Getting Powerwall 2s to charge after power outage

[heather5551212]

Update: Rain intensity eased and solar producing now. PWs are charging from array, although not much. Is there anything we can do to get them to charge from the grid?

Hi, newbie here. Just got power from PG&E after a 4+ day outage. We had depleted our Powerwalls and had shut them down and disconnected the array and the batteries (basically that entire system) before hooking up a portable generator to the house. My husband is an electrician so he does know his disconnects. Anyway, we brought everything back up online and connected it to WiFi (that was fun) and we noticed slowly the segments around us are losing power again. We need to charge the Powerwalls, but they’re grid restricted and Stormwatch is on standby despite being under multiple hazards. Our array is producing nothing currently, which is weird but it’s pouring and the storm drain looks like a raging river. We haven’t passed inspection yet - the vendor keeps scheduling the inspector to come out and tells no one of the appointment and doesn’t schedule any technicians, so it’s going to be awhile before that happens. Anything we can do? The PWs are at 7%

 

[h2ofun]

Update: Rain intensity eased and solar producing now. PWs are charging from array, although not much. Is there anything we can do to get them to charge from the grid?

Hi, newbie here. Just got power from PG&E after a 4+ day outage. We had depleted our Powerwalls and had shut them down and disconnected the array and the batteries (basically that entire system) before hooking up a portable generator to the house. My husband is an electrician so he does know his disconnects. Anyway, we brought everything back up online and connected it to WiFi (that was fun) and we noticed slowly the segments around us are losing power again. We need to charge the Powerwalls, but they’re grid restricted and Stormwatch is on standby despite being under multiple hazards. Our array is producing nothing currently, which is weird but it’s pouring and the storm drain looks like a raging river. We haven’t passed inspection yet - the vendor keeps scheduling the inspector to come out and tells no one of the appointment and doesn’t schedule any technicians, so it’s going to be awhile before that happens. Anything we can do? The PWs are at 7%

Why are your batteries grid restricted? I enable my grid charging, set them to 100% reserve, and they have been fully charged for a few weeks now. I do not plan to lower the reserve level until these storms all are done. Pretty stupid to spend all this money on batteries and not have them at 100% if needed

 

[heather5551212]

Why are your batteries grid restricted? I enable my grid charging, set them to 100% reserve, and they have been fully charged for a few weeks now. I do not plan to lower the reserve level until these storms all are done. Pretty stupid to spend all this money on batteries and not have them at 100% if needed

The installer made them grid restricted. Is there a way to jail break them?

 

[Vines]

Update: Rain intensity eased and solar producing now. PWs are charging from array, although not much. Is there anything we can do to get them to charge from the grid?

Hi, newbie here. Just got power from PG&E after a 4+ day outage. We had depleted our Powerwalls and had shut them down and disconnected the array and the batteries (basically that entire system) before hooking up a portable generator to the house. My husband is an electrician so he does know his disconnects. Anyway, we brought everything back up online and connected it to WiFi (that was fun) and we noticed slowly the segments around us are losing power again. We need to charge the Powerwalls, but they’re grid restricted and Stormwatch is on standby despite being under multiple hazards. Our array is producing nothing currently, which is weird but it’s pouring and the storm drain looks like a raging river. We haven’t passed inspection yet - the vendor keeps scheduling the inspector to come out and tells no one of the appointment and doesn’t schedule any technicians, so it’s going to be awhile before that happens. Anything we can do? The PWs are at 7%

Until you have PTO, your useage of the system is restricted. Technically the system should not even be turned on, but PGE probably has no heartburn about this.

If the Powerwalls are charging and everything is alive the only thing you can do is to enable charge from grid in the settings. However, since you are Pre-PTO you probably do not have that setting.

You can probably do the inspection yourself if your husband is an electrician, just call the city and explain the issue and try to schedule one. It sucks that your installation company isnt even sending a tech out to pass inspection. I hope they are more responsive in the future if your system needs service.

 

[Vines]

The installer made them grid restricted. Is there a way to jail break them?

This isn't a thing installers can control except by pushing the PTO button. You probably dont want to change them from do not export Even if the customer were to change that I suspect it takes a week for grid charging to show up in the customer app.

 

[Vines]

The installer made them grid restricted. Is there a way to jail break them?

Maybe try calling Tesla Tech support and ask them to grid charge to your powerwalls temporarily because the storm is coming?

 

[h2ofun]

This isn't a thing installers can control except by pushing the PTO button. You probably dont want to change them from do not export Even if the customer were to change that I suspect it takes a week for grid charging to show up in the customer app.

I missed the part about PTO. Yep, until PTO, technically NOTHING should be even on. Nothing to discuss

 

[heather5551212]

Thanks for the update. I will buy more gas for the generator. PWs are now at 8%….. lol. They will be great for 95% of our power outages and I love the seamless transition. It appears they will save us a little bit of money during the summer as well.

 

[arnolddeleon]

Thanks for the update. I will buy more gas for the generator. PWs are now at 8%….. lol. They will be great for 95% of our power outages and I love the seamless transition. It appears they will save us a little bit of money during the summer as well.

Just to set your expectations, you are not guaranteed seamless transitions. It is not a whole house UPS.

 

[patrick40363]

Update: Rain intensity eased and solar producing now. PWs are charging from array, although not much. Is there anything we can do to get them to charge from the grid?

