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Ken Nadsady

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RE: How Do I Know My System is Still Making Power?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 03-15-2023 08:32 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
@Timothy Mcbride I am not sure how you googling "how to test grid-tie inverters" and copying and pasting a graphic that depicts equipment that would be used by an inverter manufacturer in a test lab helps with the goal here to help Kyle develop some easy to understand material that can help homeowners ...

RE: How Do I Know My System is Still Making Power?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 03-15-2023 07:28 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Simple answer is unplug stuff like the grid. Switch off the grid a few days and rely on your solar side only, see how that works. @Timothy Mcbride That would test a hybrid solar system with battery storage, but would not work for a grid-tied system, which is the more common installation. --- ...

RE: How Do I Know My System is Still Making Power?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 03-15-2023 07:21 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
I am circling back to add a few more points, after reading responses from Rich and William, and rethinking how my response could support the goal, which I understand is providing basic, realatively easy guidance to homeowners to help them know that their solar generation system is producing energy. ...

RE: How Do I Know My System is Still Making Power?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 03-14-2023 01:22 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
I agree the graphic is nice, but I am afraid the info contained in it will cause more confusion for homeowners than it will help their understanding. As Mike said, there is a basic error in the information. A utility meter can only measure what is imported from the grid, or what is exported to the grid. ...

RE: Application for individual panel info

Posted By Ken Nadsady 03-06-2023 11:12 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Mark, I think Certasun or Sunpower may be the only ones who can help you get insight into solar module-level data for your system. I do not install sunpower, but it looks like there should be that capability in the product since they use microinverters in the Equinox system. No 3rd party system is ...

RE: Requirement for roof tile requirement

Posted By Ken Nadsady 02-20-2023 11:25 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
In Ohio we don't generally see concrete tile roofs. But in your area, where they are common, solar can be installed without replacing the roof as long as the structure is designed to handle the added weight of the solar array, which as William said is generally around 2.5lb/sq ft distributed. The installer ...

RE: Expanding existing PV system

Posted By Ken Nadsady 02-20-2023 11:13 AM
Found In Egroup: Ask a Renewable Energy Expert \ view thread
Did your installer provide you with a simulation report of the predicted system production? Typically this would provide the monthly production expected from the system. If not, you can go to PVWatts and run your own simulation, by putting in the size, location, orientation and tilt of your array. I ...

RE: How Do I Know My System is Still Making Power?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 02-05-2023 10:07 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Hi Kyle, SolarEdge includes excellent monitoring capabilities with their inverter and optimizer architecture. I believe this contributes to their high market share for residential systems. When I install SolarEdge, I always include the optional current transformer sensors needed to measure current flow ...

RE: How Do I Know My System is Still Making Power?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 01-30-2023 11:40 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Hi Mike, It sounds from the description and from looks of the graph that this smartmeter can display import and export data, not necessarily production or consumption data. Can you clarify? While it is helpful to know how much energy is being pulle dor sent to the grid, that is just part of the picture. ...

RE: What keeps homeowners from going solar?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 01-30-2023 11:20 PM
Found In Egroup: Ask a Renewable Energy Expert \ view thread
Hi Stephen, My responses: 1. I disagree, especially for composition shingle roofed homes that most often are a shade of gray to black. Modern arrays blend right in. I know Florida can have tile roofs so yes, the array would stand out on a clay tile background, but the all-black sleek looks of modern ...

RE: What keeps homeowners from going solar?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 01-30-2023 11:04 PM
Found In Egroup: Ask a Renewable Energy Expert \ view thread
Hello Kyle, Some homes have significant shading issues due to lots of trees, or they have roofs that are broken up into many small facets and that face non-ideal directions so that solar makes less sense. Outside of that, I honestly think it is just ignorance of the value that solar brings. Many people ...

RE: Issues With My solar System Help

Posted By Ken Nadsady 01-30-2023 10:45 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Yehuda, Can you post in a reply your monthly kWh usage from electric bills for the 12 months just prior to the solar being installed, so we can see what your typical consumption is for each month? Also, can you reply with the kW size of your array, or the wattage of your solar panels and the quantity ...

RE: For our readers from California

Posted By Ken Nadsady 01-30-2023 05:03 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Hi Kat, I know your OP asked specifically about CA. But since Ohio was mentioned in a few replies, I would like to respond, because I am from Ohio as well. We in Ohio, and I am sure in other state, need better policies and support for solar from our local and state leaders. I would love to see Solar ...

RE: Issues With My solar System Help

Posted By Ken Nadsady 01-30-2023 04:23 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
If you can provide more details on that data you are seeing in the monitoring app for production and consumption versus the consumption from your utility maybe we can help. Also, please provide details on your PV system, such as the total PV array size in kW DC, what size inverter you have in kW AC, ...

RE: World Population - 8 Billion Cannot be Ignored

Posted By Ken Nadsady 12-29-2022 03:09 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Well said Bob. Thanks for the perspective. ------------------------------ Ken Nadsady AviSun Renewable Energy Hudson OH ------------------------------

RE: Is Storage Worth the Investment?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 12-12-2022 01:42 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
I would like to see some of these be adopted across all states, and by the manufacturers of electrical equipment. The 225A minimum busbar requirement is a good start, but better to be 250A on panels with a 200A main breaker. This would enable more solar to land on back-fed breaker, but does not really ...

RE: Is Storage Worth the Investment?

Posted By Ken Nadsady 12-06-2022 09:41 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Nathan, that is a very good question, but I am afraid there is not a simple answer. I agree with you that storage remains to be relatively high cost, and has not really yet experienced the same downward trajectory that solar PV has. It may never be that dramatic, I don't know. I think the answer to your ...

RE: EV's, the other half of solar. Reality EV.

Posted By Ken Nadsady 12-02-2022 02:34 PM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Bill - To add to what Joe wrote, While the UL1741 requirements are mandatory for grid-interactive inverters, and I agree with Joe, no utility I am aware of forces you to disable your PV system with backup batteries when the grid goes down (would be pretty useless if that is the case), there is another ...

RE: EV's, the other half of solar. Reality EV.

Posted By Ken Nadsady 12-02-2022 09:50 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
@William Fitch I can understand your inital reaction is to say Inverter and Charger manuafacturers should allow owners to use the energy as they want when installing solar + storage and and EV charger. In reality, it is not practical and nearly no one would choose to do as you describe. Most battery ...

RE: EV's, the other half of solar. Reality EV.

Posted By Ken Nadsady 12-01-2022 10:56 AM
Found In Egroup: Everything Solar Forum \ view thread
Hi Steven, The reason that the SolarEdge 3.8kW inverter will not sharge at higher than it's 3.8kW rating is likely due to the installation and configuration. Is the EVC a SolarEdge charger, and is it directly connected to the Energy Hub? If so, the Energy Hub should be able to charge the EV up to a ...