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Yeah, that’s true. And the TEG really needs to be online and operational when they finish the install because all of the power from the grid to the house (or at least the grid to the backed up loads) passes through the TEG.
Yes - just glad they didn't build some mechanism to hide that data from the customer until PTO. I assume even with a solar-only install, you could still run it, you just don't get any feedback in the app as to what it is doing (and you might have to contend with an unhappy utility company.)
 
Yes - just glad they didn't build some mechanism to hide that data from the customer until PTO. I assume even with a solar-only install, you could still run it, you just don't get any feedback in the app as to what it is doing (and you might have to contend with an unhappy utility company.)

Yeah, I think trying to run a solar only install before PTO would be difficult or impossible to do because most of the time it will be generating more than the house is using and you have no way to prevent the excess from feeding to the grid.

Additionally, I was told by my installers and I’ve seen it mentioned a few times here that if you don’t have a bidirectional meter then your meter will count any power that is generated by your system and sent back to the grid as power that you used and charge you for it. In other words non-bidirectional meters simply measure the amount of power flowing through them, whether it’s coming from the utility or going to the utility and you will be charged for all of it.
 
Yes - just glad they didn't build some mechanism to hide that data from the customer until PTO. I assume even with a solar-only install, you could still run it, you just don't get any feedback in the app as to what it is doing (and you might have to contend with an unhappy utility company.)

Do we know if the home-consumption monitor data is transmitted to the Zigbee gateway through the inverter? I had assumed that the monitor in the panel transmitted data to the gateway independently from the inverter, and Tesla is just not displaying anything in the app pre-PTO because it's programmed not to respond until both the monitor and the inverter are responding.
 
Do we know if the home-consumption monitor data is transmitted to the Zigbee gateway through the inverter? I had assumed that the monitor in the panel transmitted data to the gateway independently from the inverter, and Tesla is just not displaying anything in the app pre-PTO because it's programmed not to respond until both the monitor and the inverter are responding.

I honestly have no idea and that’s been bugging me for a while. I have a powerwall system, so I don’t have the home consumption monitor in my panel, so I can’t play with one to see how it works. I don’t believe that it talks directly to tesla because I don’t think they ever connect it to your WiFi. I assume you would know if they connected something to your WiFi because they would have had to ask for a password.

So I think the three options left are zigbee (although I would guess that if this is the case it would communicate to the little black gateway, rather than to the inverter). This seems the most likely to me, but I question it a little because the device is installed in a metal electrical panel, which I think would block any wireless signals.

The second option would be some sort of powerline communication to... something... the inverter? The little black gateway box? I think this is less likely though. I don’t believe the inverter supports any powerline communications and I don’t think the little black gateway box could read any powerline communications through it’s little AC adapter.

The third option would be that it’s using some sort of black magic.
 
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I honestly have no idea and that’s been bugging me for a while. I have a powerwall system, so I don’t have the home consumption monitor in my panel, so I can’t play with one to see how it works. I don’t believe that it talks directly to tesla because I don’t think they ever connect it to your WiFi. I assume you would know if they connected something to your WiFi because they would have had to ask for a password.

So I think the three options left are zigbee (although I would guess that if this is the case it would communicate to the little black gateway, rather than to the inverter). This seems the most likely to me, but I question it a little because the device is installed in a metal electrical panel, which I think would block any wireless signals.

The second option would be some sort of powerline communication to... something... the inverter? The little black gateway box? I think this is less likely though. I don’t believe the inverter supports any powerline communications and I don’t think the little black gateway box could read any powerline communications through it’s little AC adapter.

The third option would be that it’s using some sort of black magic.

Could actually be hardwired to the inverter via RS485, if it's something like this: Energy Meter with Modbus Connection | SolarEdge

That might explain why I don't see anything while the inverter is unpowered.
 
Could actually be hardwired to the inverter via RS485, if it's something like this: Energy Meter with Modbus Connection | SolarEdge

That might explain why I don't see anything while the inverter is unpowered.

That’s certainly possible, but *is* it wired to the inverter? Someone posted a picture of the device installed in their electrical panel and I didn’t see any communication cables coming out of it.
 
