It's shocking Tesla does not hand over direct control of their PW in the app.

[Jay Gatsby]

Thanks for all the help and input everyone - am I clear what I want to do..?
I want full "manual override" control
Think of the 737Max analogy again...
If that sensor (incorrectly) is saying the airspeed is too slow.. telling the computer to stall and dive the nose.. .
I don't want the computer diving the nose
I want to take control of the joystick and controls and switch to manual control...
regardless of what faulty input is coming back from the sensors telling the aircraft computer what to do.....

cheers

 

[Jay Gatsby]

I've paid all this money for tesla smarts and have discovered they don;t work at all well in my particular situation ..
Why am I forced to have to use the Tesla smarts?
Why can't I just turn them off and switch to manual control?

 

[ucmndd]

Tesla PW.... "turn on at 1200pm"...
Where is that app setting?

My powerwalls “turned on” at exactly 3:00pm today when my peak pricing period kicked in and started covering all of my house loads.

At exactly 7:00pm, when off-peak started, they began charging from the grid because I have grid charging enabled.

This is exactly what I’ve programmed them to do and they do it every day without deviation or question.

Tesla PW.... "charge at 3kWhr rate"....
Where is that app setting?

Pretty sure you need to go into the installer/commissioning tool to set a max grid import rate.

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Thanks for all the help.. but..

I want to charge off solar....
I have more than enough solar..

But I want to charge off solar when I want to..
(not when the PW thinks via it's AI... it's the correct time to charge.. that's because the sensor is feeding the API the incorrect information)...

I don't want to grid charge....

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Pretty sure you need to go into the installer/commissioning tool to set a max grid import rate.

Where is that setting in the installer/commissioning tool to set a max solar import rate?

 

[Jay Gatsby]

^ I mean if it was there... I'd jump all over that setting...
(it would go a long way to solving the problem...)
But where is it?

 

[stopcrazypp]

Thanks for all the help.. but..

I want to charge off solar....
I have more than enough solar..

But I want to charge off solar when I want to..
(not when the PW thinks via it's AI... it's the correct time to charge.. that's because the sensor is feeding the API the incorrect information)...

I don't want to grid charge....

Again doesn't setting a custom rate plan do that? There's no AI, it's just based on your peak and off peak settings.

 

[ucmndd]

So you want to charge only from your solar, but only at certain times, and at some max rate you set that’s less than what you’re producing?

I mean, I sympathize I suppose, but your use case and wants seem to be so far out of the mainstream that it’s really not very surprising that Tesla isn’t prioritizing the development of the features and controls you’re looking for. It feels like you bought the wrong product for your situation.

 

[Jay Gatsby]

So you want to charge only from your solar, but only at certain times, and at some max rate you set that’s less than what you’re producing?

I mean, I sympathize I suppose, but your use case and wants seem to be so far out of the mainstream that it’s really not very surprising that Tesla isn’t prioritizing the development of the features and controls you’re looking for. It feels like you bought the wrong product for your situation.

"So far out of mainstream..."
Right...
wayyyy out...
Nobody wants to charge from Solar at peak solar generation times or spread the charge out so they can run other loads when the sun is shining (rather than use fossil fuel grid charging...)
That is not why we put in battery capacity into a solar installation!!!!
There is no point charging batteries when the sun is up and really shining..
(lets just charge off grid power..or only during the hrs when the sun first comes up...not when it's really pumping energy! )
Yes who wants to just start up your own Tesla auto when you want to and drive it? (rather than a robot ....)!

Want to take control of your very own PW battery when you want to?
Outrageous blasphemy!

What a totally wacko idea!

 

[xWren]

Jay I can only agree with you, and I have frequently moaned about the frustrating lack of control of a device I own, and what control I do have being internet dependant. The software is created by children that know nothing about resilient engineering or that the cloud is not always accessible. It is a joke to call the Time Based control AI, it is just a flawed and flaky algorithm based on pricing and some historic data.

I use self-consumption mode and adjust the backup reserve percentage to drive the charging behaviour I want. I have semi-automated this using the unofficial owner API from Python scripts run on RPi (to schedule changes to this value when I am asleep, and mode to so it charges at 3.6kW). However this fails when there are internet or Tesla server outages. Also the future of API access is in doubt - switching to a published Fleet API that you have to be a business with a certificated website to register to use and may also be charged for and/or limited to so many commands a day.

Wouldn't it be great if someone (it won't be Tesla) provided a battery that was locally controllable and independent of the internet.

 

[Jay Gatsby]

^ The suits and bankers have taken control of the vision is my guess @xWren

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Its really really disappointing.. this after all is a premium product... this oftens happens in 'merica.. I've seen it before (Control4)

 

[Jay Gatsby]

I use self-consumption mode and adjust the backup reserve percentage to drive the charging behaviour I want. I have semi-automated this using the unofficial owner API from Python scripts run on RPi (to schedule changes to this value when I am asleep, and mode to so it charges at 3.6kW). However this fails when there are internet or Tesla server outages. Also the future of API access is in doubt - switching to a published Fleet API that you have to be a business with a certificated website to register to use and may also be charged for and/or limited to so many commands a day.

