Adjust Tesla charge rate from mobile app, API & PW2 to allow use of excess solar

[sczsimos]

It's beyond me why Tesla doesn't allow this. In order to use of excess solar its a no brainer. The powerwall 2 could control it automatically but it doesnt. Does anyone know why this hasn't been implemented?

It seems pretty crazy that so much effort goes into hacking the wallcharger (TWCManager) when there such an easy solution Tesla could provide.

 

[GrimRe]

2020.32.x has power wall co-ordination for power outages. Presumably this is setting up the ground work to control the amperage also to maximise use of solar generation.

 

[Vostok]

I believe this feature is coming. I lobbed this suggestion to Tesla last year.

At the moment I manually finesse this, which is a bit tedious but it works. I’ve set my Model 3 charge rate to be only 6A so that it is well within the capability of my solar. If it’s a sunny day and my PW2 is getting full, I use the app to increase the target charge level (e.g. from 275 to 300km) so that Model 3 takes solar for around an extra 30 to 60 minutes. Conversely, if it’s a dull day, I dial the target back to below the current charge state so that it doesn’t charge at all.

For the first 6 months my daily charge target was always set to 250 km (50%). I now manually dial it up and down as per above. But it sure would be nice to have this ‘automated’.

 

[sczsimos]

2020.32.x has power wall co-ordination for power outages. Presumably this is setting up the ground work to control the amperage also to maximise use of solar generation.

Yes I noticed that. But why start with the most unlikely use case? Solar is being generated at most PW2 sites each day. So you'd think they would focus on the thing that would be of most benefit. I suspect there is a reason why they are reluctant. Just don't know what it is.

 

[sczsimos]

I believe this feature is coming. I lobbed this suggestion to Tesla last year.

At the moment I manually finesse this, which is a bit tedious but it works. I’ve set my Model 3 charge rate to be only 6A so that it is well within the capability of my solar. If it’s a sunny day and my PW2 is getting full, I use the app to increase the target charge level (e.g. from 275 to 300km) so that Model 3 takes solar for around an extra 30 to 60 minutes. Conversely, if it’s a dull day, I dial the target back to below the current charge state so that it doesn’t charge at all.

For the first 6 months my daily charge target was always set to 250 km (50%). I now manually dial it up and down as per above. But it sure would be nice to have this ‘automated’.

Thanks for this suggestion. I'm using @amberelectric for wholesale electricity pricing. I want the car to be able to suck up the excess solar generally, but particularly if the solar FIT goes negative and my excess solar production is actually charging me. I'm in the process of putting a WiFi switch on the inverters to shut solar down if this occurs. But it would be so much nicer if the car just soaked it up automatically.

 

[cafz]

I'd just like to be able to adjust the scheduled charging config from the app so that when my wife decides at 11PM that she'll need to leave early I don't have to schlepp out to the garage to change it!

 

[Ecoli]

Automatically adjust older Tesla HPWC to solar power output
Tesla HPWC, raspberry Pi and TWCmanger

 

[ARMARM]

I don't have the skills to hack the HPWC, so I bought a Zappi, it's worth every cent not having to muck around and walk out to the car constantly to change the amp rate.

 

[Ecoli]

I'd just like to be able to adjust the scheduled charging config from the app so that when my wife decides at 11PM that she'll need to leave early I don't have to schlepp out to the garage to change it!

You can control Tesla HPWC using TWCmanager web interface. Requires Raspberry Pi, RS485 USB
You can check, schedule and adjust HPWC charge current remotely.
Basically the Raspberry Pi acts as master HPWC and the real HPWC as a slave

 

[EcoCloudIT]

Automatically adjust older Tesla HPWC to solar power output
Tesla HPWC, raspberry Pi and TWCmanger

I wonder how this would work with 2x chargers for those with 2x Tesla's? I already have a master/slave set up with my Wall Chargers which works out quite nicely, however charging off of the sun only at maximum AMP draw possible with both car would be ideal....

 

[Ecoli]

TWCmanager installation guide says it can control up to 3 HPWC

 

[SaturnV]

Set up hack is not as "scary" as the video looks if you leave your Pi outside the wall charger and power it from an external usb power source and run/route just the RS485 cables into the HPWC. No need for soldering the HPWC circuit board.

