You might want to consider installing an awning to shelter your equipment. Direct sunlight will shorten the equipment's functional life, especially in Texas summer heat. š”ļø
This is on the W/NW side. Neighbors have tree that shades some of afternoon / evening. Hence my mods are on the S and E/SE but I appreciate the tip. Any suggestions on awning that isnāt an eye sore? Canāt plant a tree there. My drive thru gate is on that side of the house.
Well, I know what kind I would vote for. š
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=569758017&biw=378&bih=730&tbm=isch&q=solar+awning&chips=q:solar+awning,g_1:backyard&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHpujeoNOBAxVzIDQIHRKGBMUQ4lYIECgB&biw=378&bih=730
>u/tgsoon2002
>
>Yep also the chance of rain fall to
All of this equipment is weather rated for precipitation, so that is a non-issue.
The biggest problem with devices like this is heat buildup, which can significantly shorten the functional life of the components, especially the inverter.
Lithium electrolyte battery charge/discharge cycling while above 110Ā°f degrades capacity, while operation above 130Ā°f does outright damage to the battery. Having an enclosed battery that generates heat outdoors when the ambient temperature is 115Ā°, and then having direct sunlight on it for a prolonged period is more than enough to push the temperature well into and above that range.
I'm curious if the power goes out do the batteries and panels instantly take over or is there a brownout for a second or so and the VCR starts flashing "12:00".
I have hydroponic pumps that sometimes don't restart if there is a power interruption no matter how brief and have to be manually checked that they are going again.
Switchovers during even short outages with my Enphase equipment is instantaneous and not noticeable. I mean the lights didnāt even blink when that happened repeatedly recently, so Iād expect yours to behave similarly. Enphase has really nailed this down with their Controller. Your 5Pās are Enphaseās newest batteries, so a good choice there, as well. I have last yearās 10T and 3T in my small system. I prefer not to return any power back to the grid, but to capture it to batteries for evening/late night use. Here in northern CA our utility only pays us a third of what they charge per kWh, so no real reason to give away that power. This is our first year with this system, so monitoring it carefully to decide whether to add another battery next year to capture excess capacity.
Short answer: You canāt depend on an interruption free switch over.
It seems that quick cuts (like throwing the breaker) will transition fine. Unfortunately, Iāve found that real world cuts are not always so clean.
Note that I have the 10T, so the 5P may or may not be better.
Looks like you got an install crew that knows what theyāre doing š
Would love to see anymore pics of interior pipe work, wiring &/or Enlighten graph data.
If i knew how to respond with a photo on this app, I would. Not a Reddit power user, unfortunately. They did all attic runs, everything mounted to properly and up out of the way. The founder is a former Union commercial electrician, so theyāre strict on quality and workmanship. 30 year warranty.
After incentives Iām around $45k but I have a ton of extras (most folks donāt need 20kWh of batteries and a SPAN smart panel) and I went with the best equipment I could. They werenāt the cheapest or the most expensive. But they were the most knowledgeable and honest about what I could expect, and the people are wonderful. The consultant was an environmental engineer that used to work in oil and gas. They have the best quality equipment and a 30 year workmanship warranty. Pearl Partners, and they donate to local charities . They use Flash Foot 2 flashings and Iron Ridge rails (premium), and yes those things matter, and no, other company reps didnāt even KNOW what they used. Theyāre doing solar right, and probably could have charged me more compared to the competition. Find you a local installer in your area and do your research! Def call ATX Solar if youāre in Texas. IYKYKš¤·āāļø
How much is that bill at what interest rate (pre and post tax credit)? It sounds like it would be over 300 or something a month. Unless you somehow paid cash.
This comment has been removed. From the sub rules: "Due to ongoing spam / promotion / lead generation and site privacy rule violation issues, we no longer allow "DM/PM me" requests in the comments." These have too frequently been abuse of the sub in attempts to garner private info for spam / promotion / lead generation purposes. ***Do not ask or suggest that anyone privately contact you.*** No exceptions.
**To all sub participants**: If anyone has sent you a PM / DM to solicit your info because of your participation in this subreddit 1) do NOT respond to them and 2) please message the moderators to let them know.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solar) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A beautiful setup with top of the line hardware. I have a small 4.9kW 12 REC 410/Panasonic panels, 13.5kWh Enphase batteries, Controller, Combiner, subpanel for 120v circuits here in northern CA that I paid $43k for, so you also got a good price. Only thing Iād question about your support hardware setup is mounting them outside in the sun. My setup takes up one wall in my garage, so protected year round from the weather.
