New power wall 2 install - Internet connection?

[ybbor]

I'm having my system installed next Friday; I'm having two powerwall 2's installed. I've read that the Gateway needs an internet connection.

It's my understanding it can use WiFi to connect to my home router or a hard line. I have the option to run a hard line cat 6 to where the gateway will be installed. Is there any advantage to a hard line? Disadvantage to Wifi? If your wifi password changes or you get a new router, how do you re-configure your gateway wifi connection/password?

Thanks!

 

[nyprepper]

yes, the gateway needs an internet connection to send data to Tesla. Tesla then sends it back to you through the mobile app. If there is no internet connection to the gateway, you will not see anything on the mobile app.

if the gateway location has a good signal from your home wifi router, there is no advantage to cable vs. wifi. I have used both. (the traffic is very low bandwidth).

the gateway also has it's own wifi network that you can connect to directly. using the serial # of your system you can login in to it directly. this is where you can add networks and change passwords. you can also get some basic system data through this direct gateway connection. I have used it several times when we have lost the broadband internet connection to our home.

the gateway should failover to cellular when you lose your internet connection. however, in my case, the gateway is in my concrete basement and the cell signal is too weak for it to leverage.

 

[winfield100]

I'm having my system installed next Friday; I'm having two powerwall 2's installed. I've read that the Gateway needs an internet connection.

It's my understanding it can use WiFi to connect to my home router or a hard line. I have the option to run a hard line cat 6 to where the gateway will be installed. Is there any advantage to a hard line? Disadvantage to Wifi? If your wifi password changes or you get a new router, how do you re-configure your gateway wifi connection/password?

Thanks!

Whom can i contact to try to speed things up for PW install, a name, an email, a phone number, anything pls

 

[miimura]

I'm having my system installed next Friday; I'm having two powerwall 2's installed. I've read that the Gateway needs an internet connection.

It's my understanding it can use WiFi to connect to my home router or a hard line. I have the option to run a hard line cat 6 to where the gateway will be installed. Is there any advantage to a hard line? Disadvantage to Wifi? If your wifi password changes or you get a new router, how do you re-configure your gateway wifi connection/password?

Thanks!

The Backup Gateway that is used in USA has its own cellular modem. I provided the installer with my WiFi credentials but they didn't use it. My system has used the built-in cellular connection for its data needs since installation.

 

[winfield100]

The Backup Gateway that is used in USA has its own cellular modem. I provided the installer with my WiFi credentials but they didn't use it. My system has used the built-in cellular connection for its data needs since installation.

guys 'n gals, anybody.
names, phone numbers, emails, any contact info to get a powerwall in SW Florida, Sanibel/CapeCoral/Fort Myers area.
anything. (i have a resv)

 

[SoundDaTrumpet]

My Tesla installers were not interested in wiring to my Ethernet. I didn’t want to share my WiFi password candidly and asked if the password can be changed and said the gateway had functionality to dynamically find you the router somehow. I was puzzled by this. Installer said the cellular connection is strong and we move on. The response time is a brief 4~5s refresh time.

Wired internet connections take time. The gateway has it built in so Tesla will not take time to run another conduit to protect the low voltage line.

This was different than my solar install where the WiFi module for the inverter was an added cost. I could imagine future IT support calls hurting overhead costs. No issues with wired Ethernet here. Too bad Tesla wasn’t interested. At least cellular is all on them.

 

[woferry]

My Tesla installers were not interested in wiring to my Ethernet. I didn’t want to share my WiFi password candidly and asked if the password can be changed and said the gateway had functionality to dynamically find you the router somehow. I was puzzled by this. Installer said the cellular connection is strong and we move on. The response time is a brief 4~5s refresh time.

Yeah, that feature doesn't sound right to me. I'd found instructions online, forget where, might have been Tesla or even here. But the Gateway publishes its own "TEG-xxx" network, xxx being the last 3 letters of your gateway's serial number (printed on labels inside). I forget the exact details of logging in, I think you can start with Installer and the unit's full serial number with an "S" added to the beginning, and from its webpage you can search for WiFi networks and add yours, you can then create your own Customer login. Only thing I didn't like is that I've always kept my WiFi network closed, and everything else I've used had an option to type in a network name as opposed to choosing it from a list, the Gateway didn't. So I opened my network and joined it from the Gateway's GUI, I've been meaning to try closing it again and see if it'll still find & join now that it knows the name and password, or if it'll refuse to join the closed network.