 

[EcoCloudIT]

View attachment 580467 View attachment 580468 Set up hack is not as "scary" as the video looks if you leave your Pi outside the wall charger and power it from an external usb power source and run/route just the RS485 cables into the HPWC. No need for soldering the HPWC circuit board.

Couldn't do a little video pointing to what you plugged in etc.?

@Ecoli - just wondering, if one has two Wall Chargers do you only need to install the Pi on the one master Wall Charger or needs 2x PI's need to be installed? Reason I ask is one Wall Charger is easy to run external power to, the other is not....and I like @SaturnV 's idea of running PI outside of Wall Charger and no soldering....

 

[SaturnV]

Couldn't do a little video pointing to what you plugged in etc.?

@Ecoli - just wondering, if one has two Wall Chargers do you only need to install the Pi on the one master Wall Charger or needs 2x PI's need to be installed? Reason I ask is one Wall Charger is easy to run external power to, the other is not....and I like @SaturnV 's idea of running PI outside of Wall Charger and no soldering....

A single Pi acts as the Master and any HPWC's daisy chained further down the line are the slaves (rotary dial set to "F").

 

[EcoCloudIT]

A single Pi can act as the Master and any HPWC's daisy chained further down the line are the slaves.

Perfect, thanks @SaturnV ... I assyme that means I would change my current Master to a "slave" and keep my second TWC as a slave...so PI/TCMManager beomes Master, existing TWC becomes a Slave and existing slave stays as a slace....

 

[SaturnV]

Perfect, thanks @SaturnV ... I assyme that means I would change my current Master to a "slave" and keep my second TWC as a slave...so PI/TCMManager beomes Master, existing TWC becomes a Slave and existing slave stays as a slace....

Yes. The Pi is the master and seeks load/solar info from your particular system and any wall charger connected to the Pi must be set to slave for it to work. Tweaking TWC Manager code for your system is key.

 

[Ecoli]

Couldn't do a little video pointing to what you plugged in etc.?

@Ecoli - just wondering, if one has two Wall Chargers do you only need to install the Pi on the one master Wall Charger or needs 2x PI's need to be installed? Reason I ask is one Wall Charger is easy to run external power to, the other is not....and I like @SaturnV 's idea of running PI outside of Wall Charger and no soldering....

As SaturnV says only 1 RPi/TWCmanager is needed, it acts the master connected via RS485 to all other real HPWC which are in slave mode (up to 3 HPWC max)
There is no need to solder anything or install anything inside to the HPWC if you'd rather not. The RPi and USB RS485 can be mounted externally and connected to the HPWC.

Here's the TWCManager installation manual
dracoventions/TWCManager

I think TWCmanager doesn't work with older HPWC that were discontinued around April 2016 or the new 2020 WiFi model

There are a few forks of TWCManager around
Google search should find them along with other videos and how to installs

 

[Ecoli]

Couldn't do a little video pointing to what you plugged in etc.?

@Ecoli - just wondering, if one has two Wall Chargers do you only need to install the Pi on the one master Wall Charger or needs 2x PI's need to be installed? Reason I ask is one Wall Charger is easy to run external power to, the other is not....and I like @SaturnV 's idea of running PI outside of Wall Charger and no soldering....

As SaturnV says only 1 RPi/TWCmanager needed it acts the master connected via RS485 to all other real HPWC which are in slave mode (up to 3 HPWC max)
There is no need to solder anything or install anything inside to the HPWC if you'd rather not. The RPi and USB RS485 can be mounted externally and connected to the HPWC.

Here's the TWCManager installation manual
dracoventions/TWCManager

I think TWCmanager doesn't work with older HPWC that were discontinued around April 2016 or the new 2020 WiFi model

There are a few forks of TWCManager around
Google search should find them along with other videos and how to installs

 

[EcoCloudIT]

Thanks for the info @Ecoli and @SaturnV - just wondering my SolarEdge apparently isn't able to be connected to without considerable "cost" according to my installer (it's a new SolarEdge SE10000H-AU000BWU4, only installed 8-9 months ago....connect to home WiFi).

However, I have a PW2, will TWCManager work by just connecting to my PW2? If yes, which "fork" woud be the best version to grab re TWCManager?

 

[Ecoli]

It's not plug and play you have to do some configuration of TWCmanager
This fork mentions support for Solar Edge API and Powerwall 2

ngardiner/TWCManager