3D Modeled Energy Assets Found in Latest Firmware

[jhn_]

I would add that it works exactly as Tesla describes and there is no “signaling” other than the presence of current flow that determines when the generator turns on and off. When the Powerwalls run out, the generator kicks in. When power is back from solar/grid/Powerwall to the house sub panel then the generator shuts off. The transfer switch is doing that same as before the Tesla equipment.

In an outage, Powerwall responds immediately and provides backup power before the generator can detect the outage. The generator is turned on only when the Powerwall has low charge, or if loads exceed Powerwall's maximum output.

When grid power returns, the generator will turn off and Powerwall can again charge from solar. If Powerwall is installed with a MTS, manual operation of the switch is required to power the home with the generator.​

 

[willow_hiller]

I would add that it works exactly as Tesla describes and there is no “signaling” other than the presence of current flow that determines when the generator turns on and off. When the Powerwalls run out, the generator kicks in. When power is back from solar/grid/Powerwall to the house sub panel then the generator shuts off. The transfer switch is doing that same as before the Tesla equipment.

Thanks for that confirmation. Was your Tesla App able to measure the output from the generator? In your setup, I don't see any way for the Gateway to be aware of the generator other than measuring its net effect on your home's load.

 

[jhn_]

You know I never looked at that during the one test we did post Powerwall install. During the next grid outage I’ll have to manually turn the generator on and see what happens. I think it will just show in the app that the house is using 0kW because there is not draw through the gateway since the sub panel the house and generator are on are at that time self-sufficient.

 

[h2ofun]

Thanks for that confirmation. Was your Tesla App able to measure the output from the generator? In your setup, I don't see any way for the Gateway to be aware of the generator other than measuring its net effect on your home's load.

Generator and solar can never be on same feed, or from what I have been told, solar will ruin generator.

My generators are connected to the ATS so when no power, they trigger, and everything up stream, gateways, generation panels, etc are completely gone.

 

[willow_hiller]

Generator and solar can never be on same feed, or from what I have been told, solar will ruin generator.

My generators are connected to the ATS so when no power, they trigger, and everything up stream, gateways, generation panels, etc are completely gone.

Thanks, that also confirms my understanding of how the systems currently work.

In a system without PV/Storage, the ATS would isolate the generator from the grid to prevent backfeeding; and since the ATS gets installed downstream of the PV/Storage, it also isolates itself from the PV/Storage when there's no solar or battery power coming through.

Which probably does mean that Tesla is planning some sort of hardware change that would allow them to measure when a generator is running even if it's been isolated from the load by the ATS. Could be as simple as some additional CT clamps from the generator back to the Gateway for readings. But it does seem like with all the current hardware, Tesla would not be able to measure and visualize output from a generator.

 

[h2ofun]

Thanks, that also confirms my understanding of how the systems currently work.

In a system without PV/Storage, the ATS would isolate the generator from the grid to prevent backfeeding; and since the ATS gets installed downstream of the PV/Storage, it also isolates itself from the PV/Storage when there's no solar or battery power coming through.

Which probably does mean that Tesla is planning some sort of hardware change that would allow them to measure when a generator is running even if it's been isolated from the load by the ATS. Could be as simple as some additional CT clamps from the generator back to the Gateway for readings. But it does seem like with all the current hardware, Tesla would not be able to measure and visualize output from a generator.

agreed

 

[BGbreeder]

We have a 3 Powerwall 2 setup with Gateway 2 and a generator in a whole house backup configuration. The whole house is on an sub electrical panel that the generator is off of along with the transfer switch. The powerwalls are on a sub panel as well. Both sub panels are connected to the main panel which is just these two subs plus the gateway which has grid and solar inputs.

@jhn_ Thanks for posting about this setup.

Can you post a diagram of how this is wired? I am having trouble visualizing where and your automatic transfer switch is wired.

Thanks!

All the best,

BG

 

[Mardak]

But tbf what's the point of prototyping a phone app in the car ui?

Maybe it's just a shared godot asset repository used by vehicle software and energy software for now, e.g., designers checking in godot assets that developers use for various projects. Although probably more interesting is why they would be shared in the first place vs checked in to each individual repository as combined would allow for Tesla energy monitoring/control from your vehicle without needing to open a separate app.

Do you have a full list of assets, e.g., file names and/or directory structure? Perhaps also interesting is compared to the list of assets before godot or if there were significant asset list changes with the public release holiday update, which seems to have switched over rendering.

 

[verygreen]

The link states the opposite:

you are right, I misread it the opposite way somehow.

either way it looks like they will get some integration if there is not any yet.

Maybe it's just a shared godot asset repository used by vehicle software and energy software for now, e.g., designers checking in godot assets that developers use for various projects

well, they specifically packaged them for firmware use for whatever reason.

Do you have a full list of assets, e.g., file names and/or directory structure? Perhaps also interesting is compared to the list of assets before godot or if there were significant asset list changes with the public release holiday update, which seems to have switched over rendering.

I have a full list and godot was added way before than the holiday update though was off by default -0 I did enable it forcefully to play with many releases back.

