Only getting solar when grid is up...this is a new one for me..... ???

[nyprepper]

have a 6.6kw array and two PW2's. system has been functional and working perfectly for over a year until today.

Grid went down at about 2am. I woke up and saw that house was running off the PW's as expect, but I was getting zero solar production all morning from the panels. Delta Solivia 7.6TL inverter showed the yellow Alarm/Warning light.

Grid finally came back up at about 10am, and within minutes I was seeing normal solar production again. Solar was going to recharge the PW's, and the grid was feeding the house. Alarm/Warning light was Off on the inverter.

I decided to run a test and flipped the main grid breaker to the house. Powerwall immediately starts feeding the house as expected. But after 45 minutes solar production still hadn't come back online. The inverter showed the Alarm/Warning light.

Flip main grid breaker back on, and within 5 minutes solar production resumed as expected.

So i've basically got a situation where i'm getting no solar production and an inverter alarm/warning when the grid is down.

any ideas??? thanks!

 

[jjrandorin]

My guess (and seriously just a guess) is that the Powerwalls are sending a signal to turn off the panels. Were your PWs full when this happened? If so, this is as expected. If not, then you might need to call into Tesla for assistance.

 

[Dan123]

My guess (and seriously just a guess) is that the Powerwalls are sending a signal to turn off the panels. Were your PWs full when this happened? If so, this is as expected. If not, then you might need to call into Tesla for assistance.

If the PW state of charge is above 94%, it is normal for solar to be off. If it is below 94%, then solar should be working. There may be something wrong with your configuration. Were they (PW and solar) installed together, or was one of them installed after the other?

 

[nyprepper]

If the PW state of charge is above 94%, it is normal for solar to be off. If it is below 94%, then solar should be working. There may be something wrong with your configuration. Were they (PW and solar) installed together, or was one of them installed after the other?

Powerwalls were at 100% when grid went down at 2am, however, by the time of morning sunlight on the panels they were down to 83%. Zero solar for a couple of hours with direct sunlight. Alarm light was on, on the inverter.

After the grid came up I simulated another grid outage with the PW's at 81%, and after waiting 45 minutes solar still hadn't come back online. Same alarm light came back on on the inverter.

PW's and Solar were installed at the same time by Tesla and have been working fine until now.

 

[Dan123]

Powerwalls were at 100% when grid went down at 2am, however, by the time of morning sunlight on the panels they were down to 83%. Zero solar for a couple of hours with direct sunlight. Alarm light was on, on the inverter.

After the grid came up I simulated another grid outage with the PW's at 81%, and after waiting 45 minutes solar still hadn't come back online. Same alarm light came back on on the inverter.

PW's and Solar were installed at the same time by Tesla and have been working fine until now.

Then something is wrong with either PW settings, or your inverter settings (more likely).

 

[MorrisonHiker]

It does sound like an issue to me. If the batteries were full and the grid was up, your solar should've been generating and sending back to the grid.

 

[gpez]

Powerwalls were at 100% when grid went down at 2am, however, by the time of morning sunlight on the panels they were down to 83%. Zero solar for a couple of hours with direct sunlight. Alarm light was on, on the inverter.

After the grid came up I simulated another grid outage with the PW's at 81%, and after waiting 45 minutes solar still hadn't come back online. Same alarm light came back on on the inverter.

PW's and Solar were installed at the same time by Tesla and have been working fine until now.

Agreeing with Dan123 and MorrisonHiker that something sounds wrong. What would be helpful is what the inverter error is and maybe, if you can, check to see what the microgrid frequency and voltages are when doing an offgrid simulation. Is that something you could get?

 

[ctslc]

Although I would have expected to check it, but is the PV "behind" (on the "house" side of) the Powerwall, or on the "Utility" side? I ask this because if your solar was installed before the Powerwall - and it was connected "before" the main panel (such as a ConnectDER on the meter, if the solar is on a different building where the utility comes onto the property that *then* feeds the house) the array may never "see" the Powerwall powerwall's back-up voltage when the grid is out. It is also possible that the mains voltage/current monitoring system isn't working.

Verify that you see power going in/out of the Powerwall and out of the Solar via the Powerwall app - and it would be worth checking the inverter(s) statistics to verify that they see a mains voltage when the grid is offline: If not, a serious talk with those who designed/wired the system is in order.

 

[nyprepper]

just an fyi to all, problem appears to be solved. i spoke with an electrician friend and former installer and he said something about a likely arc fault detection by the inverter as they are really sensitive to any kind of deviance. i simulated another grid outage and cycled the PV/solar circuit breaker and it worked..... solar came back on-line in about 5 minutes.

 

[Ulmo]

just an fyi to all, problem appears to be solved. i spoke with an electrician friend and former installer and he said something about a likely arc fault detection by the inverter as they are really sensitive to any kind of deviance. i simulated another grid outage and cycled the PV/solar circuit breaker and it worked..... solar came back on-line in about 5 minutes.

I wonder if this is some new type of problem, and if the inverters are able to self-reset after a timeout. This level of unreliability is unacceptable.

 

[CrayZ1]

Yeah, normally a decent inverter like a SolarEdge will reboot on a spike or blackout. There is an error emailed to you, then you can go on the web and figure out what the real issue is.

But like was stated above, the power needs somewhere to go. If there is no possible load for the solar, the inverter has to shut down.

 

[CSFTN]

It does sound like an issue to me. If the batteries were full and the grid was up, your solar should've been generating and sending back to the grid.