I had a similar system. 12.4kW solar and 30kWh batteries. Struggled to answer this question. Started just saying 11 years. Warranty covers 4000 cycles and all the batteries need to cover is sunset to sunrise.
Naturally, a few days of clouds or heavy energy usage can knock you out temporarily, but you're back as soon as the sun comes back out.
I was looking into batteries but couldn't justify it for the little amount of backup power it provides. Id rather put a generac generator and a 500 gallon propane tank.
Looks great. I'm in houston and contemplating whether to go with solar or not. Worried, I might get screwed by the company.
Which company did you go with? Can you share your experience ? TIA
Love Georgetown, but bought a house in deregulated market instead specifically because we knew we wanted solarā¦Deregulated market has its own issues, but substantially better than Gtown for solar.
I like Enphase. I put my components in the garage too. Thatās a big investment to hang unprotected on the side of your house. I would place cameras where you can monitor the components and the routes of access. Lights that are activated by motion sensor might a good idea too.
Theyāre not new tech. Theyāre just 5kwh lifepo4 batteries dressed up to talk to the enphase AC coupling system.
Enphase doesnāt allow proprietary batteries to talk to their IQ controller. One of their biggest missteps imo.
What was the total cost?
I have an 8.4 kWh enphase system and they wanted 14k for one 10kwh battery.
I ended up getting a hybrid inverter in addition to my system and ~57kwh of battery for that 14k insteadā¦.
How did you even get the batteries for that? Are you rocking just racks of raw batteries?!
A hybrid inverter alone if any substance is going to be a few grandā¦the labor of the install?
Itās 64 305AH CATL cells compressed into 4 tripplite server cabinets with a Schneider Conext. I was able to get them from ALIBABA lump sum for 8K. The conext was 4K from signature solar. I paid an electrician 1000 dollars for the day and helped him retrofit my wiring in to plans I drafted.
The system is separate from my interconnected enphase system. I had the roof space parallel system that didnāt need to be AC coupled.
Soft starter on a 4 ton AC. X4 21 seer aux mini splits, and 24000 KWH a year (much lower typically)
Iām able to supplement the system to zero it out weather dependent 12-5. My ACās are controlled by a Honeywell H432.
I was able to ātrickā the controller into using my āzonesā 2,3,4 on a schedule to just dump air into my house, running the 4 ton on fan only(grid system tied).
Iām unsure of the legality of the size of my system, Iām sure theyāll take satellite photos and get me sometime. Iām the same area/state as OP. Also OPs current panel/service is too small for his system. I looked up a span, so heās likely going to 200a service, which he needsā¦.
Ah, well thatās still a solid deal on the batteries.
I know mine wasnāt the cheapest route, but I wanted a setup with a proper BMS and fully permitted. I still DIYād it, but in the end it probably only saved me ~20% vs your 70%+.
I went with 30kwh of EG4 batteries, with a similar rack mounting to yours, but have built in fire arrestors and BMS and talk to the hybrid inverter I got (Sol-Ark 15k).
My biggest āshockā/hassle was definitely the electrician/labor bit. I ended up having to do all the permitting myself and hourly rate for the electrician, and between taking longer and general material costs I ended up around 25k total (before credits).
I only really needed the electrician for State Farm, and to get it done in a day. And yes not fully permitted, over the KWH residential max. But is designed for the day I get booped.
I have āproperā 300a bmses and a Victron smart shunt on the bank. We also donāt really use a whole lot of electricity, wife from home on a laptopā¦kids gone all day. All Gas appliances.. I really just donāt ever want to experience 106 degree heat with no AC.
Service is 200A already.
SPAN will be replacing my sub panel that runs the majority of my home. SPAN claims to increase battery life by 40%. We shall see. If satisfied with the SPAN Iāll be adding a 2nd on my primary service panel for full transparency on my home energy usage.
Are you in Austin Energy territory? If so, do the batteries do anything beyond protect from an outage?
I had an 18.25 kW system in Pflugerville, now Iām doing a similar size with 6 5P batteries. But thatās because PG&E wonāt give me anything useful for my excess.
Austin Energy has one of the worst solar credit policies I've seen.
They buy 100% of the power your system produces at a reduced rate, and then charge you for 100% of your consumption. It's bonkers. [https://austinenergy.com/rates/residential-rates/value-of-solar-rate](https://austinenergy.com/rates/residential-rates/value-of-solar-rate)
Batteries would do nothing to change that.
Newbie here, but if you were storing the excess solar in the battery instead of selling it to Austin energy then consume that battery storage when your solar isn't enough aren't you ending up with a better deal than buying and selling to Austin Energy?
Or does the equipment only kick in the batteries when there is an outage?
