I’ve cleaned a few solar panels and it takes more than just a little rinsing and a “once over” with the soft scrub brush. I remember having to scrub these panels for a while. Even with a little dawn…

Any advice ?

Picture of grime for reference

Hi All!
I’m taking a poll!!
i’m in FL, S of Tampa, Gulf Coast, Manatee County.
Our solar was installed in summer of 2023 by PES Solar. We needed repair and went to call them only to discover they have closed the busns. We now have what’s called an Orphaned System.
Anybody in FL, and other states too, have their solar installer close the business?
Please start with your state and the busns name. Do we need to petition the state legislature for more consumer safeguards in FL or elsewhere ? THANKS!!

Looking for a mid-range charger controller to fit my particular situation. Needs to charge 48v banks of deep cycle lead acid batteries (it's what I have, ok? I know the downsides but severe budget) and in addition to solar input, take 120 or 240VAC input from a generator when needed because I can't add more panels or storage. So far my only other option is a regular charger controller and a AC - DC adjustable bench power supply. You would think with all the off-gridders that this would be an easy search but so far no.

Our residential solar inverter broke over a month ago, Error Code 18xB7. It is fully covered under an active manufacturer warranty with Solar Edge. We hired a certified solar installer, Energy Aid also known as Otovo, to come out and evaluate the system. They confirmed the error code and ordered a replacement inverter from the manufacturer on our behalf. We never signed a contract, labor agreement, or any scope of work at this time.

A day later, we were quoted $1,800 to swap out the inverter. We told them 'no thanks' and asked how we could get our inverter from them. We were told they were having it sent to our home, BUT it somehow ended up in a warehouse 100 miles away.

For weeks, we’ve been calling the Energy Aid/Otovo to get our inverter. Customer service kept claiming they had no record of us declining the install (even though we told them every single time we called), and they would say they’d call us back with more info—but of course, they never did. We eventually got ahold of a manager who promised to escalate things and have our inverter shipped, or have an employee drive it down directly to us. A few days later he sent us a shipping label and things were looking up, but sadly it’s now been about 10 days and the item still hasn’t been handed over to the shipping carrier. We tried calling the manager, but he no longer answers or returns our calls. My guess is they just created a shipping label without ever really having the inverter ready to send to us.

We’ve also tried contacting Solar Edge (the inverter manufacturer) 20 days ago to see if they could do something to help. They told us to just ask the installer to send the inverter to us (ha-ha-ha, good one). We told them that was impossible and so they claimed to have escalated the case to logistics. Sounds great...however, it’s been crickets ever since from them as well.

We haven’t been producing solar energy in over a month now. We're feeling pretty helpless. What are we to do? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for reading.

I would really appreciate any input you guys could provide as this will be the biggest purchase I've ever made besides the home!

I have a south facing roof w/o any shading which is great, but it's not the biggest. I'm estimating it's around 900 sq ft. I received a few quotes and just want some thought as to the pricing and if I'm overlooking anything that I should be adding/removing before taking the plunge. Average home usage ~20kwh in the winter months, 35kwh in the summer, SCE TOU-D Prime, just bought used tesla Y which will likely charge 5-10kwh/day average with 15kwh/day on Sat/Sun. Tesla can mostly charge during the super off peak daytime hours 8AM-4PM

The best locally based company quote
$50k - 22 REC 460AA Pure RX, 1PW3 + 1 dc expansion, panel upgrade
-they say 10.1kW array producing 16,300kW/year
-option for $15k off with prepaid PPA but the more I have looked into this, the more I am leaning towards not going this route. I don't want the 6 years looming over my head and the unknown FMV transfer plus any headache with selling the home, even if that is a very small chance

Sun Atlas Power (in house installer for Signature Solar)
$42.5k - 21 Peimar 450 (originally quoted 18 panels but i asked for more and they said they can probably squeeze 3 more), EG4 flexboss 18 (engineer says 21 is not necessary), gridboss, 2x EG4 exterior 16kwh batteries, panel upgrade
-they say 9.45kW system will produce 15,500kW/year

I initially stumbled upon Sun Atlas because I have been toying with the idea of trying DIY and browsing signature solar amongst many other sites. EG4 is appealing, I like the more modular design of having a flex boss and grid boss in terms of servicing and modifying the system in the future as well as a better value for the bulk battery storage. I can see the value proposition for the PW3's but don't like how it's a single point of failure, completely software locked, and you need tesla certified technicians.

