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Old 08-20-17, 09:23 AM   #151
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Quote:
Originally Posted by antdun View Post
What was the problem that you had with the SolarEdge monitoring portal?
The system production from the tabs doesn't match the summary in the header above. Small thing, but it is frustrating. They implemented some fix that makes it much closer now than before I sent them the email.

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Old 08-20-17, 09:29 AM   #152
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Roostre,
I noticed in December/January on your SolarEdge Dashboard that there's many days with zero power production. Were those simply days where snow covered your panels? One gap is like a week long, I'm wondering if you were having internet connectivity issues with your inverter or if it was snow.

Rocky Mountain Power installed my net meter on Monday this week so now I'm online and have a couple days worth of data. You can see my public Dashboard here https://monitoringpublic.solaredge.c...cus#/dashboard

It's interesting to me to look at your power production vs mine and see how the clouds move across our panels since we're only about 5 miles apart. For instance look at the dip in the afternoon yesterday in my attached image.
Yes, when the panels are covered with snow there are days when they never kick on. It doesn't take much uncovered to power them up, but those days the snow was deep and thick.

Even if you have internet connectivity issues; the Solaredge system goes back an fills in the missing data. I found this out after a few days of nothing due to some new wifi security software.

I couldn't really see your attachment, so I grabbed these:

Your system:




HaunSolar:


My guess is that the randomness of the clouds we have been having play into it. We also seem to be getting a lot of monsoon thunderbursts that are very localized.

Happy to hear you are up and running!! Enjoy your new system.
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Old 12-31-17, 07:16 PM   #153
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Default One year later...

Here are some screenshots from my year of solar. (the system didn't get turned on until mid-january 2017. I used 12.2 cents per kw as our 2 electric cars push our household up into the higher tier quite quickly; plus it is closer to reality after you factor in the fees.

We do have a significant shading issue in the morning from a tall tree that sits southeast of our house. Not sure if it is worth taking the tree down, but I may work on thinning it out over the next few years.

Click image for larger version

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Ironically our highest day of production in December was on Solstice!

Click image for larger version

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Happy New Year to you all!
Cheers to all that helped me along the way!
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Old 01-02-18, 04:43 PM   #154
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I've been looking over our data it's interesting how different our production is in a couple ways. Your roof appears to be a 4/12 and 3/12 pitch or something close to that whereas mine is 5/12. Also that tree you speak of is involved. Around October my system begins producing more power than yours even though yours is 1.18 kW larger than mine. I believe this is because as the sun is lowering in the sky heading towards the winter solstice my panels are on a steeper roof angling the panels closer to the sun's winter angle so my panels continue getting a little more power later in the year. Then your tree also becomes an issue since the sun is staying lower in the sky causing the shadow to run across your roof whereas my roof has zero shading any time of day. On your daily charts there's a noticeable dent in the power production in the morning repeated daily from that tree. That dent doesn't exist in the summer though, so I wonder if just removing a couple feet off the top of the tree would be sufficient?

I'm looking forward to having some spring data to compare, and also I'm looking forward to when I have an entire year of data to review. My favorite part is not buying any power from the grid! Right now I'm very nearly breaking even on my all time consumption minus all time production since my system went online August 15th.
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Old 01-02-18, 05:54 PM   #155
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Yes, that tree is quite tall and is clipping us hard in the spring and fall; it's causing some minor, short duration clipping on summer mornings also.

I sometime wish the roof was a steeper pitch. I've noticed that my neighbor's system on a steep pitch stays cleaner than mine. Mine tends to collect dirt and dust, especially along the bottom third.

I've looked into trimming the tree; I surely don't want to kill it and I keep hearing about how bad "topping" is for them. It also is out competing several fruit trees in the front yard, so maybe it really does need to be cut back drastically??

Quite a dilemma. And definitely a "Cadillac Problem".
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Old 01-02-18, 08:07 PM   #156
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I have to say I would top it off.
you would save more trees by doing it.
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Old 01-05-18, 06:36 PM   #157
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Topping is a bad idea because it causes 'water sprouts' to grow and actually make the tree expand more than if you were to not top it.

The proper way to handle it is to drop-crotch.
A Guide to Successful Pruning: Stop Topping Trees! | VCE Publications | Virginia Tech

In reality, a tree will eventually grow to a certain terminal size, so in the long term you are better off 'relocating' the tree. Plant a new tree that will not grow to the size where it will be a problem.

I have a tree in my yard that I think over the next 15 years will eventually be a shade problem for my solar system. I'm going to plant two proper sized(once mature) trees that won't grow as big soon and then when the tree becomes a problem, I will have other trees that have been maturing be the ones to take the place to prevent the yard from being bare. This is how you properly relocate trees and solve your problem.
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Old 01-05-18, 07:27 PM   #158
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Here is a GooglMaps 3D view looking South;

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The big tree is over the top of two apple trees and shading the plum enough that it never bears fruit (We have the same kind of plum tree out back that is usually overflowing with some of the best plums I've ever tasted).

So it looks like having it removed altogether might be the best answer here. $$$

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