Joined the club!

[cr0ntab]

Hey All!

My installer finished up the install/provision of my two powerwall 2's yesterday.

Super excited to join the club!

I ended up going with LA Solar Group for my install, here's a preview of my timeline:

Feb 23 2018
Initial contact, introduction to LASG and quote for solar.

Mar 2 2018
After some negotiations, getting other bids and comparing/contrasting I signed with LASG for solar.

I also inquired for the first time about the powerwalls and a quote was sent over.

Mar 5 2018
Updated contract with solar and powerwalls signed. Was told that powerwalls were in stock and they would be installed the same time as the solar.

Mar 7 2018
Site survey for solar and powerwalls

Mar 13 2018
After much back and forth regarding placement and site plan approval re-signed the agreement. Also got the financing locked down.

Mar 15 2018
Received NEM (net metering) agreement to sign, from LASG

Mar 16 2018
Received RRF (SGIP) agreement to sign, from LASG

Mar 21 2018
More site plan corrections, re-signed updated proposal.

Mar 23 2018
Plans submitted to city for approval

Mar 24 2018
SGIP Step 2 confirmation

May 14 2018
Main panel upgraded to Siemens MC2442B1200EFV - NOT compatible with a Sense home energy monitor.

May 15 2018
Received ICF (SGIP) agreement to sign, from LASG

May 18 2018
Got a call from LASG that they don't have any powerwalls in stock and they won't be installed when the solar gets installed. Additionally, they don't know when they'll have them in stock. (I was very mad this day)

May 20 2018
I didn't like the main panel they upgraded me to, it wasn't compatible with my Sense home energy monitor. So I personally swapped out panels for a SquareD SC2040M200PF that I picked up from home depot.

May 21 2018
33x 330W Panasonic VBHN330SA16 Panels installed along with a SolarEdge SE7600H inverter.

May 22 2018
City inspector comes by and approves my panel installation (woot!) and solar install

Jul 2 2018
LASG calls to let me know Powerwalls are ready to install

Jul 3 2018
Powerwalls dropped off and all boxes hung on wall

Jul 5 2018
All circuits moved from old main to new panel, powerwalls provisioned and I'm online!

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So all in I ended up getting lucky and only having to wait 4 months for two powerwalls.

My phone app is on V3.4.1 and the gateway is on 1.17.2 with no access to TBC.

I'm going to see who I can call to get some firmware updates and access to TBC today.

 

[cr0ntab]

Just got off the phone with Tesla energy support they said everything should be good for TBC.

She escalated my account info to level 2 to force push the changes to my account.

She also mentioned that their provisioning script runs at 7:30am pacific time and that goes through and checks systems to see what firmware should be available to them.

Fingers crossed I get the updates tomorrow at 7:30

 

[Shygar]

Yea you don't need a firmware update as long as you're on 1.15 or higher. Btw, do you have enough airflow for the right side of your powerwalls? Hard to tell exactly from the picture but I'd make sure that the hot air can get away from the powerwalls after it leaves.

 

[cr0ntab]

Yea you don't need a firmware update as long as you're on 1.15 or higher. Btw, do you have enough airflow for the right side of your powerwalls? Hard to tell exactly from the picture but I'd make sure that the hot air can get away from the powerwalls after it leaves.

It's not a lot of room, but it is some.

In a month or two I plan to air condition the garage so it'll be a non issue.

I'll keep an eye on things in the mean time though.

 

[arnolddeleon]

Congratulations!

Do you know why they ran a conduit to each powerwall? My dual powerwall install only has one. 2018-01-15 Powerwall Install

 

[cr0ntab]

Congratulations!

Do you know why they ran a conduit to each powerwall? My dual powerwall install only has one. 2018-01-15 Powerwall Install

That's a good question.

My first guess is that it was easier, particularly to run the flex instead of EMT. (I would have preferred the look of EMT)

As I watched them install them, there are certainly wires running through both conduits, so I'm curious to see how your two power walls interconnect.

The conduits each hold the power connections and a communication cable.

 

[arnolddeleon]

I didn't get to see how they did it but when "stack" two together is a way to feed through between them. I know each powerwall has its own power cables because I've been in the generation panel and each one has its own set of breakers. So I suspect the front units cables enter the back unit and they share the conduit. A 3/4" conduit should have had plenty of room for the needed conductors. Hey @miimura , @cwied who did your installers run your cables?

 

[cwied]

Mine have one shared conduit from the back unit.

 

[wwhitney]

FWIW:

My install is Monday, at the walk-through meeting I was told that for a stacked install they will drill a hole through the front of the rear unit's wiring compartment to install a nipple (or the like) to get the wiring to the front unit. Running two separate raceways would certainly be easier for the installers, but it doesn't look as good.

My understanding of electrician slang is the "Flex" usually means FMC, flexible metal conduit, which is a metal only corrugated flexible raceway with fairly large corrugations. As the raceway in the picture appears to be plastic covered but has corrugations, I think it is LFMC, liquid tight flexible metal conduit. But I may be mistaken, it could be LFNC (nonmetallic) or PVC coated MC (metal clad) cable.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[cr0ntab]

My understanding of electrician slang is the "Flex" usually means FMC, flexible metal conduit, which is a metal only corrugated flexible raceway with fairly large corrugations. As the raceway in the picture appears to be plastic covered but has corrugations, I think it is LFMC, liquid tight flexible metal conduit. But I may be mistaken, it could LFNC (nonmetallic) or PVC coated MC (metal clad) cable.
Cheers, Wayne

You're right, got my terminology mixed up. This is liquid tight not flex.

 

[cr0ntab]

No TBC as of this morning, oh well. I'll wait it out till next week then try calling them again.

 

[zanary]

Congratulations!

Do you know why they ran a conduit to each powerwall? My dual powerwall install only has one. 2018-01-15 Powerwall Install

I've been told that if you plan to add more than 2, this is easier, as there may not be sufficient room for more wires if you add one or two more powerwalls.

That's the problem I'm going to face. I have two right now, and a third one this year, so they will need to increase the size of the the pipe to accommodate all three Powerwall.

 

[Frankman60]

I’m happy to see that some Powerwall installations are now happening after a long period of wait. Has something recently happened with the Tesla supply chain to make Powerwalls available once again? I signed a contract in February 2018 and was informed that Powerwalls would probably not be available until later this year.

 

[miimura]

I didn't get to see how they did it but when "stack" two together is a way to feed through between them. I know each powerwall has its own power cables because I've been in the generation panel and each one has its own set of breakers. So I suspect the front units cables enter the back unit and they share the conduit. A 3/4" conduit should have had plenty of room for the needed conductors. Hey @miimura , @cwied who did your installers run your cables?

Mine are not stacked.

You can see that there is one conduit with both Powerwall circuits and it tees between the two units. I think the only reason that they didn't put the tee at the inlet of the left Powerwall was that the conduit bend would have been difficult with the downspout to the left.

 

[cr0ntab]

Called again today, still no TBC.

They said they were going to bump my ticket and if nothing, call back Friday at noon.

 

[cr0ntab]

Awesome, woke up to TBC this morning!

Lets see how it goes!

 

[Shygar]

My understanding is they won't stack them if they are not touching the ground. Mine is also not touching the ground and they said if I had a second one, I'd have to find more wall space for it.

 

[ons_]

Wow. I've been waiting on LA Solar to have inventory to do my battery install since December of last year.

 

[cr0ntab]

I got my ICF approval yesterday!

Should be seeing a check in a few weeks. Very excited!

 

[NYEVDriver]

I have one conduit as well with my installation. They asked me if I wanted it stacked ad I declined. Congrats on your installation.