No solar power in self consumption mode

[imnotabug]

I have a 4.08kW solar (Hanwa panels), a Tesla inverter, Powerwall+ and a BackupGateway 2. I have not received PTO yet and only recently I found out that I am able to operate my system in self-consumption mode prior to PTO. What transpired next is a long story but I'll get to the questions I have right away to save time.

What I have completed so far:
1. Gateway is connected to the internet
2. Reset the gateway to set it up with my home wifi network
3. The app is up and running (since two days back)

The questions I have:

1. I see 0kW solar power generated in the app (for the two days since the app has been setup) and the usage data in my utility account confirms the same (i.e. no reduction in usage). What's blocking the solar energy from being released? Do I need to connect the inverter also to the internet for this to happen?
2. I read a couple of posts that have mentioned similar situations and people here have recommended power cycling the inverter. How do I do this? Which breaker controls the inverter?
3. I talked with Tesla support and their solar team mentioned that they are not able to see anything from my system until something (I forget what it was called) is initiated by the powerwall team in order for the solar team to setup my solar generation and only after then I'll be able to see solar energy production in my app. Is this true?
4. This question is not very important, but I was told by Tesla that until I have solar power generation, my powerwall will not receive any charge. However, I'm seeing that my powerwall is slowly, but surely, stealing energy from the grid. In the past two days it has charged up to 10%. Is this something that shouldn't happen?

Thanks in advance.

 

[imnotabug]

For question #1, I double checked my main panel and the sub-panel, but I didn't see any breakers labeled Solar PV. Then I looked at the breakers inside the gateway and found out that it's inside the gateway (didn't notice this before as both of them were labeled as "Powerwall+" on the left hand side and the proper labeling is on the right hand side (smh)). I've since followed the instructions on Tesla SSO - Sign In to reset my inverter. Steps I followed:

1. Disconnected Solar AC from my system by putting the Solar AC disconnect lever to "Off" position.
2. Put the Solar PV breakers to off position.
3. Wait 5 minutes as suggested. However, I noticed that the green indicator light is still blinking. My expectation was that all indicators will turn off.
4. Flipped the breakers/levers in the reverse order.

I don't have sunlight yet, so I'm yet to see whether this made any difference. Wanted to give an update here.

 

[imnotabug]

No solar yet. I hopped on a call with a technician and walked through the whole process again including 1) a sub-panel shutoff and 2) powerwall shutoff of ~7mins. During that time, 1) the inverter's green light blinked about every 1s and 2) powerwall's light blinked every 2s or so. The technician said that's not supposed to happen. She mentioned that she needs to escalate this to Tier 2 service and asked me to wait till mid next week for a response.

Not sure whether anyone has run into a similar situation and can offer any suggestions as to what I can do at this point. I'll update this thread with any developments.

 

[SaveOurPlanet]

Did the system pass city inspection yet? My PWs were installed one week before the roof went up so the PWs were being charged from grid and powering the house through peak for one week. Once the roof was installed there was no solar production as they told me they would not commission the system until city inspection. 2 days later city inspection passed and system was commissioned and everything worked except apps data was not right. They came back a few days later to check on things, connected CT1 and reset the whole system and it was going. Last month I had a problem with inverter not working, logged into the inverter and check the alert message, did the online chat with Tier1 and they kicked it up to Tier2. But the next day things just started working again and never heard from Tier2. Not that it would help much but did you check what alerts you have on the inverter?

 

[Rebel]

1. Did you already get your inspection passed by your town? If not then you have some hope here tell them to fail the inspeciton and that the system is not working tesla will need to come out to address any issues with your system. This is the only way that Tesla will pay attention for any support they want to pass that inspection after that they don't care much.
2. When you signed into your inveter did you sign in as a installer? Put any random email doesn't matter - flip your powerwall switch and you should see more options. Go into your System it should show all of your stats - does it show all of your strings being active - waiting for solar? any type of status? If you don't see any strings this is probably your issue of why you arent seeing any solar produce this maybe a installer issue when they wired the strings. Try to run the wizard.
3. Stop the system - Run the Wiziard ( warning keep everything the same do not mfake any changes) run through the steps and the system should upgrade firmware if there is any or and updates - when finish the system should start itself back up -jump back into the system page you should see button to clear everything. It should start doing its self test etc. and waits for solar.

 

[imnotabug]

Did the system pass city inspection yet? My PWs were installed one week before the roof went up so the PWs were being charged from grid and powering the house through peak for one week. Once the roof was installed there was no solar production as they told me they would not commission the system until city inspection. 2 days later city inspection passed and system was commissioned and everything worked except apps data was not right. They came back a few days later to check on things, connected CT1 and reset the whole system and it was going. Last month I had a problem with inverter not working, logged into the inverter and check the alert message, did the online chat with Tier1 and they kicked it up to Tier2. But the next day things just started working again and never heard from Tier2. Not that it would help much but did you check what alerts you have on the inverter?

Yes, city inspection was completed few weeks back and Tesla team never mentioned anything about self consumption mode so I didn’t get a chance to debug this with a Tesla person, unfortunately. How do I connect to the inverter? When I scan the QR code inside the inverter, it tells me that the Wi-Fi network doesn’t exist.

 

[imnotabug]

1. Did you already get your inspection passed by your town? If not then you have some hope here tell them to fail the inspeciton and that the system is not working tesla will need to come out to address any issues with your system. This is the only way that Tesla will pay attention for any support they want to pass that inspection after that they don't care much.