That’s certainly possible, but *is* it wired to the inverter? Someone posted a picture of the device installed in their electrical panel and I didn’t see any communication cables coming out of it.

Alright. I was interested enough to pull my panel cover off and take a (semi-blurry) photo:

IMG_20200903_143449768.jpg


Powerblaster Energy Aware Technology Model PB1. Contains FCC ID MCQ-XBPS2C which appears to be a Zigbee transmitter: https://fccid.io/MCQ-XBPS2C

Also followed the leads, the pairs of black and white go straight to the main power, and the red and black in the middle go to a breaker. So no RS485.
 
Alright. I was interested enough to pull my panel cover off and take a (semi-blurry) photo:

View attachment 584000

Powerblaster Energy Aware Technology Model PB1. Contains FCC ID MCQ-XBPS2C which appears to be a Zigbee transmitter: https://fccid.io/MCQ-XBPS2C

Also followed the leads, the pairs of black and white go straight to the main power, and the red and black in the middle go to a breaker. So no RS485.

I guess that answers the question then. I imagine that it does Zigbee to the little black box and from there it goes over the internet to Tesla. Still surprises me a little that the Zigbee signal can get out of the panel, but I guess it can. Perhaps there is still a bit of black magic involved.
 
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Alright. I was interested enough to pull my panel cover off and take a (semi-blurry) photo:

View attachment 584000

Powerblaster Energy Aware Technology Model PB1. Contains FCC ID MCQ-XBPS2C which appears to be a Zigbee transmitter: FCC ID MCQ-XBPS2C XBee-PRO ZB module by Digi International Inc

Also followed the leads, the pairs of black and white go straight to the main power, and the red and black in the middle go to a breaker. So no RS485.

The good news there, is that because they have a power blaster there, you likely at least see consumption when they turn it on. If you have solar without the power blaster, you dont see consumption, only generation of solar. Thats how my solar only solar city install was from 2015 until january this year when I added the powerwalls.
 
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I guess that answers the question then. I imagine that it does Zigbee to the little black box and from there it goes over the internet to Tesla. Still surprises me a little that the Zigbee signal can get out of the panel, but I guess it can. Perhaps there is still a bit of black magic involved.

Doing a bit of searching, I guess Zigbee has a further range than I anticipated: Zigbee Basics

Note: Zigbee devices that are wall mounted in metal junction boxes will suffer a significant loss of range because the metal box blocks a lot of the Zigbee signal.

To play it safe, we recommend that you cut the range estimate to 10-meters (30-feet) if there are no obstacles in the way.

EDIT: Some further research confirms it's Zigbee from inverter to gateway, and powerblaster to gateway: How does gateway work

IIRC, the Com Gateway talks to both the Inverter and Powerblaster via the Zigbee wireless standard (not WiFi), and really wants to be line-of-sight with those devices to get a good signal. Having the inverter remote from the Powerblaster might prove problematic. The most ideal spot under these circumstances might be to have the Com Gateway somewhere between the two.

So it might be feasible for Tesla to enable home energy monitoring before PTO...
 
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Alright. I was interested enough to pull my panel cover off and take a (semi-blurry) photo:

View attachment 584000

Powerblaster Energy Aware Technology Model PB1. Contains FCC ID MCQ-XBPS2C which appears to be a Zigbee transmitter: https://fccid.io/MCQ-XBPS2C

Also followed the leads, the pairs of black and white go straight to the main power, and the red and black in the middle go to a breaker. So no RS485.

Seems to make the most sense because the solution does not rely on the inverter.
 
Got a little "How did we do?" survey from Tesla today. Suggested adding dedicated advisors much earlier in the process. Things went a lot more smoothly once I had a single point of contact.

Also suggested they allow people to see their home energy consumption while waiting for PTO. I figure the CTs are wired up in the main panel, and the Gateway is powered and networked, it would be nice if I could see my usage in the app before the solar comes online. Right now all I get is a failure to fetch data on the solar page of the Tesla app.

This was certainly the case for me, they had commissioned my system a month before I received PTO, and I was live with the app, seeing my home draw from the grid and my PW % keep dropping closer to 0 over the next month until I received PTO. It's really just a matter of when your get commissioned at least in a PW system, I guess maybe solar-only they hold everything until PTO.

