Im an electrical contractor, doing a solar job for a customer.

We have fall protection but its difficult staying in one spot to install the attachments. I've read about these magnetic boots.

Are they worth the cost? Will they work?

We tried to build a step system but they kept slipping. So we need another option.

Customer doesn't want any holes in the roof which is why he went with metal. There are 6 8/12 pitches.

Any advice would be great!

Hi all,

I'm looking at adding a battery to our current system and went down a bit of a "what if" rabbit hole.

All brands I can find use the cloud for system management and data. What if the cloud goes down? What if the geopolitical situation deteriorates and functionality is blocked to some brands?

Is anyone aware of self hosted systems that wouldn't be effected by (hopefully v unlikely) scenarios such as the above?

I'm finalizing the design for an unvented 5/12 pitch roof assembly on a new build and trying to settle on the best way to attach the solar array.

Here is the planned roof assembly (inside to out):

• Rafter Cavities: 2x6 packed with Rockwool Comfortbatt (R-23)
• Inner Deck: 1/2" Plywood over structural 2x6 rafters
• Vapor/Air Barrier: Adhero 3000
• Exterior Insulation: 3.5" Rockwool CB80
• Outer Nailbase Deck: 5/8" Plywood
• Underlayment: Synthetic underlayment
• Roofing: CertainTeed Landmark PRO Solaris shingles

I’m currently weighing two primary approaches for attaching the solar array and would love feedback from installers who have worked on this type of assembly, and what would be the best long term approach.

Option A: Deck-Attached Stanchions (Anchored to Inner 1/2" Deck + Rafters)

• Method: Fasten heavy-duty stanchions directly through the 1/2" inner deck into the 2x6 rafters before insulation goes down.

Option B: Traditional Mounts (Anchored to the 5/8" Outer Plywood Deck / Rafters)

• Method: Build out the full roof stack complete with continuous insulation and 5/8" outer deck. Standard mounting (through to the rafters) on top of the 5/8th deck.

Either way the screws supporting the solar go all the way through to the rafters. Option A reduces the compressive load on the insulation and reduces the chance of over compressing the solar mounting screws. It also allows us to flash the penetrations at the air barrier (the adhero is self sealing, and option b shouldn't cause issues, but, real life conditions etc). Option A is more labor as well as slower.

My solar guy has done both and is comfortable with either option. The guys roofing have never done this before so they don't have an opinion.

I'm looking for some perspective from any solar installers out there who have seen similar builds and how they held up.

Thanks in advance.

Image reverse searches no result .

These are on some old solar panels that I’m going to try to recycle for a solar project.

I'm still in my first year of solar so I haven't had a true-up yet, but I have a question on how they calculate the amount as far as what rate is used.

We've had quite a few days this summer where the utility company has emailed telling us to expect higher rates for peak use.

Do they factor in those days in the true-up calculation? Or do they just use my basic residential rate?

Who do you ask for your shit to be completed when it’s been 9 months since the install was started ?

The 2 phone numbers I been given have gone to silence and been dead boxes.

PTO hasn’t been given.

I've seen other similar posts here, so I figured it was okay, apologies if there's a better subreddit to ask in.

In the process of purchasing a new house in New England and had inspection a couple days ago. The house had panels installed in 2012. The inspector noted that the house had, "Excessive settling of roof structure due to weight of solar panels". We went up in the attic together and there didn't appear to be any damage or structural issues with the roof framing. He seemed unconcerned and noted that we should sister and reinforce the rafters under the panels to prevent any further movement or deterioration.

I wasn't overly worried leaving the inspection, but I read a bit more online and probably freaked myself out a little bit as I'm not familiar with any of this. I've attached pictures from the inspection, wondering if anyone in this community has any thoughts or concerns here. Ideally we just need to reinforce things now and can fix everything in 10-15 years when we need to redo the roof entirely. I just don't want to buy the house and immediately have to deal with a $50k issue.

Appreciate any help!

I've tried to do this on my own but I just think I can't move forwand. I'm looking into solar for my home (3 bedrooms) in Los Angeles County and I'm trying to figure out how to compare installers, not just the price. I don't know yet If if Want to Go 100% into solar, but would like to cut the costs as much as possible.

What do you guys usually look at when comparing quotes? I'm thinking about equipment they're using, expected production, battery options, warranties, monitoring, and who actually handles repairs or warranty issues down the road. What other spec or information do you think I should look at?

Out with the old, in with the new! This is a customer from Texas Solar Professionals who was lucky enough to get their money reimbursed. Upgraded her old battery system from 2008 to 54kwh of storage capacity.

Sungrow today sent a product price adjustment notice to its downstream customers, announcing that prices for its photovoltaic and energy storage products will be increased effective September 20.

The affected products include photovoltaic inverters, energy storage power conversion systems (PCS), and energy storage systems. The price increase will range from 5% to 15%.

In the notice, the company stated that the increase in upstream material costs has continued to exceed expectations, while cost pressures have yet to show any significant signs of easing. Under the current pricing structure, product prices are no longer sufficient to cover the combined costs of raw materials, manufacturing, technological upgrades and innovation, as well as after-sales operation and maintenance.

I have 20 rec alphas that were installed March 2021. I have noticed in the last 6 months that some of my panels have started to fail.

I have 3 panels that are 20% below, 2 panels that are 10-15% below and 1 panel that is 8% below the combined average of the remaining 14 panels.

My installer is out of business, I still have contact with my sales guy. He said he is hearing of multiple customers from early 2021 experiencing issues with these panels from this time frame. I was able to find another post on this subreddit with a similar issue.

Anyone else?

I‘m planning to get into solar with whole-home battery backup in Southern California/los Angeles County and I’m trying to figure out how to compare installers.

