# A question on Tesla solar



## FurryOne (Apr 19, 2019)

I'm interested in Tesla solar, but aren't sure whether to choose the solar roof or solar cells. One questionI have concerns weatherproofing - from what I can gather, the roof depends on the white barrier to shed water because the tiles aren't really waterproof. Is this how it works? Also, can additional solar tiles be added (substituted) later to increase the output?


----------



## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

Good questions I’d also be curious to know the answers.

Just curious, are you coming up on needing a new roof anyway? We got a new roof right before solar panels were installed 3 years ago. Would have loved a solar roof but the product wasn’t ready for prime time yet.


----------



## bsunny (Oct 8, 2018)

Bigriver said:


> Good questions I'd also be curious to know the answers.
> 
> Just curious, are you coming up on needing a new roof anyway? We got a new roof right before solar panels were installed 3 years ago. Would have loved a solar roof but the product wasn't ready for prime time yet.


That's what happened to us... sort of. Solar roof not ready when we were... we waited but had roof leak. Got a new roof with some kind of water proofing (it alludes me at the moment) on all south facing roof in prep for panels.
We might prefer solar roof, but now we have already replaced and prepared our roof for panels. Errrrrgh. 🤨
Still interested in the solar roof though, so following...
We are still painstakingly going through process of getting to the scheduling phase. (Tesla)


----------



## Catskill50 (Jan 7, 2020)

The barrier under the solar roof is the primary barrier. the tiles are installed similar to asphalt shingles. A neighbor had the tiles installed in August. I analyzed the cost of the solar roof and ordered the panels since the roof tile was too costly. Once the system is engineered for the size and installed, and approved by the utility company, you cannot just add additional panels or roof tiles. If you want to expand, you have to order another system if you have the available roof surface. My system has 24 panels and is capable of 8.16 KW . I have 2 Powerwalls and was activated on December 4. December is one of the lowest months of production and I have experienced mostly cloudy days, still producing 5 KW on a cloudy day.


----------



## FurryOne (Apr 19, 2019)

Catskill50 said:


> The barrier under the solar roof is the primary barrier. the tiles are installed similar to asphalt shingles. A neighbor had the tiles installed in August. I analyzed the cost of the solar roof and ordered the panels since the roof tile was too costly. Once the system is engineered for the size and installed, and approved by the utility company, you cannot just add additional panels or roof tiles. If you want to expand, you have to order another system if you have the available roof surface. My system has 24 panels and is capable of 8.16 KW . I have 2 Powerwalls and was activated on December 4. December is one of the lowest months of production and I have experienced mostly cloudy days, still producing 5 KW on a cloudy day.


I had my roof reshingled back in 2016, so it looks like it'll be panels for me too. Here in Rome we are listed as one of the most cloudy areas of the Country due to Lake Ontario. My house is a straight raised ranch facing E/W, but I get good sun on each side. I was considering an 8K system with 12 panels facing each way. I'm also on National Grid's VTOU service, so I start charging at 1am, and according to my figures I did 8366KWh for 2020, averaging 697KWh/Mo - 723/671KWh/Mo. Summer/Winter.


----------



## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

FurryOne said:


> Here in Rome we are listed as one of the most cloudy areas of the Country due to Lake Ontario.


I'm in Pittsburgh which is also known as one of the least sunny places. One of the local TV stations recently had a story about it. Lake Erie is our problem. But I do find that we are able to produce enough solar power to meet our needs. No regrets for getting the panels.


FurryOne said:


> My house is a straight raised ranch facing E/W, but I get good sun on each side.


I have panels facing 2 different directions: SE and SW. My personal observations and judgements were that the SW surfaces were the best for sun. I was wrong. It is certainly better for late in the day during the summer, but the overall yearly production of my SW panel vs SE panel is about 88%. The angle of the sun matters a lot. I would be very hesitant to use a surface facing due West. You should go through the process of getting production calcs, as the software Tesla uses is good at accounting for all the factors of geographic location, roof slope and panel orientation.


----------



## FurryOne (Apr 19, 2019)

Well, here it is, April 8th. After originally going with solar panels, then deciding to take the full dive into a solar roof only to find out that the only roof installer is 30 miles too far away from me with no idea when anyone closer to me would get certified. So that was out, and I'm back to panels only to get Tesla's design that shows all the panels on the west side of my roof - nothing on the east side where maybe 40% of the sun hits - and that's *after* I sent them my design request using their own original drawing from before that split the panels 9-east, and 15 west. Now i'm going to have to play telephone tag to try and get someone to talk to the design department to straighten out the layout. What a crap company to work with!


----------



## FurryOne (Apr 19, 2019)

I just got my updated requested change to the panel layout that uses 9 panels facing East, and 15 panels facing West, so now it looks like we go through the permitting process.


----------

