Electricity thread.. Ask me questions if you'd like.

Off-topic? You mean on-topic!
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max225
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So I recently went :fullretard: on electricity.

A 8.2KW system was installed on my house about a week ago along with a Tesla power wall for battery backup and for when the sun goes bye bye.

If you have questions around the :math: power consumption System limitations let me know. I think I'll have most of the bases covered here.

Also the tesla system so far has been 5/7. The app etc allows for real time electricity monitoring, and you can modify things like how much you'd like to use your battery etc etc.

My goal was to build out a system that allows me to be fully off the grid during most conditions, and that would also allow me to charge a vehicle or two without being tied to our crazy gas prices. The peace of mind of being completely independent from our power grid is great also. Power outages are seamless now. There is no telling when you lost power anymore.
Last edited by max225 on Wed Jun 30, 2021 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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max225
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Tesla guys taking safety super seriously.

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Part of my panels. I have a total of 24
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Inventer and power wall.
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This is an example of the app. I am generating... about 6KW feeding the house at .3 charging Powerwall and "selling back to the grid" also.
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:nice:

What was the install cost like?
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Apex wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 2:15 pm :nice:

What was the install cost like?
Total system cost was 31k And there is about 8k in tax credits. So the total "actual" cost will be around 23k.
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max225 wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 2:17 pm
Apex wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 2:15 pm :nice:

What was the install cost like?
Total system cost was 31k And there is about 8k in tax credits. So the total "actual" cost will be around 23k.
:notbad:
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Is it the volts that kill you or the amps?

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Irish wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 4:19 pm Is it the volts that kill you or the amps?

:trollface:
:hubba:

:icwydt:
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max225
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Been finally up and running for almost an entire month. After a 3 month long fiasco to get permission to use the system.

So far it’s up to my expectations and the :math: that I did. But the power wall is a bit less useful than I probably thought … it provides a great off the grid factor but the capacity to cost ratio is really tough. $1K per kw

I’m essentially 99% off the grid as of the last 25 days the only two times I used the grid was for only 1-3kw total per day due to absolutely 0 sun for multiple days and “100 year” storm …
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That's pretty :impressive:
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max225 wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 3:59 pm Image
Been finally up and running for almost an entire month. After a 3 month long fiasco to get permission to use the system.

So far it’s up to my expectations and the :math: that I did. But the power wall is a bit less useful than I probably thought … it provides a great off the grid factor but the capacity to cost ratio is really tough. $1K per kw

I’m essentially 99% off the grid as of the last 25 days the only two times I used the grid was for only 1-3kw total per day due to absolutely 0 sun for multiple days and “100 year” storm …
Pretty neat man! I would love to have such a system but I doubt it would make :math: sense here with the amount of shade we get, our neighborhood is old and the houses are mostly surrounded by mature trees.

Definitely would love to see/hear long term updates from you once in a while. What is the lifespan of all of this? How often will more investment be required to keep it going?
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D Griff wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:59 pm
max225 wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 3:59 pm Image
Been finally up and running for almost an entire month. After a 3 month long fiasco to get permission to use the system.

So far it’s up to my expectations and the :math: that I did. But the power wall is a bit less useful than I probably thought … it provides a great off the grid factor but the capacity to cost ratio is really tough. $1K per kw

I’m essentially 99% off the grid as of the last 25 days the only two times I used the grid was for only 1-3kw total per day due to absolutely 0 sun for multiple days and “100 year” storm …
Pretty neat man! I would love to have such a system but I doubt it would make :math: sense here with the amount of shade we get, our neighborhood is old and the houses are mostly surrounded by mature trees.

Definitely would love to see/hear long term updates from you once in a while. What is the lifespan of all of this? How often will more investment be required to keep it going?
Solar panels 30 years inventor and battery about 10. No investment needed for 10 everything under warranty.
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max225 wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:44 pm
D Griff wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:59 pm

Pretty neat man! I would love to have such a system but I doubt it would make :math: sense here with the amount of shade we get, our neighborhood is old and the houses are mostly surrounded by mature trees.

Definitely would love to see/hear long term updates from you once in a while. What is the lifespan of all of this? How often will more investment be required to keep it going?
Solar panels 30 years inventor and battery about 10. No investment needed for 10 everything under warranty.
:notbad:

30 years on the panels is quite :impressive: !
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max225 wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:44 pm
D Griff wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:59 pm

Pretty neat man! I would love to have such a system but I doubt it would make :math: sense here with the amount of shade we get, our neighborhood is old and the houses are mostly surrounded by mature trees.

