My new solar and Powerwall installation

[Powerwall2]

Any noise?

Had my Powerwall 2 for a month. Not a sound: no hum, no clicks.

 

[ecarfan]

Basically, if you put your ear on the Powerwall unit, would you hear (or feel) anything

Yes. From the standpoint of human perception, they are not completely silent. Mine occasionally makes a soft whirring sound which I believe is due to the cooling fan running.

If you mounted a Powerwall on the exterior wall surface of your bedroom, and you had an open window right next to it, it is possible that you would hear it. It would depend on the acoustic properties of your wall, the ambient background noise, and your own hearing threshold (which varies quite a bit among humans).

I don't know where you live in California, but if you were close to me I would invite you over to listen to mine which I have in my garage. However I cannot guarantee that it would be making any perceptible sounds during your visit. Since I only spend a tiny fraction of time in my garage on any given day I do not know how often it makes noise. But I can see it is infrequent.

 

[Powerwall2]

So in my scenario, where the full 5kW continuous from the PW are already being used, if another 1kW appliance gets turned on, it would seamlessly pull that power from the grid? That's great if so.

Seamless. Only by looking at the app can we tell from where the power is coming.

 

[eugenel]

Any Noise? I'm about to have my Powerwalls installed, and one of the possible locations is attached to the outside wall of my bedroom.
Do the Powerwalls make any noise at all?
Even a low hum?
Pumps for the cooling system?
Basically, if you put your ear on the Powerwall unit, would you hear (or feel) anything?

I can't get a definitive answer from Tesla, SolarCity, or the installers. I'd hate to have them install, and then have to come back and relocate the batteries if they make any kind of hum or noise. I live in the woods, not in a city, so there is no background noise at night (other than crickets, deer, possums, skunks, and raccoons. I never hear the Mountain Lions. The crickets are the only ones that seem to party all night.)

Our Powerwall 2 is installed inside our house, in a cubby-hole by the front door. It DOES make noise. Plenty of noise. Doesn't bother us particularly, but it's enough to bother plenty of people I would say. There is a plainly audible whirr when the cooling fan is operating, a buzz at times, and significant clicking from relays/contactors early in the day when our solar panels are just starting to generate. That said, our garage is unheated so we'd prefer to keep the unit inside for maximum longevity.

But I wouldn't suggest making it a feature of your living room!

PS. Unless of course something is wrong with ours ... but it seems to be working like a charm!

 

[patrick40363]

Inverters make noise when operating.

 

[ecarfan]

Mine occasionally makes a soft whirring sound

It DOES make noise. Plenty of noise.

Subjective impressions certainly can differ.

 

[brucet999]

Any Noise? I'm about to have my Powerwalls installed, and one of the possible locations is attached to the outside wall of my bedroom.
Do the Powerwalls make any noise at all?
Even a low hum?
Pumps for the cooling system?
Basically, if you put your ear on the Powerwall unit, would you hear (or feel) anything?

I can't get a definitive answer from Tesla, SolarCity, or the installers. I'd hate to have them install, and then have to come back and relocate the batteries if they make any kind of hum or noise. I live in the woods, not in a city, so there is no background noise at night (other than crickets, deer, possums, skunks, and raccoons. I never hear the Mountain Lions. The crickets are the only ones that seem to party all night.)

Presumably you are talking about a shared wall between garage and bedroom? If so, any sound or vibration from a PowerWall hard-mounted to the wall would be conveyed through the wall like a drum head and heard at about half its original loudness in the bedroom. The best solution if you have space for it to be a little off the wall, would be free-standing installation such as is pictured in post #272 above.

If that particular wall is an ideal location for other reasons and free-standing is impossible, then you can mitigate the noise by mounting PowerWall units using isolation mounts. Such mounts are intended for noise reduction from machinery and are readily obtainable from sources like Grainger Industrial Supply.

Don't expect the doofuses employed by Solar City to understand how to use them though. Anything out of the ordinary can be expected to be rejected as "non-standard".

 

[brucet999]

Our Powerwall 2 is installed inside our house, in a cubby-hole by the front door. It DOES make noise. Plenty of noise. Doesn't bother us particularly, but it's enough to bother plenty of people I would say. There is a plainly audible whirr when the cooling fan is operating, a buzz at times, and significant clicking from relays/contactors early in the day when our solar panels are just starting to generate. That said, our garage is unheated so we'd prefer to keep the unit inside for maximum longevity.

But I wouldn't suggest making it a feature of your living room!

PS. Unless of course something is wrong with ours ... but it seems to be working like a charm!

I don't understand the concern about an unheated garage. From what I have read, PowerWall has an operating temperature range of -20º to +50ºC. I shouldn't expect temps outside that range in The Cotswolds.

 

[brucet999]

Subjective impressions certainly can differ.

As can hearing acuity.

Fortunately my hearing loss is in the frequency range of my wife's voice.

 

[cybergates]

can u add powerwall to an existing older solar (no microinverter system?). I had about 90% of my year round energy covered with solar but now starting to fall short with the car charging. Has anyone had to add more panels with the advent of getting a tesla? I have a 6.6Kw system and 24 panels so I think the existing Fronius inverter is maxed out. I'd probably want to get the powerwall to power in case of emergency for a couple hours the A/C and a few circuits.

 

[Louv]

Presumably you are talking about a shared wall between garage and bedroom? If so, any sound or vibration from a PowerWall hard-mounted to the wall would be conveyed through the wall like a drum head and heard at about half its original loudness in the bedroom. The best solution if you have space for it to be a little off the wall, would be free-standing installation such as is pictured in post #272 above.

