My setup:
Tesla solar panels with 1 powerwall+, no "gateway" (as in a separate white box described often online) but a backup switch under my solar meter (which I did not know about but found out due to the events below).
Yesterday 10.13.2023 (Fri the 13th is an appropriate date for such an occurrence) shortly before 4pm, my home lost power. Even though it was a beautiful fall day in NJ with the powerwall+ fully charged (as I'd find out subsequently), it did not kick in to provide backup. I looked at my main panel and not seeing any tripped breakers, I also inspected the powerwall and it was completely dark (no led lights). None of my neighbors had any outage.
I called my utility company, and they scheduled service even though there were no reported outages in the area. A utility truck showed up almost six hours later at 10pm. The technician inspected the wires and found out that power was going into the utility meter and out into the Tesla solar meter but not making it out of there and into the disconnect box (the thing with the ON/OFF lever), and the house. He said he was not able to troubleshoot Tesla's equipment as he's not familiar with it, which was fair.
Not having power, I next called 877-798-3752, which is Tesla support line, and reported an emergency in order to get to someone. I was able to get to a live person and explain my predicament. Was placed on a 40 min hold and finally was put in touch with someone else (I guess a support engineer).
He initially directed me to go and do something to my "gateway". But I explained that I was not aware of having one and besides going inside the house would not be any good since power was already not flowing from the outside. He then directed me to locate a small black button under my solar meter. After some searching, I realized I had to remove 3 screws and a cover to access it. Pushing it restored power to my house. As I found out this was the "backup switch". Having restored power, I then asked the engineer to explain what happened or might have happened. He said he wasn't able to diagnose immediately but he would raise a ticket to have my system looked at further. It was probably a mistake to allow the conversation to end here as more issues followed.
With power restored I went to bed as it was almost midnight. This morning I looked at the app and saw my powerwall+ was charged at 99% (it retained its charge from yesterday and did not discharge overnight as usual) and power was not flowing from it or the solar system. The house was pulling power from the grid only. Powerwall LED was blinking fast. I have no gateway and reset button, so I tried turning the powerwall off and also turning the lever disconnect next to the powerwall and even the disconnect next to the solar meter outside. After a few minutes I restarted all in reverse order, but powerwall ended up in the same blinking state with 99% charge and no discharge from it or the solar system into my main panel.
I am fairly unsettled by this experience. Losing complete power, with the utility company unable to help me, and a hard-to-reach support from Tesla doesn't inspire confidence in the reliability or system safety of my power supply. This is also at least the 3rd time my powerwall fails to come back after an unexplained outage, but rebooting as explained above worked the past 2 times. Not now.
Anything I am missing in terms how to reset this gateway-less powerwall+ and restore my solar? Is such power loss clearly to be blamed on Tesla equipment an indication of catastrophic system failure or is it just a fusebox on their part to protect the equipment? But if so, why is it failing to come back up?
Tesla solar panels with 1 powerwall+, no "gateway" (as in a separate white box described often online) but a backup switch under my solar meter (which I did not know about but found out due to the events below).
Yesterday 10.13.2023 (Fri the 13th is an appropriate date for such an occurrence) shortly before 4pm, my home lost power. Even though it was a beautiful fall day in NJ with the powerwall+ fully charged (as I'd find out subsequently), it did not kick in to provide backup. I looked at my main panel and not seeing any tripped breakers, I also inspected the powerwall and it was completely dark (no led lights). None of my neighbors had any outage.
I called my utility company, and they scheduled service even though there were no reported outages in the area. A utility truck showed up almost six hours later at 10pm. The technician inspected the wires and found out that power was going into the utility meter and out into the Tesla solar meter but not making it out of there and into the disconnect box (the thing with the ON/OFF lever), and the house. He said he was not able to troubleshoot Tesla's equipment as he's not familiar with it, which was fair.
Not having power, I next called 877-798-3752, which is Tesla support line, and reported an emergency in order to get to someone. I was able to get to a live person and explain my predicament. Was placed on a 40 min hold and finally was put in touch with someone else (I guess a support engineer).
He initially directed me to go and do something to my "gateway". But I explained that I was not aware of having one and besides going inside the house would not be any good since power was already not flowing from the outside. He then directed me to locate a small black button under my solar meter. After some searching, I realized I had to remove 3 screws and a cover to access it. Pushing it restored power to my house. As I found out this was the "backup switch". Having restored power, I then asked the engineer to explain what happened or might have happened. He said he wasn't able to diagnose immediately but he would raise a ticket to have my system looked at further. It was probably a mistake to allow the conversation to end here as more issues followed.
With power restored I went to bed as it was almost midnight. This morning I looked at the app and saw my powerwall+ was charged at 99% (it retained its charge from yesterday and did not discharge overnight as usual) and power was not flowing from it or the solar system. The house was pulling power from the grid only. Powerwall LED was blinking fast. I have no gateway and reset button, so I tried turning the powerwall off and also turning the lever disconnect next to the powerwall and even the disconnect next to the solar meter outside. After a few minutes I restarted all in reverse order, but powerwall ended up in the same blinking state with 99% charge and no discharge from it or the solar system into my main panel.
I am fairly unsettled by this experience. Losing complete power, with the utility company unable to help me, and a hard-to-reach support from Tesla doesn't inspire confidence in the reliability or system safety of my power supply. This is also at least the 3rd time my powerwall fails to come back after an unexplained outage, but rebooting as explained above worked the past 2 times. Not now.
Anything I am missing in terms how to reset this gateway-less powerwall+ and restore my solar? Is such power loss clearly to be blamed on Tesla equipment an indication of catastrophic system failure or is it just a fusebox on their part to protect the equipment? But if so, why is it failing to come back up?
