Gateway Bad or "As expected" before Interconnect?

[CameronB]

After several delays (not Tesla's fault FWIW), our PV install and wiring was finally completed today. Yay!

Tesla solar only. No Powerwalls at present (though considering them more and more!).

The crew that completed the installation were used to new construction and didn't have a lot of "consumer" knowledge as far as the gateway and the Tesla app and making sure all of that was setup.

Here's what they did:

1) The installer showed me his phone running a SolarEdge app. It showed the panels were active. Cloudy day - so not much.
2) He gave me a box with a SolarCity gateway. I have the "Neo Gateway" shown here:
Troubleshooting Your Gateway | Tesla Support

3) He told me to "download the app". I asked him which app and he said he used "SolarEdge". I asked if the Tesla app should work for basic monitoring and he said "Yes". But honestly, he didn't seem to have much experience with the Tesla app.

I hooked up the gateway. "No signal" illuminated on the front. Installers had already left at this point. I got a really long network cable and moved it within a few feet (and a single wall) from the equipment they set up since I noticed the gateway mentioned ZigBee (so I assumed it might need to be closer).

Unfortunately, even having the gateway within ~7 feet of the outside equipment/inverter, still it said "no signal".

I called Tesla. They told me that everything was functioning "as expected" and that the gateway wouldn't connect to the inverter until it was activated as part of the interconnection/utility process. Is this accurate?

In the Tesla app, when I swipe over to where the Tesla energy section should be, I only see the "advertisement" / animation screen with the contact us for quote information. So basically as if I didn't have solar.

Questions from a Tesla Solar noob:

1) Is it accurate that the gateway will always say "No signal" until the whole system is completely active (which they tell me will be likely "weeks")? Or might I actually have a defective gateway? Or a misconfigured one?

2) Besides cosmetically, are there any known differences between the "Neo Gateway" and the "X2e Gateway"? Is one newer than the other or do they still actively use both?

3) The installer mentioned the "SolarEdge" app. I found it in the app store and downloaded it but have no idea about WHICH account it wants for login. I assume it is not the Tesla account? Where does one get an account for this app? There is no "sign up" option on the mobile app that I can see.

Thanks in advance

 

[woferry]

If you haven't gotten PTO (Permission To Operate) yet, then your inverter(s) should be completely powered-down (AC breaker/disconnects off, DC disconnect off). So yes, the inverter has no power and will not be generating any signal for the Neo Gateway to pick up until everything is switched-on. At least with the Delta inverters, they only send signal when the DC-side is powered (i.e. when the panels are producing, since running all night would just waste power), so overnight the gateway will say No Signal even though all of the breakers/disconnects are on.

I can't answer the other questions since my inverters are Delta, not Solar Edge. As far as I know all new solar customers get the Neo Gateway, they didn't give me any home gateway as a part of my install, I ordered mine off eBay (I have a Powerwall, so there is the much larger/hard-wired Tesla Energy Gateway as a part of that, but they're not exactly equivalent since the TEG does not directly communicate with any solar inverter).

My Neo Gateway is literally in the opposite corner of my house from the inverters (in my avatar picture the inverters are in the lower-left and the gateway is in the upper-right, probably ~50-60 feet away) and that works just fine for it to receive the ZigBee signal (I also have a RainForest Eagle receiving my SmartMeter's ZigBee signal, same relative locations of meter and Eagle).

 

[JayClark]

After several delays (not Tesla's fault FWIW), our PV install and wiring was finally completed today. Yay!

Tesla solar only. No Powerwalls at present (though considering them more and more!).

The crew that completed the installation were used to new construction and didn't have a lot of "consumer" knowledge as far as the gateway and the Tesla app and making sure all of that was setup.

Here's what they did:

1) The installer showed me his phone running a SolarEdge app. It showed the panels were active. Cloudy day - so not much.
2) He gave me a box with a SolarCity gateway. I have the "Neo Gateway" shown here:
Troubleshooting Your Gateway | Tesla Support

3) He told me to "download the app". I asked him which app and he said he used "SolarEdge". I asked if the Tesla app should work for basic monitoring and he said "Yes". But honestly, he didn't seem to have much experience with the Tesla app.

I hooked up the gateway. "No signal" illuminated on the front. Installers had already left at this point. I got a really long network cable and moved it within a few feet (and a single wall) from the equipment they set up since I noticed the gateway mentioned ZigBee (so I assumed it might need to be closer).

