Solar System Installation

How we got free lifetime charging for our two Teslas
- and a 30% tax credit for the investment.

Solar Panel Installation
September 18, 2022

Photos and text by Carl Morrison, Carl@TeslaTouring.com
Location: 92870-192925
http://teslatouring.com/SolarSystemAugust2022/

Jacob Hoffman, Green Day Power, Corona, CA, 949 233 5667 (Tell him Carl Morrison sent you.)

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Table of Contents

I. The plan to add 40 solar panels to our 10-year old 16 solar panels.

II. The one-day installation.

III. The specifics about the solar panels and microinverters on each panel to get the 25,150 kWh yearly production.

IV. Main Panel Upgrade and accompanying combiner box.

V, Two Time-lapse videos of the whole installation process.

(Photos can be double-clicked for a larger copy.)

Since our original 16 panels (below right) were installed 10 years ago, we've purchased two EVs, above.

But we had room on our garage roof, right, and house roof for 40 more solar panels as you can see above. The original 16 panels were 230 W each.

The plan was to cover the maximum amount of our south-facing roof with panels (40) in addition to the gray area - our 10-year old 16 panels.

The day began with chalking the location of the hangers for the rails. Our original 16 solar panels are on the upper right.

Tiles were removed and hangers were bolted to rafters, caulked, and tiles replaced.
.

Meanwhile, a bush too close to the MPU was removed and Taylor took out the old panel and put in a larger one (center) and a combiner box to combine the original solar system's output and the new panels output.

The panels were a skid full - 30 in the carton, 10 on top. Address of installer's warehouse. Specifications of the panels and microiverters delivered.

Enphase IQ8PLUS microinverter: The industry’s first grid-forming microinverters with split-phase power conversion capability to convert DC power to AC power efficiently. Has super-fast response times to changing loads and grid events, alleviating constraints on battery sizing for home energy systems. Part of the Enphase Energy System, IQ8+ Microinverters integrate with the Enphase IQ Battery, Enphase IQ Gateway, and the Enphase App monitoring and analysis software. Includes an industry-leading limited warranty of up to 25 years. Connect PV modules [solar panels] quickly and easily to IQ8+ Microinverters using the included Q-DCC-2 adapter cable with plug-n-play MC4 connectors.

Solar Panels: The Canadian Solar CS3N-395MS 395W all-black panels feature low-temperature coefficients offering better shading tolerance and lower hotspot temperatures. The Canadian Solar CS3N 395W solar panels are 19.4% efficient or higher. They are rated at 5400Pa for snow and 2400Pa for wind loads. The positive-only tolerance guarantees that you get the same or more power than the panel’s power rating. They come with a 25-year linear power output warranty and a 25-year warranty on materials and workmanship.

Mechanical specifications:
Cell Technology: Monocrystalline
Dimensions: 76.4 x 41.3 x 1.38 in
Weight: 49.6 lbs
Module Frame Material: Black Anodized aluminum alloy
Module Frame Thickness: 35mm
Module Backsheet Material: Black
Module Connector: T4 series or MC4
Panels per Pallet: 30 pcs

Module Watts STC: 395 Watts

Video of Canadian Solar Panels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIj02ehE5uY&t=183s

From: https://enphase.com/store/microinverters/iq8-series/iq8plus-microinverter

While the crew finished the hangers and replaced the tiles, the panels were unpacked and the rails were connected to the hangers.

Microinverters attached to rails to be connected to panels.

Panels lifted to garage roof, and two wires connected from panel to microinverter and microinverter connected to line down to main electrical panel.

Left, Final step, 4 screws attach panel to rails. Above, and the process continues on the garage roof with our 16 original panels on the house roof above.

The system is four 10-panel sections. Left, the garage panels' wire comes over the garage roof and across the valley [raised for earthquake purposes?] then up to the peak of the house roof, across and down to the meter.

The house section starts with perfect alignment of the first two panels.

At nearly 6 ft. by 4 ft. the panels cover quickly. Right, panel adjustments being made while crew members fish wires down the roof line to the right to the new main panel at round level.

Only casualties were 3 panels that had been punctured by a forklift's fork that had gone through the carton damaging 3 panels. Above is back of one punctured panel, and the hole in the carton.
All panels except the 3 were installed and before long three replacement panels were delivered and installed for a complete installation.

Final job was to cut off excess rails and put on caps. Right, view from the ground level of the clearance between panels and tile roof.

Taylor continued installing the MPU, left, the combiner box and main switch, right.

With the panel buttoned up, and the system in test mode, we were producing 9.02 kW more than we were using in the air conditioned house.

Above, all new hardware on the east wall, except for the air conditional and its shutoff. New panel with meter awaiting first of 4 inspections. Far right, combiner box combining A/C from inverter for original 16 panels, and A/C from the 40 new panels which each have an inverter. App will eventually show output of each of the 40 inverters.

The next day, with mostly cloudy skies, we were producing 2.96 kW more than we were using for our air conditioned house.

On the left, under the 082, is a constantly moving arrow. When it moves to the left, toward the street, it is producing more electricity than we are using, and the -013.99 kW is how much over we are producing. This was a more sunny day.

Final View of the Finished Solar Installation with our two Tesla battery-electric vehicles. So now we have 56 solar solar panels and will be charging our two Teslas, and running our air conditioned house, for free, with capacity for more electrical use.

Time-Lapse Movies of the solar panel installation:

Video above is a time-lapse of the first 4 hours of work by the 10-man crew.
https://youtu.be/rxOpq65Y888

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-0zoX8KQmI
Video above is the two hours after lunch to finish the project. The electrical work continued for another few hours.

LINKS:

Great service from Jacob. Jacob's e-mail: jhoffmansolarbrokerpros@gmail.com Corona, California 92882 Solar Broker Pros's website: https://www.solarbrokerpros.com/
Jacob worked with Green Day Power, 9745 Business Park Drive, Sacramento, CA 95827 for the installation.

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