Vines
Active Member
The way I explain Time of use compared with self powered is this:Time of use in the Tesla app requires you to go through and put a bunch of information in the app about your buy and sell prices, etc, and then it tries to "figure out" when it would be better for you to buy energy from the grid and export your solar vs using it.
Self powered doesnt do any of that, it just tries to store and use all of your generated power.
You WILL be forced off the electricity plan you are on now, to a time of use plan. That has nothing to do with what your solar + powerwalls are setup to do.
Based on your stated desires and what you have posted here in both this thread and others, I would suggest that you ignore time of use mode in the Tesla app and use only self powered. Since self powered mode prioritizes using all your power and only drawing from the grid when there is no solar and the battery has hit its reserve, and thats what you want it to do, thats what you should use.
If you bought batteries primarily because you like money more than grid morality then use Time of use. THis will attempt to maximize financial return.
If you like the morality of a green grid more than money, then use Self powered. This will attempt to maximize the fewest possible number of kWh used from the grid, regardless if it will cost you more on your bills.