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Gateway 2--How do they work?

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I have one Powerwall 2 + Gateway 2 installed by LA Solar. They told me that this system would back up ALL my 30-amp and lower circuits (about 100 amps from a load calculation), transferring them to the subservice panel. But at the install, I was told I would have to choose critical circuits for backup, which I did. After several months of discussions with LA Solar, they told me they could transfer all my 30-amp and under circuits to the subservice panel, but that my battery would run down faster. When I asked if a high load would trip the battery circuit breaker, they told me no. Now they are telling me that the Gateway 2 is a smart switch and can shut off loads that are too high for it to handle during a power outage, and won't shut off. At this point, I have no confidence in what they are telling me. I can't find anything on the internet on how the Gateway actually works. Does anyone here know, or know where I can find this information? Thanks for any help you can give me with this.
 
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The GW has no way of regulating your backed up loads. If the grid is out and your backed up loads' power draw exceeds the max power of the PW plus any solar your are generating, if applicable, then the PW will shut down and you will lose power. If the grid is up and you are manually off grid using the app button the GW will reconnect to the grid in this scenario.
 
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My understanding is that they can hook up some circuits to the backup lugs and other ones to the non-backup lugs. With one PW, I would assume that you can't back up all the loads in your house. Looks like you're in Sunnyvale, so perhaps you have a natural gas water heater? Perhaps the air conditioner is your biggest load, and one PW probably can't start/run it if the grid is down. At any rate, if you're only trying to back up the smaller loads (< 30A), without a huge startup load that would trip the PW (max 5 kW, I think, or 41.6A @ 120V, or 20.8A @ 240V), it will probably work. But you won't be able to run several 30A loads simultaneously from just the PW. It will trip @ 5 kW.

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That is exactly what I thought, but LA Solar claims this is not so. Do you have any documentation for this that I can show them?

Thanks for answering!
Unfortunately they are asserting that the PW has a feature that isn't documented anywhere so the onus is on them to prove it.

Closest I could find is here:

Best Practices During Power Outages | Tesla Support

Power During a Grid Outage​

Each Powerwall can provide up to 5 kW of continuous power. You can back up any number of appliances, so long as their combined power usage does not exceed the total power rating of your Powerwalls.
 
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I have one Powerwall 2 + Gateway 2 installed by LA Solar. They told me that this system would back up ALL my 30-amp and lower circuits (about 100 amps from a load calculation), transferring them to the subservice panel. But at the install, I was told I would have to choose critical circuits for backup, which I did. After several months of discussions with LA Solar, they told me they could transfer all my 30-amp and under circuits to the subservice panel, but that my battery would run down faster. When I asked if a high load would trip the battery circuit breaker, they told me no. Now they are telling me that the Gateway 2 is a smart switch and can shut off loads that are too high for it to handle during a power outage, and won't shut off. At this point, I have no confidence in what they are telling me. I can't find anything on the internet on how the Gateway actually works. Does anyone here know, or know where I can find this information? Thanks for any help you can give me with this.
If you try to draw more than 5kW continuously while off grid (about 21A at 240V) then the powerwall will go into an error state. You can probably run your whole house, but not for very long. If you have AC or other big draws, they are going to have trouble starting if they even would start.

The Gateway only control over backup loads is either to serve them, or to totally shutdown until the load is small enough that 1 PW can serve it.
 
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Thanks very much for the explanations, Vines and Enginerd. That link does help some. It is what I thought, but LA Solar is trying to convince me otherwise. They promised their one PW system would backup ALL my 30-amp and under circuits when I signed the contract. But it obviously can't do that, and they want to convince me it can, so they don't have to give me a second PW. Having them connect all the 30-amp and under circuits and showing that it shuts down the PW when I turn them on will be all the proof I need to show they need to give me the second battery. If they had owned up to their salesman's bait-and-switch tactics when I first confronted them about this, I might have accepted some compromise. But they all, from the president on down, have tried every lie and threat in the book to accept my current single PW system and get me to pay them, but I'm not paying until I get what they promised. And they even wanted to do the moving of the rest of the circuits without an electrical permit. My load calculation gives about 100 Amps (w/o A/C or stove), so I don't see how 1 PW could handle that. I did install a SureStart for my A/C, so the starting amps is relatively low. And I do have a gas water heater.
 
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There's a lot of outrage there. Step back a bit. If the contract says one PW, they aren't going to give you a second PW (~$9k value installed?) for free. And the contract probably requires you to pay for the services provided by the contract (which they have probably fulfilled), or else you'll be in breach of contract. You might have more of a Better Business Bureau type claim about inflated promises during the sales phase (which are probably not in the contract). The contractor can backup your small loads, so if that's at least part of what you want, you might just take it. A 1 PW system is pretty lightweight. I'm also installing a SureStart on my AC, because my 2 PW system wasn't enough to start it.
 
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Thanks very much for the explanations, Vines and Enginerd. That link does help some. It is what I thought, but LA Solar is trying to convince me otherwise. They promised their one PW system would backup ALL my 30-amp and under circuits when I signed the contract. But it obviously can't do that, and they want to convince me it can, so they don't have to give me a second PW. Having them connect all the 30-amp and under circuits and showing that it shuts down the PW when I turn them on will be all the proof I need to show they need to give me the second battery. If they had owned up to their salesman's bait-and-switch tactics when I first confronted them about this, I might have accepted some compromise. But they all, from the president on down, have tried every lie and threat in the book to accept my current single PW system and get me to pay them, but I'm not paying until I get what they promised. And they even wanted to do the moving of the rest of the circuits without an electrical permit. My load calculation gives about 100 Amps (w/o A/C or stove), so I don't see how 1 PW could handle that. I did install a SureStart for my A/C, so the starting amps is relatively low. And I do have a gas water heater.

I think there is some large disconnect here. A single 30A powerwall can backup your whole home as long as each breaker is 30A or less. It cannot however backup your whole home at once. So if your contract states whole home backup and all breakers are backed up, they have satisfied the requirement.

There seems to be some disconnect between what you were told verbally and what the system can do. If what you state here is stated similarly in your contract then you may be rightly upset.

If you can find something that says that all appliances can be used at once in your contract, then you have a reasonable claim.

Optional backup power is different than emergency standby power or UPS. Its up to you to turn off larger loads when they exceed your ESS ability to serve them.
 
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I have one Powerwall 2 + Gateway 2 installed by LA Solar. They told me that this system would back up ALL my 30-amp and lower circuits (about 100 amps from a load calculation), transferring them to the subservice panel. But at the install, I was told I would have to choose critical circuits for backup, which I did. After several months of discussions with LA Solar, they told me they could transfer all my 30-amp and under circuits to the subservice panel, but that my battery would run down faster. When I asked if a high load would trip the battery circuit breaker, they told me no. Now they are telling me that the Gateway 2 is a smart switch and can shut off loads that are too high for it to handle during a power outage, and won't shut off. At this point, I have no confidence in what they are telling me. I can't find anything on the internet on how the Gateway actually works. Does anyone here know, or know where I can find this information? Thanks for any help you can give me with this.
It all depends on definition of “to back up circuits”. If definition is to provide voltage to all circuits with 30A or lower rating it is one thing. The other definition is provide backup power to all 30A and lower rating circuits as long as power draw does not exceed breakers limit.

Gateway limit is 200A and nothing is smart about this limit. It is just a conventional breaker, just like a main breaker in your panel. PW shutdown from too high draw is not connected to Gateway. I suspect that PW will send some signaling to gateway for forwarding to the cloud but no transfer relay actions.
 
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