Is my new solar working?

[AxlxA]

Just had PW2 and solar installed by Tesla. Waiting for city and PG&E inspection before PTO.

I wanted to test the solar charging the battery. I flipped the main breaker for solar and flipped the switch on solar edge HD.

How do I tell if the solar is charging battery? My solar black box gateway says no signal. I can't tell if the solar and inverter is working.

 

[garrett5688]

Do you have app access? You should be able to see power flow through the app.

the inverter takes ~10 min to come on after ac power applied.

 

[AxlxA]

@garrett5688
I have app access and it only shows powerwall. The solar side is greyed like not powering.

Also the little black gateway says no signal for 24hrs now. I've turned the PV system on for about 3 hrs

 

[garrett5688]

What is the LED status on your inverter?

Inverter Status and System Performance Indications | SolarEdge US

 

[mnsweeps]

do you have a separate breaker for Powerwalls? I do.

 

[garrett5688]

do you have a separate breaker for Powerwalls? I do.

good point also make sure all breakers inside your gateway are on

 

[AxlxA]

What is the LED status on your inverter?

Inverter Status and System Performance Indications | SolarEdge US

I got the middle green blinking light

AC is connected but not producing.

 

[AxlxA]

do you have a separate breaker for Powerwalls? I do.

The breakers for powerwalls are both on. The breaker for solar was turned on today to test. Pretty much all breakers across all the boxes are on

 

[AxlxA]

Is there something on Tesla installer side that needs to be turned on either software or some hardware? The solar installers were sort of working separately from the powerwall installers on the same day.

 

[garrett5688]

I would try to power cycle the inverter using the inverter knob only... leave the other disconnects/breakers all on.

 

[garrett5688]

Is there something on Tesla installer side that needs to be turned on either software or some hardware? The solar installers were sort of working separately from the powerwall installers on the same day.

they have to “commission” the inverter but for me that was done as the last step of install, even before inspection. Maybe they haven’t done that for you yet?

 

[Electrph]

So I am testing my new system today for first time as well so I don’t know if my steps may help you
The breakers in gateway for 2 powerwalls were left on by installer / batteries were on.
So I first shut off main breaker outside ( disconnected home from grid) and powerwalls took over not even a flicker.
Then I switched on breaker in gateway for solar then I turned dial to on position on inverter
The blue and green leds on inverter flashed for maybe 5 min then went solid (you should hear mechanical sound of engagement inside inverter at this point )
Also make sure the vertical red toggle switch (Partially obscured) on inverter is in middle position (this may keep it off if not, if I recall reading correctly)

 

[AxlxA]

@Electrph
So I just followed your steps. Still blinking green.

I flipped off circuit to be off grid.
Turned on circuit for PV (the other two circuits in gateway are for the PW and both are on)
Turned on the solar edge inverter DC. I notice that the red toggle was to "O" so I set it to middle.

Then I redid all the steps to make sure.
Still a blinking green light on the inverter.

 

[Electrph]

So when you turn on inverter you only get flashing green led not green and blue led both flashing ?
If this is case I just read indicates ‘power optimizers not paired” from solar edge website
My knowledge of all this is VERY limited so I’m sure others on here can be more help / clarify further

 

[AxlxA]

So when you turn on inverter you only get flashing green led not green and blue led both flashing ?
If this is case I just read indicates ‘power optimizers not paired” from solar edge website
My knowledge of all this is VERY limited so I’m sure others on here can be more help / clarify further

Correc

On boot up, all lights on solid. Then it is only one green flashing middle. Nothing else.

 

[jaed]

Here is a good link to figure out what the lights mean.
Inverter Status and System Performance Indications | SolarEdge US

 

[AxlxA]

Here is a good link to figure out what the lights mean.
Inverter Status and System Performance Indications | SolarEdge US

Yes. Someone posted it above.

 

[BrettS]

If the green light is flashing, then that indicates that the system is getting AC power, so we know that all the AC breakers are on. We can rule out a missed breaker. The blue light is irrelevant, that simply indicates whether it is connected to solaredge, but it will produce power whether or not it is connected. The red switch needs to be in the middle (on) position before it will produce power, but from the picture above the switch does appear to be in the correct position, so that should be good.

So at this point the flashing green light can mean one of two things. Either it has no DC power input or the optimizers are not paired. The round switch on the front of the inverter is a DC disconnect, so if that is off then you will see a flashing green light, but it’s pretty obvious when that is off, so I suspect that is not the case. In some jurisdictions there is a separate DC disconnect required, so you should look around and make sure there is not another disconnect that may be off.

 

[AxlxA]

If the green light is flashing, then that indicates that the system is getting AC power, so we know that all the AC breakers are on. We can rule out a missed breaker. The blue light is irrelevant, that simply indicates whether it is connected to solaredge, but it will produce power whether or not it is connected. The red switch needs to be in the middle (on) position before it will produce power, but from the picture above the switch does appear to be in the correct position, so that should be good.

So at this point the flashing green light can mean one of two things. Either it has no DC power input or the optimizers are not paired. The round switch on the front of the inverter is a DC disconnect, so if that is off then you will see a flashing green light, but it’s pretty obvious when that is off, so I suspect that is not the case. In some jurisdictions there is a separate DC disconnect required, so you should look around and make sure there is not another disconnect that may be off.

Thanks for being so thorough. There is no more disconnects I can see. No big red lever or another switch toggle anywhere.

The powerwall electrician is coming back Saturday to install a slow starter for my AC(he said my current AC will start with a huge load and will trip the circuit. So when he comes, I'll ask him to play with it.

I'm thinking two scenarios. Solar wasn't installed correctly(highly unlikely) or there's a provisioning/commissioning that Tesla has to do to allow solar on?

I dunno, I'm getting worried.

 

[BrettS]

I mean I don’t think there is anything to worry about, I’m sure Tesla will get it resolved. But not being able to get it working can definitely be frustrating. If you wanted to you could download the solaredge app called “SetApp” and use that to see more about what is going on with your inverter.