New Powerwall charging at minimum

[Hawkins]

I just had a new powerwall installed complete with new panels. My cottage is 100% off grid . My installer is having a very difficult time trying to figure out why the rate of charge is so low. He has called the Tesla support several times , has reset ample times,
And still very little solar getting through to charge powerwall. The cottage uses very little power and although a very sunny day yesterday, the powerwall charged only 1.6 KW. I have 10 new panels and 4 older ones .
I am very disappointed of course as I was really looking forward to the extra power .
Has anyone else experienced this problem or have ideas to where the problem may be stemming from?

 

[h2ofun]

I just had a new powerwall installed complete with new panels. My cottage is 100% off grid . My installer is having a very difficult time trying to figure out why the rate of charge is so low. He has called the Tesla support several times , has reset ample times,
And still very little solar getting through to charge powerwall. The cottage uses very little power and although a very sunny day yesterday, the powerwall charged only 1.6 KW. I have 10 new panels and 4 older ones .
I am very disappointed of course as I was really looking forward to the extra power .
Has anyone else experienced this problem or have ideas to where the problem may be stemming from?

Not is not a lot of panels. PW's only charge with what is left over from house use. How much did you solar make. the option is there to charge from the grid now, have you tried/

 

[Hawkins]

There is no grid to charge from. Cottage only uses 2.5 kw when vacant.

 

[h2ofun]

There is no grid to charge from. Cottage only uses 2.5 kw when vacant.

dah, so your usage would be KWh. So, got a chart how how much solar kwh your are making, and what the house is using kwh?

 

[Vines]

I just had a new powerwall installed complete with new panels. My cottage is 100% off grid . My installer is having a very difficult time trying to figure out why the rate of charge is so low. He has called the Tesla support several times , has reset ample times,
And still very little solar getting through to charge powerwall. The cottage uses very little power and although a very sunny day yesterday, the powerwall charged only 1.6 KW. I have 10 new panels and 4 older ones .
I am very disappointed of course as I was really looking forward to the extra power .
Has anyone else experienced this problem or have ideas to where the problem may be stemming from?

Wow, interesting and welcome to TMC. I have yet to see one person trying to troubleshoot an off grid system by themselves, so things are a bit different. I do not think many people use Powerwalls for fully off-grid setups. Most off grid folks want a lot more control over their setup and go with Sol-Ark, Outback, or one of a couple other manufacturers.

From your initial description, it sounds like the CT meters that report the solar production to the TEG are likely not correctly configured.

A Couple pieces of information are needed:
Old panel wattage and count - What inverter?
New panel wattage and count - What inverter?
As a curiosity, what generator is used for this setup?
What is your battery percentage?

I would check both sets of CT's, or if just one set then check the CT's that measure the collective power of the PV system. It's likely that the 1.2 kW you are seeing makes sense when looking at the actual installation.
For instance, if your old PV system was 1.2 kW it sounds like the new PV system might not have any CT's.

Another possibility is that one of your PV systems are not functioning at all. Your installer should check the voltage/amperage at the 2 separate systems to see if one of them is not properly creating current.

One thing that doesn't makes sense here, is your statement about 2.5 kW for the cabin when it is vacant. Are you saying 2.5 kWh per day?

One more thing to consider is that if your total PV size is too large (5 kW AC), or your battery is too full (90-95%) or are too cold then the batteries will not charge. Check the frequency of the microgrid, and see if the TEG is limiting the PV output. If your frequency is 60 hz on the money then that isn't limiting. If your hz is above about 60.5 then the TEG is telling the modules to curtail their production.

If you have internet at the site, tell the installer to login to the Powerhub fleet view and they can look for error codes and wierdness there as well.

 

[wwhitney]

I just had a new powerwall installed complete with new panels. My cottage is 100% off grid . My installer is having a very difficult time trying to figure out why the rate of charge is so low. He has called the Tesla support several times , has reset ample times,
And still very little solar getting through to charge powerwall. The cottage uses very little power and although a very sunny day yesterday, the powerwall charged only 1.6 KW. I have 10 new panels and 4 older ones .
I am very disappointed of course as I was really looking forward to the extra power .

So when you had just the 4 older panels, what were you doing for batteries? Is that battery system completely gone, or is it operating in parallel with the PWs?

If the PWs are the only battery inverter operating on your microgrid, then any excess solar must be going into the PWs, there's nowhere else for the energy to go. So if the PV production is way below expectations, then the PWs are throttling off the PV for some reason. [Edit: or there's an install problem with the new PV.]

If the PWs are operating along with your older battery inverter, then the situation is much more complex and it's hard to speculate on what weird interactions could be going on.

A one-line diagram of your microgrid would help in discussing your issue.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[Hawkins]

Clarification. The system only took in 2.5 kw of power all day. The cottage only used .9 and 1.6 went to the powerwall.



Prior to the powerwall I had agm batteries (24V) and back up generator ( magnum Invertor/ charger and controller). The old system was removed. The generator I have apparently will not communicate with new system but can be manually turned on when required to power up the cabin.

 

[jjrandorin]

Clarification. The system only took in 2.5 kw of power all day. The cottage only used .9 and 1.6 went to the powerwall.



Prior to the powerwall I had agm batteries (24V) and back up generator ( magnum Invertor/ charger and controller). The old system was removed. The generator I have apparently will not communicate with new system but can be manually turned on when required to power up the cabin.

