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diy solar

Guerilla solar. Has anyone actually been caught by the AHJ or Poco?

Know a 'friend' that might have a guerilla solar install / addition?

  • Entire install, off-grid, got caught.

  • Entire install, off-grid, haven't been caught.

  • Entire install, on-grid, got caught.

  • Entire install, on-grid, haven't been caught.

  • Unpermitted addition to permitted install, got caught

  • Unpermitted addition to permitted install, haven't been caught

  • Other semi-wacky loophole (vehicle mounted solar feeding house, etc)

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BarracudaBob said:
FPL Electric Service Standards
"The customer is responsible for ensuring that power from V2H does not back-feed or export to the grid to avoid a safety hazard for workers or the public. Customers assume all liability associated with the use of such battery systems Isolation – internal EVSE or mechanical disconnect between islanding and the grid – ATS or mechanical disconnect required"
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FPL has the ability to disconnect your power remotely via the electronic meter

That being said. In the event of a power outage all meters should be disconnected from the utility until the power is restored for everyone's safety.

Edit: I think FPL needs to get with the program. It's only a software update away.
 
As an upstanding member of the community I would never do this.

However someone I know in the exact same situation as me has been doing this for almost a year. About a month ago this miscreant also hooked up a new inverter with the external CTs completely wrong and backfed for about 2 days. But nothing came of it. Perhaps Rocky Mountain Power is more lenient than other power companies.
 
Bananaman321 said:
FPL has the ability to disconnect your power remotely via the electronic meter

That being said. In the event of a power outage all meters should be disconnected from the utility until the power is restored for everyone's safety.

Edit: I think FPL needs to get with the program. It's only a software update away.
Click to expand...
Disconnecting isn't a bad idea. Every year we hear about people running generators in the house. I don't know how many back feed the secondary of the transformer. Line down in your neighborhood with tens of thousands of voltage stepped up via the transformer.

Do what you will in your home but don't bother others.
 
I posted this item before, neighbor at my cabin location installed a Solark 12k with the intent of offgrid only use. PoCo visited him the same day he turned it on. Smart meters installed in this location. His setting sold back power accidentally.
 
Hedges said:
I rigged up a motion sensor to cut out the grid-feed, giving them 5 minutes to visit meter without seeing backfeed. But they send a letter threatening to disconnect.
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That wild!! Reminds me of Occam's' Razor for some reason.
 
If you have one of the newer meters that allows them to disconnect remotely and get data every hour from the meter then don't even think about it.
If their software is looking for irregularities it will alert them to any that pop up.
 
robby said:
If you have one of the newer meters that allows them to disconnect remotely and get data every hour from the meter then don't even think about it.
If their software is looking for irregularities it will alert them to any that pop up.
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If a single FPL meter has an unscheduled power disconnect this generates a trouble ticket and a worker will be out within days to inspect for fault or meter tampering this can result in a locking seal and a letter threatening to disconnect if tampering is found.

This is all part of an automated system that is designed to eliminate possible problems before they begin and levi power theft.
 
A random Itron smart meter manual lists several events it will flag for the utility, possibly in real time:

1721773958819.png
Counting unexpected “reverse energy” as a tamper event might explain the vigorous response from some power companies. I imagine those with interconnect agreements are put on a separate meter configuration set to ignore backfeed…
 
Daddy Tanuki said:
ha ha ha I was thinking the same.. two year old rarely used account suddenly wants to know your indepth solar shenanigans... sorry buddy this is not our versioin of the J6...
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Some of the members here sure are paranoid. :ROFLMAO:

Might be a 2 year old account but if you looked at some of his threads, you just might realize you are paranoid without cause.
 
twrlp said:
A random Itron smart meter manual lists several events it will flag for the utility, possibly in real time:

View attachment 230727
Counting unexpected “reverse energy” as a tamper event might explain the vigorous response from some power companies. I imagine those with interconnect agreements are put on a separate meter configuration set to ignore backfeed…
Click to expand...
if I had one of these I'd just do this stuff daily and say "no idea" when they came out
I always cut the pins off of their lock stuff but never do anything in there
 
A few weeks ago the utility crew was here finally connecting the underground cables and removing the overhead wires. Only took over 1.5 years since boring began.

Fella came in the week before and said they were ready to hook it up and would let me know before shutting off power. I said not a problem, office is all laptops so no worries there, he asked if house was on the same hookup and naturally I said yes. :ROFLMAO:

Technically it is.

Should I leave a 100W light bulb on in the shed by the meter so it shows some usage once the shop system goes online? :ROFLMAO:
 
FPL were very anti solar, until they got into it for themselves. So yes, I am very surprised I didn't get a visit from them.
New home is 100% off grid so my temp testing worked out.
 
My inverter is tied to the grid via its input, but it rarely uses it, unless it needs to recharge the batts if they drop below 20%. We actually lost the grid last night, but I didn't notice since our 120V stuff has been pretty much off grid since March.

My PoCo came out last year to change the meter right after I had got my system up and running. The tech saw my ground mount but didn't ask anything and I didn't volunteer any info either. They didn't come inside, just changed the meter and left.

I'm sure they've noticed our lower power usage over the last 6 months, but no issues with them after a year and a half of operation.
 
Here in Spain, off grid, you don't need any permissions unless you want to claim Government money, about 20% of final cost. You need a registered electrician or installer to do the work or sign it off & all the invoices for the kit. Grid tie is plenty of paperwork but rightly so with issues of feedback & third part safety. Less than 10Kw a company will do all the paperwork for about €350 , above & it gets more expensive. You can DIY but youl need time and patience plus lots of reading.
 
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