Tesla Solar Roof Tiles

Dave Angelini

It looks like Tesla is getting serious as they let CalFire do a video on their roof tiles. Too many wires for my taste and being on a roof is something I never encourage Offgrid. I am sure there will be plenty of folks to send a check and get on Elons waiting list. The design does look to me as decent but time will tell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=42&v=zunHya-0EQY

mcgivor

Tesla seems pretty good at selling waiting lists 

Estragon

> @mcgivor said:
> Tesla seems pretty good at selling waiting lists 

Nice work, if you can get it

mike95490

From the NYPost

https://nypost.com/2018/07/21/elon-musk-is-a-total-fraud/

Musk has been in business since 2002. His stated goal is nothing short of transforming humanity through his products: his electric cars, space travel, and an underground high-speed Hyperloop system.

He has yet to succeed at anything but somehow spins every failure into proof of imminent success. His only accomplishment has been this decades-long Jedi mind trick.

Tesla is best known for blowing deadlines and consistently falling short on production.

Photowhit

I think his SpaceX has been successful, and gives him something to point at and make promises...

mcgivor

Seems everything associated with Tesla involves a deposit, cars,  solar roof tiles, extraterrestrial journeys, you name it, but here is the question, when the car fails to be produced on time, or the Space X journey is delayed, dose the refunded down payment include interest, or is that actually a way of funding a company which falls short on actual production, whilst holding the funds received from deposits, not under Elon's mattress obviously, but in investment funds making interest. 

Dave Angelini

Photowhit said:

I think his SpaceX has been successful, and gives him something to point at and make promises...

Definitely and one would be foolish to ignore that. My brother-in-law forecasts weather for space at Vandenberg AFB in Socal.
SpaceX dominates their launch Schedule. 

So anybody look at the roof tiles?

mcgivor

Watched what I could, 90% of the video, music? more than annoying, wonder what sort of temperatures develop in the air gap underneath the tiles ,  possibly reducing output or exceeding the conductors rated maximum temperature, is there consideration of derating factors due to temperature, reducing current carrying capacity of the conductors.

Dave Angelini

The music does really let one down as does most of the music that young people like these days. Emotional Rap....right.

All roofs are pretty bad for temperature effects. Most of the wire in this Ap is 1KV or higher now so that is not an issue. 
I was told the Calfire guys in the video are here in my area/town fighting the Ferguson Fire. Day 14 for us stuck mostly indoors because of smoke outside. Getting very old....

here is some more.

"There are only a handful of Tesla Solar Roof installations out there at this point, but they are slowly ramping up production and installations, which means that first responders need to be ready to know how to approach this new kind of roof in case of emergency.

A training video showing how to do just that gives us a rare and interesting look at Tesla’s solar roof tiles.

Brock Archer is a first responder training expert who has often worked with Tesla in the past. For example, we have seen him go through the Tesla Model X’s unique structure by dismantling it.

While his methods are obviously destructive, he is often one of the first people to give us a detailed look at the architectures of Tesla’s products and it is the case again with Tesla’s solar roof tiles.

Archer said about the structure found underneath a solar tile installation:

“The solar tiles are mounted directly on the clad gard. Wiring for the tiles is hidden below the tiles themselves between the tiles and the clad gard. Each solar tile represents 3 shingles – a single tile appears to be 3 shingle on the roof and one to four of these tiles can be wired together to create branches. These branches are then wired together to create a diode trunk harness. The diode trunk harness carries the electricity from all the panels through the roof usually near the ridgeline. Typically, only about 16 volts is present in each branch – although the diode trunk harness operates at a much higher voltage.”

The first responder training expert added that based on all the testing conducted, there’s “almost zero risks of shock or electrocution when cutting or crushing the tiles or diode trunk harness.” The roof installations are not earth grounded.

All Tesla solar roof installations still also include a “rapid shutdown device” which shuts down the DC power leaving the roof.

As for removing the tiles in a first responder situation, Archer explains that it is fairly easy since they are basically mounted on a hinge:

In the video below, they dismantle a demonstration Tesla solar roof tile installation in order to show how to create ventilation or a path to walk on the roof if needed.

You can watch the full video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=42&v=zunHya-0EQY

peakbaggger

Looks to me like the majority of the tiles are some sort HDPE or polypropylene with a thin glass facer. Most plastics dont deal well with long term UV so the glass may last quite awhile but curious how the seams will hold up.

The thing that they do that most roofers are now doing wth shingles is install a waterproof membrane under the entire surface area of the roof. The tiles or shingles effectively become UV and physical damage protection for the underlying roof membrane which acts to seal the penetrations and provide a waterproof membrane. The shingles do seem to lift up quite easily, I am curious if they are rated for high wind loading zones. It sure looks like its potentially a slow install compared to shingles. Once the lines are snapped slapping down shingles is quite quick, with two workers, as soon as the shingle is down its nailed and they move to the next shingle. I expect they have some sort of jig to position the anchors but they look to require more fasteners that most likely need to be screwed in.

Wonder how they would do with ice damming? In theory the water would run under the shingles but if the soffits are cold once the water starts backing up, the tiles might pop loose.

Its too bad that they will release the video without releasing installation information.

Dave Angelini

The video is by Calfire, the ones in the news putting out all of these crazy fires in California and the west.
They could care less how they are installed, spec or warranty. They care about safety and putting out fires

peakbaggger

That wasn't my point, I respect that they have issued the video to protect firefighters just not happy that to date Tesla hasn't been very forthcoming on the construction details of the system.

Dave Angelini

Is Tesla ever  very forthcoming?

mcgivor

Perhaps it's because an individual can't install the tiles without being  licensed contractor as with most Tesla products, the demonstration was to highlight what fire fighters have to deal with, it wasn't targeted at the curious, perhaps there are other videos or links with the details related to the installation, perhaps not. Firefighters face many booby traps and their lives depend on information to be better prepared, although I do understand the curiosity.