Compare
Solar Design Lab vsEquipment Configurators
Enphase Designer, Tesla Designer, SolarEdge Designer Pro. The equipment manufacturers all ship slick design tools for their own gear. Great UI when you're staying inside one brand. The catch: they're configurators, not planset systems. Permit-ready output, mixed-brand designs, and tough jurisdictions all sit outside what they're built for.
What Equipment Configurators does well
- Best-in-class UI for designing within a single brand's equipment
- Free or near-free for installers who use that brand exclusively
- Equipment compatibility and string sizing handled natively for that vendor
Where it starts to break
As volume goes up, the workflow becomes the bottleneck.
Today's loop
Configureexport layoutredraw in CADroute to PEwaitsubmit
- Vendor lock-in: only their inverters, batteries, microinverters. Switch brands and you're back to drawing in CAD
- Output isn't a 100% planset. You get a layout and a string config, not a permit-ready set with SLD, conductor schedule, label package, structural, and PE stamp
- No PE stamp. Every project still has to route through engineering separately
- Can't handle tough jurisdictions: HVHZ Florida wind uplift, custom AHJ structural, anything requiring site-specific engineering documentation
- Mixed-brand jobs (e.g. SolarEdge inverter + Tesla battery) fall through the cracks of every single-vendor tool
The real limitation
They're configurators for one brand. They aren't the system that ships the permit-ready set.
A different approach
Solar Design Lab gives you both. Design it yourself, or hire a vetted PE. Same tool.
- Vendor-agnostic equipment library. Mix Enphase, Tesla, SolarEdge, Generac, anything
- Output is a real planset: SLD, conductor schedule, voltage drop, label package, structural, PE stamp, all included
- Vetted PE network in the same tool. Stamp is part of the workflow, not a separate vendor
- Built to handle tough jurisdictions (HVHZ Florida, custom AHJ structural) from real PE engineering
- AHJ rules check live as you design, regardless of the equipment brand
The same workspace whether you design it yourself or hand it to a vetted PE on the network.
Screenshot pending
The workflow shift
One step does the same job, or fewer.
Equipment Configurators
Configureexport layoutredraw in CADroute to PEwaitsubmit
Solar Design Lab
Designcheckstampfile
Manufacturer configurators are great for picking equipment. They aren't the system that ships the permit-ready set.
Try it on your next planset. No card required.