I will note that it totally jacks your stats, it was the same thing for me and PVOutput, since I started uploading data a few days after things were commissioned but that meant a month of 0 kWh solar production that really skews the overall stats, with no clear way to say "I want my lifetime data starting when I received PTO", as opposed to the entire lifetime since commissioning with the extra consumption-only days. So in the app my lifetime from grid value is ~66% that month before PTO, and ~33% the 17 months since. :p
 
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This was certainly the case for me, they had commissioned my system a month before I received PTO, and I was live with the app, seeing my home draw from the grid and my PW % keep dropping closer to 0 over the next month until I received PTO. It's really just a matter of when your get commissioned at least in a PW system, I guess maybe solar-only they hold everything until PTO.

I will note that it totally jacks your stats, it was the same thing for me and PVOutput, since I started uploading data a few days after things were commissioned but that meant a month of 0 kWh solar production that really skews the overall stats, with no clear way to say "I want my lifetime data starting when I received PTO", as opposed to the entire lifetime since commissioning with the extra consumption-only days. So in the app my lifetime from grid value is ~66% that month before PTO, and ~33% the 17 months since. :p

What seems to be the case is , to summarize anyway...

Solar + powerwall = monitoring available before PTO
Solar only = Limited or no monitoring before PTO (additionally, amount of data available after PTO does not seem to be standard, with some having only solar, and some having solar + consumption)
 
I’m curious to know whether anyone that had a solar install in which the Energy Aware Technology (now called Neurio) powerblaster PB1 was not installed by Tesla went and installed a Neurio W1 themselves (as the PB1 does not appear to be available to purchase) and whether they were then able to get the consumption data? I ask because the design drawings for my install (not yet done) does not show the inclusion of the PB1. Or should I try to get Tesla to add it to the design drawings used for permits?
 
My energy consumption ranges from 24kWH/day in the winter to 80kWH/day in the summer, or 710-2,400kwH/month. 7 months out of the year I am under 1000kWH/month. As is typical, my highest usage is late afternoon and in the evening, when there is little to no sunlight depending on the time of year. I'm going to move in 5-7 years, so I'm looking to subscribe rather than buy panels.

Since I am not getting a battery, I assume that means I would be producing energy when I am not home and not consuming it, and I'm just going to end up paying peak rates in the evenings? Also (assuming I don't sell energy), since Tesla's price/panel is linear, does that mean less bang/buck with each panel I install, since the first panels will reduce my "punitive" high usage billing rate, and additional panels will offset correspondingly less expensive energy?
 
I guess after looking at SCE's NEM program description, participation in the NEM and signing up for TOU pricint is mandatory, and the netting of my usage would be done automatically. Still, given that, do my price savings per panel drop for each panel I install over my lowest monthly energy needs?
 
I’m curious to know whether anyone that had a solar install in which the Energy Aware Technology (now called Neurio) powerblaster PB1 was not installed by Tesla went and installed a Neurio W1 themselves (as the PB1 does not appear to be available to purchase) and whether they were then able to get the consumption data? I ask because the design drawings for my install (not yet done) does not show the inclusion of the PB1. Or should I try to get Tesla to add it to the design drawings used for permits?

I’m not sure what you’re asking. If you install a Nurio W1 yourself then you will certainly be able to get consumption data from the Nurio through Nurio’s own app or however they provide the data. But your own Nurio device will not send the data to tesla to make it available in Tesla’s app.
 
I’m not sure what you’re asking. If you install a Nurio W1 yourself then you will certainly be able to get consumption data from the Nurio through Nurio’s own app or however they provide the data. But your own Nurio device will not send the data to tesla to make it available in Tesla’s app.

That is what I was trying to find it; whether the consumption data would show in the Tesla app so that a third party app is not needed to get this data. I guess I’ll have to call the Tesla Project Advisor on Monday and ask about Tesla providing the powerblaster in my install.
 
Golden rule of Tesla Energy: "When in doubt, give Tesla a nudge."

It's been just over a week since the county inspection without a word from the county, utility, or Tesla. So I texted my project advisor to see if there's anything to be done. Lo and behold within 10 minutes of my text:

There has been the following activity on your Solar PV project. Your project is in the Part II Submitted status.