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Generator Charging Powerwall?

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I was seeing if anyone has ever charged their powerwalls off of a generator?
Looking at my install it appears you can put a Manual Transfer Switch between the AC out of the Solar inverters and the Generation Panel. The gateway and powerwalls I think would think it was just solar power. It would be nice to supplement the solar on bad days without power.
Any take on this?
 
I was seeing if anyone has ever charged their powerwalls off of a generator?
Looking at my install it appears you can put a Manual Transfer Switch between the AC out of the Solar inverters and the Generation Panel. The gateway and powerwalls I think would think it was just solar power. It would be nice to supplement the solar on bad days without power.
Any take on this?

People have connected generators to pick up the slack when a Powerwall runs out of juice. But, I don't know if you can charge a Powerwall.

You might do a search, I seem to remember someone else asking this question.
 
you can charge powerwalls with generator in an off-grid configuration

do powerwalls charge with ac ?

seems wasteful to convert dc from solar to ac then back to dc for battery

i assumed powerwalls were charged with dc but i could be wrong
 
you can charge powerwalls with generator in an off-grid configuration
do powerwalls charge with ac ?
seems wasteful to convert dc from solar to ac then back to dc for battery
i assumed powerwalls were charged with dc but i could be wrong
I read on this forum that some Powerwall users don't have any Solar panels
but charge their Powerwall from the grid (AC) using ToU at night.

In fact I made a quick estimate, to run my refrigerator from battery during the day
and using the grid at night, while recharging the battery at the same time.

I estimated that the AC/DC/AC conversion was 85%,
and I would be able to save about 40% of the electricity bill
because of the ToU I have for charging my car.

However in the case of a refrigerator I would have save something like $50 a year.
And I would have spend at least $1,000 of battery and converters.

So it would took about 20 years to make it worthwile,
but this would have been certainly an interesting project to learn the basics of battery charging,
or even Solar Power by adding also a solar panel and running my refrigerator off the grid.
 
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you can charge powerwalls with generator in an off-grid configuration

do powerwalls charge with ac ?

seems wasteful to convert dc from solar to ac then back to dc for battery

i assumed powerwalls were charged with dc but i could be wrong
fyi, some other battery competitive systems like LG Chem and Generac are DC in, DC out (so PV dc charges the battery, and discharges into the inverters (along with PV if the sun is shining) to generate the AC. Each architecture has its advantages.
 
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If you have a high quality inverter generator, you might be able to create clean enough power to charge the Powerwall by fooling it with a DIY hack into thinking you were a PV source. You would need CT, to measure the generator output.

Alternatively a system commissioned for off grid mode will charge from the (relatively) dirty generator power, but it will not export PV power ever, as that would damage the generator.
 
I was seeing if anyone has ever charged their powerwalls off of a generator?
Looking at my install it appears you can put a Manual Transfer Switch between the AC out of the Solar inverters and the Generation Panel. The gateway and powerwalls I think would think it was just solar power. It would be nice to supplement the solar on bad days without power.
Any take on this?
Check out the thread PowerWall 2 Interface with a Generator
 
If you have a high quality inverter generator, you might be able to create clean enough power to charge the Powerwall by fooling it with a DIY hack into thinking you were a PV source. You would need CT, to measure the generator output.

Alternatively a system commissioned for off grid mode will charge from the (relatively) dirty generator power, but it will not export PV power ever, as that would damage the generator.
In regards to your first statement. You think this would fool the gateway even at night? Risk of hurting generator or worse, the PW? If it works and the PW fully charges up, then gateway raises frequency to shut off "solar", but generator continues pushing... drawing vs pushing?

On a totally unrelated note, since you seem to know your *sugar*, if the teslas become capable of bidirectional charging (aka v2h), would you put the HPWC breaker in the generation panel with the solar and powerwall or elsewhere? Why?

