A Rogue Tesla Powerwall 2

[Byreman]

I got a Powerwall 2 in Nov 23 and i'm both pleased and displeased with it in equal measure. ( now June 24 )

The installer isn't that responsive on issues such as "the Powerwall 2 won't charge after a power outage" which the Powerwall should have taken care of seamlessly, but didn't.

6 days have gone past and they have not come back to me with a fix.

Also what as a user you cant do, is contact Tesla for support - There as far as I can see is only support for the installers ?

So what happens in Nov 24 when its out of warranty ? What do I do then ?

Although a generally good system, when it fails you can't re-boot it via the app or fault find as it just refuses to play.

The app too is bonkers sometimes, as it randomly decides to send power to the grid rather than the battery.

I have solar edge inverters on two separate systems and they work 100% faultlessly since 2014 - Brilliant customer support too.

Tesla - From my experience isn't all its cracked up to be and to be honest I'm very disappointed to say this.

Has anyone else seen this type of issue ?

I have 2 solar systems feeding into a tesla gateway. a 3.8kw and a 2.4kw system.

One is hard wired and the other is via a wireless radio connection also from Tesla, which is flaky and temperamental.

Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jjrandorin]

So what happens in Nov 24 when its out of warranty ? What do I do then ?

Powerwalls have 10 year warranties, not 1 year warranties, so the warranty on your powerwall ends on November of 2033, if it was installed in November of 2023.

I have no idea what support installers would get, but thats up to your installer, by design it wouldnt be customer facing.

The app too is bonkers sometimes, as it randomly decides to send power to the grid rather than the battery.

What mode do you use? The time of use settings use internal algorithms to decide on how much power to store in the powerwall based on "stuff" like configured electricity rates etc. I dont use it because of that, but many people do. I use self powered mode, because its very understandable what it does.

 

[bemyax]

Does your version of the app have a charge from grid option? Try clicking "Yes" under Settings > Powerwall. Raise the backup reserve above the current charge level. Battery should then charge from all available resources. If you don't have that option available, the wretched thing will charge from solar only. (Going from experience, not expertise.)

David

 

[Byreman]

Powerwalls have 10 year warranties, not 1 year warranties, so the warranty on your powerwall ends on November of 2033, if it was installed in November of 2023.

I have no idea what support installers would get, but thats up to your installer, by design it wouldnt be customer facing.


What mode do you use? The time of use settings use internal algorithms to decide on how much power to store in the powerwall based on "stuff" like configured electricity rates etc. I dont use it because of that, but many people do. I use self powered mode, because its very understandable what it does.

Thanks for the reply - very comforting for me and the guy in tech services from the installer - this means he's got me in his ear for another 9 years.... ( hopefully not )

We use "time based control" and its been working OK until we had a power cut recently - now it wont charge at all overnight and its not registering any solar activity at all. The solar edge is showing me we are generating but the app says zero. Fingers crossed Tesla / the installer come up with a fix soon.

 

[Byreman]

Does your version of the app have a charge from grid option? Try clicking "Yes" under Settings > Powerwall. Raise the backup reserve above the current charge level. Battery should then charge from all available resources. If you don't have that option available, the wretched thing will charge from solar only. (Going from experience, not expertise.)

David

Thanks for this - Yes it has the grid charging feature and we've used this to get the Powerwall charging overnight very successfully in the recent past. We have 2 separate solar systems at the house and the 2nd ( new one ) we got with the powerwall 2, is linked via a Tesla radio transmitter to the gateway. It took a lot of messing about by the engineers to get this up and running to any degree of accuracy, as it wasn't possible to put in a cable for this comms at the time.

Right now it's about 90% accurate - i.e the new PV system via solar edge says its generated 10KW per day and the Tesla says 8.5KW or 9KW. Why it doesn't match I have no idea and neither do the installers.

A powercut which the unit should have taken care of, dropped the power at home and since that point the app shows no solar generation at all. It is generating solar, but the app / gateway isn't maybe seeing / reporting it.

I did briefly do what you suggested and it did charge, but long term not a great solution for us to operate it in this way. We need to charge at night to get the cheaper energy with Octopus energy.