But once I did that it was on my WiFi, and I've been talking to it directly from my network, as well as collecting it's /api/ metering & SOC information for data logging. It has re-joined automatically after its own reboots (and an automatic FW update from 1.30.0 to 1.34.3) and several times they've turned the house off to work in the service panel since the Gateway first came online.

 

[SoundDaTrumpet]

Yeah, that feature doesn't sound right to me. I'd found instructions online, forget where, might have been Tesla or even here. But the Gateway publishes its own "TEG-xxx" network, xxx being the last 3 letters of your gateway's serial number (printed on labels inside).

@woferry I just read the release notes and that feature is "ancient' from June 2018 v1.20. (Software Updates | Tesla). Thanks bringing up the "TEG-xxx" network, I do recall seeing TMC posts about this.

Are there any disadvantages with using strictly a cellular connection?

My SMA inverter has two Ethernet jacks, one used, one open. Can this be used to hardwire an internet connection to the Gateway?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

My Powerwalls are connected via Ethernet, wifi and cellular. I don't regularly change my wifi password but as others have mentioned, you should be able to update the credentials by logging into the gateway.

 

[zanary]

@woferry I just read the release notes and that feature is "ancient' from June 2018 v1.20. (Software Updates | Tesla). Thanks bringing up the "TEG-xxx" network, I do recall seeing TMC posts about this.

Are there any disadvantages with using strictly a cellular connection?

My SMA inverter has two Ethernet jacks, one used, one open. Can this be used to hardwire an internet connection to the Gateway?

They now post instructions on how to connect to your gateway. From there I think you can login as Customer and change your gateway to use your Wifi if you want.

Monitoring from your Home Network | Tesla

 

[Shygar]

I have great wifi coverage but opted to run a cat6 Ethernet as I could easily do it. Only issue I had was the hole for running the cable through the box wasn't big enough for the head of the Ethernet cable so he clipped off the end I put on and I put on the new end (he said he wasn't too experienced with low power electrical work and I'm the one who crimped on the ends anyways, so I didn't mind doing it).

I've had two real outages. First one I still had internet at home and my powerwall stayed connected via Ethernet. Second one the cable went out with the power and the powerwall switched to cell mode.

I emailed the powerwall support asking for them to put an icon or something in the mobile app to say what connection type it's currently using. I think this would be helpful for when you have an outage.

 

[Az_Rael]

They must have updated the process. When I did my install, they gave me a power line adapter for mine. Wifi wasn't an option I was given, either powerline adapter or hardwired ethernet.

 

[PBBear]

They must have updated the process. When I did my install, they gave me a power line adapter for mine. Wifi wasn't an option I was given, either powerline adapter or hardwired ethernet.

There's often a difference between the options the hardware supports, and the subset the installer on the day can be bothered telling you about if some of the options are too much trouble or beyond their competency level.

Mine was installed onto my WiFi (plus their supplied cellular), as a hard-wired cable back to my network in another room was going to be too much bother for the installer. When a Tesla tech came later to diagnose a different issue, he looked around and said they greatly prefer a hardwired connection, just to eliminate the radio propagation issues when troubleshooting later, but realised the signal strength was strong enough, and I knew what I was doing, so shrugged and moved on.

Ironically, a month later the same installers were back to put in a Tigo optimiser gateway, and they ran a hardwired cable for that - even though the Tigo gateway also supports wifi. Go figure.

Note that since v1.17, the gateway "Added dynamic network management to use best internet connection type (Ethernet, Wi-Fi or Cellular)" - you can have it connected by all three methods simultaneously, and it will use the 'best' one to send its telemetry up to the mothership, failing-over to another method if its usual network isn't available temporarily.

 

[Az_Rael]

There's often a difference between the options the hardware supports, and the subset the installer on the day can be bothered telling you about if some of the options are too much trouble or beyond their competency level.

True. Mine was installed via Tesla, so they were probably reverting to the "must be hard wired" your tech mentioned.

