Day of install - what to ask about?

[petesamprs]

My install date is coming in a few days. Roof mounted 15KW (42 panels) system in north NJ. Anything I should make sure to ask the foreman about or insist that he do during in the install?

[JSchnee21]

Welcome Pete! There are several of us from NJ on the board now. Who's your installer? GPE?

Generally, the main install concerns tend to be around the mounting system. The type of brackets that are used, how they are flashed, the state of your roof, etc. Whether or not they hit all of the studs, etc.

In NJ, most/all of our installs (for folks on the board) have been from GPE (myself included). In general, I would say that most/all folks are very happy with them.

Can you provide some additional details:
Panel brand and size
Inverter brand and size
PoCo company -- JCP&L or PSE&G?
Orientation, inclination, shading?

-Jonathan

Most of us link our SE portal data to PVOutput for better trending and graphing. For example, my system:

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

[petesamprs]

Sorry I should have linked my prior post (or responded to that one). https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...ou-doublecheck

The only difference is the final design is 46 panels instead of 50 referenced in that post.

[JSchnee21]

Thanks! I thought you looked familiar. Given your orientation and inclination, and lack of shade, you should get quite a good yield from 46 panels -- likely more than you need (until you buy a Tesla or two) (-:

Be sure to run Ethernet to your inverters -- much better than Cellular.

Did you end up getting the SE Consumption monitoring? I love mine.

Be sure SGE registers the panel serial numbers with Panasonic (required for 25 yr warranty).

Are you going to handle reading your SREC meter and submitting to PJM-GATS?

[petesamprs]

thanks, yes I'm planning ahead a bit for the extra usage I expect from a pool (heated with a heat pump) and possibly an electric car in the future.

I don't have SE consumption monitoring in my contract, but I'll ask the installer to add that. Hopefully they don't charge me too much or I'll figure it out how to DIY it afterwards.

Isn't SE rolling out new firmware soon that will allow wifi connectivity? Prefer that to running an ethernet cable if I don't have to.

I guess I'll handle reading the SREC meter unless there's an easier way to do it.

[JSchnee21]

Sounds good. Some here on the board have done DIY consumption monitoring. It's not too hard if you're inclined. I doubt they'll just through it in if they didn't already order the kit.

Yes, in theory, Wifi support for HD series inverters is supposed to finally be coming. But when it will finally arrive is anyone's guess -- maybe Q1 or Q2 of 2020?

While Butch's suggestion of using revenue grade inverters is a good idea. I've yet to see anyone do that in practice. Assuming you'll have the same separate, "dumb", SREC meter that the rest of us have, which you'll need to read yourself, you might as well submit the production data, too. It only takes a few minutes once you are all set up.

[petesamprs]

I'll ask them and see what they say. If it's too late I'll just do it myself. I have tracked the DIY posts on the forum.

Do you think the Wifi connection for the HD inverters will be just as detailed/granular as the hardwired/ethernet? If so I'll probably just wait till that rolls out instead of running ethernet lines down to my basement.

Anything else to ask my installer such as where to run lines or place the hardware?

[sunpoweredev]

Nothing really I can add that JSchnee didn't already mention, except perhaps to ask the install crew to paint the 2x4 that they'll be mounting the equipment onto if it's going somewhere inside the house (garage or basement). They mounted the equipment on day 4 IIRC, after they finished everything on the roof and the conduit in the attic. After they left, I took everything off and painted the 2x4 board myself. When they came back the foreman mentioned that they would've painted it for me had I asked. At least ask them to give you the board on day 1 so that you can get it painted ahead of time.

I lucked out on getting the consumption meter. GPE quoted $800 for it and I declined and was going to DIY install it later. When the equipment arrived, somehow it included the consumption meter so I asked to guys to install it for me. A far cleaner installation than I could've ever done (the consumption meter is the bottom of the V arrangement in the picture). The inverters we get now don't have the screen and will require SetApp to do any kind of configuration on the inverter, including configuring the consumption meter, so I'm not sure it's possible to DIY install it since you will not have access to SetApp. Knowing what I know now, I would've paid the $800 to have it installed as I love being able to monitor consumption data.

Where about are you located in north NJ? I am as well and am high up (~1000' elevation) and my panels are still covered in snow. It just came back on yesterday and produced a measly 11kWh in yesterday's full sun And two of the panels are still in an alert state with a no measurement status.

@jschnee21 GPE does not handle SREC trades any more.

I have no complaints with GPE. I like that they take their time with their install process which was 5 full days on my install. One of the houses in my subdivision had a PV system installed about a month ago, a ~10kW system. It was done in 1 day and I saw the Sunrun truck back at least once couple weeks ago, presumably to troubleshoot.

Edit: it'll be the electrician that will install and wire up the consumption meter. When I asked the install crew about the consumption meter, they weren't sure what to do with it. The day of the town inspection another guy will come configure everything when turning on the system for the first time.

inverter.JPG

[petesamprs]

Good info, thanks. They are also quoting me an exorbitant price on the consumption meter, so my plan was to DIY it after install. Hopefully there's a way to do without the screen on the inverter.