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Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

electrek.co

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Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#111

Post by piva00 »

cramer4next wrote: post #106
delusional wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coming from a family of local contractors, some of whom install HVAC and such. Most of them probably understood this. It's part of the business. Pretty much every product, you are going to install, has some sort of training required, to install it properly, such that the manufacturer warranty isn't voided.

I'm from the same background of contractors. This stuff happens all the time and is nothing unqiue to Tesla. The regular anti: Musk, Ellison and Zuckerberg crowd out with their drums and masks again.

> The regular anti: Musk, Ellison and Zuckerberg crowd out with their drums and masks again.

You understand that if you left this sentence out of your comment it'd read as absolutely reasonable, right? With that addition it verges on inflammatory for no added purpose whatsoever to the message.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#112

Post by walrus01 »

SwamyM wrote: post #110
walrus01 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By googling wholesale solar panel dealers, one example would be https://krannich-solar.com/us-en/ Assuming you're in the US 48 states there should be plenty of companies that'll take your money for a factory sealed pallet load of panels. They come wrapped up from the factory, basically all they do is do the invoicing/billing to you, they buy them by the 40' or 45' container load and then load them onto trucks at a lo…

Have you done this yourself? I am curious what the installation process is like. It seems like all the home solar companies I've dealt with want to sell you the whole kit (panels, inverter, etc.). If you've done this, I am curious how your experience was.

I've done it for small scale off grid telecom projects in the 10 to 20kW class of total quantity of panels at one site, not actually at my home (which is surrounded by trees on all sides in the pacific northwest, I'd need to build a 40kW ground mount to have any reasonable amount of production). It's completely doable if you study electrical fundamentals but I'd also recommend hiring a pro to help out if you don't have the background.

There is considerable overlap between the knowledge base for -48VDC telecom battery/DC bus/breaker/fuse panel and distribution systems and PV/off grid solar stuff, so using some of the same people who do on-grid rectifier-to-telecom-DC-power-system work was fairly straightforward for us.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#113

Post by JKCalhoun »

rsynnott wrote: post #107
JKCalhoun wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. They look great on a single-surface roof with 90° edges. It seems that as soon as your roof deviates from that the aesthetics begin to trend toward conventional PV panels (which of course also do not accommodate more complex roof profiles).

Bonkers roof profiles are primarily and American thing, to be honest; not that they’re totally non-existent elsewhere, but the super-complex roof on a detached house is very American.

Interesting.

(Yeah, I kind of envy the "A-Frame" that I spot in the wild here—so simple). I didn't know the manifold roof was an American thing.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#114

Post by elzbardico »

Gee101 wrote: post #13
elzbardico wrote: post #3

It was incredibly badly engineered product, sold in a stupid way.

Why was it badly engineered?

First,

Read the installation manual. https://energylibrary.tesla.com/docs/Public/Solar/Roof/Insta...

Now that we are on the same page. think about the problems of such a complex system when you turn an ordinary roof repair into an electrical system repair and vice-versa.

Your roof was damaged by a hailstorm? great now you need a specialized roofer who is also a solar system technician. Any solar system technician used to standard solar equipments? No, one that is familiar with the bespoke tesla system. Now every roofing issue is an electrical issue, and every electrical issue with your PVs is a roofing problem too. Need to

Everything seems to be oriented toward aesthetics. Eliminating the gap between the panels in a roof is more aesthetically pleasing, but that gap in traditional panel installations serves as an important element in thermal management.

If you compare it with traditional PVs it sacrifices, cooling, modularity, maintainability, firefighter response, conductor and connections visibility, and simplicity for good looks. It makes you dependent on a single vendor for your now dual-function roof.

For me, it is a text case of bad engineering.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#115

Post by elzbardico »

iugtmkbdfil834 wrote: post #68
Gee101 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why was it badly engineered?

Was going to so ask the same. As much as I dislike Tesla and its products, I can't take away its value proposition ( good integration and simplicity for end user ).

The last thing we can call this thing is simple.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#116

Post by cramer4next »

piva00 wrote: post #111
cramer4next wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from the same background of contractors. This stuff happens all the time and is nothing unqiue to Tesla. The regular anti: Musk, Ellison and Zuckerberg crowd out with their drums and masks again.

> The regular anti: Musk, Ellison and Zuckerberg crowd out with their drums and masks again. You understand that if you left this sentence out of your comment it'd read as absolutely reasonable, right? With that addition it verges on inflammatory for no added purpose whatsoever to the message.

I was not aware of that. Nothing inflammatory here. Its the general counter to sediment of here. If it was solar city it wouldn't even have 2 points. What makes this so different then any other product cancellation? One word, "Musk". Its a trigger word for a small majority of the population.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#117

Post by NewJazz »

cramer4next wrote: post #116
piva00 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The regular anti: Musk, Ellison and Zuckerberg crowd out with their drums and masks again. You understand that if you left this sentence out of your comment it'd read as absolutely reasonable, right? With that addition it verges on inflammatory for no added purpose whatsoever to the message.

I was not aware of that. Nothing inflammatory here. Its the general counter to sediment of here. If it was solar city it wouldn't even have 2 points. What makes this so different then any other product cancellation? One word, "Musk". Its a trigger word for a small majority of the population.

What is a "small majority"? Freudian slip?

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#119

Post by froggy »

Reubend wrote: post #2

Is there any competitor in the USA? The idea of roof tiles which are themselves solar panels seems sensible to me, and it's more aesthetically pleasing than putting panels on top of normal tiles.

I was getting solar quotes recently and came across the CertainTeed brand that makes a “solar shingle”. I have no idea where they are made or how they compare to regular panels.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#120

Post by foolin »

walrus01 wrote: post #100
vardalab wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would you blame it on? Physics, gravity, destiny?

I would blame whatever team of figurative rocket scientists decided that putting something with many dozens of tiny discrete electrical connectors in a flat aesthetically pleasing format on a roof, exposed to rain/snow/ice. There's a reason why the MC4 connector for traditional PV panel wiring and similar is designed the way it is, and why other things like IP67 and IP68 rated outdoor, 600/1000/1500V rated DC power c…

Huh? Bad innovation ideas is an entire market that creates secondary markets. When the outcome is larger than an article in science direct and can only be described as inevitable then there is a conglomerate with some weak decision makers.
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