My PW install is a week from today

[NathanielHrnblwr]

Any last suggestions / tips?

Tesla scheduled 2 days for 2 PW's and suggested power will be out for sure on the first day for a period of time.

 

[power.saver]

Stay home, watch them do the install, and make sure when it's done all the power flows are showing up correctly on the app. Make sure you have good wifi or Ethernet connection. Test any A/C you have during a simulated grid outage. If the PW can reach 100% before they leave, check for the frequency during an outage. The default seems to be 65Hz and that's too high for most electronics. If yours does that, ask them to get tech support on the phone to adjust it down to what your inverters need to shutoff (61Hz for me, others have used 62Hz). And take pictures!

 

[SMAlset]

Congrats and good luck. Hope all goes smoothly. So do you already have solar? What is anticipated to be installed?

Also curious what the timeframe from order to install will be. I know some have been waiting months. One of my neighbors had ordered his PWs last October. Had solar already. They did a nice job and his PWs were installed outside on an east facing wall so not sitting in the sun.

 

[jjrandorin]

Any last suggestions / tips?

Tesla scheduled 2 days for 2 PW's and suggested power will be out for sure on the first day for a period of time.

They scheduled two days for mine, and it was only one at the end. I believe power was out for about 3-4 hours while they re located all the breakers. try to stay out of the fridge etc obviously, and plan something to do during the time because you want to be home for the entire time. I downloaded some videos onto my laptop and my wife and I watched those when the power was out.

If you want something specific, be prepared to tell the install lead when they show up (specific placement on the designated wall, etc).

I am not sure how many crews they have out here, but an electrician named Andrew was the lead on my install.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Resist the temptation to check the App every 30 minutes to check your production/consumption.

I'll bet you'll be doing this in the next few months after install.

Cheerz!

 

[jboy210]

Make any repairs to any walls behind or near the powerwalls now.

 

[bob_p]

Our installation had the power off for about 6 hours. We ran a long extension cord from a neighbor's house to power a few computers and our cable modem/router, so we could work inside the house with the windows open while power was out.

Assuming the solar panels & PowerWalls work, that should be the last time we'll ever be without power...

 

[jjrandorin]

Our installation had the power off for about 6 hours. We ran a long extension cord from a neighbor's house to power a few computers and our cable modem/router, so we could work inside the house with the windows open while power was out.

Assuming the solar panels & PowerWalls work, that should be the last time we'll ever be without power...

My wife and I were sitting there watching the movies on my laptop grinning like little kids because of that very fact ("this should be the last time we are ever without power in this house"!")

 

[jboy210]

My wife and I were sitting there watching the movies on my laptop grinning like little kids because of that very fact ("this should be the last time we are ever without power in this house"!")

If you were like me you would secretly be hoping the power goes out in your neighborhood. At night. So you can see what is like to be a lighthouse in a sea of darkness.

 

[jjrandorin]

If you were like me you would secretly be hoping the power goes out in your neighborhood. At night. So you can see what is like to be a lighthouse in a sea of darkness.

2 days ago, in the morning we had our first power blip since getting the powerwalls. It was about 5am in the morning, I was watching TV, and eating breakfast before heading up to shower etc for work. The TV power cycled itself unexpectedly (I dont have a UPS on my Home theater system which is something I want to get advice on in another thread).

TV came back up, and I continued watching TV... then, I thought "wait a minute... was that just the TV or is our power out?" Grabbed my phone, and saw the big "X" through the grid in the tesla app. I had 44% power in the powerwalls, and the sun would be up in an hour and half or so... I slowly had this big smile spread across my face as I continued to watch TV.

The power outage ended up being less than a minute, but a small part of me really wanted it to go longer (ROFL). So, no, you are not alone in that.... lol.

EDIT: One other note.... Because I am using self powered mode, my house is powered by the powerwalls all night (not on TOU). the only indication I had of a power outage was my TV / Receiver rebooting. No light flicker, and my microwave and oven both still had the correct time (no flashing).

When I have tested previously, whether this happens or not seems to depend on whether the powerwalls are receiving power, or already giving power to the house. When giving power, I get the result above. If they are being charged from solar or in standby (full, with solar powering the home) then there is a longer blip. Long enough that I have to reset my clocks (if this isnt a first world problem... "I have to reset my clock when my power backup system comes online automatically, whoa is me!"... I dont know what is lol)

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

Congrats and good luck. Hope all goes smoothly. So do you already have solar? What is anticipated to be installed?

Also curious what the timeframe from order to install will be. I know some have been waiting months. One of my neighbors had ordered his PWs last October. Had solar already. They did a nice job and his PWs were installed outside on an east facing wall so not sitting in the sun.

Yes, already have 9.9KW solar. 2 Powerwalls are being installed. This weekend I'm cleaning out the garage to make room along the wall. My SafeRacks got installed yesterday.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

Resist the temptation to check the App every 30 minutes to check your production/consumption.

I'll bet you'll be doing this in the next few months after install.

Cheerz!

When should I expect to see something in the app? Just have the car showing up now.

 

[jjrandorin]

When should I expect to see something in the app? Just have the car showing up now.

The powerwalls will be in the app when the installation is complete (while the installers are still there).

 

[cwied]

When should I expect to see something in the app? Just have the car showing up now.

In theory you should see something as soon as the install is done, but for me I had to self-register because apparently the installers forgot a step. Powerwall Self Registration | Tesla

 

[ElectricRed]

My installation (2 Powerwalls) took only about 5 hours with about 4 hours without power. I had a generator to power my fridge and internet the whole time. You'll definitely want/need to be home during the installation.

If you're installing the Powerwalls in the garage, make sure the area is clear. It's also a good time to sweep or power wash the garage. Interestingly my installer said the Powerwalls are waterproof up to about 2 feet of water (he said the whole thing is sealed except where the conduit goes in on the left side).

 

[jrweiss98020]

My install (27 PV panels + 2 PW) took 3 days. Power outage about 6 hours one day while they replaced the main panel. If you have enough sun, disconnect from the grid and run the house on PV+PW while waiting for PTO.

 

[charlesj]

...
EDIT: One other note.... Because I am using self powered mode, my house is powered by the powerwalls all night (not on TOU). the only indication I had of a power outage was my TV / Receiver rebooting. No light flicker, and my microwave and oven both still had the correct time (no flashing).

...)

In preparation for my two PW, I installed 3 - 600VA UPS for two two TVs Tivo and wi-fi, modem so there is no interruption in recording with Tivo as that takes a while to reboot.Same with wi-fi and modem.

 

[bob_p]

I've pulled all of our UPS boxes except for the UPS for our computers and the rack that has our home file server and TiVo/Xfinity DVR.

Throughout the house, we had UPS boxes that could run for extended periods - to try keeping devices running as long as possible during a power outage (we would typically have TV and internet for an hour or longer during an outage).

Now that we have PowerWalls to provide backup power, the UPS boxes only need to provide a few seconds of power - and only for those devices that would reboot during a 1-2 second outage (while the TEG is switching over to the PowerWalls).

 

[charlesj]

....

Now that we have PowerWalls to provide backup power, the UPS boxes only need to provide a few seconds of power - and only for those devices that would reboot during a 1-2 second outage (while the TEG is switching over to the PowerWalls).

Exactly and same reason here.
That is ready for the install on 7 Apr.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

We’re ready for tomorrow!