-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Enphase Solar and Powerwall integration
- Thread starter Oceanwolf
- Start date
Enphase configuration allows to use microinverters or CT for solar production reporting. I doubt that IQ microinverters have rated measuring. I changed my Enphase configuration to use CT and it roughly matches number I get in standalone RGM.
every Envoy comes with CT for PV production. House consumption CT is optional part.
here are my PV production numbers for 5/1 - 6/5
RGM 3271
Tesla PV 3373.8
Enphase PV 3286.3
P.S. my grid voltage is typically too hot, 248-250 V at meter panel with meter pulled. Unfortunately my utility company considers anything at 252 or below to be acceptable. Possibly some device takes voltage into consideration and some assumes nominal 240V
Last edited:
charlesj
Active Member
Here is my comparison for today at end of day a few minutes ago. Both apps report to 1 decimal place.
Same amount but it cold have less than 100W difference that would be hidden in rounding to 1 decimal place
Same amount but it cold have less than 100W difference that would be hidden in rounding to 1 decimal place
I took screenshots of instant PV production readings in Enphase Toolkit (real-time data feed from Envoy) and Tesla app a few seconds apart. As you can see Tesla had higher readings.
In my installation CTs for Tesla and Enphase are about a foot apart on a line going into PV breaker in combiner panel, that combines PW lines and PV.
In my installation CTs for Tesla and Enphase are about a foot apart on a line going into PV breaker in combiner panel, that combines PW lines and PV.
My installer was out today to look at my Tesla Gateway for the discrepancy between the Tesla CT and my Enphase monitoring (Tesla always reports 7% more solar than is actually produced). They brought with them 3 new Tesla CTs and their own meter. They literally swapped out the CT until they found one that was more accurately measuring the actual current. There was an amazing amount of error in some of these brand new CTs. I think my system is now within 1% of each other.
Attachments
RKCRLR
Active Member
I had a 4KW string solar system installed in 2009 and a 6KW Enphase system installed in 2019. I got Enlighten Manager and could monitor the total production of both systems and my home's consumption. I had two Powerwalls installed in 2021 and the Enphase monitoring still worked correctly.
I got a third Powerwall installed in June and my Enphase monitoring hasn't worked correctly since then. They rewired the whole system and replaced the 00 gage wire with 000 gage wire because the plans called for it (even though it wasn't necessary); and removed and reinstalled the Enphase CTs in the process.
Enphase thinks that charging the Powerwalls is home consumption and shows no consumption for my home when I'm running off the Powerwalls, and I'm getting a notice that there is something wrong with my system. I contacted Tesla and they said to contact my solar installer. I contacted my solar installer and they said they can fix it but I will have to pay for it since the problem was caused by Tesla. I told Tesla that and they are still insisting that it isn't their problem. I'm slowly working through the process...
I got a third Powerwall installed in June and my Enphase monitoring hasn't worked correctly since then. They rewired the whole system and replaced the 00 gage wire with 000 gage wire because the plans called for it (even though it wasn't necessary); and removed and reinstalled the Enphase CTs in the process.
Enphase thinks that charging the Powerwalls is home consumption and shows no consumption for my home when I'm running off the Powerwalls, and I'm getting a notice that there is something wrong with my system. I contacted Tesla and they said to contact my solar installer. I contacted my solar installer and they said they can fix it but I will have to pay for it since the problem was caused by Tesla. I told Tesla that and they are still insisting that it isn't their problem. I'm slowly working through the process...
Is it possible that reinstalled consumption Enphase CT has wiring to PWs? In my case I installed Enphase consumption CT inside house breaker panel so reading does not include anything else.
How does Enphase monitor your string solar system? Honestly, I kind of agree with Tesla. The fact that the Enphase monitoring doesn't work the way you think it should is not their problem.
I have Enlighten and it just shows the microinverter production. I've never had consumption monitoring from Enphase and I don't think I would want it because it's just going to be confused by the Powerwalls. If you can get it to properly show the non-Enphase solar, that's a win and I would just stop there.
I have an older Enphase system with the old (beige) Envoy, which can only monitor production through powerline (PLC) communications with the micro-inverters themselves. The newer IQ Envoy (black) seems like it can monitor the micro's the same way, as well as monitor the total production with a set of production CT's, and both should match in normal operation, unless a micro's PLC is not reporting - then the Envoy could trigger a warning. It also seems like if you wrap that production CT around an older string array too, some installs do use that to capture the string production too - the installer can even lay out the older panels in the monitoring diagram, but they will show as grey and unmonitored, and obviously there is no panel level data, just that delta from the CT's vs PLC could be mentally attributed to the older string array.
