Reusing parts from a freebie SolarCity system?

[rehoboth]

Hello out there!

We have been offered an entire SolarCity 12kW system for free if we pay for it to be professionally removed from a house that just sold, and whose new owners did not want it. The seller states that they're going to buy out the contract, so it would be their own equipment to dispose of as they please.

I've seen some pretty negative reviews of various SolarCity stuff, but it also sounds like much of that unhappiness stems from customers feeling like SolarCity did not deal with them in a praiseworthy way -- as opposed to the equipment itself necessarily being lousy. That's not an issue here, since I'd own the parts free and clear after paying for the removal, but I want to make sure this is worth doing, and that I'm not going to all this trouble to end up with parts I won't want to use.

From what I have learned so far (please, please correct me where I am wrong here!) --

- some, but not all, SolarCity panels are rebadged Panasonics (but had some kerfuffle about warranty coverage)
- SolarCity has two potential rack mount systems, one of which disassembles without the weird proprietary tool and the other of which doesn't
- Older SolarCity inverters were often OEM'd by other companies, but the newer ones were made in house.
- The SolarCity stuff is supposed to have an internet-equipped front end, which seems like a lot of folks have had trouble using it, especially if they weren't the original owners. I assume that if I'm mix-and-matching parts together, the internet-equipped front end is not going to be much use to me.

What do folks here think? Would enough parts be worth reusing that I should move forward with this? Or were the early SolarCity parts problematic enough that I should just start fresh, even at this price?

[SunEagle]

Hello out there!

We have been offered an entire SolarCity 12kW system for free if we pay for it to be professionally removed from a house that just sold, and whose new owners did not want it. The seller states that they're going to buy out the contract, so it would be their own equipment to dispose of as they please.

I've seen some pretty negative reviews of various SolarCity stuff, but it also sounds like much of that unhappiness stems from customers feeling like SolarCity did not deal with them in a praiseworthy way -- as opposed to the equipment itself necessarily being lousy. That's not an issue here, since I'd own the parts free and clear after paying for the removal, but I want to make sure this is worth doing, and that I'm not going to all this trouble to end up with parts I won't want to use.

From what I have learned so far (please, please correct me where I am wrong here!) --

- some, but not all, SolarCity panels are rebadged Panasonics (but had some kerfuffle about warranty coverage)
- SolarCity has two potential rack mount systems, one of which disassembles without the weird proprietary tool and the other of which doesn't
- Older SolarCity inverters were often OEM'd by other companies, but the newer ones were made in house.
- The SolarCity stuff is supposed to have an internet-equipped front end, which seems like a lot of folks have had trouble using it, especially if they weren't the original owners. I assume that if I'm mix-and-matching parts together, the internet-equipped front end is not going to be much use to me.

What do folks here think? Would enough parts be worth reusing that I should move forward with this? Or were the early SolarCity parts problematic enough that I should just start fresh, even at this price?

Reusing old solar equipment may save you money but I don't think you can get the Federal rebate because it is used equipment. Something to think about.

[solarix]

The main problem with Solar City is their install quality not their equipment quality. You may experience some exasperation reusing the mounting system and will probably need some additional parts that may be hard to find in order to adapt the array to your roof. The inverter is probably just fine, but may have difficulty getting monitoring hooked up if that is important to you. The main thing you need to check on is whether your utility will allow you to install used equipment. My utility expressly forbids used equipment. (Although they would never notice if it was or not). This is why used solar equipment is so cheap to buy - you can't generally use it for grid-tied applications. Having you pay to get rid of their solar system is their best option. Savy homebuyers of leased solar systems know that if they refuse to take over the lease and say they don't want the solar system (who would not want a solar system?), the home seller is put in a jam and often ends up giving the solar system to them for free...

[rehoboth]

Thanks very much for the info.

In the end, the fellow who had said he'd hold it for us while we got quotes decided not to hold it for us. (eh, say what?) I'll keep my eyes peeled for other used equipment.