Can't Charge Tesla Powerwall While Charging it with Solar?

[jrweiss98020]

Thanks for the info. I suspect the rep I'm dealing with is not knowledgeable about Powerwalls and/or has an ulterior motive.

Do you know if the Powerwall can be charged by non Tesla solar power systems while the grid is out? Our solar power electronics is provided by Enlighten, not Tesla.

My system was installed by a 3rd party (A&R Solar in Seattle) with 2 Powerwalls, LG panels, and Enphase micro-inverters. When off grid, the solar panels provide power to the house, and excess goes to charge the Powerwalls. Note that if house demand is high, there may not be enough solar to charge a car at full rate. In this case, the car will draw from the Powerwall until it reaches the charge level you set in the app (I set mine to 95% so the car charger cannot deplete the Powerwalls too far).

Distribution is automatic, with no manual intervention needed.

 

[spsheridan]

Thank you all for your informed responses!

I confirmed the rep I was initially dealing with didn’t understand the PowerWall’s capabilities. I spoke to the lead system designer at the company and he set me straight that the system does allow the PowerWall to charge with solar during a grid outage. I also discovered a friend has the same setup I will have (Enphase inverters with PowerWall 2.0) and he confirmed this. He confirmed switch-over for off-grid stored power is automatic. I was pleased to see the Tesla app integrates well with his Enphase-based solar system.

 

[jhn_]

Thank you all for your informed responses!

I confirmed the rep I was initially dealing with didn’t understand the PowerWall’s capabilities. I spoke to the lead system designer at the company and he set me straight that the system does allow the PowerWall to charge with solar during a grid outage. I also discovered a friend has the same setup I will have (Enphase inverters with PowerWall 2.0) and he confirmed this. He confirmed switch-over for off-grid stored power is automatic. I was pleased to see the Tesla app integrates well with his Enphase-based solar system.

Yup, you’ll be happy with the setup. The Tesla Solar Gateway doesn’t really care what brand inverter or panels it is connected to and handles the loads of any of those plus the home and the PWs equally.

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

I’m getting cost estimates for a home backup battery system from the company who installed our solar panels (not Tesla solar panels). The company I’m working with will install Tesla Powerwalls or Enlighten battery systems. I was surprised to learn that the Powerwall cannot be charged from our solar panels while it is being used for battery backup. It can only be charged from solar if we are not using the Powerwall or from the grid. But the Enlighten battery can be charged from solar while it’s being used for backup. The Powerwall limitation would likely not be an issue for backup battery use during a single day of power outage but could be a problem if the outage lasted multiple days.

I asked the rep if the Powerwall limitation was because we have Enlighten Inverters and Combiner for our solar power system and he said no, the limitation is in the Powerwall design itself. Also, in the event of a power outage, they recommend that a breaker be switched when converting to Powerwall backup use while the Enlighten system will do the switching automatically with no manual switching required.

These Powerwall limitations sounded odd to me. I assumed Powerwalls would be more technology advanced and easier to use than other batteries. Does anyone else have experience in comparing Powerwall usage during a power outrge versus other battery systems?

Funny, their literature says powerwall charges during the day for nighttime use AND from your panels when there i a power failure

 

[spsheridan]

Funny, their literature says powerwall charges during the day for nighttime use AND from your panels when there i a power failure

Yeah, I had bad info from an uninformed rep when I made the original post six months ago. Since then, I learned and am now using my solar panels to charge my PowerWalls, even during a grid outage. Tesla's literature is correct.

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

Yeah, I had bad info from an uninformed rep when I made the original post six months ago. Since then, I learned and am now using my solar panels to charge my PowerWalls, even during a grid outage. Tesla's literature is correct.

Good for you.....