Just taking a guess here, but probably the "whole-home consumption" CT's were originally wrapped around some whole-home backed-up loads panel feed, excluding the Powerwalls. Since the Envoy is not aware of nor monitoring the Powerwalls, they looked like just another part of the grid. But when the third Powerwall was installed, the installers moved the consumption CT's to where Enphase instructs it to be, at the home entry (i.e. to your utility meter). So now the Powerwalls look like some unknown load inside the home, though one that can also generate as well as consume, causing the new behavior.
If the production CT's are still reporting "properly" both the string and micro arrays, then it might be as simple as relocating the consumption CT's back to the whole-home load panel, rather than to the main home entry feed.
EDIT: Just to add, agree with miimura, the Envoy monitoring is not Tesla's problem to fix. There is likely nothing wrong with the actual system, the new location of the CT's probably causing the Envoy to throw up its hands and say "does not compute" wrt both the unknown string array AND unknown Powerwalls...
Last edited:
I vaguely recall that Enphase IQ Envoy supports 2 different placements of consumption CT, directly on supply line to load panel and on main supply line from electric meter. In the second case it assumes that solar is the only internal source of power, besides grid, and adjusts readings for that. I doubt that this option can be used with PWs.
BTW prior generation of Enphase Envoy supported getting PV production readings through Zigbee wireless protocol from GE RGM.
Wow, good to know! Although since most folks don't get to choose their utility RGM, very limiting. My utility smartmeter does have Zigbee built-in, which I use a Rainforest Eagle for monitoring, but my meter is not that specific GE one. Nor would PG&E authorize the Envoy to the smartmeter anyways, since the Enphase Envoy is not on their short list of approved HAN devices.
RKCRLR
Active Member
Prior to the third Powerwall installation the Enphase production CTs were configured to monitor total output of both solar systems. I can also monitor the output of the Enphase system through the microinverters. That way if I have a production problem I can isolate it to the old system or the Enphase system. The consumption monitoring was configured such that the Powerwalls were bypassed. I saw true home consumption.
Initially after the 3rd Powerwall installation there was production data but no consumption data. When Tesla returned to finish some installation details they switched some Enphase monitoring wires around. I was then getting consumption data but no production data. Tesla then sent out another tech to be there during the county inspection who seemed quite knowledgeable about the Enphase monitoring system. He removed all of the Enphase monitoring CTs and reinstalled them from scratch in different locations. One of the things he did was have Enphase tech support switch the consumption monitoring from Net to Total (or something like that). That is when I got the error from the Enphase system and the Powerwalls became included in the consumption monitoring.
The Enphase monitoring was working properly prior to the installation of the third Powerwall. I don't understand the thought that this isn't Tesla's responsibility to get it working properly again - at least have it so it isn't throwing an error. At the very least I should have been informed prior to installation of the third Powerwall that my Enphase monitoring system was going to be corrupted if I installed a third Powerwall and it would be my responsibility to get it fixed. I'm assuming that if I have a problem with the Enphase system the first thing Enphase is going to tell me is to get the monitoring corrected.
Last edited:
CrazyRabbit
Active Member
RKCRLR
Active Member
If I attempt to fix it myself then I take ownership of any problems my "fix" causes. There's a lot of wires crammed in my panels.
@RKCRLR Tesla may have caused your issue, but as this is a non-performance of another system, I don't see how you would want them to do the fix, as they have demonstrated that they don't understand your system, or they wouldn't have messed it up in the first place.
If it were me, I would get your original installer out fix the problem and move on. Even if you successfully take Tesla to small claims court for damages and prevail, it will be a lot of time money and aggravation, so I don't see how it pencils out as anything other than a Pyrrhic victory for being right. You have already it brought the issue to the attention of others who will hopefully learn from your experience, so thanks for sharing it!
All the best,
BG
If it were me, I would get your original installer out fix the problem and move on. Even if you successfully take Tesla to small claims court for damages and prevail, it will be a lot of time money and aggravation, so I don't see how it pencils out as anything other than a Pyrrhic victory for being right. You have already it brought the issue to the attention of others who will hopefully learn from your experience, so thanks for sharing it!