 

[woferry]

Mine was installed by Tesla, the site surveyor mentioned that they'd want to hard-wire things, but the actual installers said nothing. The first crew simply hung the PW2 on the house and added the new service panel & gateway & raceway, but didn't actually re-wire anything or run conduit from the PW2. That all happened during the solar install (one of the rainy days they couldn't go up on the roof), though still pre-commissioning. Then there was a period of about a week where the Gateway was powered and online but not commissioned, during this time I'd gotten it associated with my WiFi network on my own. Come commissioning time the Tesla tech didn't say anything about WiFi or wired access, though he might have noticed that it was already connected to my WiFi network, so perhaps he was happy with that.

Now what I really want to know is how to get the data out of my 2 Solivia 5.2 inverters, as they seem to have lots of nifty data. Each unit has a Zigbee radio in it, as well as an RS485 port, but I don't get the impression Tesla does anything with either of them, nor do I see anything online about using the Zigbee. So I'm probably going to end up running my own RS485 connection to an RPi somewhere to gather the more detailed solar data, to monitor each string, etc.

 

[PBBear]

So I'm probably going to end up running my own RS485 connection to an RPi somewhere to gather the more detailed solar data, to monitor each string, etc.

You might find some help at PVOutput

 

[NinjaVece]

I'm having my system installed next Friday; I'm having two powerwall 2's installed. I've read that the Gateway needs an internet connection.

It's my understanding it can use WiFi to connect to my home router or a hard line. I have the option to run a hard line cat 6 to where the gateway will be installed. Is there any advantage to a hard line? Disadvantage to Wifi? If your wifi password changes or you get a new router, how do you re-configure your gateway wifi connection/password?

Thanks!

ybbor, if you have the choice between Ethernet and WiFi, go Ethernet. While the Gateway also has LTE for communication, having a direct connect to your router gives you some viewing advantages. You can directly access the IP address used by the Gateway to view the Power Flow seen through the TEG network on any PC also connected to that router (via Ethernet or WiFi).

My advise to go Ethernet is due to the Gateway's problems with acquiring and keeping WiFi connections through the many firmware revisions. Hard connecting with Ethernet avoids all those possible issues.

 

[ybbor]

ybbor, if you have the choice between Ethernet and WiFi, go Ethernet. While the Gateway also has LTE for communication, having a direct connect to your router gives you some viewing advantages. You can directly access the IP address used by the Gateway to view the Power Flow seen through the TEG network on any PC also connected to that router (via Ethernet or WiFi).

My advise to go Ethernet is due to the Gateway's problems with acquiring and keeping WiFi connections through the many firmware revisions. Hard connecting with Ethernet avoids all those possible issues.

Perfect, thank you!!

I'll run the cable and just leave it hanging right where they'll install the gateway so it should be pretty easy for them to just plug in.

 

[NinjaVece]

Perfect, thank you!!

I'll run the cable and just leave it hanging right where they'll install the gateway so it should be pretty easy for them to just plug in.

When you get the Gateway installed, simply have the Ethernet cable connected within it. When they run the wiring from the bottom of the Gateway through to the Breaker panel and on to battery, simply have them include the Ethernet cable into the enclosure.

Once you are connected, go into your router and specify a static IP address for the Gateway. You should be able to find the MAC address via looking through your Attached Devices list by searching for one that starts with 88: DA: 1A - which is the Redpine Signals chip that provides the networking (at least it provides the WiFi on my Gateway so its someplace to start). Once you find the actual MAC address for your Gateway, go into your LAN setup and tie a specific IP address to that MAC address.

Once your router resets with that static information, you can access the TEG based Power Flow visual from ANY computer attached to that router network. Simply go into IE or Chrome and call up that IP address (it will likely state the certificate is not valid but go ahead with it anyway) and you'll see real-time info flowing directly from your Ethernet cable. It's a simple way to see what's going on if you use a PC a lot at home (I work at my residence and have multiple systems throughout the house with this display option). Since the Power Flow display shows your house usage, its also a good way to watch how frugal you are, for example, if you are under TOU and in Peak period.

Lots of uses...

 

[Shygar]

Perfect, thank you!!

I'll run the cable and just leave it hanging right where they'll install the gateway so it should be pretty easy for them to just plug in.

As I mentioned, they couldn't fit the end of the Ethernet cable through the hole into the backup gateway on mine. Just FYI. Not sure if it's a real problem or not.