Lastly, in grid outtage scenarios, with a full battery, to prevent gateway from shutting down alll solar with > 60 Hz do you think using a dynamic ev charge rate to shed that load works fine or should I go with tesla inverters on the hope they have internal tech that can gate or stop a fraction of solar production or perhaps even utilize select mid circuit interruptors used for rapid shutdown compliance
 
In regards to your first statement. You think this would fool the gateway even at night? Risk of hurting generator or worse, the PW? If it works and the PW fully charges up, then gateway raises frequency to shut off "solar", but generator continues pushing... drawing vs pushing?

On a totally unrelated note, since you seem to know your *sugar*, if the teslas become capable of bidirectional charging (aka v2h), would you put the HPWC breaker in the generation panel with the solar and powerwall or elsewhere? Why?

Lastly, in grid outtage scenarios, with a full battery, to prevent gateway from shutting down alll solar with > 60 Hz do you think using a dynamic ev charge rate to shed that load works fine or should I go with tesla inverters on the hope they have internal tech that can gate or stop a fraction of solar production or perhaps even utilize select mid circuit interruptors used for rapid shutdown compliance
Doing DIY hacks like this you always take your warranty and product in your own hand. I do not recommend this, but I have heard of it working.

The generator will be totally dumb to the needs of the Powerwalls, and I am not sure how the interplay of the generator, batteries, PV and Powerwalls will really work. Others may be able to give more specific advice.

The danger comes when your batteries get full and the PW start frequency shifting to turn off the source. If you can avoid that whole situation you will avoid many of the pitfalls. Certainly, there is a risk to both the generator and the PW, if either sees a signal it cannot deal with. The core of the problem is you have 2 grid-forming type inverters but neither know the limitations or needs of the other.

As far as the charging question, the location of the circuit depends on the case, likely it goes where the rest of the loads are, but if it capable of backfeed then it needs to adhere to the busbar rules in 705.12. However, if it can be controlled by a PCS setting along with the rest of the Powerwall backfeed, then it can be limited like the rest, likely using the same systems. There is simply not enough information available to make this decision accurately.

Using a dynamic EV charger that responds to a full or near full battery would be ideal. Theoretically, with a large enough battery you may never see frequency shifting, instead your EV charger is setup to charge at 85% or more PW power. Ideally this charger could manage its own draw, so that it's charging slowly when there is just a little overage, and more quickly if there is lots of excess PV available. Otherwise it would probably wear out the contactors quickly if it hovered right at 85%, charging for a few minutes then stopping.
 
Using a dynamic EV charger that responds to a full or near full battery would be ideal. Theoretically, with a large enough battery you may never see frequency shifting, instead your EV charger is setup to charge at 85% or more PW power. Ideally this charger could manage its own draw, so that it's charging slowly when there is just a little overage, and more quickly if there is lots of excess PV available. Otherwise it would probably wear out the contactors quickly if it hovered right at 85%, charging for a few minutes then stopping.
I'm trying to replicate this manually now by adjusting charge current so that there is just a small discharge from the Powerwall. That way I know that all the solar is being captured.
 
I assume you're using a TWC? How granular is the adjustment?
The TWC configuration only adjusts in circuit-breaker increments. I'm making the adjustment on the Model Y charge control screen which allows adjusting the charge current in 1A steps. I can also charge the Roadster and adjust in 1A steps using OVMS.

In the absence of a feature from Tesla to automate this, I'd like to make these adjustments automatically with some software running in a Raspberry Pi. I don't know if the Model Y admits a control API that could adjust the current. Tesla's app does not include that adjustment. OVMS is accessible via a server so I could automate the charge level for the Roadster. But our cars' batteries are getting full, too, so we're going to have to drive somewhere.
 
I think starting in 2021.36.5, you can use Tesla API to adjust charge amps. See set_charging_amps in Charging - Tesla JSON API (Unofficial)

I have been running my own Powershell script to match my Model 3 charging amps to excess solar without any issue.
Maybe this new api for set_charging_amps is paving the way for Powerwall integration with excess solar feature, that would be nice.

I’m just about to finish maxing out my roof space with another 2.38kW of PV production so I can look forward to more excess Solar come March!