Help
How to use Solarcom
Getting started
Reading is free and needs no account. You'll want one to ask, answer, vote or save.
Create an account
Join with your email and a password, or with Google. Pick a username — it becomes your profile address, solarcom.in/u/yourname, and is checked as you type. Some general words (like “solar” or “support”) are reserved and can't be used.
Join freeConfirm your email
We send a 6-digit code. Enter it on the site to confirm. You can browse and write a question before confirming, but you can't post until you have. Codes expire after 10 minutes; you can ask for a new one after 60 seconds.
Personal or Business
Choose Personal if you're a homeowner or just curious. Choose Business if you install, sell or manufacture — it lets you add your company, and tells readers where your answers come from. Either way, the community rules apply: no promoting your own business.
Read the rulesFind your way around
Forum is every question, newest first, with Top and Unanswered filters. Topics groups them by subject. Guides & tools has the solar calculator and the PM Surya Ghar subsidy page. On a laptop, the round ☰ button on the sidebar's edge hides and shows the menu.
Open the forum
Asking a question
A good question gets answered within a day or two. Here's what makes one.
Search first
Use the search box in the header. If your question has already been asked, you'll get your answer immediately — and if it hasn't, you'll know. As you type a title on the Ask page, matching questions appear underneath it too.
Pick a topic
Choose the topic that fits best (Residential Solar, Net Metering, Solar Subsidies…). It's how your question is filed and found: readers browse by topic, and installers tend to look at the ones they know.
Write the question as the title
“Is 3kW enough for a 2BHK in Pune?” is a title. “Need help” is not. Titles must be at least 10 characters and at most 300.
Add the details that get answers
Your city or state (rules and tariffs differ), your monthly bill or units, your roof size and shade, and anything you've been quoted. Use the toolbar for bold, lists, quotes, links and code. At least 20 characters of detail are needed.
Attach photos
Up to 5 photos, 10 MB each, added with the button under the details box — or drag them in, or paste a screenshot. A photo of your roof, meter or a quote is often worth more than a paragraph. Photos are resized before upload, so they're quick to send.
Tags are optional
Up to 5 short tags (like “subsidy” or “net-metering”) help people searching for that exact thing. Press Enter or a comma after each one.
Save a draft, or preview and post
Save draft keeps an unfinished question on your account, so you can finish it later from any device — find it under Drafts at the top of the Ask page. Preview & post shows the question exactly as others will see it; post from there. Posting makes it public immediately.
Ask a question
Answering and commenting
Most of the value here comes from people who've done it answering people who haven't.
Answer the question that was asked
Write your answer in the box at the bottom of any question. Real numbers, your state, and what you'd actually do are what help. If you're guessing, say so.
Comment to clarify
Use a comment to ask the asker for a detail, or to add a note to someone's answer — not to post a second answer.
Edit, don't repost
Got something wrong? Open the ⋯ menu on your post and choose Edit. The thread shows that it was edited, and moderators can see what changed, so there's no need to delete and start again.
If you work in solar, say so
Mention it when it's relevant to your answer. What you can't do is advertise — no prices or offers for your own services, no contact numbers, no links to your website. See the community rules.
Community rules
Likes, dislikes and best answers
Votes decide what rises to the top — and what the next reader sees first.
Like what helped, dislike what's wrong
The thumbs on every question and answer. Like something that genuinely helped; dislike something that's incorrect — not something you merely disagree with. Tap again to take a vote back.
Accept the best answer
If you asked the question, you'll see Accept as best on each answer. Choose the one that solved it. It moves to the top, the question is marked Answered, and whoever wrote it is told.
Top and Unanswered
On the forum, Top sorts by votes and replies. Unanswered shows questions with no replies yet — the best place to help if you know your stuff.
See top questions
Saving discussions
Keep a question to come back to — a quote to compare, a thread to finish reading.
Save a discussion
Open the ⋯ menu on any question and choose Save. It's kept under Saved in the sidebar. Only you can see your saved list.
Remove one
On the Saved page, use Remove from saved under the card. There's an Undo for a few seconds if you didn't mean to.
Open Saved
Notifications
You're told when something happens to your posts, not about everything on the site.
What you'll be told about
Someone answers your question, comments on your post, accepts your answer as best, or a moderator sends you a message. The bell in the header shows how many are unread.
Open notificationsNo email, by design
Notifications stay on the site. The only emails you'll get are the ones you ask for: a sign-in code, a password reset, and one welcome message.
Your profile and settings
Your public page, and the private parts of your account.
Profile
Settings → Profile: your display name, username, photo, a short bio, location, company and links. Username changes take effect immediately, and old links to your profile stop working.
Edit profileEmail and sign-in
Settings → Account: change your email (confirmed with a code sent to the new address), add a mobile number for account recovery, and switch between Personal and Business. Accounts that sign in with Google manage their email and password through Google.
Account settingsPassword
Settings → Security: change your password. Doing so signs you out on every other device, so a lost phone can't stay signed in. Forgot it? Use Forgot password on the login page.
Security settingsYour data, and deleting your account
You can ask for a copy of the data we hold about you, or for your account to be deleted, from Help & Support — choose the request from the form. Deletion is reviewed by a person and confirmed by email before anything is removed.
Make a request
Reporting and moderation
What to do about a post that shouldn't be there — and what happens next.
Report a post
Open the ⋯ menu on the question, answer or comment and choose Report. Give the reason. Reports go straight to the moderation queue; the author is never told who reported them.
What gets removed
Self-promotion, spam, misleading claims about subsidies or savings, other people's personal details, unsafe electrical instructions, and anything unlawful. The rules page sets each out.
Community rulesIf you're suspended
When you sign in you'll see why, with a link to appeal. Appeals don't need you to be signed in, and are read by a person.
Still stuck?
Help & Support has a form that works without an account, for anything this page doesn't cover.
Help & Support