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When working normally, Powerwalls respond to app changes only once an hour. This seems to be intentional on Tesla's part, because if you use the local setup wizard, the Powerwalls will happily change modes immediately. My speculation is that Tesla did this to discourage users from making manual changes because they would like to have more control over the Powerwalls themselves. I think this might make it easier for them to offer grid stabilization services later on.

I'm actually fine with that. They just need to make the Powerwall act consistent. It should go into standby mode during "off peak" when in "cost savings mode." Sometime it does, sometimes it does not. Tesla Level 2 has told me that it should always go into standby mode in that case, but there is a problem with the firmware.

The 1st L2 rep I talked to placed a "fix" into my system and said that should correct things. It made things better, but did not fix the intermittent issue. He also said that there is new firmware coming out that will fix it. However, when I talked to the next support personnel, she did not have any records for what the 1st rep did in my tracking number. Now, I am waiting for the callback.
 
For what it's worth, I've never seen my Powerwalls discharge during off-peak when in Cost-savings mode.
Mine is set for TBC-Cost Saving, our off-peak is 10pm-7am. Almost always it discharges during off-peak in the midnight-to-dawn period. Oddly, it almost always switches correctly from discharge to standby in the evening at 10pm when off-peak period starts, but then shortly after midnight changes its mind and discharges until the battery SOC reduces to ~ 30%.
Now in summer, it usually goes into off-peak at 10pm with 40% - 60% charge. I'd really prefer it preserved the battery charge at whatever level it is when off-peak starts, and holds it there overnight regardless of SOC, but it really really likes to reduce to the magic 30%, or charge up to 30% overnight, to cross the 7am threshold at 30%.
See WillisAve 7.370kW | Live Output
 
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Mine is set for TBC-Cost Saving, our off-peak is 10pm-7am. Almost always it discharges during off-peak in the midnight-to-dawn period. Oddly, it almost always switches correctly from discharge to standby in the evening at 10pm when off-peak period starts, but then shortly after midnight changes its mind and discharges until the battery SOC reduces to ~ 30%.
Now in summer, it usually goes into off-peak at 10pm with 40% - 60% charge. I'd really prefer it preserved the battery charge at whatever level it is when off-peak starts, and holds it there overnight regardless of SOC, but it really really likes to reduce to the magic 30%, or charge up to 30% overnight, to cross the 7am threshold at 30%.
See WillisAve 7.370kW | Live Output

I have had it running in cost savings mode for about two weeks now. Three times it has started to discharge in off-peak. Last night it did, and my battery was at 90% going into off-peak. Tonight, my battery was at 89% and it worked properly, shutting down at the exact start of off-peak. I've never let it discharge very far. I up the reserve (for a power outage) and have stopped it from eating too much of the battery away during off-peak. I would be interested if it did decide to stop at 30%.
 
When I first got Time Based Control in May or June last year I didn't like the weird stuff it was doing in Cost Saving mode so I changed to Balanced. I'm happy with what it does in Balanced mode and I've never looked back or wanted to try Cost Saving again. It never discharges in Off-Peak. Ever.
I also set my PW to Balanced Mode, but sometimes it will discharge during off-peak right before the sun comes out. Here is an example.

Off Peak: 7p - 11a
Peak: 11a - 7p

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It started to discharge around 7 am even though it was still in off-peak. It seems to me that PW decided to discharge thinking it had too much left in the battery. In a normal day, even if it is partly cloudy, my PW can be charged from 0% to 100%. But we all know that PW doesn't take the weather forecast into algorithm, so it didn't know there would be little solar production. Since it was not the first time it discharged just before sunrise, I intentionally set the reserve % high to make sure I will have enough to ride through the peak period. And sure enough, it discharged until it hit the reserve during off peak.

At around 10 am, I lowered the reserve to 20%, and it started to discharge at 11 am (as it supposed to be doing).
 
I also set my PW to Balanced Mode, but sometimes it will discharge during off-peak right before the sun comes out. Here is an example.

