? I think i got $2600 for my 5kw system.
          Exactly! Though I heard it was along the lines of at the end of 2019. Either way, I've been trying to convince people to do it now so (like you said) they get grandfather in.

          Comment


          • #6
            wow. looks great.. congrats.

            may i ask how much is your annual power usage? we have a larger home as well but almost all installers said they cant go more than 105% of annual power usage so we compromised with a 8 kW system.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by gubbar View Post
              wow. looks great.. congrats.

              may i ask how much is your annual power usage? we have a larger home as well but almost all installers said they cant go more than 105% of annual power usage so we compromised with a 8 kW system.
              Thanks!!!

              Up until this year, we were going through at least 18,000 kW every 12 months and that's what we based the system on.

              Of course, we just got a new highly-efficient water heater and from initial results, it looks like we may go down as low as 16,000 kW a year (or even lower) from that update alone. I wish we had done that long before getting solar as the system size is admittedly more than what we need. But I do plan on getting either an EV or PHEV car within the next year so that will bring our power usage back up again. Long story short, if you are thinking about solar, first update any power-hungry appliances (like electric water heaters) first.

              Comment


              • #8
                Welcome!

                I'm surprised your LG NeonR's look so blue in the light. From the product shots I've seen (on the web brochures) they looked more black / dark gray like my Panasonic panels. Do you have a string inverter, Solar Edge, or Enphase? Obviously you don't have any shading from trees. Though your different roof faces may case shadows at certain time of the day.

                I assume you don't have natural gas available given your electric hot water? Did you concern to propane or heat pump? Yes, it is generally much more cost effective to insulate, seal, and improve energy efficiency than to throw solar at the problem.

                Have you gotten connected to the monitoring portal (for Solar Edge or Enphase)? You can also link your production and/or consumption data to PVOutput as many of us do.

                https://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=58372&sid=52103


                Comment


                • #9
                  Howdy.

                  I've never seen an actual product shot of the LG NeON panels -- they are all line drawings/vector art and they look pitch black. The only photos I saw were portfolio pics from the installer. They are definitely lighter than the pitch black that the fake product shots would indicate, but they don't bother me. I think it also depends on the angle -- from the ground they look more black and blue. The drone shots definitely look bluer -- maybe the reflection of the sky?

                  We don't have a single tree on our yard that would produce an inch of shadow on the roof. Really only one bottom right panel might get shaded by another part of the roof when the sun is low.

                  We got a heat pump water heater (this one: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-Pe...50U1/303419594 ). We got it when it was on sale, either $1,599 or $1,699. And it had an instant $200 rebate and an additional $300 mail-in rebate. The thing is awesome.

                  We have an Enphase.

                  No connection to monitoring yet as we still have two inspections to go before they'll turn it on full time (town inspection tomorrow and power company next week where they also swap out our meter for a net meter. At that time the solar company will hook me up with an Enphase account to monitor by iOS and web browser. I think the software is called Elighten? I can't wait to nerd out to all the stats and reporting.

                  ​​​​

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Sounds good. Cool hot water heater. I'm fortunate to have natural gas for hot water, furnace, cooking, which thanks to fracking, is very cheap these days. But my old AC uses a lot of electricity. I had hoped to get an EV one day (Model 3) but my 12.2kW DC array only meets ~75-90% of my current annual consumption as is. Perhaps I'll have more headroom when I replace our AC. But since a quality variable speed system is over $10K I'm not in any hurry to do so.

                    Yes, it could very well be some reflection from the sky

                    NeonR
                    https://www.lg.com/us/business/downl..._ck_FRD_V5.pdf

                    Panasonic
                    https://na.panasonic.com/us/energy-s...ic-module-hitr

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by JSchnee21 View Post
                      Sounds good. Cool hot water heater. I'm fortunate to have natural gas for hot water, furnace, cooking, which thanks to fracking, is very cheap these days. But my old AC uses a lot of electricity. I had hoped to get an EV one day (Model 3) but my 12.2kW DC array only meets ~75-90% of my current annual consumption as is. Perhaps I'll have more headroom when I replace our AC. But since a quality variable speed system is over $10K I'm not in any hurry to do so.

                      Yes, it could very well be some reflection from the sky

                      NeonR
                      https://www.lg.com/us/business/downl..._ck_FRD_V5.pdf

                      Panasonic
                      https://na.panasonic.com/us/energy-s...ic-module-hitr
                      I've definitely seen that NeonR PDF before (I'm sure our installer even sent it to us at one point), and that "image" is clearly an Adobe Illustrator vector drawing and now an actual photo. It's cloudy today and they definitely look black (well, close to black -- they are very reflective so they glare the overcast grey clouds right now...)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Hi All, just a reminder to the newbs, any links in your posts mean they get sent for moderation, simply reposting them umpteen times just makes more work for the mods (deleting them) , so if you want your posts to display straight away forget the links, cheers

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by solar pete View Post
                          Hi All, just a reminder to the newbs, any links in your posts mean they get sent for moderation, simply reposting them umpteen times just makes more work for the mods (deleting them) , so if you want your posts to display straight away forget the links, cheers
                          Dang, I'm so sorry! Lesson learned, thanks for letting me know.

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