DIY installation - Final Steps - Solar system off while waiting for approval

[Radix]

Can you clarify what you mean by leg? Because some definitions of leg are scary

I meant pole in the transfer switch.

 

[Radix]

@Radix where do you stand now on your install. The best is to plan out the solar install on your roof, get a permit for the solar install and do the install in this order.

Install all the solar racking, panels and DC run up to where the Solark will be. Plan out where to put the bypass switch, Solark and schedule a date with PGE to pull meter. Do the transfer switch, Solark install, reroute to main panel and finish connecting DC array with RSD to Solark. Ask inspector to come back for inspections the next day so you can get your green tag for PGE to energize your meter. Since the permit is a solar install, hopefully you would have passed with the AHJ and then you submit to PGE for PTO. In the meanwhile, you can set Solark to zero-export and if you do accidentally export back to grid, IMHO it is okay because PGE will see you have a solar install application with them and you might run the risk of paying for exported Wh but unlikely. Since you don't have battery as buffer (you could temp install some actually since you already passed AHJ inspection) and run off-grid to make sure no exports are seen by PGE before PTO.

my 2 cents.

The panels and junction box are installed. Just spoke to an electrician to do the rest of the install yesterday, I am at my DIY expertise limit where the components will go, next to Main panel, and the limited space between the Main panel and the gas meter, which the gas meter is about 4 feet from the main panel. I was not aware of the 3ft radius clearance around the gas meter until I go to planning the wall mounting part of it. Just need clarification if the correct use of the transfer switch if one pole connects Subpanel to Grid and the other pole connects to Grid and Solark so it is running of both, in case batteries and PV is not enough to power everything.

It is not registering to me on why I would want to run one pole to Grid only and the other to Solark only, unless the plan to be be off grid, but in this case, and the goal for most cases is run on PV as much as possible but can use GRID with needed.
I will install 2 EG4 batteries after passing inspection, but I would think it is good to have the Grid tied into the transfer switch and PV to sell back and back up.

 

[Hedges]

"One Pole", I think of L1 and L2 as two poles, both normally going to same device or source.

Transfer switch is DPDT or for 3-phase 3PDT.

You might want sub-panel switched either to be fed from Grid, or fed from SolArk.

Grid --> Subpanel vs. Grid --> SolArk ?
That does not sound good. When you feed grid to SolArk, sub-panel is not powered.
Unless output of SolArk is hard wired to sub-panel, even worse: SolArk output and grid fight to drive sub-panel.

A 1-line or 3-line diagram is better to describe connections.

 

[zanydroid]

I meant pole in the transfer switch.

Yeah please be more precise about the Pole usage. Drawing a picture would alleviate the concerns (the imprecision on this makes me want to peace out of the thread TBH).

I was not aware of the 3ft radius clearance around the gas meter until I go to planning the wall mounting part of it.

This is still an incomplete understanding. Here is the old authoritative diagram for this. My screenshot is over 12 months old so it's on you to download the Greenbook yourself and look for any updates to these pages.

imgur.com/a/greenbook-gas-clearances-FKUakYE

 

[zanydroid]

I will install 2 EG4 batteries after passing inspection, but I would think it is good to have the Grid tied into the transfer switch and PV to sell back and back up.

Please review the misc threads on the risks with AHJ and POCO if you parallel a hybrid with batteries (a type of ESS) into the grid.

There are ways PG&E can detect this, and there are multiple California building codebooks this violates.

And then make an informed decision.

 

[Radix]

Nevermind about the transfer switch, makes sense now. It is to provide a connection from Inverter or Grid to subpanel. Solark has the Grid input that makes the connection from GRID as a back up if PV system and batteries cannot.