Hi, newbie here. Just got power from PG&E after a 4+ day outage. We had depleted our Powerwalls and had shut them down and disconnected the array and the batteries (basically that entire system) before hooking up a portable generator to the house. My husband is an electrician so he does know his disconnects. Anyway, we brought everything back up online and connected it to WiFi (that was fun) and we noticed slowly the segments around us are losing power again. We need to charge the Powerwalls, but they’re grid restricted and Stormwatch is on standby despite being under multiple hazards. Our array is producing nothing currently, which is weird but it’s pouring and the storm drain looks like a raging river. We haven’t passed inspection yet - the vendor keeps scheduling the inspector to come out and tells no one of the appointment and doesn’t schedule any technicians, so it’s going to be awhile before that happens. Anything we can do? The PWs are at 7%

Storm watch is the only way I know of for battery grid charging.

 

[h2ofun]

Storm watch is the only way I know of for battery grid charging.

Nope, I have been grid charging now for weeks.

 

[patrick40363]

Nope, I have been grid charging now for weeks.

Not an available option for me.

 

[h2ofun]

Not an available option for me.

If you have PTO, you need to call powerwalll support and work with them., In my case, they had bad info so when I got it fixed, it works like a charm now.

 

[heather5551212]

Just to set your expectations, you are not guaranteed seamless transitions. It is not a whole house UPS.

Well, it’s way better than dealing with the generator, which wasn’t on an ATS… lol. I don’t have to do anything! The power did go out and we have no update for restoration and are now back on generator for a 5th day of power outage. Apparently, lightning hit the grid somewhere and PG&E had no grounding protection, so it took 2 circuits, in addition to our usual trees behaving badly. Our house is protected by the South winds, so there’s not much wind damage on this side of the mountain. It’s getting to the point that they should just replace this grid entirely. It hasn’t had any meaningful upgrades since the 50’s and we have portions with square wire (not manufactured since the 20’s) there are live wires tied to trees - you can read all about it in PG&Es own inspection reports that were filed with the court. I think the linemen are struggling to fix the antiques. They probably don’t have the parts.

 

[Eric99]

Tried 3 times already. Grid charging is restricted for me. Latest call was last week. 3 calls, they wont budge saying its determined by my interconnect agreement re the ITC.

 

[BGbreeder]

Well, it’s way better than dealing with the generator, which wasn’t on an ATS… lol. I don’t have to do anything! The power did go out and we have no update for restoration and are now back on generator for a 5th day of power outage. Apparently, lightning hit the grid somewhere and PG&E had no grounding protection, so it took 2 circuits, in addition to our usual trees behaving badly. Our house is protected by the South winds, so there’s not much wind damage on this side of the mountain. It’s getting to the point that they should just replace this grid entirely. It hasn’t had any meaningful upgrades since the 50’s and we have portions with square wire (not manufactured since the 20’s) there are live wires tied to trees - you can read all about it in PG&Es own inspection reports that were filed with the court. I think the linemen are struggling to fix the antiques. They probably don’t have the parts.

And I thought that we had old PG&E setups here! Square wire takes the prize In my book, with wires attached to trees a close second. It is almost as if PG&E doesn't think about fire or trees falling...Remember the 1920's insulator that wore through and started the 2018 Camp fire?

Most folks that I know in your area are in the same boat; no power, and many with no access. I hope things improve for you.

Lightning hit near us during the storm that set off the CSU, and CZU fires, and fried miles (more than five) of transformers on the distribution circuit. It left us without a ground on the neutral at our pole for about a year as we were one of the last to have our transformer replaced.

With the saturated soils, after three plus years of drought and fires, plus the general state of repair of PG&E lines and equipment, I think that the repair crews are going to be playing catch-up and have their hands full for awhile.

I do wish that there was a reasonable way to use a generator to recharge Powerwalls under emergency circumstances.

All the best,

BG

 

[h2ofun]

Tried 3 times already. Grid charging is restricted for me. Latest call was last week. 3 calls, they wont budge saying its determined by my interconnect agreement re the ITC.

Glad I was not asked that. Batteries this time of the year are worth just about nothing, especially if you have an all electric house like me, since solar produces basically nothing.

 

[heather5551212]

And I thought that we had old PG&E setups here! Square wire takes the prize In my book, with wires attached to trees a close second. It is almost as if PG&E doesn't think about fire or trees falling...Remember the 1920's insulator that wore through and started the 2018 Camp fire?

Most folks that I know in your area are in the same boat; no power, and many with no access. I hope things improve for you.

Lightning hit near us during the storm that set off the CSU, and CZU fires, and fried miles (more than five) of transformers on the distribution circuit. It left us without a ground on the neutral at our pole for about a year as we were one of the last to have our transformer replaced.

With the saturated soils, after three plus years of drought and fires, plus the general state of repair of PG&E lines and equipment, I think that the repair crews are going to be playing catch-up and have their hands full for awhile.

I do wish that there was a reasonable way to use a generator to recharge Powerwalls under emergency circumstances.

All the best,

BG

I’m not remote - I’m off Black in LG. We had dry pavement yesterday for most of the day. We are also North facing, so very little wind damage. No pavement damage or access issues. They’re not sending trucks out this weekend at all. Day 8 of power outage…. Yes, there’s a lot of damaged roads on the Santa Cruz side and access issues. The roads are in poor condition compared to the roads on our side.

Lightning hits grid infrastructure constantly in most of the central states - they don’t have devastating outages like we do because they installed grounding equipment. PG&E has none of that. They won’t even spring for $5 critter cages to protect the transformers from squirrels. They don’t care, the grid just keeps getting older and the outages last even longer. This is a doomed strategy. At some point, PG&E will be unable to keep the lights on.

Also, they only have 3k linemen left. That’s a fraction of their once formidable army and the population has only grown. There are customers who have been out of power since December. It’s almost criminal what they are doing. BTW, their inspection reports are public - you can read all about their own admissions of square wire, 100+ year old equipment, wired tied to trees, ratepayers finally giving up waiting and hooking up their own power, and 4 hour delays to shut off power after FD requests during a structure fire - fun stuff. The company is run like circus clowns own it.