CA RESIDENTS: I am seeking advice. NEM 2/3? EV CHARGING? OFFGRID? ETC

[zanydroid]

I will research luxpower 6k or srne10k. the only reason I would go delta ultra is because its super easy and its plugged and play. Im a complete noob and rather have something that is very easy to setup.

Safety in numbers from picking an inverter the forum is familiar comes from having P2P support as well as improved probability of issues with the platform having been detected already.

Sure, setup will always be easier with something with a solar generator pedigree. That’s one month out of a 10 year inverter lifespan and 20 year system lifespan.

At some point you may have working battery stack but need a new inverter. If EcoFlow is gone at that point you need to solve how to get life out of your batteries, in that case it is beneficial to have safety in numbers OR use a battery that had a clear path to using with a replacement from another company.

You need to verify whether you want UL9540 ESS certification, if so then you cannot use any of these systems. California is solidly in the UL9540 era wrt building code.

Other things one ought to be concerned with on Delta Pro Ultra are how good it’s support for Rapid Shutdown and arc fault detection are. That is tricky in some platforms because those are often designed for worldwide use but these two requirements are North American. Both are required, with arc fault being impossible for mere mortals to retrofit while RSD retrofit is not bad

 

[noy897]

Just got my trueup bill and it was $4000 dollars! we have decided to just move t nem3.0 and have a solar company install new solar/30kwh battery system.

 

[Hedges]

Is NEM 3.0 because you're adding more PV?
How about if you just add battery, and stick with NEM 2.0? That will let you save power for winter.
Any changes you could make to loads or when they operate?

My estimated true-up end of this month is $1000. I slipped and consumed too much electricity last couple of months. Tried to switch to gas after I realized but furnace wouldn't stay lit. Have now replaced control board so its flame sensor circuit works properly.

 

[time2roll]

Just got my trueup bill and it was $4000 dollars! we have decided to just move t nem3.0 and have a solar company install new solar/30kwh battery system.

The game now is to store your own energy for use when the sun is not shining. No more grid battery.

 

[noy897]

Is NEM 3.0 because you're adding more PV?
How about if you just add battery, and stick with NEM 2.0? That will let you save power for winter.
Any changes you could make to loads or when they operate?

My estimated true-up end of this month is $1000. I slipped and consumed too much electricity last couple of months. Tried to switch to gas after I realized but furnace wouldn't stay lit. Have now replaced control board so its flame sensor circuit works properly.

Correct. I just need to offset my cars driving. PGE is up at 48C Per KWH now in my area! It's actually cheaper to charge at a tesla charging station now lol

 

[noy897]

I just need to cover 12KWH/DAY (charging during time) that is my daily commute which is about 40 miles.
They quoted me 50K for a new system (current solar company). Which is crazy. That is not including all the finance charged involved plus im still playing for my existing system.

It's getting to the point where I'm thinking of buying deltapro ultra series (new one just came out) just to get enough to cover 12kwh.

I would Literally just get a bunch of solar, lay them down on my backyard and charge the battery to charge the car at night. Since the solar is not mounted to anything and it is just charging the deltapro battery I should avoid needing to get permits

 

[zanydroid]

Might as well just get 1-2 6000XP on a cart with the cheapest SS batteries and the cheapest used panels instead of paying for the markup from a Discount Apple wannabe like DeltaPro.

Production goes down a lot with any kind of shading, so laying them on the backyard may have issues. And there are setback requirements, I can't remember whether they're state wide or only my AHJ. Setback requirements basically mean a 6000 sq ft lot can barely fit any ground mounts.

 

[billvon]

I would Literally just get a bunch of solar, lay them down on my backyard and charge the battery to charge the car at night. Since the solar is not mounted to anything and it is just charging the deltapro battery I should avoid needing to get permits

Do it on a trailer. Then it's easier to move, and you'll be able to transport everything far more easily. You can get a used trailer for a few hundred $$.

 

[740GLE]

Do you have time of use delay charging set up on the Tesla? I always thought it was cheaper to charge at say 2am til 6am, which should be more than enough for 40 miles/day.

Some internal energy saving and load shifts should reduce you’re peak demand during peak cost.

IE NEM 3.0 is doing what it should, force people to think how/when they are using energy.

 

[Hedges]

Will you charge while the sun shines, or do you need to store PV in batteries to charge at night?

12 kWh/day (night) is doable with batteries. EG4 PowerPro is 14kWh, $4000. Pairs with EG4 18kpv for UL listed ESS (at least it is UL listed if the unit they ship you has the stickers; we read some AHJ only accept stickers not separate documents.)

