What would you do for family?

[SunBurned]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Goal is a roof mounted (clay tile) hybrid solar system with battery backup, do not want to worry about rolling black outs or outages due to high winds or brush fire in Southern California.

Procuring a system for my parent's home, unfortunately I don't live nearby, and everyone else at home has no idea about electrical stuff let alone solar so reliability and longevity is key. We want to take advantage of NEM 2.0 which is basically the electric rate currently in California but we are limited in time because NEM 3.0 begins 2022 roughly and we would like to be grandfathered in.

Bit stuck in a rut, called multiple places with good reviews for Solar and received quotes. They have all been promoting Enphase and SolarEdge. I am paying upfront, no financing.

I feel like it's iOS vs Android, you got to join an ecosystem and what solidifies it is the overpriced High Voltage LG Chem Battery or similar system you got to use. Have you seen the Tesla contracts?!?

I was thinking at least with SolarEdge and Enphase you get a good warranty but have you checked out that LG battery recall? Costing them billions, why would I buy a headache. Enphase warranty void if no connection to the internet for 45 days? what?...

I read about SolarEdge inverter failures then after Enphase microinverter problems, and the wait times to get them replaced.

I understand California is strict with regulation, but Is there a middle ground? Honestly I would rather cover the whole roof with panels and buy a bunch of cheap string inverters wired for redundancy with a nice buss bar to attach 48v LiFePO4 battery's and expand as I go for back up.

Tell me what would you do? Do you know a southern California installer you would recommend?

Appreciate your honesty!
Thanks

 

[houseofancients]

have you thought about a form of hybrid setup, like an stacked lvx6548 or another vendor ?
would give you best of everything ; you free choice in batteries, delivery back to the grid once batteries are full and depending on how much battery you buy a few day of backup power/grid independance
as for batteries, the EG4 series look great, just not sure if allowed in Cali

 

[SunBurned]

have you thought about a form of hybrid setup, like an stacked lvx6548 or another vendor ?
would give you best of everything ; you free choice in batteries, delivery back to the grid once batteries are full and depending on how much battery you buy a few day of backup power/grid independance
as for batteries, the EG4 series look great, just not sure if allowed in Cali

Thanks for the reply, that system seems great or growatt and maybe even sol-ark.

I'm currently looking for a quality local installer in Southern California who doesn't do Enphase or Solaredge and can meet all the local Cali requirements. Issue is everyone wants to install those 2 brands.

 

[fafrd]

Thanks for the reply, that system seems great or growatt and maybe even sol-ark.

I'm currently looking for a quality local installer in Southern California who doesn't do Enphase or Solaredge and can meet all the local Cali requirements. Issue is everyone wants to install those 2 brands.

Yup, welcome to the racket.

Think about reaching out to an electrician who has experience installing solar systems. If you must have the system managed by the installer, your pretty much stuck with whatever solution the large installers are offering.

But if you are willing to monitor remotely (via internet), you may be able to architect a much more cost-effective solution and have an electrician install it for you.

 

[Ampster]

Issue is everyone wants to install those 2 brands.

One of the reasons is that the Rapid Shut Down requirements are native to those two brands. Adding RSD to other systems is more complicated and costly.

 

[fafrd]

One of the reasons is that the Rapid Shut Down requirements are native to those two brands. Adding RSD to other systems is more complicated and costly.

Uhhh, why do you say that?

Since the emergence of Subspec, it’s pretty much just a matter of adding RSD MLPEs to each module in the array and running the home run plus wire through the heartbeat transmitter connected to the shutdown switch…

It’ll eat up some of the cost advantage versus a SolarEdge-based solution but will still leave plenty of savings.

 

[Jerrys13]

Thanks for the reply, that system seems great or growatt and maybe even sol-ark.

I'm currently looking for a quality local installer in Southern California who doesn't do Enphase or Solaredge and can meet all the local Cali requirements. Issue is everyone wants to install those 2 brands.

I know a guy...
Try Josh with Peace Of Mind Electric out of Temecula. Go over options with him. (951) 634-7389 His company does great work and he's licensed and bonded.

I myself purchased my solar from Solar Max in 2013 before I met Josh unfortunately.