I don't think so. All solar installations have to prevent exactly this, or else the guys repairing the damaged lines (your system has no way of knowing why it isn't receiving outside electricity) would get electrocuted. So clearly there is and needs to be a switch that disconnects your production/storage from the grid when the grid is down.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I don't think so. All solar installations have to prevent exactly this, or else the guys repairing the damaged lines (your system has no way of knowing why it isn't receiving outside electricity) would get electrocuted. So clearly there is and needs to be a switch that disconnects your production/storage from the grid when the grid is down.

The OP has Powerwalls. The gateway installed with the Powerwalls isolates the property from the grid if the grid goes down. That's one of the main points of having Powerwalls. In my message above that you quoted, I mention that if the grid was up and the Powerwalls were full then the solar should be on and energy would be exported to the grid. If the grid is down and the Powerwalls are not full then they will allow the solar system to generate solar energy to recharge them. Once the Powerwalls are full, they will disable the solar if the grid is down. Once the grid comes back up, the solar would automatically be enabled.

I have 4 Powerwalls myself on a 20 kW system. The Powerwalls keep my solar system up whenever the grid is down. When the grid comes back, the energy goes back to the grid.

 

[charlesj]

...

I have 4 Powerwalls myself on a 20 kW system. The Powerwalls keep my solar system up whenever the grid is down. When the grid comes back, the energy goes back to the grid.

Just came to me to ask. I resume when grid is down, sun is shining nicely, would the PV power is priority to feed the house with PW as backup for loads greater than PV power to house? And is house need is below PV power out, PV charges PW?

 

[ctslc]

Just came to me to ask. I resume when grid is down, sun is shining nicely, would the PV power is priority to feed the house with PW as backup for loads greater than PV power to house? And is house need is below PV power out, PV charges PW?

Yes, absolutely!

 

[jboy210]

Just came to me to ask. I resume when grid is down, sun is shining nicely, would the PV power is priority to feed the house with PW as backup for loads greater than PV power to house? And is house need is below PV power out, PV charges PW?

I assume this is also a function of mode the owner selected for the Powerwall. Looking at the settings it seems you can "tune" them to operate the way you want, and prioritize what is important to you.

Powerwall App Overview | Tesla Support

 

[jjrandorin]

I assume this is also a function of mode the owner selected for the Powerwall. Looking at the settings it seems you can "tune" them to operate the way you want, and prioritize what is important to you.

Powerwall App Overview | Tesla Support

If the grid is down, however, it works the way @charlesj mentions. Solar powers house and fills powerwalls if there is extra production that the home doesnt need (and there is solar production, of course).

if grid is UP, then the various settings determine what is powering the home, when.

 

[charlesj]

If the grid is down, however, it works the way @charlesj mentions. Solar powers house and fills powerwalls if there is extra production that the home doesnt need (and there is solar production, of course).

if grid is UP, then the various settings determine what is powering the home, when.

The only hope is that the PW will continue to tickle the PV power inverter to continue supply house even at 100% batter and grid down.

 

[jjrandorin]

The only hope is that the PW will continue to tickle the PV power inverter to continue supply house even at 100% batter and grid down.

I dont think thats what happens, based on what I have read here. Havent experienced it myself yet, but from the reading I have done here, with grid power OFF, if the powerwalls hit somewhere around 94-96%, they trigger the frequency to shut the PV system down. Some inverters have the ability to "ramp" down (see post from @GenSao on subject). Otherwise, the powerwall just tries to shut the PV system down.

You can increase the home load if possible to drain battery etc, or just have the PV be "down". This is why I am having a 14-50 installed on the backup side of my PW system, even though I already have a Tesla HPWC that is on the NON backed up side. The HPWC is 60amp which I did not want on the backup side with only 2 powerwalls, but If I put in a 14-50, IF i ever ended up in this situation, I could put some energy in my car to drain the batteries a bit.

It also gives me the ability to put "a little power to get to a local supercharger" if I had to, in an outage situation. I expect to almost never use this 14-50 since I already have the HPWC but options are nice to have.

If I have this wrong, I am sure someone will correct me.

 

[miimura]

I dont think thats what happens, based on what I have read here. Havent experienced it myself yet, but from the reading I have done here, with grid power OFF, if the powerwalls hit somewhere around 94-96%, they trigger the frequency to shut the PV system down. Some inverters have the ability to "ramp" down (see post from @GenSao on subject). Otherwise, the powerwall just tries to shut the PV system down.

You can increase the home load if possible to drain battery etc, or just have the PV be "down". This is why I am having a 14-50 installed on the backup side of my PW system, even though I already have a Tesla HPWC that is on the NON backed up side. The HPWC is 60amp which I did not want on the backup side with only 2 powerwalls, but If I put in a 14-50, IF i ever ended up in this situation, I could put some energy in my car to drain the batteries a bit.

It also gives me the ability to put "a little power to get to a local supercharger" if I had to, in an outage situation. I expect to almost never use this 14-50 since I already have the HPWC but options are nice to have.

If I have this wrong, I am sure someone will correct me.

This is a good idea. If you have a relatively large solar system, there will be times of the day and times of the year that you are generating more than you can use at that moment with household loads. If you're home, you can plug in the car to a backed up outlet and soak up some of that surplus solar. At that point, you're not really trying to drain the batteries, you're just trying to get the solar started up and the car amps adjusted to balance the power flow and store that solar instead of just leaving the solar shut down or repeatedly cycling on and off.

Unfortunately, my solar is so small that I could only have surplus solar during the Summer and a 120V outlet would probably soak up any excess. I exaggerate, but not much.