Partial Home Backup App Question

[kardiff_kris]

So we had our install yesterday and our city inspection today (passed, yay!). One question I had about the Tesla app, since we are partial house backup, AC being the only thing not backed up. Will the Tesla app "see" the draw from the AC?

Slightly related but not, I know with the grid down we can't start the AC. However with the grid up, once started can the Powerwalls assist/continue to run the AC units?

 

[BrettS]

Assuming your installers put the CT’s in the right place then your app should be able to see the AC power draw. Additionally, the system can use power from your powerwalls to run the AC units, as long as the grid is up. When the grid is down, of course, the AC’s will not be functional.

 

[SoundDaTrumpet]

It depends what the electrician did with the ‘extra’ current transducer (CTs). My system sees the AC loads. This was discussed with the electrician.

 

[chrisbailey13]

you should be able to see the whole house power draw when the grid is up including the AC's that are not backed up and any other circuits that are not backed up. If the Grid is up, your AC's and any other non backed up circuits can draw from the powerwalls, but if the grid is down the powerwalls will only power the circuits that are in the backup load panel.

 

[Redhill_qik]

I have a similar setup with an AC unit that is not backed up, plus two other breakers that are trivial (I am kicking myself that I said that was OK during the installation).

On day 1 after the electricians left I noticed that when the unbacked up AC unit kicks on it reported a 2.6kW going to the grid and a -2.6kW going to the house instead of 5.2kW being used by the house (no solar, no Powerwall in use). I had a service call 10 days later to fix this and the electrician ended up removing the Neurio in the main panel and fishing the CT wires from the original main panel to the new panel and then to the TEG. This resulted in no negative values being reported, but I didn't realize until after he left that the value being reported (no solar, no Powerwall in use) was only 1.2kW instead of the 4.6kW that was displayed on the PG&E smartmeter. I'm trying to get them back out to fix this.

 

[MattMac]

I have a similar setup with an AC unit that is not backed up, plus two other breakers that are trivial (I am kicking myself that I said that was OK during the installation).

On day 1 after the electricians left I noticed that when the unbacked up AC unit kicks on it reported a 2.6kW going to the grid and a -2.6kW going to the house instead of 5.2kW being used by the house (no solar, no Powerwall in use). I had a service call 10 days later to fix this and the electrician ended up removing the Neurio in the main panel and fishing the CT wires from the original main panel to the new panel and then to the TEG. This resulted in no negative values being reported, but I didn't realize until after he left that the value being reported (no solar, no Powerwall in use) was only 1.2kW instead of the 4.6kW that was displayed on the PG&E smartmeter. I'm trying to get them back out to fix this.

Can you tell me more about this? I have an EV charger and see exactly the same behavior when it is used. It isn't part of the home backup and when my car is charging I see the positive and negative in the app.

Thank you!

 

[Redhill_qik]

Can you tell me more about this? I have an EV charger and see exactly the same behavior when it is used. It isn't part of the home backup and when my car is charging I see the positive and negative in the app.

Thank you!

Wish I could, but they still haven't resolved this issue yet. I'm 90% sure that that configuration is wrong in the TEG, but I don't have a date for them to come out and resolve it yet. I'll push on this again after I get the PTO approval.

After a week from paying the invoice I hadn't seen anything from PG&E acknowledging that the PTO was submitted, so I called them yesterday and they acknowledge that everything was final and sent a request to the doc department to expedite the submission. So back to waiting.

 

[MattMac]

Wish I could, but they still haven't resolved this issue yet. I'm 90% sure that that configuration is wrong in the TEG, but I don't have a date for them to come out and resolve it yet. I'll push on this again after I get the PTO approval.

After a week from paying the invoice I hadn't seen anything from PG&E acknowledging that the PTO was submitted, so I called them yesterday and they acknowledge that everything was final and sent a request to the doc department to expedite the submission. So back to waiting.

Gotcha. I'll watch this thread, so if this does get finalized I'd love to hear more.

Thanks!

 

[spsheridan]

I know this thread is a couple years old but I just had 2 Powerwalls installed to complement our solar power and have a question relevant to this thread. Our Powerwalls are configured to support partial home backup with our oven and EV charger being the circuits that are not backed up, everything else including our HVAC is on backup power. The Tesla app works great except it only shows power being drawn from backup circuits, not our oven or EV charger. I would prefer the app to show all power being consumed in our home, not just on the backup circuits. From what I’m reading in this thread, it appears the electricians can move the location of the CT that measures power usage to solve my problem, is that correct? If true, I believe they would need to move the sensor from the backup sub panel to the main panel to get access to total home power. Is that also correct? Has anyone here had that specific modification done to their CTs to measure total home power consumed?

 

[Vines]

I know this thread is a couple years old but I just had 2 Powerwalls installed to complement our solar power and have a question relevant to this thread. Our Powerwalls are configured to support partial home backup with our oven and EV charger being the circuits that are not backed up, everything else including our HVAC is on backup power. The Tesla app works great except it only shows power being drawn from backup circuits, not our oven or EV charger. I would prefer the app to show all power being consumed in our home, not just on the backup circuits. From what I’m reading in this thread, it appears the electricians can move the location of the CT that measures power usage to solve my problem, is that correct? If true, I believe they would need to move the sensor from the backup sub panel to the main panel to get access to total home power. Is that also correct? Has anyone here had that specific modification done to their CTs to measure total home power consumed?

They should have left your job with all your home loads monitored, and then your app would see your homes true draw. Call them back out to add the additional CT meters. It might require upgrading your wifi system so the Neurio can see the TEG in some cases when the distances are too great.

 

[spsheridan]

They should have left your job with all your home loads monitored, and then your app would see your homes true draw. Call them back out to add the additional CT meters. It might require upgrading your wifi system so the Neurio can see the TEG in some cases when the distances are too great.

Thanks. I have a message into the installers to fix the issue.

The CT sensors installed in my system appear to be hard-wired. Are there CT sensors that communicate via WiFi? My Gateway and subpanel are a couple feet from my main panel so I'm not sure a WiFi connection would be required.

 

[Vines]

Thanks. I have a message into the installers to fix the issue.

The CT sensors installed in my system appear to be hard-wired. Are there CT sensors that communicate via WiFi? My Gateway and subpanel are a couple feet from my main panel so I'm not sure a WiFi connection would be required.

Both are an option, depending on the size of the loads.