That’s unfortunate for me then. City inspection completed a couple of weeks ago. And I’m realizing it’s really difficult to get any meaningful support from them.

2. When you signed into your inveter did you sign in as a installer? Put any random email doesn't matter - flip your powerwall switch and you should see more options. Go into your System it should show all of your stats - does it show all of your strings being active - waiting for solar? any type of status? If you don't see any strings this is probably your issue of why you arent seeing any solar produce this maybe a installer issue when they wired the strings. Try to run the wizard.

I haven’t been able to sign in to the inverter. Could you please let me know how to do that? As I mentioned in the response to @savetheplanet, scanning the QR code doesn’t work for me.

3. Stop the system - Run the Wiziard ( warning keep everything the same do not mfake any changes) run through the steps and the system should upgrade firmware if there is any or and updates - when finish the system should start itself back up -jump back into the system page you should see button to clear everything. It should start doing its self test etc. and waits for solar.

Thanks for this information. I’m hoping I’d be able to log into the inverter and make progress.

 

[SaveOurPlanet]

Your inverter address is most likely 192.168.92.1, I think it should be listed at the side or inside of the inverter. Use your Tesla account email address to login, no password is required. You should be able to see alerts listed. You need to turn inverter breaker off then on to be able to login. You need to be close to your inverter to be able to do this.

 

[imnotabug]

Your inverter address is most likely 192.168.92.1, I think it should be listed at the side or inside of the inverter. Use your Tesla account email address to login, no password is required. You should be able to see alerts listed. You need to turn inverter breaker off then on to be able to login. You need to be close to your inverter to be able to do this.

Thanks for the quick response. I see two unsecured networks when I get closer to my system. One is the "TEG-xxx" network from my gateway and the other is a "PWRview-xxxxx" network. The QR code inside the inverter has a sticker inside for a different "TEG-xxx" network but that's not available. I tried connecting to the "PWRview-xxxxx" network by using the IP you mentioned, but I wasn't able to connect.

 

[imnotabug]

Thanks for the quick response. I see two unsecured networks when I get closer to my system. One is the "TEG-xxx" network from my gateway and the other is a "PWRview-xxxxx" network. The QR code inside the inverter has a sticker inside for a different "TEG-xxx" network but that's not available. I tried connecting to the "PWRview-xxxxx" network by using the IP you mentioned, but I wasn't able to connect.

I'm starting to believe that the reason my inverter's "TEG-xxx" network isn't broadcasting is because the inverter isn't reset properly (and I haven't been able to reset it using the instructions available online or with a walkthrough by a Tesla technician). No matter what breaker/system I turn off, the indicator light inside the inverter wouldn't turn off.

 

[yblaser]

I don't have a PW+ so I can't directly comment but I recall a thread where the poster had to power it down 10+ minutes for it fully to turn off and the lights to stop blinking.

 

[Techie712]

I just had my system installed a few weeks ago with a 15kw Solar Roof, Backup Gateway 2 and 2 Powerwall+. My 2 powerwall+ are missing the internals in the top right corner of the inverter area that would contain WiFi and Ethernet to connect to them, which is usually installed if you have a Backup Switch instead. Basically, you have to connect to the Backup Gateway 2 in order to see the string information. If you already connected the BG2 to WiFi, just type in the local IP Address that your router assigned to it. From there, you can login as an installer and it will ask you to toggle the Powerwall power switch. Username: (any email) Password: (last 5 digits of the password listed if you open up your BG2). The “PWRview” networks are the Neurios (black boxes with a green or blue light) installed in each powerwall which are the solar CTs. You can also connect directly to the BG2’s Wi-Fi but I haven’t tried that yet since I can login through the local IP

 

[Techie712]

You will be able to see stats on the inverter and battery as well as Enable Solar Assembly!

 

[imnotabug]

You will be able to see stats on the inverter and battery as well as Enable Solar Assembly!

I just completed this step. (Eagerly) Waiting for sunlight to hit my panels. Hopefully this is the missing piece.

 

[imnotabug]

It works!!! Enabling "Solar Assembly" in Installer mode was all that was required. Just one button click... I'm 1) elated to see the solar energy flowing, 2) extremely grateful to this community for all the guidance and 3) utterly disappointed in the competence/knowledgeability of Tesla technicians.

 

[imnotabug]

I don't have a PW+ so I can't directly comment but I recall a thread where the poster had to power it down 10+ minutes for it fully to turn off and the lights to stop blinking.

I actually tried this too. Yesterday I left the system turned off for 30 minutes and turned it back on. Turns out inverter was fine all along it's just that the solar assembly wasn't enabled.

 

[geltik]

I have a very similar issue. I flipped on inverter after received PTO but no solar generation ever since. logged in to Gateway and ran the 13 steps wizard but I don't see 'Enable solar assembly' button. can someone post a screenshot? thanks a lot!

 

[geltik]

Solar AC disconnect lever to "Off" position

I cannot find anywhere that hints solar AC disconnect, is it in the gateway box? in mine, there are only 1 pv inverter breaker, 2 pw breakers and 2 neurio meter breakers.

 

[JaeTheDev]

Im having this same issue. I logged in as an installer, and see my PW+ are enabled under solar assembly, but I have an error stating:

DC OVER VOLTAGE. CHECK DC WIRING CONNECTIONS, PANELS, AND STRING CONFIGURATIONS".

Tesla solar has been pure hell for me. No other way to describe it.