Finally installing PV on my roof in LA: day 1

[DanKegel]

I thought the solar company was supposed to provide the engineering expertise.

I'd feel more comfortable if they used a pre-engineered reverse tilt kit. I've started another thread to collect info about those.

It's funny... JPM seems to be blaming the victim a bit here. I appreciate his help in pointing out the issues, though.

[J.P.M.]

I thought the solar company was supposed to provide the engineering expertise. Evidently they're more of a kit user, and out of their depth on anything not handled by their standard kit.

That'd be fine if they used a pre-engineered reverse tilt kit. I've started another thread to collect info about those.

It's funny... JPM seems to be blaming the victim a bit here. I appreciate his help in pointing out the issues, though.

Yea, you'd think that huh ? Well I'd suggest that most companies do, but only to the extent required by law and some common sense. Perhaps other's definition of those terms is a bit different than yours ? Or, as your handle once said: you're no expert, but you like science.

No blame or victims here, unless victims of our own mental sloth, or unless you call pointing out some possible consequences of what I see as a general and common lack of awareness that people take some responsibility for what happens to them to be blame.

Just telling it like I see it. Opinions vary. To the extent you believe it to be blame, and if it applies to you, take it that way. Otherwise, leave it.

[DanKegel]

I appreciate your helpful info. It comes wrapped in an awfully prickly package, but nobody's perfect.

[J.P.M.]

I appreciate your helpful info. It comes wrapped in an awfully prickly package, but nobody's perfect.

Don't mention it. Please.

If I felt the strut issue did not involve safety, you would not have heard from me.

As for any of my info/opinion being helpful, opinions vary. Thank you for your condescension of allowing me a human quality, but please be assured I'm quite aware of being less than perfect.

However, I'll be sure to give your expressed opinion all the consideration it deserves, especially coming from someone who also admits to being imperfect.

The last word is yours.

[DanKegel]

The installer called yesterday and said they'd come by between 2pm and 4pm to hook up the monitoring.
I had emailed them and spoken with them repeatedly about wanting hardwired ethernet,
and even ran the ethernet myself and looped the cable over the front of the inverter so
they wouldn't miss the message. Alas, they came early, and by the time I got home,
they had already left... with my cable ignored, and a wireless antenna on top of the inverter.
Grr.

It's not like zigbee would even be all that bad, but I did try hard to tell them what I wanted.
I guess it has to be in the contract for them to get the message.

I also mentioned the reverse tilt mount problem to them, and asked their engineer to weigh in.
Let's see what they do.

The bifacials still aren't mounted, the special brackets haven't come in yet.
- Dan

[Sed8Me]

I am just a newbie here... system in but not PTO yet... but I read this and thought the same thing... personally I like to know 'things'... if someone says the pool heater is 25,000 BTUs, I want to understand what a BTU is... when I asked the installers simple questions about the meter readings, they did not know?... when it came time to set up the 'online' portion of the system so they could remotely monitor, I did it myself because they did not seem to know what they were doing...

Truth is, some people are just happy to know what to do, not "why they do it"... but glad to see it was not just me!

[bcroe]

The installer called yesterday and said they'd come by between 2pm and 4pm to hook up the monitoring.
I had emailed them and spoken with them repeatedly about wanting hardwired ethernet,
and even ran the ethernet myself and looped the cable over the front of the inverter so
they wouldn't miss the message. Alas, they came early, and by the time I got home,
they had already left... with my cable ignored, and a wireless antenna on top of the inverter.
Grr. - Dan

So you just learned, the only way to guarantee it will be done right, is to be there and FORCE the issue. I
think I learned that watching someone who was supposed to grease my 62 Olds. I then had to point out some
of the 22 grease fittings he had overlooked. Next week I bought a grease gun (which I still have). Today I
have my own car lift. Bruce Roe

[DanKegel]

the only way to guarantee it will be done right, is to be there and FORCE the issue

Yup. They said they'd start at 2, but when I got there, they'd already come and gone. I should have worked at home today.

My point of contact says they'll fix it. That's one thing I like about this outfit; they do try hard to make things right. Let's see what happens with that mount, though.

[sensij]

Yup. They said they'd start at 2, but when I got there, they'd already come and gone. I should have worked at home today.

My point of contact says they'll fix it. That's one thing I like about this outfit; they do try hard to make things right. Let's see what happens with that mount, though.

Or, you can consider selling the Zigbee on ebay for ~$200 and hook up the ethernet yourself

[DanKegel]

The bifacials were installed today (pictures as usual at https://goo.gl/photos/s6s1n69k1EBuSejE8)
The back sides are shaded not just by the mounts, but also by the solaredge modules. (The installers clearly haven't quite gotten the memo.)

About the spindly reverse tilt mount: they did get approval from the city for a non-standard install. I'm still waiting for:
- them to send me the reverse mount engineering drawings and analysis they submitted for the plan check
- them to plug the ethernet into the monitoring system, and to grant me access to the panel-level monitoring data
- for a meter
- for inspection, turnon, and actually generating power

I am still discussing the concerns raised here with them about the mount. I was somewhat surprised they went and installed the bifacials given that, but I was away from home at the time, and when my wife called to tell me it was happening, I figured I didn't really have enough of a case to tell them to stop.

Also, judging by http://runonsun.com/~runons5/blogs/m...0flowchart.pdf, I'm at least 5-6 weeks away from going live.

[SunEagle]

Your system looks pretty good. Hopefully the reverse tilt mount will work although I would expect better performance if your shingle color was much lighter to reflect the light.

Thanks for keeping us up to date with the install.

[DanKegel]

Yeah... wife and neighborhood association (well, HPOZ policy) vetoed any lighter shingles.

[SunEagle]

Maybe some type of white panel on the shingles to reflect light back to the panels? Unless it can be seen from the ground then your HOA could have a fit.

[DanKegel]

I'm planning on putting white Tyvek fabric down, it's a very high albeido surface, and relatively cheap. But I'd be surprised if it was cost-effective, the extra generation will be quite small. This is all in the name of science

Or- to be more realistic- maybe I'll go get a few standard white asphalt shingles and put them down temporarily.

[DanKegel]

The installer sent me engineering drawings which seem to show wind load calculations have been done by a registered professional engineer.
(I can share them privately upon request if anyone's curious.)
So in theory at least that checkbox has been ticked off.

Here's what one of the lower reverse tilt mount attachments looks like from below:

https://goo.gl/photos/VXwbkr9Zp5in2jDu6

I hope that plywood holds, and the bolt holds on well to the (dimensional, 100 year old, possibly termite-addled) 2x4.

I think I'm going to see if I can dig up a mechanical engineer alum friend from college to have a look at all this.