PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Gonna keep us hanging, Eric?
Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Eric's Tucson Garage Project
- Thread starter Eric W11
- Start date
Workspaces between 705 and 1200 squarefeet.
1. The garage has its main roof facing almost due south.
2. There's no access / walk-on requirements for a garage (unlike a house, which has all kinds of edge/peak setbacks for possible firefighter access).
3. So load up the garage roof with as many solar panels as will fit!
Long gone are the days of net metering, where you could offset your power usage down to a minimal meter charge (we had that on a prior house), so this system will only offset about half of the bill. But it still pays itself back in just over 7 yr, and beyond that is money ahead.
I like that it's essentially invisible from the street / approach side (except for 1 corner of 1 panel).
The 18-ish degree slope of the roof is about optimal for summertime, when the benefit is highest.
Day 1:
The house main breaker box was full, so they needed to add an expansion box to move 4 breakers into. Moved 4 existing house circuits, and the solar circuits get added back into the main box.
2 of total 23 panels up on the first day. All of the mount racks and microinverters were up.
These panels are mostly East facing, but still will generate pretty well. Optimum for power / cost offset would have them on the opposite (front / West) roof of the garage, but we didn't want the front / approach side of the house & garage to have panels.
Racks on the house for the other 10 panels.
2. There's no access / walk-on requirements for a garage (unlike a house, which has all kinds of edge/peak setbacks for possible firefighter access).
3. So load up the garage roof with as many solar panels as will fit!
Long gone are the days of net metering, where you could offset your power usage down to a minimal meter charge (we had that on a prior house), so this system will only offset about half of the bill. But it still pays itself back in just over 7 yr, and beyond that is money ahead.
I like that it's essentially invisible from the street / approach side (except for 1 corner of 1 panel).
The 18-ish degree slope of the roof is about optimal for summertime, when the benefit is highest.
Day 1:
The house main breaker box was full, so they needed to add an expansion box to move 4 breakers into. Moved 4 existing house circuits, and the solar circuits get added back into the main box.
2 of total 23 panels up on the first day. All of the mount racks and microinverters were up.
These panels are mostly East facing, but still will generate pretty well. Optimum for power / cost offset would have them on the opposite (front / West) roof of the garage, but we didn't want the front / approach side of the house & garage to have panels.
Racks on the house for the other 10 panels.
Day 2 - everything installed. Needs inspection to back fill the conduit trench, then the power company adds the solar generation meter for the system to become active.
Just a small corner of the one panel is visible from the front side.
A bit of conduit over the roof, then they drilled through the roof not quite 1 tile up from the edge. Not sure why they didn't just wrap around the roof, but it's very neatly done.
I'll paint this conduit to match the wall. I thought they might go to the front corner of the building where the building power conduit crosses over from the house, but they did this new / separate trench to minimize the overall wire length.
At the house side, they dug under the sidewalk and drilled through next to the house.
Just a small corner of the one panel is visible from the front side.
A bit of conduit over the roof, then they drilled through the roof not quite 1 tile up from the edge. Not sure why they didn't just wrap around the roof, but it's very neatly done.
I'll paint this conduit to match the wall. I thought they might go to the front corner of the building where the building power conduit crosses over from the house, but they did this new / separate trench to minimize the overall wire length.
At the house side, they dug under the sidewalk and drilled through next to the house.
Passed inspection the day after the photos above (Wednesday), they filled in the conduit trench Thursday, and submitted for connection on Friday. Today (first day after the Christmas weekend), I got acknowledgement from the utility that it's now on their list for connection. I also painted the conduit and electrical boxes today. Getting around all those shapes took a while.
Friday, 12/29, PV solar generation system activated by the utility.
Now, to offset my carbon offset, I've added another carbon-generator. Courtesy mostly of my Mom, who passed away earlier this year. (Isn't that how a lot of maybe less-than-fully-rational purchases get done - you fall into $ you weren't expecting?) Anyway, one of her mottoes was "Get busy living, or get busy dying" from Shawshank Redemption. Well Mom, you got your end done, so I'm getting busy living with what's left. She'd probably find this quite funny - the only car she bought for me (while I was in college) was also a black Chevrolet. Must have been meant to be since black wasn't even on my list of things I was looking for in this car.
Now, to offset my carbon offset, I've added another carbon-generator. Courtesy mostly of my Mom, who passed away earlier this year. (Isn't that how a lot of maybe less-than-fully-rational purchases get done - you fall into $ you weren't expecting?) Anyway, one of her mottoes was "Get busy living, or get busy dying" from Shawshank Redemption. Well Mom, you got your end done, so I'm getting busy living with what's left. She'd probably find this quite funny - the only car she bought for me (while I was in college) was also a black Chevrolet. Must have been meant to be since black wasn't even on my list of things I was looking for in this car.
jbrentd
Well-known member
Sorry to hear about your mom's passing. I'm sure she would be happy with the new Vette.
Thanks Brent.
Couple more pics of the beast. The one at the top of the slope with the view across the valley - I've taken all the cars over there for some photos. It's just a couple of streets north of here but it slopes up much higher than here for a wider view of the valley.
Couple more pics of the beast. The one at the top of the slope with the view across the valley - I've taken all the cars over there for some photos. It's just a couple of streets north of here but it slopes up much higher than here for a wider view of the valley.
Logan - it's been great!
One of the things I was a little surprised with is there's a "drive mode" knob, with what you might expect - "tour" "sport" "track" and I'm forgetting what the other one was, maybe "rain". But once in "track", press the center button, and there's 5 more track-specific modes! These turn off the various save-the-driver features and are described in the manual like "advanced driver" "experienced drivers only" and the last one "not recommended".
The only part of track mode that I've tried is setting the exhaust in track mode while driving in tour (as in, it's max volume, all the time).
One of the things I was a little surprised with is there's a "drive mode" knob, with what you might expect - "tour" "sport" "track" and I'm forgetting what the other one was, maybe "rain". But once in "track", press the center button, and there's 5 more track-specific modes! These turn off the various save-the-driver features and are described in the manual like "advanced driver" "experienced drivers only" and the last one "not recommended".
The only part of track mode that I've tried is setting the exhaust in track mode while driving in tour (as in, it's max volume, all the time).