Two of our most technical members have chimed in on your thread, but neither will be able to attempt to help you further without more technical information.

A one-line diagram of your microgrid would help in discussing your issue.

I would recommend starting with what @wwhitney asked for, obscuring your actual address etc. Also any pictures of your panel, technical descriptions of your actual setup etc. I am not able to help you with this, but others might be able to, given enough technical information.

 

[Hawkins]

Wow, interesting and welcome to TMC. I have yet to see one person trying to troubleshoot an off grid system by themselves, so things are a bit different. I do not think many people use Powerwalls for fully off-grid setups. Most off grid folks want a lot more control over their setup and go with Sol-Ark, Outback, or one of a couple other manufacturers.

From your initial description, it sounds like the CT meters that report the solar production to the TEG are likely not correctly configured.

A Couple pieces of information are needed:
Old panel wattage and count - What inverter?
New panel wattage and count - What inverter?
As a curiosity, what generator is used for this setup?
What is your battery percentage?

I would check both sets of CT's, or if just one set then check the CT's that measure the collective power of the PV system. It's likely that the 1.2 kW you are seeing makes sense when looking at the actual installation.
For instance, if your old PV system was 1.2 kW it sounds like the new PV system might not have any CT's.

Another possibility is that one of your PV systems are not functioning at all. Your installer should check the voltage/amperage at the 2 separate systems to see if one of them is not properly creating current.

One thing that doesn't makes sense here, is your statement about 2.5 kW for the cabin when it is vacant. Are you saying 2.5 kWh per day?

One more thing to consider is that if your total PV size is too large (5 kW AC), or your battery is too full (90-95%) or are too cold then the batteries will not charge. Check the frequency of the microgrid, and see if the TEG is limiting the PV output. If your frequency is 60 hz on the money then that isn't limiting. If your hz is above about 60.5 then the TEG is telling the modules to curtail their production.

If you have internet at the site, tell the installer to login to the Powerhub fleet view and they can look for error codes and wierdness there as well.

Thanks for your input. The installer also believes it is the configuration but can’t seem to get it figured out.

 

[Hawkins]

Two of our most technical members have chimed in on your thread, but neither will be able to attempt to help you further without more technical information.



I would recommend starting with what @wwhitney asked for, obscuring your actual address etc. Also any pictures of your panel, technical descriptions of your actual setup etc. I am not able to help you with this, but others might be able to, given enough technical information.

I am going to forward this thread to my installer/electrician as he is on site trying to troubleshoot. Thanks
.

 

[aesculus]

You say the system is off grid. Is it also off the internet? If it is connected can you see your home draw, powerwalls and solar in the Tesla app?

If you don't have the app you can still connect to the powerwalls using wifi or your installer should be able to connect directly with ethernet.

When logged in you can see the state of all three of these.

The other interesting question, especially if the PW seems near 90% full, is what your frequency is. If above 61 Hz your solar my be reduced. Higher and it could even be turned off.

 

[Hawkins]

Problem was resolved last night and system is being monitored . Once The tech tells me what the issue was I will definitely post.

You say the system is off grid. Is it also off the internet? If it is connected can you see your home draw, powerwalls and solar in the Tesla app?

If you don't have the app you can still connect to the powerwalls using wifi or your installer should be able to connect directly with ethernet.

When logged in you can see the state of all three of these.

The other interesting question, especially if the PW seems near 90% full, is what your frequency is. If above 61 Hz your solar my be reduced. Higher and it could even be turned off.

Thanks for your interest. I obviously need to pay a little more attention to my choice of words. By off grid I meant My cottage is not connected to any grid as I am in a remote area and use strictly solar and back up generator.The powerwall was 30% charged when I received it so I had no problem connecting to internet and downloading the app. The problem was , after install, the powerwall was not drawing in solar at the rate it should of been. The cottage itself draws very little power when vacant as the only thing drawing power is the wifi therefore the powerwall should of been fully charged after one day of sunlight and it wasn’t even close. Regardless, I believe tech has resolved the issue and I’m just waiting on his report.

 

[charlesj]

One thing to remember is that your generator's frequency may be very high and might cut off the inverter. Need an instrument such as Kill-A-Watt to see the frequency.

Be sure to let us know what the issue was so we can also learn.

 

[miimura]

Be sure to let us know what the issue was so we can also learn.

We may never know because the installer may not admit their mistake.

 

[iollmann]

There is no grid to charge from. Cottage only uses 2.5 kw when vacant.

Only? My house uses 0.4 kW when full. It uses more if we start running major appliances. Buy a killawatt meter, and figure out where that energy is going! That 2 kW is going to add up quick!

 

[iollmann]

We may never know because the installer may not admit their mistake.

Mine took a while to sort itself out in 2018. I think the installer needed to phone up Tesla to register the rest of the system so that the unit wasn’t being so timid. I’m sure the many software updates since could have helped.

It does take a while to build up a record of operation so that the software can make better predictions.

 

[jjrandorin]

Only? My house uses 0.4 kW when full. It uses more if we start running major appliances. Buy a killawatt meter, and figure out where that energy is going! That 2 kW is going to add up quick!

I got the impression that the energy usage number that was quoted from the person you quoted was for 24 hours of energy, or .10 per hour), while the number you are quoting is likely "per hour", so their "2.5 empty" is your "9.6 full", for equivalent energy comparison.