We have to wait for Tesla to eventually log into our system and fault find. Problem is you have no idea when they are doing it as there are no comms from them.

My wife now has lost all interest in the system and see's it as a bit of a white elephant. We've had issues with the Powerwall since it was fitted in Nov 23 and after 7 months and not being 100% operational its a bit of a bind now.

Nothing wrong with the install, I just think the product is a little flaky and the support from Tesla is maybe not as good as it should be.

Sadly I would not now recommend this product. Sorry Elon !

 

[Vines]

Thanks for this - Yes it has the grid charging feature and we've used this to get the Powerwall charging overnight very successfully in the recent past. We have 2 separate solar systems at the house and the 2nd ( new one ) we got with the powerwall 2, is linked via a Tesla radio transmitter to the gateway. It took a lot of messing about by the engineers to get this up and running to any degree of accuracy, as it wasn't possible to put in a cable for this comms at the time.

Right now it's about 90% accurate - i.e the new PV system via solar edge says its generated 10KW per day and the Tesla says 8.5KW or 9KW. Why it doesn't match I have no idea and neither do the installers.

A powercut which the unit should have taken care of, dropped the power at home and since that point the app shows no solar generation at all. It is generating solar, but the app / gateway isn't maybe seeing / reporting it.

I did briefly do what you suggested and it did charge, but long term not a great solution for us to operate it in this way. We need to charge at night to get the cheaper energy with Octopus energy.

We have to wait for Tesla to eventually log into our system and fault find. Problem is you have no idea when they are doing it as there are no comms from them.

My wife now has lost all interest in the system and see's it as a bit of a white elephant. We've had issues with the Powerwall since it was fitted in Nov 23 and after 7 months and not being 100% operational its a bit of a bind now.

Nothing wrong with the install, I just think the product is a little flaky and the support from Tesla is maybe not as good as it should be.

Sadly I would not now recommend this product. Sorry Elon !

Did Tesla do your installation? From the sound of it you had some installation and support issues, after paying a company good money to install a product.

Are you saying that you paid Tesla for this installation and they won't come out to fix things, or even schedule techs to come out?

It sounds like the installer didn't put in the proper wifi extenders that are required whenever the generation is not within about 30' and line of sight to the Powerwall system, and therefore a wire can't be run to it. THere are other ways to sc rew up the metering as well and it could be one of those.

When this wifi neurio meter was setup it sounds like it worked at first, then the wireless communication was lost. When the comms were lost they never came back, so the gateway doesnt know what generation is like.

If neither pv system will charge the powerwalls, then the system is probably in an error state, as it detects some issue with the metering. When you say the system would not supply power during an outage that reinforces the system being in an error state.

What happens when you "Go off Grid"

 

[Byreman]

Did Tesla do your installation? From the sound of it you had some installation and support issues, after paying a company good money to install a product.

Are you saying that you paid Tesla for this installation and they won't come out to fix things, or even schedule techs to come out?

It sounds like the installer didn't put in the proper wifi extenders that are required whenever the generation is not within about 30' and line of sight to the Powerwall system, and therefore a wire can't be run to it. THere are other ways to sc rew up the metering as well and it could be one of those.

When this wifi neurio meter was setup it sounds like it worked at first, then the wireless communication was lost. When the comms were lost they never came back, so the gateway doesnt know what generation is like.

If neither pv system will charge the powerwalls, then the system is probably in an error state, as it detects some issue with the metering. When you say the system would not supply power during an outage that reinforces the system being in an error state.

What happens when you "Go off Grid"

Not installed by Tesla themselves as it was a UK contractor. They initial fitment of the Neurio unit was very hit and miss and then the transmitter was moved a little closer and it seemed to be a little more reliable.

That was until the power cut.....

The contractor is pleasant enough, but I think they are over worked and I have to keep chasing them for a progress report.

I have not tried to take it off grid but maybe I will try later. I will let you know.

Thanks again for the reply......

 

[Vines]

Not installed by Tesla themselves as it was a UK contractor. They initial fitment of the Neurio unit was very hit and miss and then the transmitter was moved a little closer and it seemed to be a little more reliable.