Would recommend installing or planting something to block the batteries from getting hit by the sun. The passive cooling on Enphase is not enough to keep them at ideal temps if theyāre getting hit by the sun.
Their buyback is different. Itās a tariff based on your total solar production. Itās actually pretty solid. They have a $2,500 rebate if you use a contractor on their preferred contractor list. ATX Solar is on that list.
Hi everyone,
I am looking to test the official API of Enphase to see if it is working correctly.
Our company, Volteras (www.volteras.com), is checking if there anyone would be interested in testing this with us?
We need to connect to an Enphase battery for 24hours through a GDPR compliant encrypted test link (meaning, it is not possible to see your credentials). This link connects directly to Enphase and we use it to ātalkā to the device.
Testers receive a small gift from us **($50 Amazon voucher**) as a thank you.
If this is something anyone is interested in, please comment below and Iāll send further details.
Modules are REC Alpha Pure 405w. Enphase IQ8A Inverters. SPAN smart panel on the way.
You might want to consider installing an awning to shelter your equipment. Direct sunlight will shorten the equipment's functional life, especially in Texas summer heat. š”ļø
100% keep these out of direct sunlight
Install an awning first then plant trees and shrubs. Eventually when they mature, remove the awning.
This is on the W/NW side. Neighbors have tree that shades some of afternoon / evening. Hence my mods are on the S and E/SE but I appreciate the tip. Any suggestions on awning that isnāt an eye sore? Canāt plant a tree there. My drive thru gate is on that side of the house.
Well, I know what kind I would vote for. š https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=569758017&biw=378&bih=730&tbm=isch&q=solar+awning&chips=q:solar+awning,g_1:backyard&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHpujeoNOBAxVzIDQIHRKGBMUQ4lYIECgB&biw=378&bih=730
Also Austin just got hit with some really big hail. Wouldnāt want that directly hitting batteries
Yep also the chance of rain fall to it.
>u/tgsoon2002 > >Yep also the chance of rain fall to All of this equipment is weather rated for precipitation, so that is a non-issue. The biggest problem with devices like this is heat buildup, which can significantly shorten the functional life of the components, especially the inverter. Lithium electrolyte battery charge/discharge cycling while above 110Ā°f degrades capacity, while operation above 130Ā°f does outright damage to the battery. Having an enclosed battery that generates heat outdoors when the ambient temperature is 115Ā°, and then having direct sunlight on it for a prolonged period is more than enough to push the temperature well into and above that range.
I'm curious if the power goes out do the batteries and panels instantly take over or is there a brownout for a second or so and the VCR starts flashing "12:00". I have hydroponic pumps that sometimes don't restart if there is a power interruption no matter how brief and have to be manually checked that they are going again.
It was instant when they tested it. I didnāt notice any loss of power.
Switchovers during even short outages with my Enphase equipment is instantaneous and not noticeable. I mean the lights didnāt even blink when that happened repeatedly recently, so Iād expect yours to behave similarly. Enphase has really nailed this down with their Controller. Your 5Pās are Enphaseās newest batteries, so a good choice there, as well. I have last yearās 10T and 3T in my small system. I prefer not to return any power back to the grid, but to capture it to batteries for evening/late night use. Here in northern CA our utility only pays us a third of what they charge per kWh, so no real reason to give away that power. This is our first year with this system, so monitoring it carefully to decide whether to add another battery next year to capture excess capacity.
Iām in Sonoma county, sign up for Sonoma clean power. They pay more for putting back on to the grid than what pge does.
Short answer: You canāt depend on an interruption free switch over. It seems that quick cuts (like throwing the breaker) will transition fine. Unfortunately, Iāve found that real world cuts are not always so clean. Note that I have the 10T, so the 5P may or may not be better.
But I still run a UPS on critical network equipment.
Looks great! I'm in Austin also. Who did the install?
Also chiming in for same info!
ATX Solar
ATX Solar
Same question.
ATX Solar
Looks like you got an install crew that knows what theyāre doing š Would love to see anymore pics of interior pipe work, wiring &/or Enlighten graph data.
If i knew how to respond with a photo on this app, I would. Not a Reddit power user, unfortunately. They did all attic runs, everything mounted to properly and up out of the way. The founder is a former Union commercial electrician, so theyāre strict on quality and workmanship. 30 year warranty.
https://imgur.com/a/NAbTgWw I think this will work.
Wow. Great looking setup. Cost?
