FCC issues a Notice of Violation to Solar City for RFI Inteferance

We must all be vigilant!A neighbor about 150 yards from me had about 42 solar panels recently upon his roof within the past month or so.

So far I've not noticed any QRN from them,which is good.Although I would think that any time in the future an "optimizer" could break

down,but in the meantime we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed I guess.They came through the street with 2 agents ringing doorbells a

year or two ago.Well 0f 27 houses on the street,this guy was the only one to "take the bait".As it's been explained to me,one doesn't own the

panels for about 20 years and by that time when you take possession most of the panels will start to break down and need to be replaced.

At any rate it just didn't seem like a good deal. Respectfully,Gregory L. Mitchell-W2MYA, West Caldwell,N.J. P.S. Just wanted to add

that there is another ham op 300-400 yds. South of me who is complaining of heavy noise since they were installed! glm

 

I also ran a Google Solar Analysis for my home location (20 miles east of Kansas City, Missouri) and, according to Google's analysis, I am in no danger of Solar City doing anything around here. There are two household's in the area (each about 1/4 miles away) that do have solar installations. Will have to check on that. Don't know if I have any interference from them.

 

No, your meter does not "spin backward". Modern meters distinguish the direction the current is flowing. You buy electricity at retail prices but the power company buys it back at some lower rate - often less than the wholesale prices they pay their suppliers.

 

Yes, that's how it works here, too. And you have to pay for the upgraded meter, to boot.

 

Thats the key point all the sales people do not mention, all the buyer is excited about is seeing the "meter spin backwards" like in the youtube videos........

 

I have a solar panel system (12 panels, 3300W) panels made by Itek, inverters made by Blue Frog. I assume I am getting some RFI but how do I test for it and how do I mitigate the problem?

 

If you have to test for it, don't waste your time. If it is an issue you will find out about in your HF receiver reception, if you are in a city the noise level is already high so what is their might not be as noticeable.

 

What I've noticed are the electric vehicle charge station obliterate am radio at some 7-11 storefronts here in San Diego. I can't believe the FCC hasn't been made aware of it. Though, that was over a year ago when I stopped in and noticed it.

Don

 

Depends on the state law, Minnesota pays retail rate last time I checked. I don't bother with grid tie I use all I produce. If the freezers or fridge are not calling for power I dump it into the water heaters.

 

Indiana is changing their law
http://midwestenergynews.com/2017/0...etering-move-to-buy-all-sell-all-solar-model/
Indiana legislators have introduced a bill that many fear could kill the state’s solar industry by ending net metering and also essentially preventing people from using the energy from their own solar panels.

Senate bill 309 would ban net metering by 2027, and it would limit the options that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission could replace it with for compensating customers with solar installations.

Rather than the retail rate paid for solar energy sent back to the grid under net metering, customers could only get the much lower “avoided cost,” or wholesale rates.

Perhaps most disturbing to solar advocates, the bill would institute a mandatory “buy-all, sell-all” provision to replace net metering that would essentially prohibit customers from using their own solar energy, forcing them to sell all of their energy back to the grid at low rates, only to buy it back at higher rates.

 

The "optimizer" isnt necessary on a multi-panel install.
The information was in a recent (last year) QST.
I removed them during my install and lowered the noise to $4.

 

How did you configure, 12v(all parallel) or 24v (2 series then parallel) main buss to the charge controller

 

Very interes

t

I find this very interesting since I have a consistent high noise level that is almost S-9 on 20 meters and a neighbor 3 houses away has a large solar panel array on his roof. I'm wondering how to identify if it is a Solar City system without confronting my neighbor since I am the newbie in the neighborhood.

 

Turn the 20m rig on around 2 Am and see if the noise still persists.