9.5-10kW seems a little under powered for my home, but adding additional panels on the west facing part of the roof doesn't seem like it's worth it (quoted extra 4k for 4-6 more panels and will be ~80ft wiring distance from panel). I do eventually plan to build a 12'x25' covered patio and then slapping on 8-10 more panels + off grid battery to power the patio electronics and a mini split for our living room/kitchen which is the main area that needs the AC so it would reduce the reliance on central air system a lot.

Main questions
-any EG4 experience? On paper, the EG4 with Sun Atlas looks much better and this is the only installer I've found so far that can do it
-I know Peimar panels aren't as good as the REC, but those aren't an option with Sun Atlas Power though they said they have some hyundai 440 panels and Aptos 460. Are the Peimar's good enough?

Of course I'm plugging everything into AI and the response I'm getting is that the inverters could be a tad undersized at 290w and could cap output on the sunniest hours. Is this a thing? Should I ask the solar company to use IQ8HC or similar? Not sure what the cost difference would be.

For utility-scale solar projects, how do you capture & map module serial numbers to their actual locations on site? Are teams using barcode scanning apps, handheld scanners, or manually maintaining spreadsheets?

I'm looking for practical ways to improve module traceability & want to avoid last min headaches during commissioning & handover.

Hi folks

Background:

Magna-sine 4024 with two Midnite Solar 150V controllers for two solar arrays

Sometimes, when the display will say (for example) 24.5 V, we'll want to plug in the generator to top off the power.

So we'll get the generator going and plug it in, and the display goes directly to "Float" instead of through the usual Bulk and Absorb stage.

I'm stumped as to why this is happening as it started this year with no software updates yet.

Any one have any ideas as to what's going on and how it can be fixed?

Hello, I currently have a DIY setup for my chicken coop area to run a pond pump, lights, brooder, and other various appliances. I have 16 100w panels wired in 4S4P. All of the panels run into a 12g wire that connects to the MPPT (could be too small of a wire) the MPPT 4/0 wire then goes to the battery and then another 4/0 wire to the inverter. I have 2 12.8v 300ah batteries wired in parallel with 4/0 wire. In full sun I'll get around 80v at 30a yet for some reason it's only charging 0.1-0.2kw. Overnight the battery will die. The inverter says it's pulling about 200w for all the appliances. I'll have to unplug a heat lamp or whatever and let the system charge. I tried the different battery types on the MPPT configuration screen and still no dice.

Do you guys have any ideas why I'm getting such a low charging current? And yes I know these are cheap eBay parts, I don't want to break the bank on a chicken coop light bulb.

I'm looking for a device that will allow me to connect my solar system (inverter, controller, battery, panels) to a camper's current system that supplies AC, DC, and charges a 12v SLA battery.

The goals are to marry the systems so that if I plug in shore power I do not destroy the solar system, and shore power also charges the lithium battery (and continues to charge the SLA).

I will likely cross post this in some RV forums, but I felt that here might be a great place to start.

I am open to RTFM replies that direct me toward information that you have found useful, and i will not feel insulted.

I could readily create an imperfect system where one unplugs the solar from the system manually, which would still allow charging from the shore power (controller takes DC in already), but trusting that -vs- something automatic is much less desirable.

I am 10 years into a 20 year warranty with the people who put my solar system in
To initial leaks at installation 10 years ago, there’s been three or four ever since
Last year they asked for a $600 check to give them to look at one of the mounting brackets that was leaking. If it wasn’t leaking, they were gonna refund my money. That’s exactly what happened.
Fast-forward to now I have another roof leak. I know exactly where the leak is. I’ve spent hours looking for it. They want to charge me $2300 that they will refund if it’s not their fault.
The problem is, they will discontinue the 10 year warranty if anybody else touches any component of their system
They commonly charge twice if not, three times as much for any service that needs to get done
Does anybody know if this is legal?

I have a portion of my roof which will have shading issues during the winter months when the sun is lower to the horizon due to some taller trees that can't be removed or trimmed. During summer there is no shading issue as the sun is higher in the sky. I was considering having a string of panels put in the area that will have winter shading, and having a dc disconnect for that string that I just flip to off for the winter months. The idea being during summer I get the extra generation and credits on the electricity bill, and in winter the fact there is no circuit prevents shading related damage to the panels.

My thought was since the circuit will be open-circuit there will be no current flow, so no hot spots can develop on the shaded panels. Am i right that this would largely prevent any damage to the panels, or is there a bit more to it than that? Obviously i wont be climbing up and down and removing the panels, so do disconnected panels exposed to sunlight / weather age prematurely? (No snow/ice where I live)

RE+ is in Vegas in a few weeks. Is anyone going or have you gone in the past? Is it worth the trip, what might you gain by going?