Off Peak: 7p - 11a
Peak: 11a - 7p

View attachment 377331

It started to discharge around 7 am even though it was still in off-peak. It seems to me that PW decided to discharge thinking it had too much left in the battery. In a normal day, even if it is partly cloudy, my PW can be charged from 0% to 100%. But we all know that PW doesn't take the weather forecast into algorithm, so it didn't know there would be little solar production. Since it was not the first time it discharged just before sunrise, I intentionally set the reserve % high to make sure I will have enough to ride through the peak period. And sure enough, it discharged until it hit the reserve during off peak.

At around 10 am, I lowered the reserve to 20%, and it started to discharge at 11 am (as it supposed to be doing).

My PW2s keep doing what they want (erratically). Last night, they shut off right when off peak hits, but then three hours later, they decide to start offloading in the middle of off-peak. It makes no sense. I really believe the logic of the code is just messed up. I got that feeling after talking to Tesla L2 support on my first call.
 
I've been happy with my PW2s, but I can't seem to consistently get the Powerwalls to act correctly in "off peak". They should not be producing energy during "off peak", but for some reason, they come on after I have charged them up during a sunny day. It works fine for a couple of days, but then, they decide to not turn off once "off peak" hits.
I also see it keep discharging instead of going to standby when it hit off peak. It usually happened when it has a lot of energy stored (> 20%) relative to reserve %.

Again, mine is set to Balanced.
 
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What is the "local setup wizard" - is that the gateway interface? All mine will let me do is "STOP POWERWALL":
View attachment 377347
The setup wizard is also on the gateway, but you have to log in as an installer. Depending on firmware versions, you either use your gateway serial number ("ST....") as the password or go through the password reset process. My recommendation is not to change anything in the wizard except for the mode and backup reserve. Some of us have automated changes to the Powerwall settings using the interface that the wizard uses (for example, I use this to respond to OhmConnect events using IFTTT). Unfortunately the wizard does not do advanced (time-based) configuration, so it is pretty limited.
 
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The setup wizard is also on the gateway, but you have to log in as an installer. Depending on firmware versions, you either use your gateway serial number ("ST....") as the password or go through the password reset process.
Unfortunately neither method worked for me. Tesla Power has definitely relegated me to second-class citizen. Fortunately my Model 3 experience has been as wonderful as my Powerwall experience has been frustrating.
 
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I've kept my battery in Cost Saving mode most of the time. I have to say I've read the explanation of balanced and cant figure out the important difference. Based on @JohnRatsay comment above I think it might be more important during summer months so I have a bit of time to understand it. My PVOutput: SunnyPeacs 5.760kW
 
I've kept my battery in Cost Saving mode most of the time. I have to say I've read the explanation of balanced and cant figure out the important difference. Based on @JohnRatsay comment above I think it might be more important during summer months so I have a bit of time to understand it. My PVOutput: SunnyPeacs 5.760kW

A Tesla L2 rep talked to me about "Cost Savings" mode a couple of days ago. I opened a problem up and said that during off-peak, the Powerwall would decide to discharge power at various times. He explained to me that the Powerwall would decide whether it has enough power for the next "peak" time, and if possible, shed some of its power during off-peak.

I called BS on him. I said if that was true, then why would it happen at various times of the night? He blamed that on my altering the reserve capacities, which I didn't do other than one night in a two week period. I also asked him how a Powerwall could figure out whether it had enough energy (along with my solar panels) for the next day. He didn't have an answer for that, but said it "just worked that way."

I have "nights free", so I don't want the Powerwall to be used at all during off-peak. It is strange they can't allow us to charge our Powerwalls from the grid in this country (I get that part due to the tax credit), but we can't even keep our Powerwalls from discharging when we don't want them to either.

Frustrating, especially since the Tesla support folks seem to aloof about how customers want their Powerwalls to operate.
 
