Building an app for solar owners. What do YOU want?

[simon.bidgely]

Hey guys,

First off, if this post is against forum rules or in the wrong sub-forum, please let me know!

I work for a company is Silicon Valley, and we're working with leading microinverter companies and others to build a mobile app for solar owners. And we need your help! Would you take 5 minutes to answer some questions below?

Without further ado...

As the owner of a solar panel installation:

1. What do you wish your solar provider had told you before your purchase?
2. Is there something you wish your solar provider would update or inform you on an ongoing basis?
3. What regular maintenance, if any, do you perform on your solar installation?
4. What is the biggest inconvenience regarding your solar panels?

And some questions about mobile apps:

1. Did your solar installation come with a mobile app to manage it?
2. If you have a mobile app, what features are most useful for you?
3. If you do not have a mobile app, what features would you like in one?

Please feel free to give me any other feedback or ideas. All are welcome. Thank you so much!

[DanKegel]

We got solar in 2008, and we're doing it again this year.

> What do you wish your solar provider had told you before your purchase?

In 2008:
I wish he had mentioned the panels would be visible from the street, we might have told him to redesign to avoid that.

In 2015:
I wish he had told us what the deadline was for getting started in order to claim the ladwp rebate; that would have prompted us to get on our roof contractor to get real about schedules.

> What regular maintenance, if any, do you perform on your solar installation?

Wash it once a year or two with a very long squeegee ($80 at the local cleaning supply store).

> What is the biggest inconvenience regarding your solar panels?

That they can be seen from the street.

> Did your solar installation come with a mobile app to manage it?

2008: nope

2015: yes, but the installation isn't done, so I don't have the app yet.

> If you do not have a mobile app, what features would you like in one?

Do Not Want:
- Mobile App At All. I prefer the web. Apps suck, they burn through too much battery, and I don't like installing or updating them. Mobile web pages can do everything an app can do.
- Monthly Charge to access my data or control my system
- And especially, if the internet goes down, I do not want anything in my house to break. So any Internet connection should be strictly for monitoring, and shouldn't actually do anything.

Want:
- publish data to pvoutput.org
- system to watch over my power usage and figure out how to reduce my utility bill by e.g. turning appliances off when usage is too high/power is expensive and on again when usage is low/power is cheap.
- give me access to the data using a REST API so I do my own graphing and play at writing a home control system

[solar_newbie]

[*]What do you wish your solar provider had told you before your purchase?
- All possible options for the system location. Pros and Cons for each options. Especially having app to show how much I could benefit for each options by taking input on my house location, production hours, PG&E rate, current usage and expect future usage. [*]Is there something you wish your solar provider would update or inform you on an ongoing basis?
- None. I only want to contact them when needed.[*]What regular maintenance, if any, do you perform on your solar installation?
- Not sure since the system is new. I would expect to clean every few months or when it is too dirty.[*]What is the biggest inconvenience regarding your solar panels?
- None as mine is all in the back of the house.

And some questions about mobile apps:
[*]Did your solar installation come with a mobile app to manage it?
Yes[*]If you have a mobile app, what features are most useful for you?
Watch the production of the system -- Watt production and per panel production
If the app can get information from the meter for import and export to the grid, it will give me the whole picture in real time to adjust. Currently I have to depend on pvoutput to collect information from 2 different devices : one from solar inverter, one from smart meter. [*]If you do not have a mobile app, what features would you like in one?

[PNjunction]

Please feel free to give me any other feedback or ideas. All are welcome. Thank you so much!

Don't bombard the app with push-ads, or have any unnecessary permissions. Download from an authorized app-store, and not solely from a generic 3rd-party website. Anything not meeting this criteria will be swiftly dealt with.