On my Enphase system (2x IQ Battery 5P, Self-Consumption mode), the battery covers the house at night but the grid never quite hits zero. I log the gateway every second, and over one evening about 4% of house use still came from the grid with the battery between 68% and 86% (screenshot: grey = grid, dashed = battery %).

It shows up two ways:

1. Short spikes (1-6 seconds) every time a big load switches on, before the battery catches up.

2. A small steady trickle, around +10-25 W, even while the battery is discharging.

Over on r/enphase the response so far is that this is by design and every battery system does it. I'd like to check that across brands.

If you have a battery (Powerwall, FranklinWH, SolarEdge, Sol-Ark, EG4, Victron, etc.):

- Do you see grid import at night while the battery still has charge?

- Roughly how much, as % of night use or Wh per night?

- Can you adjust it (e.g. a grid setpoint or target) on your system?

- How are you measuring it (app, utility data, own meter)?

Most apps show 5- or 15-minute totals, which hide this, so utility interval data or your own logging is the best evidence.

Just installed 18 Longi panels. Two strings of 7 and one string of 4 to Magarevo inverter. I've attached some photos. The voltage is normal, it's around 47 volts per panel, even at the PV connection point in the inverter. I thought my production of watts would be higher considering the panels are rated at 650 watts each. This is the third day of production and I'm only getting about 19-20kw production here in South Florida. After 9:00am, no shade until 6:00pm. Are these low amps normal? I'm running #10 wire from ground array to inverter(28 linear feet).

I live in an area in Souther California that is prone to a lot of power outages due to winds. Last year we had about 2.5 weeks without power the longest run was 6 days. We just had another 3 days without power the last week. I have an 11.7kw enphase system with IQA7 micro inverters I installed as a DIY homeowner project. I would love to add batteries, but the quotes I have gotten so far to add the are in the $15k range for about 15kwh of capacity and $22k for 30kwh which is not in the budget right now.

I currently have a harbor freight inverter generator converted to natural gas that runs the essentials (lights, fridge/freezer, and a microwave, etc), but its not something my wife can easily setup and keep running while I am out of town. I am looking at installing a 26KW whole house generator that will back up my whole house, allow me to use my AC, and charge out 2 EVs without issue for as long as I need to while power is out. I have priced this system out and can do it all with permits myself for about $6500 if I don't need to buy a new enphase system controller.

My question is how to integrate it, there is a 200a automatic transfer switch, I am wondering if I need to buy the enphase IQ System Controller or if I can use a simple contactor setup inline with the disconnect to kill power to the solar when the ATS is on backup power.

Hey guys, I recently purchased a home and moved in to it in June. It has a 4kw system on the backside of the house(facing south west) that was completely paid off so we’ve been reaping the benefits the last few months.

To preface I know very little about solar besides what I’ve been learning the last few days so any advice would be great. Last month the KWH sent to Eversource (CT power supplier) dropped drastically to 22kwh in September from 89kwh in August. This prompted me into contacting solar edge, getting into the monitoring software and looking at what it’s producing. Unfortunately, even though it was communicating through cellular, it stopped reporting in June so I don’t have the data on production since we moved in, but I have today’s data since this morning when we got it hooked up on wifi.

In the photo I can see three different numbers.
The string, which I believe is just the cumulative power produced by my panels. Then the inverter is a step down at 1.4 kWh. But what really confuses me is the big gap between the inverter at 1.4kwh and the meter at 19wh. Is that normal? Or could it mean something is wrong? Is the gap between the string and the inverter normal aswell? Just trying to make sure nothing is wrong and learn a bit more about how to read these graphs and numbers along the way.

Thanks for reading through this whole thing if you did and any advice what so ever is also appreciated since I am new to all this.

Edit: if any other photos from solar edge would be helpful please let me know!

I was asked to make a construction and resources plan for a utility scale solar pv station, I have never been to construction site before
I found my colleague read past project as a template and estimate the plan and needed resources based on it by multiple with ratio
I read in pmp curriculum that it is type of estimation but it isnot accurate
And I feel beside that if I can consider other factors I can make a good plan based on my imagination
So what do you think? Is type of land , temperature, country regulations or what ?
And please tell me the link between the variable and the point i will estimate it?

For those working on utility scale solar projects, how do you manage commissioning checklists, test records, punch lists, and handover documentation?

Help please