Coming Soon to NJ - 12.35 kW Hanwha DUO-G5 + SolarEdge Inverter/Optimizers by GPE

[sunpoweredev]

So I called in to GPE today just to get an update and I'm still about a week out from being scheduled due to all the rainy days in the past two weeks. I guess that's about the same as you after your roof install, approximately 2 to 2 1/2 weeks.

I would imagine the PTO wait will be the most painful knowing you COULD be making energy already with the flick of a switch but it's out of your and GPE's hands....

Could you get a rough measure of that full inverter/meter board you have setup now for me?

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Looks like it's sitting right next to your main panel which is my plan in the basement, just want to clear the space and maybe paint the spot prior to install.

I'll also be setting up my Ethernet switch nearby in the rafters for the run to the inverter, and while I'm at it I might run a line to my Fire TV box since I already have a hole in the floor from the cable line I no longer use.

That wooden board is 4' by 2' which the install crew brought and put on. Over the weekend I unmounted the inverter and painted it myself. If you already have a board perhaps it'd be easier to get it painted ahead of time, but wasn't hard at all taking off the inverter - 4 hex screws to get it off the mount, and 4 more wood screws for the mount itself.

GPE called earlier today and informed me that they got the town inspection scheduled for first week of July already. Nice! Though they did say that the PoCo (JCP&L for me) is usually the longest.

Edit: BTW it seems the ridge vent helps. We were out on this toasty day all day. It wasn't as stuffy upstairs as it was the last time it was this hot, and the AC only ran for 30 minutes (set to 82 while no one is around).
Thanks JSchnee21, save me that step too

[NJturtlePower]

The electrical work is done. The electrician installed the consumption meter for me This was a surprise request to him but he had the necessary parts to install it. Very clean install, much cleaner than had I tackled it myself. He added a breaker to the disconnect to power the meter, as well running the CT wires through the conduits outside and back in for a totally clean look.

After they left, I opened all the panels to have a look see and it seems he forgot to wire the communication wires to the inverter. I circled them in yellow in the photos. Should be simple enough as there are just 3 terminals marked B A G. I'll strip out a cat5 cable as macaddict has done with his install and get it connected myself.

Now the waiting game begins for the inspection by the town and the PoCo. Another rep will come put on the actual SREC meter, configure the inverter and power up the system. Probably another month before it goes live. The electrician also highly suggested that I use Ethernet. I will put up the wireless bridge before the rep arrives to configure the inverter.

NJturtlePower Hope you also luck out on having the meter delivered with your equipment. But if not, perhaps you can order one and ask your electrician nicely (perhaps a drink or a steak dinner to go with it ) to get it installed for you. It may be different for your, but my equipment arrived the night before the install crew showed up the next morning. They were here for four days. Not sure if that's enough time for you to procure the consumption meter if you find that you didn't get one with your equipment shipment.

Edit: The consumption meter is installed by the electrician. The install crew was here last Wednesday and the electrician the following Tuesday. Perhaps you can schedule the electrician after you procure the meter if it wasn't included with your shipment.

So I called in to GPE today just to get an update and I'm still about a week out from being scheduled due to all the rainy days in the past two weeks. I guess that's about the same as you after your roof install, approximately 2 to 2 1/2 weeks.

I would imagine the PTO wait will be the most painful knowing you COULD be making energy already with the flick of a switch but it's out of your and GPE's hands....

Could you get a rough measure of that full inverter/meter board you have setup now for me?

image_12498.jpg

Looks like it's sitting right next to your main panel which is my plan in the basement, just want to clear the space and maybe paint the spot prior to install.

I'll also be setting up my Ethernet switch nearby in the rafters for the run to the inverter, and while I'm at it I might run a line to my Fire TV box since I already have a hole in the floor from the cable line I no longer use.

[JSchnee21]

Wow! Very nice. The GPE installer will run and land the RG485 coms wire and program the inverter. Electricians usually won't touch the low voltage stuff.

[sunpoweredev]

The electrical work is done. The electrician installed the consumption meter for me This was a surprise request to him but he had the necessary parts to install it. Very clean install, much cleaner than had I tackled it myself. He added a breaker to the disconnect to power the meter, as well running the CT wires through the conduits outside and back in for a totally clean look.

After they left, I opened all the panels to have a look see and it seems he forgot to wire the communication wires to the inverter. I circled them in yellow in the photos. Should be simple enough as there are just 3 terminals marked B A G. I'll strip out a cat5 cable as macaddict has done with his install and get it connected myself.

Now the waiting game begins for the inspection by the town and the PoCo. Another rep will come put on the actual SREC meter, configure the inverter and power up the system. Probably another month before it goes live. The electrician also highly suggested that I use Ethernet. I will put up the wireless bridge before the rep arrives to configure the inverter.

NJturtlePower Hope you also luck out on having the meter delivered with your equipment. But if not, perhaps you can order one and ask your electrician nicely (perhaps a drink or a steak dinner to go with it ) to get it installed for you. It may be different for your, but my equipment arrived the night before the install crew showed up the next morning. They were here for four days. Not sure if that's enough time for you to procure the consumption meter if you find that you didn't get one with your equipment shipment.

Edit: The consumption meter is installed by the electrician. The install crew was here last Wednesday and the electrician the following Tuesday. Perhaps you can schedule the electrician after you procure the meter if it wasn't included with your shipment.

