arcing/electricall sound when powerwall takes over?

[astrorob]

is it normal to hear a loud arcing noise when a powerwall2 takes over the home load?

last night i was awakened by a loud electrical/arcing sound. i thought it might have been one of the springs on my garage door breaking and unspooling (horizontal springs for rolling garage door - this has happened before)

however i just looked in my tesla app and there were two very short events last night, one at the exact time i was awakened. the powerwalls are right below my (2nd story) bedroom window.

so the sound could have been the PW taking over. but would it be normal to hear an arcing sound? i've never been near the powerwalls when the grid has gone down.

 

[astrorob]

it turns out (per nextdoor) that there were 2 brief outages in a very wide area here last night at exactly the same time that the tesla app is reporting. so the sound i heard might have been a nearby transfer station, or maybe just the collective noise made by all the streetlights and houses browning out at the same time.

unfortunately when my solar inverter loses the sun, it goes to sleep and doesn't report any line voltages, etc. and because my powerwall PVOutput is set up to show all the battery info in the extended info variables, i don't have any idea about the line voltages when this occurred.

anyway, it did wake me up so my perception of the sound might be suspect. but i do still wonder if anyone's powerwall makes noises when it takes over from the grid.

 

[jjrandorin]

I think I have heard a small "click", similar to the cars contactors but much less volume than that. Certainly not arcing sounds, etc.

 

[schettj]

is it normal to hear a loud arcing noise when a powerwall2 takes over the home load?

No. Maybe a click, no arcing! Hopefully you heard something related to the outage from the grid.

You can test on your own by throwing the service main cutoff - that's pretty much the same as an outage. You should hear a click (maybe) but not much else.

 

[jboy210]

Mine in the garage is silent for inside the house.

 

[astrorob]

ok thanks for the replies. i can try throwing the main. i agree the powerwall probably shouldn’t make a noise like i heard.

 

[BGbreeder]

Throwing the main is a little different in that there is no longer grid power when the Gateway switches. I.e. as the grid voltages drops, there is still a house load when the gateway flips its contractor to cut you off from the grid. That isn't the case when the main breaker is flipped.

While I hope that you heard arcing elsewhere, I would just keep an eye on it until you figure out if it is repeatable.

All the best,

BG