All the best,
BG
Sorry to hear that what seems like it should have been a relative simple process off adding one more Powerwall to an existing Powerwall install caused so many headaches. Thanks for explaining in more detail what exactly happened and when with different Tesla folks, it helps to justify your point of view and what onus might be put on Tesla support.
I think there's still a shot at getting Tesla to come out and remediate it, but IMO you have to approach it with them the right way. First off, there's almost no chance the next Tesla support person you talk to will understand anything about your Enphase system, how it works, or how it's broken, so trying to tell them they need to fix your Enphase system or anything else they didn't initially install, is the wrong positioning. Telling them the Enphase system is throwing a bunch of errors, is probably also hopeless since they will have no shot of diagnosing third-party errors.
Rather, I would explain that in adding the third Powerwall, they needed to beef up a key large wire in your panel/box, and to get access and do that, they had to remove everything and replace everything BACK WHERE IT WAS, but didn't do that properly. For example, if they removed all your breakers, but in putting them back, they didn't reconnect one, then all the devices on that circuit weren't working. I wouldn't bother explaining what the devices were, and what errors might be throwing, nor whether anything was or wasn't broken, but just that something wasn't put BACK WHERE IT WAS.
So in your case, I would just say that there were some additional wiring that happened to be for your Enphase solar system, it had to be removed but unfortunately wasn't put exactly BACK WHERE IT WAS, and therefore equipment behind that wiring isn't working until the wiring is put back in the proper place. I wouldn't get into any specifics of solar production, consumption or anything with your Enphase solar or monitoring, any more than if your dryer wasn't turning on because it's breaker wasn't re-seated properly.
If they send a tech out, then I might hope they understand CT"s, given Tesla is the master of screwing up the install of their own CT's. Explain that no equipment is physically broken, but that the CT's are not where they were originally. If the guy turns out to be "knowledgeable" like the 2nd Tesla guy, you might go further into what you used to see vs what you now see. Because here's the thing, the Enphase system can never understand the Powerwalls, so you're stuck with one of two evils in how the Envoy is configured, neither is right nor wrong, just which is the lesser evil. In fact, as I read for the first time the beginning of the this thread, it seems the person in Post #12 actually prefers what you have now, and reconfigured their own Envoy that way, and that the errors being thrown were no big consequence. So the 2nd Tesla guy probably thought that was the lesser evil you wanted.
But you want it a different way, the old way it was before. I think the CT's must be physically reconfigured again for that. It's very clear the Powerwall's are now in the consumption CT's path, which you don't want. So if a tech comes out, and they're not knowledgeable on the Enphase system, you might feign some memory of where the CT's were originally - some of the folks earlier on this thread are probably the best to help reconstruct where they were, if you don't actually remember. If a tech comes out and is knowledgeable, then you might pull out the Enphase monitoring graphs, and they might be able to figure out themselves what would get the old monitoring behavior.
At worst, the folks at the beginning of this thread moved their CT's themselves, it's just a set of plastic clamps that go around big or small other wires in your box, and they might guide you how to DIY....
CrazyRabbit
Active Member
RKCRLR
Active Member
Coincidentally, I confirmed that the Enlighten error is being caused by the Powerwalls being in the path of the Enphase CT measurements.
I had a glitch with system where the Gateway switched (on its own) from Time-Based to Self-Powered causing the Powerwalls not to discharge during Peak and thus not recharge the following day. The Enphase error cleared itself. My glitch has been resolved (so far) and the error message has returned.
RKCRLR
Active Member
To follow up on this, my Enphase monitoring is working correctly again.
I had found another problem with my system. I was on the phone with Tesla tech support and was unable to perform a system reset by pushing the reset button on the Gateway no matter how hard I pushed on the button. So I asked Tesla to come out and fix that. It turns out that there are two holes for the reset button on the Gateway panel, one hole having a plug in it and the other hole marked with "Reset". Well, the label and plug were were installed at the wrong locations when my system was installed and I was pushing on the large neutral wire connector in the box. The tech swapped the label and plug.
While the tech was here he moved the Enphase monitoring CTs back to the original locations and had Enphase switch back to monitoring the way it was previously. The Enphase system now monitors correctly and my error message has cleared.
The one remaining problem I have with the Enphase monitoring is there is an erroneous several megawatt spike in the Enphase data which causes my graphs to be reduced to noise level when the spike is on the graph. Enphase is working on removing the spike from the history.
Similar threads
