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Beautiful 6 Powerwall Installation
- Thread starter Vines
- Start date
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
For those worried about water intrusion, is there any reason the doubled power walls could not be raised up on concrete blocks to protect against potential flooding?
We actually installed a double stack 18" above the ground, built up on a wooden frame made of 4 x 12, and attached to the wall and concrete floor, then it was sheet rocked and finished. Whether the AHJ would accept freestanding blocks depends on the local officials. If new concrete was poured on top of the existing pad and tied together there's probably nothing they could say.
Many AHJ don't have a great handle on the details of these installations. For a short while, 2 of our toughest jurisdictions were requiring us to follow the California fire code, basically treating the installation like a commercial building. It took a while to educate them that we dont need 24/7 gas detection and monitoring and a fully fire sprinklered battery room. I still see them installed with no means of disconnect within 5' of the battery.
Mine are on my outside wall more than 5' from the Generation Panel and have no disconnect. The AHJ required several remediations, but I think they were all minor details or paperwork issues related to conduit fill factors and calculations. He had no problem with the nearby gas meter nor the hose bib in the picture.
mbp11
Member
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and had a 7.7 KWH whole house battery by Sunverge installed in my garage two years ago to go with my 14 Enphase solar panels on my roof. This is the layout in my garage. This was done (sadly) before the Powerwall and I had various troubles the first 12 months, with electrical failures, board failures, failure to connect to the internet but... the past year has been quiet, working well! When my neighborhood power goes out, my house is still running! It is not as powerful as my Model X and is not as good looking as the Powerwall, but it is fun to open the cabinet and look inside at the CPU, the flashing lights and dials. It is not as nice looking as some of the other installations but as they say, you can't see this from the road.
Putting the cabinet on the side of the garage was necessary to protect the cabinet from cars- local codes insist that stanchions be installed in front of the cabinet if it is going at the back of the garage where a car could bump into it. I did not have the room for that. I was hoping to get a larger battery but the other choice I had (forgot the mane of the battery company) had a cabinet that was too tall for my garage.
The solar comes in through the wall on the right, goes through the Enphase controller, then goes into the connector box to the house circuit breakers, bypass breakers, and battery before going to the grid to the left.
The battery actually manages the complete house power and determines if the solar charges the battery, runs the house or exports to the grid. The Sunverge web app and the Enphase solar panel web app have a very nice and accurate reporting ability on what is going on at any time and how my production is doing. My electric bills are down to about $10 a month, the basic minimum electricity delivery charge that PG&E levies against my connection to the grid. Perfect for owning an electric car.
Mike P
Putting the cabinet on the side of the garage was necessary to protect the cabinet from cars- local codes insist that stanchions be installed in front of the cabinet if it is going at the back of the garage where a car could bump into it. I did not have the room for that. I was hoping to get a larger battery but the other choice I had (forgot the mane of the battery company) had a cabinet that was too tall for my garage.
The solar comes in through the wall on the right, goes through the Enphase controller, then goes into the connector box to the house circuit breakers, bypass breakers, and battery before going to the grid to the left.
The battery actually manages the complete house power and determines if the solar charges the battery, runs the house or exports to the grid. The Sunverge web app and the Enphase solar panel web app have a very nice and accurate reporting ability on what is going on at any time and how my production is doing. My electric bills are down to about $10 a month, the basic minimum electricity delivery charge that PG&E levies against my connection to the grid. Perfect for owning an electric car.
Mike P
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vizguy
Member
Many thanks for all these installation pics! I have 2 Powerwalls on order since October 2018. Was told today that the factory has just released an allocation to the warehouse so I can anticipate being contacted for a site survey in the near future. Will be tying in a 10.2 kW rooftop PV system.
I am trying to decide if I paint conduit or leave it. Just finished the garage installation.
Thanks. I agree. They wanted to paint after installation and I said I would do it later after seeing the clean look.
Beautiful, thanks for sharing!
I would paint it, but that's just my opinion. If you like it, rock it! Its a garage.
TapHabit
Member
It looks great, i’d Paint it that beige wall color you have on your wall. Fantastic setup tho!
If the garage has a high enough ceiling, how about mounting 2 Powerwalls on the floor and a 3rd on the wall above the other 2?
When we had our site visit, I asked about wall mounting - they said they prefer the floor mounting for easier access, but could mount a single Powerwall on the wall.
When we had our site visit, I asked about wall mounting - they said they prefer the floor mounting for easier access, but could mount a single Powerwall on the wall.
There are limitations on how high they will mount Powerwalls on the wall. The Powerwalls themselves are about 45 inches tall but they will only mount them on the wall up to 41 inches or so from the ground due to the equipment that they use to lift them up on the wall.
RoBoRaT
PoPeYeD'SaiLoRDuDe
I also have a pending site survey for 2 PW install, and I want to mount them same wall on above the other - which will put the 2nd PW at about 48" height. Yup, ive read about the 41" limit here - but hopefully they can do 48", unless that break some code.
Anyone successfully have (legit) installers mount PW above 41" height?
We have installed them double stacked on top of each other, but its too close for the average garage with finished ceiling. Can be done outdoors, or with unfinished ceilings, so the top one has airflow above it. We generally only do this if we have no other choice
There's a couple issues with mounting them this high though. The lift onto the wall kinda sucks, but with some additional blocking under the rig and someone on a ladder to help stabilize it works but is a bit more dangerous. Also, the enable/reset button then becomes so high off the ground that you need a broomstick or something to reset it in event of an overload. Finally the structural calculations that Tesla gives are designed for 1 Powerwall weight hung on the wall, so specific structural Calcs with a PE stamp might be needed. Could be an extra few hundred dollars.
I am not aware of any code issues.
There's a couple issues with mounting them this high though. The lift onto the wall kinda sucks, but with some additional blocking under the rig and someone on a ladder to help stabilize it works but is a bit more dangerous. Also, the enable/reset button then becomes so high off the ground that you need a broomstick or something to reset it in event of an overload. Finally the structural calculations that Tesla gives are designed for 1 Powerwall weight hung on the wall, so specific structural Calcs with a PE stamp might be needed. Could be an extra few hundred dollars.
I am not aware of any code issues.
I don't think it's code but weight. They weigh almost 285 pounds so they use a custom dolly to lift them up to the mounting bracket on the wall. They could lift them manually but it takes two or three people instead of one.
As @Vines mentioned, I do believe there is a rule about the height of the switch on the side.