Preferable to do PV direct. Trick is how to make EV/charger draw just that amount of power.
PV panels are so cheap these days ($0.20/W) that you might over-panel and let the extra go to waste.
GT PV hardware amortizes out to $0.025/kWh (over 20 years.) PV panels are just $0.005/kWh of that.

Correct. I just need to offset my cars driving. PGE is up at 48C Per KWH now in my area! It's actually cheaper to charge at a tesla charging station now lol

I just need to cover 12KWH/DAY (charging during time) that is my daily commute which is about 40 miles.

12 kWh/day x $0.48/kWh = $6/day.
If off-peak is half that, $3/day.

250 days of driving per year? $1500 or $750 per year.
That could justify $15k or $7.5k investment, not more.
$7.5k buys DIY hardware for 7.5kW GT PV system.
Or, maybe one EG4 PowerPro and 18kPV, but no panels.

I'm not sure you have a big enough problem to cost-effectively improve upon paying PG&E.
If we just had a variable rate PV direct charger, that would fit the bill.

 

[zanydroid]

Do you have time of use delay charging set up on the Tesla? I always thought it was cheaper to charge at say 2am til 6am, which should be more than enough for 40 miles/day.

Some internal energy saving and load shifts should reduce you’re peak demand during peak cost.

IE NEM 3.0 is doing what it should, force people to think how/when they are using energy.

They added $0.15/kwh across the board on Jan 1, including off peak. So off peak EV charging costs the same now as gassing up a Prius. And that’s with local $$$$$$$ gas prices. How the turn tables.

 

[zanydroid]

Preferable to do PV direct. Trick is how to make EV/charger draw just that amount of power.

The Enphase one is 25% granularity of adjustment. I guess it could be worse.

Not sure what granularity Emporia approach is. They don’t have a stationary battery so it has a limit to how many use cases it can handle

 

[740GLE]

They added $0.15/kwh across the board on Jan 1, including off peak. So off peak EV charging costs the same now as gassing up a Prius. And that’s with local $$$$$$$ gas prices. How the turn tables.

That’s not that bad of a cost. I’m paying around $200/month in fuel these days, if I paid that same amount to the electric company if I switched to an EV, it’d be a wash and I wouldn’t find much to fuss about.

Sounds like you have your work cut out if you want to run that EV off solar alone.

 

[time2roll]

I just need to cover 12KWH/DAY (charging during time) that is my daily commute which is about 40 miles.
They quoted me 50K for a new system (current solar company). Which is crazy. That is not including all the finance charged involved plus im still playing for my existing system.

Two Tesla Powerwall should easily do this at maybe half the cost.

 

[zanydroid]

That’s not that bad of a cost. I’m paying around $200/month in fuel these days, if I paid that same amount to the electric company if I switched to an EV, it’d be a wash and I wouldn’t find much to fuss about.

Sounds like you have your work cut out if you want to run that EV off solar alone.

That's the increase. It's $0.35/kWh total now off-peak for EV rate. The on-peak EV rate is even worse.

 

[Redflyer]

You can get the EG4 18kpv and initially just set it up for TOU battery charging. Then, you could look to throw a couple of solar panels on the ground occasionally. The 18kpv allows to you set up the timing for the battery charging. Then just run your Tesla charger off the battery bank. Stay on 2.0

 

[zanydroid]

You can upgrade to 18kpv and stay on NEM2 then do forced export at peak instead of when power is generated. 18kpv plus right batteries are CEC listed

If you just want to do TOU battery charging and aren’t going to bother with permits, might as well YOLO all the way and use 6000xp. Save some money along the way.

 

[740GLE]

That's the increase. It's $0.35/kWh total now off-peak for EV rate. The on-peak EV rate is even worse.

Ouch, well on the upside the increased utility cost will help your payoff/justification of a larger system.

Sounds like you’ve only spent a little time at this house a few months? have you considered doing a full energy audit?

Every KWhr not used is the best KWhr you’ll ever spend.

 

[Hedges]

You can upgrade to 18kpv and stay on NEM2 then do forced export at peak instead of when power is generated. 18kpv plus right batteries are CEC listed

If new inverter is more than 1 kW (or 10%, whichever greater) larger than old, doesn't that knock you off NEM 2.0?

 

[zanydroid]

If new inverter is more than 1 kW (or 10%, whichever greater) larger than old, doesn't that knock you off NEM 2.0?

I mean as a storage only inverter

Granted I don’t know how they count unused MPPT but I think there are forum members in California using 18kpv in strict AC coupled mode. Not sure when they filed for interconnect