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[macaddict]

Thank you. Yes it looks like something I can tackle, since I don't have to deal with bare live high voltage wires it appears. I'll need to read up on configuring the inverter. Does it require installer access to configure or owner access will do?

Owner access is fine. You may need to open up the inverter to get into the configuration menu. In another post I had put the manual for mine but you are probably better off going to SolarEdge's website and downloading the latest manual as you have a newer inverter.

[sunpoweredev]

I did it myself. I just replied with another post with the links to my install but it is unapproved because of the links. Once the mods get to it, you'll see how I did it. If you have added a circuit to your main panel, it should be easy for you.

Thank you. Yes it looks like something I can tackle, since I don't have to deal with bare live high voltage wires it appears. I'll need to read up on configuring the inverter. Does it require installer access to configure or owner access will do?

[sunpoweredev]

NJturtlePower the panel installation is done. The electrician will be doing the final work tomorrow. The crew says they have installations lined up one after another. They were here pretty much four full days doing the installation. I was told tomorrow will only take 2-3 hours.

The back looks quite messy as your said earlier, but the roof is what it is and can't change that. Can't see a thing from the front so it's fine with me.

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[sunpoweredev]

Anything can be DIY it depends on the technical level of the "Y"? A consumption monitor is not all that had to add but does involve getting into areas with high voltage ( often some that can not easily be turned off like the incoming lines to your MSP)

Of course. I was about to tackle installing the NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage, but was able to find an electrician that was cheap enough for me not to DIY it. Mainly I was wondering if it requires some kind of inverter configuration that only the installer can perform, and then there's another box containing the "split core current transformer" which looks like it clamps over the main feed.

The electrician will be here tomorrow to do the final work. If he'll put it on great, but if not I'm not going to mess with it.

[JSchnee21]

I paid GPE to procure and install my consumption monitor. The GPE electrical sub installed some/most of it -- certainly the AC side of it. I think the low voltage/coms side was done by one of the GPE installers -- as well as the necessary portal/inverter config which, at the time, took about them about an hour on the phone with SE corporate (mostly waiting on hold).

The only little wrinkle was the fact that the consumption monitor needs AC power itself to run. So the electrician was needed to install an additional 2-pole supply breaker in the main AC disconnect to feed it.

[ButchDeal]

Anything can be DIY it depends on the technical level of the "Y"? A consumption monitor is not all that had to add but does involve getting into areas with high voltage ( often some that can not easily be turned off like the incoming lines to your MSP)

[macaddict]

ButchDeal2 can the consumption meter be a DIY, or this is an electrician's job? I'm not sure if the crew will install it for me. They told me they haven't seen it before, although this crew is mostly the install crew. The electrician is coming on Tuesday to do the actual electrical work.

I did it myself. I just replied with another post with the links to my install but it is unapproved because of the links. Once the mods get to it, you'll see how I did it. If you have added a circuit to your main panel, it should be easy for you.

[macaddict]

ButchDeal2 can the consumption meter be a DIY, or this is an electrician's job? I'm not sure if the crew will install it for me. They told me they haven't seen it before, although this crew is mostly the install crew. The electrician is coming on Tuesday to do the actual electrical work.

I installed it myself. You can see my pictures here: https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...239#post364239

Here is a post of my looking for info about it: https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...ter#post354490

[sunpoweredev]

I requested to have all my conduits in the attic and GPE had no issues with it. Even though my system is in the back of the house (south facing), you don't see a single conduit. 100% cleaner than my neighbor down the street that has metal conduits running across his roof (installed by another installer). There is also a DC junction box in the attic that I'm sure is a lot easier to tap into if any testing needs to be done than going up on my roof.

The crew insisted on running it in the attic. It comes down along a gutter down spout and below the siding. Looks quite clean although I just noticed that it didn't come down along the spout perfectly straight and that does bother me just a bit lol. I'm a sucker for symmetry. GPE engineering told me that if I relocated 3 of the PVC pipes on the roof, they could've rearranged the panel such that it gives me the same output with one less panel, but that throws off the symmetry of the panel layout on another array (plus I didn't want the hassle of having to coordinate a plumber with the roofer to do it).

I thought outside conduits have to be metal. Is that not the case? The conduits connecting the arrays on the roof are metal.

The crew took longer than expected on Friday. One of the guys was in the attic for quite a while running the conduit so the panels will go up Monday instead.

ButchDeal2 can the consumption meter be a DIY, or this is an electrician's job? I'm not sure if the crew will install it for me. They told me they haven't seen it before, although this crew is mostly the install crew. The electrician is coming on Tuesday to do the actual electrical work.

I'm also still not sure if they're be using the inverter's internal RGM or will they install a separate one adjacent to the inverter as the install crew kept saying. I do not see another box containing a separate meter.
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[NJturtlePower]

PVOutput dot org is perfect for that as it allows you to compare 2 systems. Once your monitoring is setup, you need an API key from your system to set it up in PVOutput. Take a look at the link in my signature.

Yup, account and signature already set up, just waiting on some data. I've checked out your system and searched for a few others in my area to save as favorites.

[macaddict]

It will be interesting comparing our output once we're up and running being our system size is nearly identical and the only measurable variable will be panel brand.

PVOutput dot org is perfect for that as it allows you to compare 2 systems. Once your monitoring is setup, you need an API key from your system to set it up in PVOutput. Take a look at the link in my signature.