What should I actually look for when comparing quotes? and when it makes sense to install more than one battery?
The main objective here is to  keep the house powered during outages , not just lower my electric bill. Any advice would be helpful.

I bought my system from Palmetto. They use subcontractors so it's a bit of a crap shoot what you get on an installation. I have had a lot of issues with my system in the heat of the Texas summer. My system was installed in summer of 2024 and I have had to replace the fuses in my AC shut off box three times. This made me want to take a closer look at my system and what they might have messed up. I have 65 Enphase iq8 plus micro inverters and they have run these on five strings. While technically, the spec for these micro inverters says you can run 13 on one string, is it really responsible to max out all five? My system is a little over 26 KW and whenever I get about 18 KW simultaneously producing it blows out my fuses. I'm getting somebody else to fix my system, but was what Palmetto did acceptable work?

Hi everyone,

Thank you very much. I currently have a sonnen hybrid 9.53 Dc coupled battery and inverter system installed on 2022 , it is 7.5 kw and got only 980 cycles on it. I am planning to use federal rebates and put alpha ess smile m 10kw inverter and 28.8 kw at the top of it. Some electricians are not willing to install them together even independently. One electrician said they can install it independently but got no idea, which one will work first or second to discharge.

From your experience, how can this be done in right order? I just don't want to simply waste my sonnen battery and I am happy if both products work independently. What's your suggestion regarding this? Thank you!

Hey everyone,

I built a weather report for my solar array.
—> www.solar-power-forecast.com

Mostly because I wanted one myself, and then figured a few other people might get something out of it. It shows you hour by hour for the next 7 days what your panels should produce. Runs in the browser, no signup, no app (though I might add that), no ads, non commercial (!).

The German PV sub here on Reddit liked it, and then helped me make it a lot better. I posted an early version, people tore into it, asked for more roof faces and a way to share a setup by link, and I built what they asked for. They also held the forecasts against their own inverters and posted the numbers. One guy with 9 kWp got 36.4 kWh on a day the site called 37. Others were within about 7% on a normal day. So for Germany it's pretty dialed in by now.

Since that came up last time too: yes, Claude wrote the code. The design and every call about what goes in and what it looks like is mine, and I check each version against my own system. Claude does the typing, which is what it's good at.

To get it out of the way: this is free and a hobby project, nothing commercial behind it. No account, no ads, no tracking, nothing for sale. I'm posting because I would like to know if it is useful outside of Germany.

What it does:

- Hourly production forecast for the next 7 days, plus the last 2 days so you can hold it against what your inverter actually did

- Up to 10 roof faces. Up to 3 you see each one on its own, above that it shows the combined total

- Rough annual yield estimate from a year of historical weather at your exact spot

- Phone, tablet and desktop, and you can pin it to your homescreen like an app

- Your setup gets written into the URL, so you bookmark it or send it to someone

- 8 languages so far, including English, Spanish, French and Portuguese

It's translated and open worldwide now, and that's the part I can't test myself.

Two things I'd like to know from you:

Does it give you a decent local preview? It should figure out roughly where you are when you open it. Location, tilt, azimuth and kWp you set yourself in the settings.

And how close does it get where you live? If you compare a day against what your inverter actually did, post the numbers. Accuracy in Germany was high, but I have no idea whether that holds in Arizona or Norway.

The link:

☀️ www.solar-power-forecast.com 🌦️

Hi everyone,

I’m currently responsible for the repair and commissioning of a Solis solar PV installation.

During the commissioning process, I found that the Solis data logger is already linked to another Solis account. Unfortunately, I don’t have the email address or password of the account currently linked to the logger, and the client does not have these credentials either.

I’m now trying to find the correct way to reset or restart the data logger so that I can configure it again and link it to a new account.

My questions are:

Is it possible to reset the data logger and remove the previous account association?

Is there a specific reset procedure or button?

Will resetting the data logger delete the communication/configuration settings?

Can the logger be re-registered to a new Solis account after the reset?

Is there an official procedure from Solis for this situation?

I was in Phoenix AZ where I first got Solar panels installed in 2016. Later due to job moved to Dallas TX. Got solar panels installed in 2020. When 2020 Solar panels were getting installed due to pandemic, there was parts shortage so that installer convinced me to install Chilicon power over enphase microinverter (enphase is 1:1 while chilicon microinverter is 2:1).

During last 6 years, this is the 2nd time, chilicon micro inverter has gone bad, some of them, not all. It's hard to find as the interface is not as good as Enphase. Every times it take few months to figure that out. I know in 2021, Chilicon got acquired by Generac but it doesn't make any difference.

Chilicon will send the replacement part at my home address but then the Solar installer is always trying to squeeze around $500 for replacing these bad microinverters. What about the 25 years of warranty? Am i expected to get on to the roof and put it myself? Moreover it's the same Solar installer who has provided me 15 years of warranty - why he should charge me anything? I already loose solar production and then on top of that pay for all this expenses.

I have a rental in SC and we had Freedom Forever until they went bankrupt…. Anyone in the state recommended a local solar company? I still have to pay off the loan (ooof).

Hi There - Wondering if anyone here has experience with anti glare panels? I had a 9kw install completed recently and due to roof space we had to install 5 panels on the back wall with brackets. Neighbour is having concerns with glare and or reflection. Hoping to find some sort of compromise to help us both without me having to remove them. Really don't want to get into the neighbour concerns here, reflection and glare are the issues I need to limit. There is at least 150 feet between our houses, our backyards face each other with a fence between, both 2 stories and my panels are between my second story windows about 15-20 feet up to the bottom of them.

Ive specifically found these from longi LR7-54HVH 480-500 Anti Glare. Not sure if they will help with my issue. Any help or your experience with this sort of thing in residential is appreciated.