If that particular wall is an ideal location for other reasons and free-standing is impossible, then you can mitigate the noise by mounting PowerWall units using isolation mounts. Such mounts are intended for noise reduction from machinery and are readily obtainable from sources like Grainger Industrial Supply.

Don't expect the doofuses employed by Solar City to understand how to use them though. Anything out of the ordinary can be expected to be rejected as "non-standard".

Yes, and no. It isn't being installed in the garage. It's an exterior wall of the house. My (separate) garage is too far away from where the power comes into the house. And free-standing isn't really a possibility without pouring a pad (in the next three days... Which is possible... maybe I could do that tomorrow...hmmmm...)

Isolation mounts are probably the right way to go. I'll suggest that and see what they say. For now, we've found a wall a little further away, so that should help. And if I (or they) need to retro-fit isolation mounts (and various conduit pieces) then so be it.

Thanks.

 

[dragonxt]

Apparently Tesla has a shortage of Pw2s?

My project, due to this, has been delayed for installation until December... I started the process in July :/

Thinking of backing out at this point.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Our Powerwall 2 is installed inside our house, in a cubby-hole by the front door. It DOES make noise. Plenty of noise. Doesn't bother us particularly, but it's enough to bother plenty of people I would say. There is a plainly audible whirr when the cooling fan is operating, a buzz at times, and significant clicking from relays/contactors early in the day when our solar panels are just starting to generate. That said, our garage is unheated so we'd prefer to keep the unit inside for maximum longevity.

But I wouldn't suggest making it a feature of your living room!

PS. Unless of course something is wrong with ours ... but it seems to be working like a charm!

So, it's a large white noise machine...

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Our Powerwall 2 is installed inside our house, in a cubby-hole by the front door. It DOES make noise. Plenty of noise. Doesn't bother us particularly, but it's enough to bother plenty of people I would say. There is a plainly audible whirr when the cooling fan is operating, a buzz at times, and significant clicking from relays/contactors early in the day when our solar panels are just starting to generate. That said, our garage is unheated so we'd prefer to keep the unit inside for maximum longevity.

But I wouldn't suggest making it a feature of your living room!

PS. Unless of course something is wrong with ours ... but it seems to be working like a charm!

So, it's a large white noise machine... good for a bedroom. Unless you watch TV in your bedroom.

 

[ecarfan]

As the OP for this thread, thought I would provide a one year update. Over a full year period of operation my 9.8kW PV system has generated 15.12mW. I have consumed a total of 13mW over that same period. So I'm pretty happy about that. I have some spare capacity. Yes, I could have sized my system smaller to save money. But over the past year I have driven less for my work commutes than I anticipated. If my work in the future requires more travel I'll be covered.

Update: got my PG&E annual “true up” statement. I got paid about $45 for the excess power I generated and put back into the grid. A trivial amount, but better than nothing. I’ll take it. With that payment, my average monthly electrical utility bill is about $6.

I remain quite satisfied with my system. Took some photos yesterday. First photo shows 12 of the 34 panels on my roof, the rest are off to the right side of the image.

So, from the sun to my roof, and...

...from my roof to my home and Powerwall...

...to my car. I love it!

 

[JSkrehot]

Update: got my PG&E annual “true up” statement. I got paid about $45 for the excess power I generated and put back into the grid. A trivial amount, but better than nothing. I’ll take it. With that payment, my average monthly electrical utility bill is about $6.

I remain quite satisfied with my system. Took some photos yesterday. First photo shows 12 of the 34 panels on my roof, the rest are off to the right side of the image.

So, from the sun to my roof, and...

View attachment 256166

...from my roof to my home and Powerwall...

View attachment 256169

...to my car. I love it!

View attachment 256168

Love the setup. I live in California, I should be getting about $36 back from PG&E after my true up. I did not do a PowerWall, however, because of Net Metering. Did you do it to be more green or did you do it because it created a cost benefit to you?

 

[ohmman]

How are you guys getting money back from PG&E on true-up? I usually end the year with a ~$1000 credit but it's forfeited. I assume that's because I'm a net consumer of electricity despite running a credit (TOU related). Do you actually generate more than you use?

 

[JSkrehot]

How are you guys getting money back from PG&E on true-up? I usually end the year with a ~$1000 credit but it's forfeited. I assume that's because I'm a net consumer of electricity despite running a credit (TOU related). Do you actually generate more than you use?

Yes, on true-up. My NEM chargers for the year were -$357.08, add in $117.28 for the Electric Minimum Delivery Charges, convert to the pennies they are paying me for my over generation as they do not pay the retail rate for my extra free power, and I got a $47.93 credit. My extra power will go to topping off my Model 3 since I get free charging at work.

 

[ecarfan]

Love the setup. I live in California, I should be getting about $36 back from PG&E after my true up. I did not do a PowerWall, however, because of Net Metering. Did you do it to be more green or did you do it because it created a cost benefit to you?

I didn’t do it for the cost benefit, I don’t think there really is one. I did it for emergency backup power and because it just seems like the logical thing to do. Solar plus batteries can power most of the world. The more early adopters there are the faster costs will come down, accelerating a more widespread adoption.

 

[ecarfan]

How are you guys getting money back from PG&E on true-up? I usually end the year with a ~$1000 credit but it's forfeited. I assume that's because I'm a net consumer of electricity despite running a credit (TOU related). Do you actually generate more than you use?

Maybe I didn’t read my bill correctly. But I did generate more than I consumed. My calculations showed I produced about 13% more but PG&E calculated only about half that since they have no visibility “behind”the meter. At least that was their excuse for paying me less than I anticipated.