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?
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?