8.7kW system coming Orange County, SoCal

[s_man]

Now my concern is some plates seems not secured down tight to the roof, would it be a problem?
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And my big vent like the one in the neighbor vent, now has become a flat vent and may goes under the solar panels.
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[J.P.M.]

Does the building code in your area allow roof vents to be covered ? Might be an AHJ call. Mine does not. Just sayin'. Also, nice roof details on the shed. Looks sorta' like my bedroom when I was a kid.

[s_man]

Great roof for solar. Do you need the power optimizers because of the east facing panels?

I like the options to monitor individual online and also may has some shade from a tree near by

[donald]

Great roof for solar. Do you need the power optimizers because of the east facing panels?

[s_man]

They called me Saturday said they would come Monday and install racking. I told them has to work but they said I don't need to be home since they just work on the roof. I came home after work and the racking basically done. But I found some of the plates are not bolted down tight to the roof. And my big roof vent converted to a flat roof vent (my vent use to look like the vent on my neighbor roof in the picture 184237), not sure if that affect the venting of the house. Our experts here please share your opinions and suggestions, thanks!

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[s_man]

s_man: Thank you for your PM and provided installers' info. I have learned great stuffs in this forum.

You are welcome! Yeah, me too. Here we've learned and share it back

[LLtK]

s_man: Thank you for your PM and provided installers' info. I have learned great stuffs in this forum.

[s_man]

PMs sent.

[pianogineer]

Same for me if you wouldn't mind while you're at it s_man! Thanks!

[LLtK]

s_man: I'm very interested in knowing the contractors B & C of your. Please PM me. Thank you.

[inmojo]

Hello! Could you please PM me Company B and C info? I'm in the Irvine area and am currently researching companies as well.

Thanks!

[s_man]

Any updates?

I have to contact them myself every 2 weeks to find out about what's going on. Now after almost 8 weeks, the salesman refer me to the guy who is in charge of the project and he told me he has like 10 other projects in line so mine may be another 4 weeks. Kind of disappointed because they originally promised me 4-6 weeks. Guess I won't have much of it for summer

[OftheSeven]

Thanks gvl and Frank for your input! Yeah, the 5250w limit or 17 panels in my case is right. I've just called SolarEdge and they said it's just the Site Designer limitation that may not have options for different strings with different orientation for same inverter. They said I could do 2 strings with different orientations. So they suggested I use 9 panels of the West facing roof + 8 panels from the South facing roof into 1 string and 12 panels of the South facing roof in 1 string. They said I could use 3 strings but then I have to use a combiner box which cost more for me. I guest this installer really doesn't do much SolarEdge systems otherwise they may have seen this; that's what I was afraid of at first when then keep insisting on Enphase. Now I guess has to learn more about SolarEdge myself to make sure everything is right. Thanks all again for your information!

Any updates?

[gvl]

Here is another relevant document:

String Combiners in SolarEdge Systems

After reading it and assuming 8 panels will actually fit on the West side it looks like it is best to reduce the South-facing group to 21 panels, and wire them up into 2 strings 10/11 panels each, and have another string for the West facing section with 8 panels, and use a combiner box to tie them all together for a single-inverter scenario.

Edit: I guess with SE's blessing a combiner box isn't really necessary...

[s_man]

Thanks gvl and Frank for your input! Yeah, the 5250w limit or 17 panels in my case is right. I've just called SolarEdge and they said it's just the Site Designer limitation that may not have options for different strings with different orientation for same inverter. They said I could do 2 strings with different orientations. So they suggested I use 9 panels of the West facing roof + 8 panels from the South facing roof into 1 string and 12 panels of the South facing roof in 1 string. They said I could use 3 strings but then I have to use a combiner box which cost more for me. I guest this installer really doesn't do much SolarEdge systems otherwise they may have seen this; that's what I was afraid of at first when then keep insisting on Enphase. Now I guess has to learn more about SolarEdge myself to make sure everything is right. Thanks all again for your information!