That was until the power cut.....

The contractor is pleasant enough, but I think they are over worked and I have to keep chasing them for a progress report.

I have not tried to take it off grid but maybe I will try later. I will let you know.

Thanks again for the reply......

Ah, so now I understand the issue isn't with Tesla, it is with your installer.

I have seen more and more of this on the forums lately. People come here upset with Tesla because their 3rd party installer screwed up the installation.

It sounds like you need to be the squeaky wheel here and not let your installer collect a check for a job completed, then leave you without service.

 

[BGbreeder]

I think that the need for reserved IP addresses for the Gateway and Neurio gets lost for many owners and installers.

The neurio and the gateway, in my experience, require static (reserved) IP addresses, generally on the same network (SSID). The fact that a power glitch disrupted things, suggests to me that you, or your installer, needs to check the configuration of the gateway to ensure that the address that the Gateway expects the neurio to be at is the the address that the neurio is on, and that has been reserved in your router. While the address is being checked, I would double check that the MAC address for the neurio is correct in the Gateway.

Good luck.

BG

 

[Vines]

I think that the need for reserved IP addresses for the Gateway and Neurio gets lost for many owners and installers.

The neurio and the gateway, in my experience, require static (reserved) IP addresses, generally on the same network (SSID). The fact that a power glitch disrupted things, suggests to me that you, or your installer, needs to check the configuration of the gateway to ensure that the address that the Gateway expects the neurio to be at is the the address that the neurio is on, and that has been reserved in your router. While the address is being checked, I would double check that the MAC address for the neurio is correct in the Gateway.

Good luck.

BG

Sometime recently Tesla changed the way this works. New systems do not use the customers router at all, the neurio connects directly to the TEG wifi network, so extenders are needed more often.

It may be possible to still commission through the old web based wizard, and this is the only way left to commission where the Gateway and Neurio use the customers network to make the connection from Neurio to Gateway..

The best way to deal with the issue was exactly as @BGbreeder mentioned and it also relied on the customers network hardware staying the same.

 

[h2ofun]

Sometime recently Tesla changed the way this works. New systems do not use the customers router at all, the neurio connects directly to the TEG wifi network, so extenders are needed more often.

It may be possible to still commission through the old web based wizard, and this is the only way left to commission where the Gateway and Neurio use the customers network to make the connection from Neurio to Gateway..

The best way to deal with the issue was exactly as @BGbreeder mentioned and it also relied on the customers network hardware staying the same.

I do not do static IP's If my router resets, then yep, I get to play the Waldo game, what IP did not GW's get, and then modify things. Just did this with my printer an hour ago. Not that hard to do.

 

[BGbreeder]

Sometime recently Tesla changed the way this works. New systems do not use the customers router at all, the neurio connects directly to the TEG wifi network, so extenders are needed more often.

It may be possible to still commission through the old web based wizard, and this is the only way left to commission where the Gateway and Neurio use the customers network to make the connection from Neurio to Gateway..

The best way to deal with the issue was exactly as @BGbreeder mentioned and it also relied on the customers network hardware staying the same.

Thanks! That sounds like a more robust system on several levels, though perhaps a little harder to deploy. Do you know if that is the route for replacements as well? e.g. if a neurio fails? Does the Ethernet connection function differently, or not at all?

All the best,

BG

 

[jgleigh]

Sometime recently Tesla changed the way this works. New systems do not use the customers router at all, the neurio connects directly to the TEG wifi network, so extenders are needed more often.

I'm still not 100% sure how the Neurios connect to the TEG. My system was commissioned 3 years ago, but the Neurios seem to communicate properly regardless of the state of my home network and also regardless of the state of the TEG WiFi. The TEG WiFi stops communicating (broadcasting and/or allowing access), but the Neurios appear to still be working correctly. I'm eventually going to replace my home WiFi and that'll be the real test to see if the Neurios drop offline.

 

[Byreman]

Did Tesla do your installation? From the sound of it you had some installation and support issues, after paying a company good money to install a product.

