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I'm looking at the date I stopped drawing grid power, with a perhaps aspirational expectation that I won't draw any for a self powering season that lasts until early October. In other words, no grid power thru the meter until October. I got on the good side of net draw for the month of March...

I agree. I would really like to operate my system in a way that not only satisfies my own goals, but also helps the grid operator, other power customers, and accelerates the growth of renewable power generation. The past 3 weeks, I've moved solidly into the self powering season, sending nearly...

In my (continuing) 20 day stretch, there were two low generation days the PWs did not fill - 20.9 and 14.9 kwh days. I didn't charge the car those days, since I've been charging on excess solar only. Didn't have charge on excess solar capability until late last summer, so this year will be...

My solar system started operation on June 10 last year, so this is my first April with solar. March was great - I made as much as I used, but still drew grid power some days and sent power to the grid some days. April has been really good. On April 6, I drew 15.1 kwh from the grid. Since that...

Grid scale storage capacity needs to grow quickly. It actually is, but the required pace is slow compared to the pace that we need. Residential batteries can contribute to an over strategy ROI, as I've calculated. They never likely achieve it when considered as a separate expenditure and return...

What about your performance experience? Are you satisfied with it? Meeting your goals and/or expectations? Are you identifying a performance issue that you believe should be made right? Solar Roof is different from panels, and my understanding is that it is less impacted by shading. I was told...

In my case, I considered the cost of the solar roof, the batteries, and the car as the number required to achieve ROI. I then used the avoided costs of the generated electricity at grid supply rates, the cost of avoided gasoline purchase, the cost of one avoided ICE vehicle purchase, and the...

My number 2 goal being get rid of fossil fuels. I have a generator, but have avoided using it since getting my solar system (10 months in). But it requires some batteries, for when the sun lets you down for a few days. 26 grid outages here in those 10 months.... longest was 3 days, quite cloudy...

Nothing at all.... didn't get that granular. It's a bit of a delusional exercise. Perhaps undertaken in an attempt to come up with something when the subject comes up. I think the elements of the basis can be defended, but I certainly may not have captured everything. Probably the PWs don't...

The yellow energy label on it says $103 annual operation cost estimate. My annual cost to date at my grid charge rate of $0.16 kwh would come to $150.72, so I'm not certain of the detailed estimate basis. It has 3 possible operating modes - it can be operated just the same as a water heater...

But I should also add that the much larger factors in my perhaps semi-delusional ROI calc were the future avoided costs of purchasing gasoline, and future roof replacements. The second due to Solar Roof, panels wouldn't be able to claim this the same way. The PWs are enablers of the rest.

In my case, there was no solar operation of any kind possible prior to PTO. The final connection was required for operation, and not made until after PTO followed by some inspections, then final connection, during meter swap. Grid operator does the meter swap. Had my config not been whole house...

But it can avoid putting gas in a car. I no longer do that, for example. Another factor to consider.... my own ROI calc for my entire system moved into "maybe I'll live to see it" territory when I threw in the cost of the Tesla car, the PWs, and the Solar Roof. Without the PWs, the date moves on...

An actual data point - my heat pump water heater has been in use 2 days short of 10 months. It has a decent app that tracks power consumption - During that time, it has used 784.5 kwh. Set on heat pump mode the entire time. Average is easy - about 78.5 kwh/month. No hard data on my previous...

Grid is grid. Batteries are a very wise investment if your goal is energy reliability. ROI might not even make it onto the goal list for many people. It didn't appear on mine.

Sorry to post a response even futher off topic, but.... While I was advocating an insulating water heater blanket above, with a heat pump water heater it's a little more complicated. The heat pump section sits atop the water tank, and most configs simply extend the diameter of the tank cladding...

I just put together another take on ROI....batteries included. It makes me offer a critique - you did not apply an inflationary rate to your grid power rate. It won't be the same 10 years from now. My goals didn't put ROI at the top of the priority list, but I was looking at it recently anyway...

But those 3 almost perfect days are great. I just had 3 out of 4, with the 4th damn good, or nearly almost perfect. Last of those was today. Last day of my power billing period was today, and those 4 days put me on the good side of the self powering line for the billing period.

I would be right there with you if I added another 2-3 PW. I'm really am now, but that 3 day outage in early August with low solar generation made me sweat a little.....

I got an A. O. Smith 60 gal hybrid water heater. It connects to your existing 30A 240V circuit, and you can run it in 3 modes, resistance heater elements only, hybrid, or only heat pump. Hybrid runs heating elements some if you run the hot water out. It's got an app for IOT control. It's been...

3 PW2 have gotten me thru a 3+ day grid outage with low generation (heavy clouds). But, I already am thinking adding more PW would be good. 2gets you over the threshold of whole house backup, 3 lets you get to the middle of that space, but 6 can actually get you real close to claiming off grid...

Lots of things come into better focus from observing system operation vs energy useage habits. Since going into operation last June I've done several things to reduce household useage. Easily the biggest step was replacing a straight electric water heater with a heat pump water heater. I've also...