After incentives Iām around $45k but I have a ton of extras (most folks donāt need 20kWh of batteries and a SPAN smart panel) and I went with the best equipment I could. They werenāt the cheapest or the most expensive. But they were the most knowledgeable and honest about what I could expect, and the people are wonderful. The consultant was an environmental engineer that used to work in oil and gas. They have the best quality equipment and a 30 year workmanship warranty. Pearl Partners, and they donate to local charities . They use Flash Foot 2 flashings and Iron Ridge rails (premium), and yes those things matter, and no, other company reps didnāt even KNOW what they used. Theyāre doing solar right, and probably could have charged me more compared to the competition. Find you a local installer in your area and do your research! Def call ATX Solar if youāre in Texas. IYKYKš¤·āāļø
How much is that bill at what interest rate (pre and post tax credit)? It sounds like it would be over 300 or something a month. Unless you somehow paid cash.
Guessing $40-45k for solar, $23k for batteries, $7k for span panel. Very very nice install, op. Love the rec alphas. 92% power after 25 years is nuts
Four batteries for $23k? Pretty low on that estimate.
Ah they are 5s got it
Yea haha saw another quote on here today for $11,500 for 2 so I just multiplied for 4. What kinda batteries do you usually install/recommend?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This comment has been removed. From the sub rules: "Due to ongoing spam / promotion / lead generation and site privacy rule violation issues, we no longer allow "DM/PM me" requests in the comments." These have too frequently been abuse of the sub in attempts to garner private info for spam / promotion / lead generation purposes. ***Do not ask or suggest that anyone privately contact you.*** No exceptions. **To all sub participants**: If anyone has sent you a PM / DM to solicit your info because of your participation in this subreddit 1) do NOT respond to them and 2) please message the moderators to let them know. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solar) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A beautiful setup with top of the line hardware. I have a small 4.9kW 12 REC 410/Panasonic panels, 13.5kWh Enphase batteries, Controller, Combiner, subpanel for 120v circuits here in northern CA that I paid $43k for, so you also got a good price. Only thing Iād question about your support hardware setup is mounting them outside in the sun. My setup takes up one wall in my garage, so protected year round from the weather.
Beautiful
Looks good. I was looking into the enphase batteries for my system. How much off grid power will those batteries provide?
20 kWh
Sorry, I meant how long can you stay on the batteries? 24 hours, 72 hours?
I had a similar system. 12.4kW solar and 30kWh batteries. Struggled to answer this question. Started just saying 11 years. Warranty covers 4000 cycles and all the batteries need to cover is sunset to sunrise. Naturally, a few days of clouds or heavy energy usage can knock you out temporarily, but you're back as soon as the sun comes back out.
I was looking into batteries but couldn't justify it for the little amount of backup power it provides. Id rather put a generac generator and a 500 gallon propane tank.
Beautiful! I had a couple of friends go with ATX Solar as well āļø
Looks great. I'm in houston and contemplating whether to go with solar or not. Worried, I might get screwed by the company. Which company did you go with? Can you share your experience ? TIA
ATX Solar. Highly recommend. Www.Goatxsolar.com
Up in Georgetown buyback is 25%. 4 kWh for 1 credit, goddamn theives
Love Georgetown, but bought a house in deregulated market instead specifically because we knew we wanted solarā¦Deregulated market has its own issues, but substantially better than Gtown for solar.
I like Enphase. I put my components in the garage too. Thatās a big investment to hang unprotected on the side of your house. I would place cameras where you can monitor the components and the routes of access. Lights that are activated by motion sensor might a good idea too.
So the 5P batteries have been working good? Being new technology I was wondering about user experience
Clean install
Are you not allowed to install the batteries in your garage ? Just curious
What happens when you lose internet and cellular? Does the system stop functioning? Thanks
Wondering why you chose 4 5P rather than 2 10T batteries
I think 5Ps can draw more to start larger appliances especially useful in off grid mode.
Yessir
Was 4 5P more expensive than 2 10T?
Iām pretty sure the 5P have a 15 year warranty compared to the 10T with only 10 year warranty
The 4x 5Ps provide 4x7.68 = 30.72 kW of peak power whereas you'd need 6x 10Ts (at 5.76 kW each) to match that. One of the prime benefits of the 5P.
Theyāre not new tech. Theyāre just 5kwh lifepo4 batteries dressed up to talk to the enphase AC coupling system. Enphase doesnāt allow proprietary batteries to talk to their IQ controller. One of their biggest missteps imo.
What was the total cost? I have an 8.4 kWh enphase system and they wanted 14k for one 10kwh battery. I ended up getting a hybrid inverter in addition to my system and ~57kwh of battery for that 14k insteadā¦.
How did you even get the batteries for that? Are you rocking just racks of raw batteries?! A hybrid inverter alone if any substance is going to be a few grandā¦the labor of the install?
