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  • Panels not installed efficiently

    I just had solar panels installed. The design team sent me a graphic of the layout for the installation that made it appear that there was no more room on the front of the house. However, once installed it was easy to see there was plenty of room.

    Here is the data
    3 panels were installed on the back of the house on the morning room. I think those three panels should have been installed on the front of the house instead. Am I reading the following data correct?

    front of house: tof 75, solar access 99, tsrf 74
    morning room: tof 87, solar access 70, tsrf 60

    If I am right, how much am I losing have those panels on the morning room compared to the front of the house? Is it worth making a huge fuss over?







  • #2
    Need more info to even come close to having an opinion. Can you post the design or pictures or an address?
    BSEE, R11, NABCEP, Chevy BoltEV, >3000kW installed

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    • #3
      Sometimes the design is required to leave a big area for firemen to walk the roof. That usually ends up taking a lot of space which most people feel could have a panel installed.

      As solarix stated we will need more info before we can say why those 3 panels were installed elsewhere.

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      • #4
        When your neighbor's home is the same model as yours but their panels are more logically, it does make you wonder why your installers chose the config. you ended up with.
        Dave W. Gilbert AZ
        6.63kW grid-tie owner

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Hbohardt
          I have 7 solar panels in the front and my neighbor as 12.
          I do not fully understand why the installer did what he did but you mentioned you have an East / West facing roof but your neighbor has a South facing roof. The installer may have decided to split up your panels so you have solar generation all day as the sun moves from the East in the morning to the West in the afternoon. But again I am just guessing as to what happened.

          As for the 7 panels mounted in two different alignments. Maybe the installer felt this was the best looking plan for an odd number of panels.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Hbohardt
            I am definitely a newbie with solar . I read that the number to look at with solar potential was the tsrf number (as it takes into account tilt, orientation, and shading). On the morning room the tsrf number is 60 and the front of the house is 74. I do have panels on the back of the roof to help catch light throughout the day (but there isn't space for any more panels there because of all the vents they had to work around). Based on the little I know, it doesn't seem logical to have placed those three panels in an area with a lower tsrf, when there was space on the front for those three panels that has a higher tsrf number. Seeing my neighbors house, obviously up to 12 could fit. My question is why not have put 10 on the front, 10 on the back, and none on the morning room. That would be the exact number of panels on each side of the house (instead of 7 on the front, 10 + 3 on the back).
            The 10 & 10 install sounds much better then what you have. Again maybe you should ask the installer why they placed them that way. There may be a good reason.

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            • #7
              Unless its odd distortion, it sure looks like they used different model and size panels on the top row than the bottom row. It sure looks like they cleaned out the warehouse and used what they had in stock.

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