I was a bit bothered by the "perhaps old and obsolete" thing last year when I had this discussion with my installer, but have been very well satisfied with my multiple PW2 installation operation. My goals going in are being met or exceeded. My config is whole house backup in which all power...

Interesting. This is an advantage for a multiple PW2 installation, that supports my overall conclusion I reached last year. I concluded that there are real advantages for PW3 if your installation will be limited to one (and possibly 2 PW) but in a multiple PW installation with a whole home...

In my case, it was that last grid operator dependent series of actions that stretched into 3 months. Seems like every step of the way you are waiting in another backlogged line.... but operation of a great system made the frustrations fade quickly.

If the PW2's meet your goals, and the PW3 w/expansion units doesn't exceed those goals fairly significantly, then time's a wastin. This whole thing is gonna take longer than it should, and probably longer than you think, so get to it. I had the same (or similar, PW3 was just out) discussion a...

Interesting bullet about the switch over.... I had questions about that prior to going into operation, that the master electrician involved couldn't definitively answer. At this point, my system is about 10 months into operation. During that time there have been 24 grid outages. I've never...

My design docs included a roof layout that identified which tiles were MP1, MP2, etc.... While my installation was done by a Tesla Certified Installer, the design was from Tesla

Another wrinkle here..... I commented on the design regarding stringing, with earlier and later daily shading observation as my basis. The installation crew (regional certified Tesla installer, not Tesla) was run by a fellow with significant solar experience, and adjusted the design during...

I've noticed this as well. The upshot is that seeing see a reported 100% self powered day via the app is either non existent or very rare. The app can (and routinely does) show a 99% self powered day when the grid data shows 0.0 imported. It also consistently shows what you noticed, if you draw...

Yes, I've seen this in action on more than a few occasions. A divergence of several days seems like it might be suspect - but probably was fairly momentary. I'm not knocking the Tesla app, I think it does very well in general.

Gotta beIieve the app....? I guess I've seen that remaining backup give conflicting results before....

I would suggest finding out exactly what steps are required to achieve operation with your grid operator, and which of those steps are yet to be completed. My actual operation waited months after installation was 99% complete with the exception of a few actions - PTO issuance, meter swap, and...

The PTO issue might depend on where you live. My installation was ready for operation for months prior to getting PTO, but could not be operated without a meter swap. The meter swap was finally done about 10 days after PTO, and only then could the grid supply be connected to the Gateway and the...

First thought is even with 8 PW, doesn't that draw result in more like 3 hours of backup remaining?

I can't speak to all of your questions, but can perhaps provide a little perspective on some of them..... The small difference between inverter capacity in my system (2kw) has yet to result in any identifiable generation reduction due to clipping. The angles of my house roof have some...

My app is displaying as usual without any problems. I am not using it for charge on excess solar though, I use Charge HQ instead. So no car charging flows in my app - only house, PW, and grid.

You didn't mention battery capacity, and I'm sure you may have previous posts where this may have been discussed that I either didn't see or forgot - so I'll just share a bit about my own setup. I would love to acheive off grid operation, but it's quite difficult especially in my location. My...

Lots of people do. The ones that don't are all looking forward to having that choice. One fine day the light bulb will illuminate for you too, at long last.

I'll admit to thinking a little more about this subject.... I get my numbers from the Tesla app as my system is 100% Tesla. The production graph in the app plots a curve based on numbers updated at 5 minute intervals. The plotted number is the result of some calculation that comes up with an...

I've seen a momentary peak production number of 17 kw, thru 15.2 kw capacity inverter. My best daily number in a big 10 months of operation was 65.8 kwh.

Thanks - for both your response, and the app. I sure like that diagnostics page. Nicer when connected to the Site Controller, good stuff.

In the NetZero app, when I try to configure the Site Controller access, I need a password. A link to Tesla documentation is provided for help finding that. The Tesla page the link leads to does not mention a Site Controller, but does adress Gateways and Powerwalls. I think the Gateway what the...

Very interesting thread, my first reading of it. I've been curious about the subject. I had not checked the diagnostics via the NetZero app until now. Only had that app for a couple of weeks. However, my own data point on the subject.... 3 PW 2 installed Feb 28 2023, in operation since June 10...

Give me white

I If it's any consolation, I've almost given up on connecting mine via Android. My effort perhaps complicated by my not having the Quick Start Guide with the scan code. It's been more than a month now. I was already using Charge HQ, and didn't have a concrete goal for connecting the wall...

I think that your setup is much the same as I am considering as a strategy for an extended winter grid outage - it sounds like when you run your generator to power your house, you isolated solar charges the Powerwalls without seeing the house. Thanks for this confirmation.

I'm using a propane burner in the house for backup heat. Looks like a fireplace. Mounted in the spot where a fireplace was, before I gave them up (chimneys as well) to maximize Solar Roof. More BTU than my heat pump.... small house, heat pump is 2 ton. The generator is gas powered - a larger...

Thanks for this. I'm having a look.

Actually, I'm beginning to wonder about the aging process effects on my brain function more than Powerwalls at the moment.... I should have realized a few things some time ago during this thought process. There is another fairly obvious operating option available to me, one that requires no...