Definitely would love to see/hear long term updates from you once in a while. What is the lifespan of all of this? How often will more investment be required to keep it going?
Solar panels 30 years inventor and battery about 10. No investment needed for 10 everything under warranty.
I've heard that panels lose efficiency as they age. Does the warranty protect against that at all?
Desertbreh wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:40 pm My guess would be that Chris took some time off because he has read the dialogue on this page 1,345 times and decided to spend some of his free time doing something besides beating a horse to death.
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I'd love to go solar. Our house faces south, and we get a ton of sun...when it's out. Which is more than most of the state, but nothing like California.
Desertbreh wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:40 pm My guess would be that Chris took some time off because he has read the dialogue on this page 1,345 times and decided to spend some of his free time doing something besides beating a horse to death.
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Detroit wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:05 pm
max225 wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:44 pm
Solar panels 30 years inventor and battery about 10. No investment needed for 10 everything under warranty.
I've heard that panels lose efficiency as they age. Does the warranty protect against that at all?
Will my production change over time?
The process of converting solar energy will cause the system to degrade in efficiency by approximately 0.5% each year. This is normal for solar equipment and occurs with every system. This is also accounted for when we design your system.
25-Year Panel Performance Warranty
Your solar panels are guaranteed by their manufacturer to at least 80% of nameplate power capacity for at least 25 years.
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Detroit wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:06 pm I'd love to go solar. Our house faces south, and we get a ton of sun...when it's out. Which is more than most of the state, but nothing like California.
You really got to do the :math: here way more so than what you did on the backup calcs. Solar is very expensive compared to how much it generates.
It also really depends on your local electricity rates. We're absolutely RAPED here in California, where we can be 24-55c per KW. Most other states other than Hawaii are significantly cheaper.
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max225 wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:10 pm
Detroit wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:06 pm I'd love to go solar. Our house faces south, and we get a ton of sun...when it's out. Which is more than most of the state, but nothing like California.
You really got to do the :math: here way more so than what you did on the backup calcs. Solar is very expensive compared to how much it generates.
It also really depends on your local electricity rates. We're absolutely RAPED here in California, where we can be 24-55c per KW. Most other states other than Hawaii are significantly cheaper.
Oh for sure. At the core of it, I don't think we even get enough sun to be worth spending the brain cells on analysis. Plus our electricity isn't THAT expensive, so :aintcare:

I just like the idea of being off the grid. Not realistic for me.
Desertbreh wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:40 pm My guess would be that Chris took some time off because he has read the dialogue on this page 1,345 times and decided to spend some of his free time doing something besides beating a horse to death.
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Detroit wrote: Sat Nov 06, 2021 9:48 am
max225 wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:10 pm

You really got to do the :math: here way more so than what you did on the backup calcs. Solar is very expensive compared to how much it generates.
It also really depends on your local electricity rates. We're absolutely RAPED here in California, where we can be 24-55c per KW. Most other states other than Hawaii are significantly cheaper.
Oh for sure. At the core of it, I don't think we even get enough sun to be worth spending the brain cells on analysis. Plus our electricity isn't THAT expensive, so :aintcare:

I just like the idea of being off the grid. Not realistic for me.
That was my idea also. But it’s hard if you use a shit ton of electricity. This is November so far
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max225 wrote: Sat Nov 06, 2021 10:41 am
Detroit wrote: Sat Nov 06, 2021 9:48 am
Oh for sure. At the core of it, I don't think we even get enough sun to be worth spending the brain cells on analysis. Plus our electricity isn't THAT expensive, so :aintcare:

I just like the idea of being off the grid. Not realistic for me.
That was my idea also. But it’s hard if you use a shit ton of electricity. This is November so far
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Desertbreh wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:40 pm My guess would be that Chris took some time off because he has read the dialogue on this page 1,345 times and decided to spend some of his free time doing something besides beating a horse to death.
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What was your electricity bill like prior to installation?
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MrH42 wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:32 am What was your electricity bill like prior to installation?
$50-250. Mostly $50-75. But I did this with the anticipation of EV adoption + not having a power outage anymore
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Woah. It never pays itself back if you were only spending $75/month. I guess this is more about power outage mitigation? Did you consider a battery without solar?
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MrH42 wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:57 pm Woah. It never pays itself back if you were only spending $75/month. I guess this is more about power outage mitigation? Did you consider a battery without solar?
It was never about “paying for itself” given my current usage. I am anticipating a huge bump in usage once the ev hits it will tripple my power usage.

Battery was the most expensive part of the solar with almost no return.
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What's the expected bump if you go EV? I'm curious how the numbers all work out.

You're definitely in the best use case for it in California I feel like: relatively expensive electricity, big incentives, lots of sunshine, frequent power outages :lol:

You don't have that perfect storm pretty much anywhere else in the country.
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MrH42 wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 1:52 pm What's the expected bump if you go EV? I'm curious how the numbers all work out.

You're definitely in the best use case for it in California I feel like: relatively expensive electricity, big incentives, lots of sunshine, frequent power outages :lol:

You don't have that perfect storm pretty much anywhere else in the country.
It would just about add 1-1.5X what I am currently using.

Also one thing to keep in mind is we have a sliding usage scale for electricity.
If you're within some ass averages you're at 26c per kw, it quickly moves to 33c, and if you exceed an average you're at 50C! per kw, and this amount will never go down.

Also I am going to try and see if I can switch from gas to electric heating... Just to see how much it'll take. Overall I don't generate THAT much but I expect to fully use the 10,500kw annual generating capacity.

You can do the :math: here that is around ~$2500-3500 or so annually for electricity, once I fully utilize it with an EV. ~5-7 year pay off for the system. With no increases in rates, which we all know we will happen. Also the system easily adds more in value than the cost.. bizarre but that's how it is here in cali. So I have no qualms on the "cost".
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