<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">We've taken many of these on over the years: it can have a satisfying outcome, if the customer is really willing to pay to fix it.<div>We don't even try to work with what's there; everything comes off the wall, and we rebuild the whole system using any decent parts that can be reused.</div><div>Most customers report much more reliable operation after, but you still can't find everything. </div><div>I try to stay out of the premises distribution wiring, and keep the work just to the PV, batteries, inverter, etc.</div><div>This keeps it clear what you're responsible for, and what you're not. If pulling a permit, I write it up to specifically exclude distribution wiring.</div><div><br></div><div>These days, I only take them on, if they are essentially buying a new system (batteries, more PV, inverter, or charge controller upgrade.....)</div><div>I often sell them a whole new power board, and offer a trade-in on their old usable equipment.</div><div>Even reusing old PV is getting harder these days (rewiring an old array of 50 watt modules, often just isn't worth the time)</div><div>Unless you've done several of these, I'd stay clear of them. There are easier ways to make a living.</div><div>GridTie has fewer call backs, by far.</div><div><br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div>R. Walters</div><div><a href="mailto:ray@solarray.com">ray@solarray.com</a></div><div>Solar Engineer</div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span>
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<br><div><div>On Jan 13, 2011, at 3:08 PM, jay peltz wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Yes to all what Dana says.</div><div><br></div>I've had one good friend who will only work on such projects if hes allowed to do.<div><br></div><div>1. fix any and everything that needs to be, and yes its going to cost.</div><div>otherwise he walks away.</div><div><br></div><div>and </div><div><br></div><div>2. he still has them sign a contract that says hes not responsible for things hes not touched or some such legalese.</div><div>IE wire in walls etc.</div><div><br></div><div>Its a very scary part, as if there is a problem, they will sue you first regardless as you were the last to touch it.</div><div><br></div><div>One almost horror story, I had added some solar to a system. I didn't fix all that could have been.</div><div>To make a long story shorter, the house burned down (a month after I had worked on it) and it started near the electrical room. Turns out it was arson, but I didn't sleep well for a few days, until I knew that.</div><div><br></div><div>CYA.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Jan 13, 2011, at 1:26 PM, Dana wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">DONOT assume anything!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Photograph.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Draw schematics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Specific gravity test.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Do wire pull tests.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Check tightness on all connections.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Verify voltage and polarity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Wire calc every wire.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Measure distances.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Double check.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Get paid for this , you did not create this mess.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Dana Orzel<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Great Solar Works, Inc<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">E -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:dana@solarwork.com" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">dana@solarwork.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">V - 970.626.5253<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">F - 970.626.4140<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">C - 970.209.4076<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">web -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.solarwork.com/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">www.solarwork.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">"Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988"</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; ">Do not ever believe anything, but seriously trust through action.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>List sponsored by Home Power magazine<br><br>List Address:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" style="color: blue; 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