There's no universal "right" solar setup

I get asked some version of "is solar worth it?" almost every week. And honestly, that question is basically unanswerable until you know which decision the person is actually making. A homeowner in Orlando worried about hurricane season outages, a fleet owner trying to keep a semi truck's AC running overnight, and a property manager running numbers through a solar kit savings calculator are all asking something different.

In my role coordinating commercial and residential solar + storage installs, I've handled maybe 40 rush projects where the timeline was measured in hours instead of weeks. Maybe 35, I'd have to check the project log. What that taught me is that the advice changes completely depending on which of these five situations you're in:

  1. You're in Orlando and reading Sunrun reviews before hurricane season
  2. You're comparing Sunrun vs ADT Solar and can't tell what to compare
  3. You want EV charging plus battery energy storage
  4. You're plugging numbers into solar kit savings calculators
  5. You're installing a power inverter in a semi truck

Those last two aren't really solar questions at all. That's the part most people miss.

Scenario 1: You're in Orlando and reading Sunrun reviews

Central Florida is a specific case. Between FPL's interconnection queue and hurricane season, the questions you should be asking are not the same ones someone in Fresno is asking.

Most buyers focus on the price per watt and completely miss the interconnection timeline — the utility review that happens before your system can legally produce power. In parts of Florida that step alone can take 4–8 weeks depending on the circuit. If a review is complaining about an install delay, check whether the delay was on the installer's side or the utility's side. Those are two very different problems.

Second thing: for Orlando specifically, look at who installed the system, not just the corporate brand. Sunrun uses a mix of in-house crews and partner installers depending on the market. The reviews that matter are the ones mid-install, not the ones written after the sales rep left. If you can, ask for the name of the installation crew that will handle your roof before you sign. That's the single most useful question you can ask.

Third: with Brightbox battery backup attached to a lease, verify what circuits are actually backed up. Whole-home backup is a common assumption. In practice, most residential battery systems back up a handful of designated circuits (fridge, a few lights, internet, medical equipment) — not the whole house.

I assumed "battery backup" meant whole-home. Didn't verify. Turned out it powered four circuits. That was on a commercial job in 2022, and it cost us two days of rework to reset expectations with the client. Now I ask for the load schedule in writing before anyone signs.

Scenario 2: Sunrun vs ADT Solar — what you're actually comparing

Here's something most people don't know: ADT Solar is not the same business as ADT the security company. ADT got into residential solar through the acquisition of Sunpro Solar in 2021. In January 2024, ADT announced it was exiting the residential solar business, so if you're comparing quotes now, warranty transfer and service continuity are the questions that actually matter — not the brand name on the truck.

The question everyone asks is "who has better panels?" The question they should ask is "who's still going to be servicing this system in year 12 when the inverter fails?" Panels rarely fail. Inverters do, usually around year 10–15.

Most solar equipment carries 25-year production warranties. The inverter — the part that actually converts DC to AC — typically has a 10–12-year warranty. That gap is where service continuity gets real.

So if you're weighing Sunrun vs ADT Solar in 2025, ask three things for each: (1) what's the inverter brand and warranty length, (2) who performs service calls in your zip code after the sales team is gone, and (3) if the company exits the market, what happens to your monitoring app and warranty claims. Those answers do more work than a per-watt comparison.

Scenario 3: You want EV charging plus battery energy storage

This scenario is where the math either works beautifully or doesn't work at all, and it mostly comes down to your utility's rate structure.

People think batteries save money because they store energy. Actually, batteries save money because they shift when you buy power. If you're on a flat-rate plan, a battery has very little economic return — it's a backup play, not a savings play. If you're on a time-of-use plan where evening rates are 2–3x daytime rates, the battery starts earning its keep by discharging into the expensive window.

Pairing EV charging with a battery adds a wrinkle. An EV pulls roughly 7–11 kW during a Level 2 charge, which can drain a typical residential battery in about 2 hours. The combination only makes economic sense if the charger can be scheduled against your utility's cheapest window, and the battery is reserved for peak hours — not charging the car. If your installer can't show you a load-shift schedule on paper before the contract, that's a red flag.

For commercial properties, the equation is different again. Demand charges (the fee based on your peak 15-minute usage) often dominate a commercial bill, so the battery's job is peak shaving, and the EV chargers become a schedulable load. Two completely different engineering goals than the residential case.

Scenario 4: Solar kit savings calculators

These tools are useful for one thing: sanity-checking whether a quote is in the right ballpark. They are not useful for the number they put on the screen, and here's why.

A typical calculator takes your monthly kWh usage, multiplies by your utility rate, applies an assumed production factor, and outputs a savings number. The problem is that it usually ignores: (1) the difference between offsetting a kWh at retail rate vs. exporting it at wholesale rate — a massive gap in most states, (2) the interconnection timeline, (3) the inverter replacement cost in year 12, and (4) whether your utility has changed net metering rules recently. Florida, California, and a growing number of states have all restructured net metering in the last three years.

Use the calculator to check if a quote is 40% off the calculators' range — that's a warning sign. Don't use it to decide whether to sign. If the calculator is the only tool your sales rep brought, that's information too.

Scenario 5: Installing a power inverter in a semi truck

This scenario is on the list because people search for it alongside solar questions, and it's genuinely a different problem. A truck inverter converts the truck's 12V or 24V DC system to 120V AC so you can run appliances in the cab overnight. It is not solar, it is not battery storage, and the failure modes are completely different.

The most common mistake — and I mean every single time I've helped someone sort out a bad install — is undersized cable. A 2,000W inverter at 12V draws about 180 amps at full load. Run that through 8-gauge wire and you'll have heat, voltage drop, and eventually a fire risk. The correct minimum is usually 2/0 gauge for that length of run. Most DIY kits ship with 4-gauge because it's cheaper.

Second: fusing. The inverter needs its own fuse or breaker at the battery, sized to the inverter's max draw — not the truck's alternator rating. Without it, a short in the AC wiring can cause the DC cable to melt before any protection trips. UL 458 covers this class of equipment in the US, and if a unit doesn't carry the mark, skip it.

Third, and this one's counterintuitive: idle draw. A 3,000W inverter can pull 30–60W just being on with nothing plugged in. Over an eight-hour rest period that's 240–480Wh of battery drain, which can be the difference between starting the truck in the morning and calling roadside assistance. If you're doing overnight loads, buy a pure sine inverter with a real on/off switch and use it. Cheap units often don't fully shut off.

How to tell which scenario you're in

If you're still not sure which of these five applies, run through these four questions — most people find themselves in one scenario very quickly.

  • Are you in a high-outage area during a specific season? You're in Scenario 1. Backup capability matters more than per-watt price.
  • Are you comparing two companies by brand reputation? You're in Scenario 2. Stop comparing brands, start comparing service continuity.
  • Do you have, or plan to buy, an EV? You're in Scenario 3. The utility's rate structure decides whether this works — not the equipment.
  • Are you trying to figure out if solar pays off? You're in Scenario 4, and you need a real utility bill analysis, not a calculator.
  • Is your vehicle the thing you're powering? You're in Scenario 5, and the answer has nothing to do with solar — it's about wire gauge, fuses, and idle draw.

One more thing worth saying. If you're in Scenario 1 or 2 and reading this in April, you have time to do it carefully. If it's August, you don't — and that changes the recommendation. The efficient move in the middle of hurricane season is to prioritize a battery retrofit over a full solar install, because interconnection on the solar array will not happen fast enough to matter. That's not a popular answer, but it's the honest one from someone who's watched too many deals close the wrong way under deadline pressure.