An Unexpected Journey: Life Lessons from Conquering Tesla Solar with Python
PyData Pittsburgh is excited to kick off our 2026 season with a powerhouse Python talk from Christopher Pitstick, Senior Software Engineer at Latitude AI. In 2024, Christopher installed a Tesla solar array expecting clean energy and lower bills. Instead, he got a masterclass in persistence, reverse engineering, and why you should never trust a system you can't monitor. Bringing laptops is encouraged for a live interactive surprise at the start of the session!
Tesla's Powerwall/Inverter ecosystem is powerful but notoriously opaque—out of the box it tells you very little about what's happening on your roof. When a weird beeping noise caused Christopher to suspect something was wrong, he built his own monitoring solution with PyPowerwall (an open-source library) utilizing Grafana, InfluxDB, and a Raspberry Pi. The shocking result? He discovered hundreds of kWh in lost production annually.
🧠 About the talk:
This talk isn’t just about debugging solar panels, nor is it entirely about Python! It’s about the unexpected lessons you learn when you trust your instincts and refuse to accept “it’s working fine” as an answer:
Contributing to open source when the tools you need don’t quite exist yet
Bridging domains—how a software engineer learns just enough electrical/RF engineering to be dangerous
Navigating warranty claims and contractor relationships with data as your ally
The right-to-repair movement, and why closed ecosystems hurt consumers
When to dig deeper vs. when to ship (spoiler: he chose poorly several times)
Why Python’s ecosystem makes it the perfect Swiss Army knife for uniting a vast array of disciplines and communities.
You’ll see real code, real dashboards, real mistakes, and the very unscientific art of “vibe-coding” your way through iptable rules at 2am. Does the system get fixed? Does he recover his lost production? Is the blade Narsil reforged? Come find out!
👤 About the speaker:
In 2024, Christopher installed solar panels on his home and quickly dove into system analysis to optimize performance — a hands-on experience that directly inspired this presentation.
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Christopher is a Senior Software Engineer at Latitude AI (a Ford subsidiary). His programming journey began at age 12 with QBasic, sparking a lifelong passion that has taken him through roles at Microsoft, Amazon, and Argo AI. He's worked across numerous languages including C++, Java, C#, TypeScript, Perl, and, of course, Python!
A dedicated neurodiversity advocate, he regularly shares his experiences through public speaking engagements, raising awareness and empowering others in the tech community.