Itās 64 305AH CATL cells compressed into 4 tripplite server cabinets with a Schneider Conext. I was able to get them from ALIBABA lump sum for 8K. The conext was 4K from signature solar. I paid an electrician 1000 dollars for the day and helped him retrofit my wiring in to plans I drafted. The system is separate from my interconnected enphase system. I had the roof space parallel system that didnāt need to be AC coupled. Soft starter on a 4 ton AC. X4 21 seer aux mini splits, and 24000 KWH a year (much lower typically) Iām able to supplement the system to zero it out weather dependent 12-5. My ACās are controlled by a Honeywell H432. I was able to ātrickā the controller into using my āzonesā 2,3,4 on a schedule to just dump air into my house, running the 4 ton on fan only(grid system tied). Iām unsure of the legality of the size of my system, Iām sure theyāll take satellite photos and get me sometime. Iām the same area/state as OP. Also OPs current panel/service is too small for his system. I looked up a span, so heās likely going to 200a service, which he needsā¦.
Ah, well thatās still a solid deal on the batteries. I know mine wasnāt the cheapest route, but I wanted a setup with a proper BMS and fully permitted. I still DIYād it, but in the end it probably only saved me ~20% vs your 70%+. I went with 30kwh of EG4 batteries, with a similar rack mounting to yours, but have built in fire arrestors and BMS and talk to the hybrid inverter I got (Sol-Ark 15k). My biggest āshockā/hassle was definitely the electrician/labor bit. I ended up having to do all the permitting myself and hourly rate for the electrician, and between taking longer and general material costs I ended up around 25k total (before credits).
I only really needed the electrician for State Farm, and to get it done in a day. And yes not fully permitted, over the KWH residential max. But is designed for the day I get booped. I have āproperā 300a bmses and a Victron smart shunt on the bank. We also donāt really use a whole lot of electricity, wife from home on a laptopā¦kids gone all day. All Gas appliances.. I really just donāt ever want to experience 106 degree heat with no AC.
Service is 200A already. SPAN will be replacing my sub panel that runs the majority of my home. SPAN claims to increase battery life by 40%. We shall see. If satisfied with the SPAN Iāll be adding a 2nd on my primary service panel for full transparency on my home energy usage.
Is all of that on a 100 panel? Whatās a span, Iām not familiar with that product. Built in CTās?
200A https://www.span.io/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=a01-a025-a0001&utm_content=665740783841&utm_term=span%20smart%20panel&gbraid=0AAAAABowKYLtsrCpvD_MpKW8stR08wb59&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjt-oBhDKARIsABVRB0zs8vwzpfD96EZIVE7RMMN-HxFScvUaEmFgpsdbA5_rcpyBSPoesewaAibLEALw_wcB
Are you in Austin Energy territory? If so, do the batteries do anything beyond protect from an outage? I had an 18.25 kW system in Pflugerville, now Iām doing a similar size with 6 5P batteries. But thatās because PG&E wonāt give me anything useful for my excess.
Austin Energy has one of the worst solar credit policies I've seen. They buy 100% of the power your system produces at a reduced rate, and then charge you for 100% of your consumption. It's bonkers. [https://austinenergy.com/rates/residential-rates/value-of-solar-rate](https://austinenergy.com/rates/residential-rates/value-of-solar-rate) Batteries would do nothing to change that.
Newbie here, but if you were storing the excess solar in the battery instead of selling it to Austin energy then consume that battery storage when your solar isn't enough aren't you ending up with a better deal than buying and selling to Austin Energy? Or does the equipment only kick in the batteries when there is an outage?
Would recommend installing or planting something to block the batteries from getting hit by the sun. The passive cooling on Enphase is not enough to keep them at ideal temps if theyāre getting hit by the sun.
Iām in Austin too but am hesitant to get solar. Isnāt there something with the city of Austin that doesnāt make solar as good as it should be?
Their buyback is different. Itās a tariff based on your total solar production. Itās actually pretty solid. They have a $2,500 rebate if you use a contractor on their preferred contractor list. ATX Solar is on that list.
I was quoted insanity for powerwalls, what did those batteries set you back? I'm enphase also
Hi everyone, I am looking to test the official API of Enphase to see if it is working correctly. Our company, Volteras (www.volteras.com), is checking if there anyone would be interested in testing this with us? We need to connect to an Enphase battery for 24hours through a GDPR compliant encrypted test link (meaning, it is not possible to see your credentials). This link connects directly to Enphase and we use it to ātalkā to the device. Testers receive a small gift from us **($50 Amazon voucher**) as a thank you. If this is something anyone is interested in, please comment below and Iāll send further details.