Trying to answer all the questions:
- If they were indeed at high SOC, you do indeed have more time. Make sure the On/Off switch stays off. One thing you can do to check, is to attach a 4 wire cable between the gateway and the Powerwall both have a 4 pin connector. Then connect 12V to the two pin Jump port in the gateway. This should allow the gateway to boot and talk to the Powerwall. Then you can log into the WiFi access point that the gateway broadcasts to look at the SOC. Might have to toggle the On/Off switch to wake up the Powerwall.
- Shipping on its back is important, static standing on its feet is ok.
- If you Bricked Powerwall, best is to call Tesla and ask about recycling
- No, but you can wire it up and charge it. Wire from a 30A breaker to the gateway, then wire from the Gateway to the Powerwall. If doing 2 Powerwalls use a 60A breaker. 3, use a 90A, etc. 30A per Powerwall). Log into your app and set the backup reserve to 100%. If it was previously installed with solar, you might have to login to the installer wizard or have Tesla delete the solar config otherwise it won't charge from the grid. As an alternative, if you are electrically savvy, you could fake solar production/exporting energy by putting the CTs backwards so it thinks its charging from solar.
This is not the case for Powerwall. Powerwall doesn't have any sacrificial battery. It pulls control power(12V) from a DC-DC off the main Lithium battery. Further, there is no way to directly connect to the pack. The Powerwall terminals are AC. There is a built in DC-AC inverter. The only way to get to the pack is to open the sealed enclosure which involves draining the coolant. This should only be done at Tesla as it is dangerous and near impossible to get back together correctly. And most likely, it is too late anyway.
Tesla Energy is very much in business, but the product innovation slowed. Tesla is mostly focussed on manufacturing innovations now. So I started
SPAN allowing homeowners to not just generate and store energy, but also be able to monitor and control energy.