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Old 12-04-16, 08:02 PM   #101
Roostre
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All went well. We got rolling about 9AM and had all the panels up and wired by 3:30.




Not bad considering we had to run for a few parts and fittings. My estimate for 160' of ground wire was about right, but we came up short on one run of 8awg wire and a few fittings for the Soladeck box.




With everything hooked up and the sun setting under a cloudy day we nervously read through the "Commisioning" section of the SolarEdge manual. Secretly wondering how many issues we would have as we flipped the breaker and turned it all on for the first time. It was quite exciting!!

The unit fired up and read exactly as the book said it should! We then waited as it began to establish communication with all 28 optimizers, which also went flawlessly. You've never seen 3 guys so happy to have our hard work generating 200-250 watts as the sun was rapidly dropping over the horizon.


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Old 12-04-16, 08:08 PM   #102
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Excellent work!
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Old 12-04-16, 09:19 PM   #103
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roostre View Post
You've never seen 3 guys so happy to have our hard work generating 200-250 watts as the sun was rapidly dropping over the horizon.
If you think that was exciting wait until it goes live. When my wife called me at 11AM to say the power company had been by to swap out our meter, I left work for lunch, came to the house, flipped the combiner panel breakers and started collecting sunshine (8-01-2013). It's only been shut off once since then, just as a precaution when Hurricane Matthew (really a tropical storm at my house), came by.

You will quickly recoup all that energy you sent into the attic to thaw the roof.

Glad to see another self-install go well.
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Old 12-06-16, 07:25 PM   #104
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Managed to get my dashboard up and running today!

https://monitoringpublic.solaredge.c...use#/dashboard

Not much action as I'm not allowed to do much more than "testing" until the net meter is set. I need to finish labeling and call for a final inspection. Its hard to get labels to stick in the cold snap we are having. Supposed to be 8F for a low tonight. (-13C)

This project has sure stirred up alot of interest among my friends about solar...
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Old 12-06-16, 08:34 PM   #105
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I need to finish labeling and call for a final inspection. Its hard to get labels to stick in the cold snap we are having. Supposed to be 8F for a low tonight. (-13C)

This project has sure stirred up alot of interest among my friends about solar...
Would a heat gun do the trick to get the panel warm enough to hold the decals?

Stirring up interest will happen from time to time, even years from now. Some friends of my wife's are presently interested. I spent an hour plus discussing our PV system with them and reviewing my permitting documents to help explain what is involved. My former co-worker who helped me carry my array from the backyard to the second floor roof (up two ladders) has shown interest, but his interest does not equate to "willing to part with his money". He seems to be content parting with $150-$300/mo for his electric bill. I loaned him my spare TED 1000 to do some energy sleuthing around his house to lower his bill. It was in his panel for over a year, with no noticeable results. His electric bill is still just as it was, and he continues to say "some day when I decide to install solar...".

Another co-worker of mine listened to the price tag on my system, and installed a solar hot water heater. It's a step in the right direction.
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Old 12-06-16, 09:59 PM   #106
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I can't wait to see that Volt drinking up solar power.
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Old 12-10-16, 11:03 AM   #107
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I can't wait to see that Volt drinking up solar power.
Here you go!

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Old 12-10-16, 11:20 AM   #108
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That is awesome!
Did you get the new meter?
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Old 12-10-16, 11:33 AM   #109
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Not yet. My PV labels order arrived last night, so i will call for a final inspection on Monday.

My net-metering agreement allows me to run the system for "testing" purposes. It was only making about 1600 watts and the Volt pulls 3300 so I thought I would "test" a bit.
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Old 12-10-16, 01:38 PM   #110
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1600 watts beats 0 watts every time in my book. Glad to see you met your deadline.

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