A Tesla L2 rep talked to me about "Cost Savings" mode a couple of days ago. I opened a problem up and said that during off-peak, the Powerwall would decide to discharge power at various times. He explained to me that the Powerwall would decide whether it has enough power for the next "peak" time, and if possible, shed some of its power during off-peak.

I called BS on him. I said if that was true, then why would it happen at various times of the night? He blamed that on my altering the reserve capacities, which I didn't do other than one night in a two week period. I also asked him how a Powerwall could figure out whether it had enough energy (along with my solar panels) for the next day. He didn't have an answer for that, but said it "just worked that way."

I have "nights free", so I don't want the Powerwall to be used at all during off-peak. It is strange they can't allow us to charge our Powerwalls from the grid in this country (I get that part due to the tax credit), but we can't even keep our Powerwalls from discharging when we don't want them to either.

Frustrating, especially since the Tesla support folks seem to aloof about how customers want their Powerwalls to operate.
Can you post a picture of your settings?

We had the opposite problem where our Powerwalls were not discharging when we wanted them to. Since there is no scheduled setting for self-powered, I found that I could set it to Balanced TBC and it would power the house during peak and part-peak times but not during off-peak. I shortened the off-peak schedule to just be a couple hours per night and now we are usually sell-powered for all but those two hours.

Since you don't want yours to discharge, try setting it to Balanced and extend the off-peak period.
 
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Can you post a picture of your settings?

We had the opposite problem where our Powerwalls were not discharging when we wanted them to. Since there is no scheduled setting for self-powered, I found that I could set it to Balanced TBC and it would power the house during peak and part-peak times but not during off-peak. I shortened the off-peak schedule to just be a couple hours per night and now we are usually sell-powered for all but those two hours.

Since you don't want yours to discharge, try setting it to Balanced and extend the off-peak period.

Interesting. I'll try switching over to balanced to see how that behaves.



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Thanks for the screenshot.

Are you on your utility company's Time of Use (TOU) plan? If so, can you tell us what hours correspond to peak, part-peak and off-peak?

Based on your current settings, I would think your Powerwalls would try to power the house between 6 am and 8 pm. I've never seen a utility company with peak periods that long (but it is possible). If you shorten the peak schedule, it will reduce the hours that the Powerwalls power the house.
 
Thanks for the screenshot.

Are you on your utility company's Time of Use (TOU) plan? If so, can you tell us what hours correspond to peak, part-peak and off-peak?

Based on your current settings, I would think your Powerwalls would try to power the house between 6 am and 8 pm. I've never seen a utility company with peak periods that long (but it is possible). If you shorten the peak schedule, it will reduce the hours that the Powerwalls power the house.

My utility retailer charges me $0.23 per kwh from 6 am to 8 pm. From 8 pm to 6 am, the price is $0.00 per kwh regardless of how much power I use. Free energy.
 
What you really want is scheduled self-consumption. I'm not sure that's possible using the time-based configuration, although you could try setting a part-peak period and use balanced to see if it comes close.

If you're willing to DIY, you could probably set up a script that just switches your backup reserve to 100% every evening at 8pm and turns it back to whatever you want your actual backup reserve to be at 6am.
 
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What you really want is scheduled self-consumption. I'm not sure that's possible using the time-based configuration, although you could try setting a part-peak period and use balanced to see if it comes close.
Yeah, that's what I ended up doing for my system by artificially extending my part-peak period and shortening my off-peak period. I don't think I've ever seen my Powerwalls discharge in off-peak unless the grid power was out.

I would suggest @JES2 try Balanced TBC for a few days and maybe add a part-peak period before and after his peak period to see if that helps. I would think that the Cost Saving TBC that he is currently using would work for him since it should only power the house during peak but I guess that's not how it's currently working. :confused:
 
The problem with cost-saving is that it really wants to offset the full house load during peak in order to export as much as possible. Given that all daylight hours are marked as peak, I don't know what it'll do since it both needs to charge and wants to discharge during the same period. I'm not sure it would necessarily compromise to just charge from excess solar in that case.