Unfortunately, even having the gateway within ~7 feet of the outside equipment/inverter, still it said "no signal".

I called Tesla. They told me that everything was functioning "as expected" and that the gateway wouldn't connect to the inverter until it was activated as part of the interconnection/utility process. Is this accurate?

In the Tesla app, when I swipe over to where the Tesla energy section should be, I only see the "advertisement" / animation screen with the contact us for quote information. So basically as if I didn't have solar.

Questions from a Tesla Solar noob:

1) Is it accurate that the gateway will always say "No signal" until the whole system is completely active (which they tell me will be likely "weeks")? Or might I actually have a defective gateway? Or a misconfigured one?

2) Besides cosmetically, are there any known differences between the "Neo Gateway" and the "X2e Gateway"? Is one newer than the other or do they still actively use both?

3) The installer mentioned the "SolarEdge" app. I found it in the app store and downloaded it but have no idea about WHICH account it wants for login. I assume it is not the Tesla account? Where does one get an account for this app? There is no "sign up" option on the mobile app that I can see.

Thanks in advance

It seems you'll get at least two answers (maybe more) to this question. From what I can tell, if it's a "non-Tesla" installer, more often than not your Tesla app may show nothing until Tesla gets notified of the official PTO being completed. After official PTO/commissioning by your utility, you may, or may not, have to call Tesla again to have them finally "activate" (not sure what they do) so that everything is showing up (solar, grid, powerwall, etc).

For what ever reason when Tesla does the install, the app seems to be fully functioning more often than not, but will probably just show nothing but House/Grid flows and usage but no solar or Powerwall flows (this was what I saw), and then after PTO/Commissioning you will finally also see the Solar and Powerwall charge/discharge flows and no additional calls are needed to Tesla (usually) - usually when Tesla does the install.

I get the impression more experienced non-Tesla installers (experienced with gateways and PWs that is) seem to be able come close to leaving you in the state Tesla installers do in terms of app functionality until PTO, but there seems to be a spectrum of "completeness" they can accomplish, and it's hard to nail down what some installers know that others don't since they all kind of keep their "knowledge" or "lack of knowledge" a bit close to the vest. Since Tesla procedures and support seem to be a bit of a cipher to decode anyways, depending on the installer's (Tesla or not) experience with doing PW/Gateway installs they may have more, or less, of the secret sauce and procedures figured out. Unfortunately leaving us the customers to nag either our installers or Tesla support to get the last pieces dropped into place with each install.

In my case, when I asked for the Tesla installation lead to hang around and test the system while I had the App on my phone open and running to verify everything was working, his initial response was I might not see anything via the app for hours or maybe days. But when I ran it during his testing, the app was showing everything, and after testing once the installer left - in the app the Solar and PW flows stopped showing anything because he had removed the temporary solar & PW meters my utility required, and which the utility eventually replaced once final approval and commissioning was completed. So even the Tesla installers at times seem to be a little vague on how and when certain things occur for the end customer.

 

[tkizzy]

Hi guys - so before getting solar, we saw the advertising where you would see solar production AND grid usage in the Tesla app, but we are only seeing solar production and not grid usage etc. kind of annoying because this is a fairly large investment. Sent an email to support about it weeks ago but still no response...any thoughts anyone?

 

[miimura]

Hi guys - so before getting solar, we saw the advertising where you would see solar production AND grid usage in the Tesla app, but we are only seeing solar production and not grid usage etc. kind of annoying because this is a fairly large investment. Sent an email to support about it weeks ago but still no response...any thoughts anyone?

Tesla should have installed a device they call the "Power Blaster" in your main panel. This is what measures your grid draw to show in the app. Sometimes this device is not installed due to compatibility issues with the panel, sometimes it's not installed for no good reason, and sometimes it's installed but not provisioned (configured in the Tesla back end systems) correctly.

Keep bugging Tesla about it and they should either install one or give you a good reason why they can't.

 

[jjrandorin]

There is another thread on this here in this section, but I am not sure they still install powerblasters for everyone on solar only installs. I know that even back when I got solar only in 2015, they didnt install the powerblaster because they said my panel "didnt have room".

Will see if I can find the thread in this section talking about it, it isnt that old from what I remember.

 

[ra88it]

On a v3 roof with PW they just install standard CT clamps.