The generator assets are new and were added with 2020.48.35.9 though (the house and other stuff came in the very beginning)

 

[cwied]

Any reason they wouldn't be able to use this in the web UI to the gateway to replace the current animation? I'd assume that they're going to upgrade both the local web UI and the mobile app at the same time. The SVG power flow animation in the local web UI currently is pretty similar to the animation in the mobile app, so they may want them to look the same after the upgrade. This would explain why these assets would be in the firmware for the gateway.

 

[Barrygold]

Looks pretty cool

Tesla Energy shares sneak peek at updated mobile app interface

 

[jboy210]

Did this just show up on your phone? I have not gotten any notification of an update.

 

[bmah]

Did this just show up on your phone? I have not gotten any notification of an update.

That's a screenshot from a Tesla Energy promo video, not an actual app update.

It's got nice eye candy, but it remains to be seen whether it's conveying more information or some more insightful presentation. Newer isn't necessarily better. Also we don't know how "real" this is.

Bruce.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Hopefully the updated interface will allow us to instantly jump to a specific date. As it is now, if I want to find the complete intraday data for a specific date, I have to go day by day, possibly hundreds of taps to get to the desired date. Give us a calendar so we can instantly jump to the desired date or let us download the intraday data in bulk!

No, I don't often need the intraday data but there have been some days with issues or odd occurrences and I would like to quickly and easily get that data.

 

[trautmane2]

or let us download the intraday data in bulk

Don't know if you are a software person but if so, you can use Tesla's APIs to download data for specific dates. It takes a little more work to code something to handle multi-day intervals, but it is not too bad. In case it helps, here are a few more specifics I posted after accessing the APIs for the first time via python:

I accessed Tesla's energy API ( State And Settings ) for the first time tonight using this little code repo to get connected:
enode-engineering/tesla-oauth2

I pulled the 15-minute interval historical data that is kept for non-powerwall users using these API endpoints:

# use the products API to get your site_id
products_url = 'https://owner-api.teslamotors.com/api/1/products'

# use the calendar_history API to get the interval data
site_url = f'https://owner-api.teslamotors.com/api/1/energy_sites/{site_id}'

# query end_date needs to be UTC without offset
end_date = datetime(2021, 1, 30, 17, 45, 0, 0).astimezone(timezone.utc).isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z")

history_url = f'{site_url}/calendar_history?kind=power&end_date={end_date}'

The calendar_history API shows that home usage is derived from stored grid_power + solar_power (home usage is not stored independently).
The zero home usage values I was seeing in the app and in the app csv export were not really zero, but were actually small values rounded to zero because the app only shows hundreds of watts (tenths of kW).
The API power value unit is watts, allowing you to see the small daytime usage that gets dropped by the app with rounding.

For the day I checked, the app "lost" 700 watts over 5 daytime hours.

I'm guessing this rounding behavior would explain the zero home usage values you saw too - unless you were getting zeros when something big was running like a dishwasher or car charger.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Don't know if you are a software person but if so, you can use Tesla's APIs to download data for specific dates. It takes a little more work to code something to handle multi-day intervals, but it is not too bad. In case it helps, here are a few more specifics I posted after accessing the APIs for the first time via python:

Yes, I am and I can but I wouldn't have to if they provided a simple date picker/calendar. How can they not have a date picker for looking at historical data? The data used to be available on the Solar City website but then went away when they added the insufficient export functionality to the app.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll use those to get data for a few specific days while awaiting a more usable app.

 

[zƬesla]

That’s where the Grafana/InfluxDB dashboards rock. I can pull up any date or range of dates for looking at data. Plus add my own data such as cloud cover, temperature, etc

 

[trautmane2]

Plus add my own data such as cloud cover, temperature, etc

Nice! Is any of what you've done available (e.g. on GitHub)?

 

[zƬesla]

There are a few dashboards available on Github. Search these forums for Grafana. Not sure if they have been updated for the latest auth requirements.

 

[Sunnyboy]

We have a 3 Powerwall 2 setup with Gateway 2 and a generator in a whole house backup configuration. The whole house is on an sub electrical panel that the generator is off of along with the transfer switch. The powerwalls are on a sub panel as well. Both sub panels are connected to the main panel which is just these two subs plus the gateway which has grid and solar inputs.

Hi,

I'm looking to do a similar setup and to have a tesla roof and 2 powerwalls installed...I intend to use a standby natural gas generator as a grid replacement during a prolonged outage during the winter... The idea is I can run the house during the day and charge the PW on the SBG then turn off the generator at night and run the house off the PW...if the sun comes out and the snow comes off the roof I can run the house off solar and charge the PW during the day...

the more I read about the way tesla operates is if the grid goes out during even a sunny day is shuts the panels off and you run only off batteries? That seams not only dumb (assuming your PV is sized to properly support the home load during the day) but an ineffective use of the panels... If the grid goes out the ATS should disconnect from the grid and the PV system and PWs should create their own grid and should power anything its connected to. Can you share drawings of how your setup is installed please?
For me the entire purpose of PV and PW and a SBG is to be up and running in any season in any grid utility outage situation. SolArk inverters with other battery suppliers can do just that.