My 11.2kW Tesla Solar Project - Portland, OR

[pdx_m3s]

Now that you have the "final PTO" email, you should be able to call tesla energy support and ask them to sync everything up. Probably faster than waiting for them to "just do it".

Tesla can confirm that my Gateway is online, but it is not establishing a connection with the inverter. We went through all of the troubleshooting steps with no luck. They are going to have to send someone out.

Tesla has so far to go with their energy business. They need to bring more to the table than just being the cheapest option in town.

 

[BrettS]

Tesla can confirm that my Gateway is online, but it is not establishing a connection with the inverter. We went through all of the troubleshooting steps with no luck. They are going to have to send someone out.

Tesla has so far to go with their energy business. They need to bring more to the table than just being the cheapest option in town.

You haven’t connected your inverter to Ethernet, have you? If the inverter is set to auto then Ethernet will take priority and it won’t connect to the gateway.

 

[pdx_m3s]

You haven’t connected your inverter to Ethernet, have you? If the inverter is set to auto then Ethernet will take priority and it won’t connect to the gateway.

I haven't. But I sure want to!

 

[pdx_m3s]

Just bought a 25 year extended warranty for the inverter for $307. Now everything, including panels, optimizers, and the inverter are covered for 25 years.

 

[cantbechanged]

@pdx_m3s did they have you log onto the gateway’s network and troubleshoot? Also, did you try resetting it with a pencil?
I had the same issue and resetting the gateway fixed it. For some reason the WiFi got disabled with our smart meter swap.

 

[BrettS]

@pdx_m3s did they have you log onto the gateway’s network and troubleshoot? Also, did you try resetting it with a pencil?
I had the same issue and resetting the gateway fixed it. For some reason the WiFi got disabled with our smart meter swap.

@pdx_m3s has a solar only install. The gateway he is referring to is the little black zigbee gateway.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Well a service appointment is scheduled for 11/3 to fix the issue with the gateway not pairing with the inverter.

Also, still no invoice from Tesla.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Well some data finally started showing up in my app, but it doesn't seem right. The "from grid" chart (grey) is basically a mirror of the solar generation chart (yellow).

And the "Home Usage" chart is basically just both charts stacked together. It appears that the grey grid chart is inverted, in that it's showing my solar over-production as home usage.

 

[Hugh-SG]

Well some data finally started showing up in my app, but it doesn't seem right. The "from grid" chart (grey) is basically a mirror of the solar generation chart (yellow).

And the "Home Usage" chart is basically just both charts stacked together. It appears that the grey grid chart is inverted, in that it's showing my solar over-production as home usage.

I had that also when I first got my Powerwall-2 hooked up. It took a call to Energy Support to get it set straight.

Congrats on Net Metering system.

Cheers! Hugh-SG

 

[pdx_m3s]

I had that also when I first got my Powerwall-2 hooked up. It took a call to Energy Support to get it set straight.

Congrats on Net Metering system.

Cheers! Hugh-SG

Thanks! I've called Tesla Support about the issue and they are working on it. I sent them screenshots showing the issue.

 

[pdx_m3s]

I received a call from Tesla's new construction team today, asking to elaborate on the mediocre survey/review I gave them. I really appreciated that they took the time to actually hear out a customer. They were very open and honest about their short-comings and were open to hearing about how they can improve.

Also, it appears that they have fixed my monitoring issue. It now appropriately shows over-production going to the grid, rather than showing as energy usage.

I'm curious, how sensitive is everyone's home energy usage chart? Mine usually doesn't show anything unless there is a large load on the system, and it seems very intermittent. For example, mine showed zero usage from midnight through 8am, even though I know our heat pump was cycling on and off routinely to heat the house.

 

[k-mal_808]

I'm curious, how sensitive is everyone's home energy usage chart? Mine usually doesn't show anything unless there is a large load on the system, and it seems very intermittent. For example, mine showed zero usage from midnight through 8am, even though I know our heat pump was cycling on and off routinely to heat the house.

My chart appears to be pretty sensitive. I can turn on/off various small appliances and/or ceiling fans and notice the difference in power flow. That's great that they reached out to you after the review. I got the email for the review but am waiting till PTO to fill it out. It'll be a mixed review for sure. Some areas were great, some pretty bad.

 

[wjgjr]

My chart appears to be pretty sensitive. I can turn on/off various small appliances and/or ceiling fans and notice the difference in power flow. That's great that they reached out to you after the review. I got the email for the review but am waiting till PTO to fill it out. It'll be a mixed review for sure. Some areas were great, some pretty bad.

This is my experience as well - sensitive to small changes, and I can see the fairly constant overnight base load (of roughly 0.5 kWh) in the app and in the underlying data.

After our install, we did get a call from Tesla as well - I don't know if they are doing it for all customers or just some. My sense is they did care about the feedback and at least intended to try and address the issues (my big feedback at the time was lack of dedicated project managers, and my impression was I was not alone.) The challenge for Tesla seems to be they are expanding so quickly that they seem to have trouble making some of these changes effective.

 

[BrettS]

I'm curious, how sensitive is everyone's home energy usage chart? Mine usually doesn't show anything unless there is a large load on the system, and it seems very intermittent

My chart appears to be pretty sensitive

This is my experience as well

I think this is one of the differences between a solar only install like @pdx_m3s and a powerwall install like @k-mal_808, @wjgjr, and myself. With a powerwall install the tesla app gets it’s data from the TEG and it updates almost instantly.

With a solar only install the data comes from the inverter and the powerblaster and I believe the app only updates once every 15 minutes. Since I don’t have a solar only install I’m not totally sure about this, so it could update a bit more frequently, but it definitely doesn’t behave the same way as it does with a powerwall install.

I would kind of think that when it does it’s 15 minute update that it would update with an average of the power usage over the last 15 minutes, but maybe it only updates with an instantaneous reading at the time of the update?

 

[wjgjr]

I would kind of think that when it does it’s 15 minute update that it would update with an average of the power usage over the last 15 minutes, but maybe it only updates with an instantaneous reading at the time of the update?

That is a good question that somebody with solar-only would need to test. When downloading the app data (including PW,) the 5-minute data is labeled in "kW" so I am assuming it is instantaneous data, where the daily numbers are labeled "kWh".

 

[pdx_m3s]

Well, after having the system up and running for 9 days following PTO, Tesla finally sent me an invoice.... for half the system cost. The email starts off with "Since your installation has begun..." and the goes on to say, "we cannot interconnect your system until we receive your final payment." Haha.

I think they're a little backed up.

For those wondering, I was able to pay via PayPal and credit card.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Here's a breakdown of the total system cost:

 

[Momvivant]

Here's a breakdown of the total system cost:

View attachment 601832

I wished that we had the state tax rebate in CA!!

 

[jboy210]

I wished that we had the state tax rebate in CA!!

Sort of worse in California since Solar is now a requirement on new construction.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Well with the sun as low as it is, and with all west facing panels, it looks like ~35 kWh per day is about the max I can generate this time of year. Better than I thought it would be. Looking forward to seeing what the system can do mid-summer!