Are you saying that you paid Tesla for this installation and they won't come out to fix things, or even schedule techs to come out?

It sounds like the installer didn't put in the proper wifi extenders that are required whenever the generation is not within about 30' and line of sight to the Powerwall system, and therefore a wire can't be run to it. THere are other ways to sc rew up the metering as well and it could be one of those.

When this wifi neurio meter was setup it sounds like it worked at first, then the wireless communication was lost. When the comm's were lost they never came back, so the gateway doesnt know what generation is like.

If neither pv system will charge the powerwalls, then the system is probably in an error state, as it detects some issue with the metering. When you say the system would not supply power during an outage that reinforces the system being in an error state.

What happens when you "Go off Grid"

This suggestion to go "Off Grid" was an inspired one for sure. Big Thankyou for that !

I tried it last evening and a few seconds after coming back online, the Tesla App was seeing a small amount of solar production.

Overnight the Powerwall fully charged for the 1st time in 2 weeks so another positive there too.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are now getting in the daytime, a transfer of power to and from the grid, when the Powerwall should be taking the strain of powering the house.

I've seen this before and I will let it settle down and see if its still happening in a few days.

I did try to go off grid again this am to see what would happen and I got a message on the app that the load was too high and it could not do it. It was circa 1KW, which isn't a big load I think ?

But what a great suggestion and thanks again for taking time out to help a clueless Brit over the water from you guys in the US.

I am an electrical engineer by the way so not that clueless....... Thanks......

 

[Byreman]

I think that the need for reserved IP addresses for the Gateway and Neurio gets lost for many owners and installers.

The neurio and the gateway, in my experience, require static (reserved) IP addresses, generally on the same network (SSID). The fact that a power glitch disrupted things, suggests to me that you, or your installer, needs to check the configuration of the gateway to ensure that the address that the Gateway expects the neurio to be at is the the address that the neurio is on, and that has been reserved in your router. While the address is being checked, I would double check that the MAC address for the neurio is correct in the Gateway.

Good luck.

BG

Also good info and makes perfect sense - Will check..... Thanks again !

 

[VK2AAF]

I'm still not 100% sure how the Neurios connect to the TEG. My system was commissioned 3 years ago, but the Neurios seem to communicate properly regardless of the state of my home network and also regardless of the state of the TEG WiFi. The TEG WiFi stops communicating (broadcasting and/or allowing access), but the Neurios appear to still be working correctly. I'm eventually going to replace my home WiFi and that'll be the real test to see if the Neurios drop offline.

Neurio connects to Gateway1 with wires to the Gateway1 control board. WiFi in the Neurio is not used in the Gateway1 application.

There are 2 black knobs on top of the Gateway1 cabinet. Those are antennas for GSM cellular & WiFi from Gateway to your internet router. There's an RJ45 on the Gateway1 module for ethernet to your internet router. Naturally, you can select and test the comms paths in the Gateway UI. Gateway can also automatically select the path if the selected one fails.

We had a Neurio fail on 8 March 24. Tesla said it would be 5-6 WEEKS (WEEKS!) to replace it. Neurio W1 is no longer made by Neurio. Naturally, Tesla Powerwall Support Aus/NZ were having trouble sourcing one. I requested they replace our Gateway1 with a Gateway2. After 8 weeks passed, Tesla acquiesced and installed a Gateway2 (which does not use a Neurio meter).

We NEED the batteries. About 2 weeks into the wait for a replacement Neurio, I found a complete Neurio W1 kit with CTs on eBay in California. Bought it as new/unused but untested. 2 weeks to ship.

I had a nameless installer configure it into my Gateway to restore operation. Tesla Support were not well pleased about this but did not void my warranty.

In any case, this Neurio is now verified as operational by Tesla, As we now have a Gateway2, it is now surplus to my needs and is for sale for what I have in it ($AUD175).

Because they are hard to find, there are gougers chancing ridiculous money on eBay. (Tell 'im e's DREAMIN')

If you're facing an excessive delay in replacement of a Neurio W1 in your Gateway1, this could be useful.


Going to stick it on eBay if nobody inquires in the next few weeks.

Cheers

-Brian