Why do we have top go thru all this when it's a premium product?.. but sure..I get it... Is there any way of doing this with Home Assistant? I use HA to integrate all my smart energy devices.. thanks

 

[xWren]

Why do we have top go thru all this when it's a premium product?.. but sure..I get it... Is there any way of doing this with Home Assistant? I use HA to integrate all my smart energy devices.. thanks

Premium hardware, inferior software + firmware, and a "we always know best" corporate attitude. There is no easy way to know just how little control you will have over the Powerwall before you buy it, or how internet dependant it is. Pretty poor design of a backup device - when the power is out the internet is often out too. The sad thing for me is that so many people buy into the "I'm too dumb to handle all this modern tech, the big corporation obviously know best and have my best interests at heart" attitude.

Yes there are people that use HA to control their Powerwall, Google is your friend, and search this forum of course.

 

[Matt-FL]

My 2 cents - we don't have granular control over our PWs because of litigation concerns. If you decide to set a granular knob that could put your Powerwall somewhere outside of specs, who becomes liable? Common sense would say the person who set the device outside of specs, but, for the same reason we have bright shiny stickers on the sides of lawnmowers telling you not to stick your fingers in there, it drops onto the manufacturer.

'The app should know what is in and out of spec' - that adds an immense amount of threshold and parameters that have to be computed. I think in Telsa's view, if 3% of Powerwall users want this kind of granular access (I think I am being conservative with the number, it is probably 0.3%), the gain vs development investment would never reach ROI. Since Tesla is in business to make money, doubtful this would happen. Adding this ability would inevitably have someone in the other 97% of users monkeying around with stuff he doesn't understand and causing another headline.

If Tesla offered you granular access at the expense of signing off liability and possibly warranty, would you accept?

 

[stopcrazypp]

My 2 cents - we don't have granular control over our PWs because of litigation concerns. If you decide to set a granular knob that could put your Powerwall somewhere outside of specs, who becomes liable? Common sense would say the person who set the device outside of specs, but, for the same reason we have bright shiny stickers on the sides of lawnmowers telling you not to stick your fingers in there, it drops onto the manufacturer.

'The app should know what is in and out of spec' - that adds an immense amount of threshold and parameters that have to be computed. I think in Telsa's view, if 3% of Powerwall users want this kind of granular access (I think I am being conservative with the number, it is probably 0.3%), the gain vs development investment would never reach ROI. Since Tesla is in business to make money, doubtful this would happen. Adding this ability would inevitably have someone in the other 97% of users monkeying around with stuff he doesn't understand and causing another headline.

If Tesla offered you granular access at the expense of signing off liability and possibly warranty, would you accept?

That and customer service having to deal with people using the functions, when almost inevitably something will go wrong when they first set it up. Perhaps if they hide it in some hidden menu and say they provide zero support for it, but I suspect the people will still be contacting support. Plus a lot of times, some "simple" commands can actually interact with other functions/variables and cause a fairly complex decision tree (similar to the charge scheduling settings for Tesla).

 

[Jay Gatsby]

^Utter humbug nonsense
Its an 8Kw solar array
So between midday and 3pm I generate 6-7kWhrs of power
It's a 13.5 Kwh battery that charges at a rate of 5kWhs
So I can charge the darn thing in under 2-3 hrs once a day for powering stuff overnight when the sun has gone down....
So I can get on use the solar I am generating for other loads like between 9am>12 and 2>6pm without pulling power from the grid on top of charging the battery during those times....
Perfect!
Let's keep things simple!!!!
(What's the big deal about that?)
All I want to do is charge the darn thing when I walk out of my back door look up at the sky notice no clouds and the sun is hi up in the sky , and I am measuring the sun is at maximum solar strength rather than some Electric Jesus telling me via a computer 15,000km away what's going on with local conditions at my little place on the planet...
Whoa stop right there... can't do that!!!!

Only Electric Jesus knows best!!!!

Its absolute bullshit I need some Electric Jesus 15000 Km away .. in a part of the world that has totally different environmental conditions to me, different housing, internet, wifi, business, local sales support, different energy companies and pricing models (All of which can change or go randomly wrong at any unpredictable time outside that EJ's control) .. different energy use culture - to tell me when it's best to use my battery...

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Tesla has given a local energy company here direct control of the battery and the ability when to charge it or draw power from it - but they can't allow me to do that?

 

[Matt-FL]

When I purchased mine, I knew - from reading here, YouTube videos and extensive research - exactly what I was getting and what capabilities it had. I knew what to expect and what knobs Tesla offered, knowing it was subject to change. There were other options that offered more flexibility, more nerb knobs, but I chose based on what fit my needs, and my budget.

If you spent a hoard of money on something without completely understanding what you were getting, well, I don't see how that is on Tesla.

 

[E90alex]

Sounds like a restriction based on your energy provider and not in something in Teslas control. In order to be connected to the grid, Tesla has to follow all rules and regulations the grid provider puts forward.