Possible 60 mph winds, possible Tornadoes, storm watcg

[Ulmo]

Extreme weather coming through the central Florida area and Storm watch did not charge my Power Walls, possible 60 mph winds and Tornado watch is in effect.

I have a similar problem myself: unusual weather for my area including wind. When's the last time you saw a windmill in the status icons of the Dark Sky app? I have one for today right now. We have a "Wind Advisory" from the weather service. Dark Sky shows gusts of 43MPH at 11AM which is very unusual for us (which means loose items haven't been shaken out to that degree yet which means changes which means power outages since we don't have underground). Windy App shows 43MPH gusts at around 13:00 and 44MPH gusts around 21:00. Yet, my PowerWalls show no Storm Watch enaction. Right now, power is on, and it would be great to load up while the sun is shining and the grid has extra electricity available.

Storm Watch is more like a sales marketing buzzword than an actual feature. It doesn't come on when it's needed.

Also, PG&E isn't saying anything about shutdowns, so apparently the program of shutting down power when it is windy is gone. Does Tesla know something in the strategy meetings of PG&E and the Democrats that we don't know?

 

[Ulmo]

Tesla is fairly clear about the fact that not every weather event will trigger stormwatch mode. Right now I dont think there is anything you can do about this other than:

1. Monitor weather in your area (you are likely doing this)
2. Change your powerwall settings manually to match what you want to happen if you know about weather.

Since you can change powerwall settings from anywhere, if you see a report like this, change it to backup only with a 100% reserve or something.

Usually that doesn't work since the bad weather happens after the window of opportunity to charge the PowerWalls from solar, and therefore most of us don't notice in time to set the backup % higher.

If Tesla allowed us to charge from grid when we want, this problem goes away, since we'd raise the backup-%-from-grid setting as the storm ramps up before the power is out (usually), and the grid could charge us up. In a dynamic pricing model, that would cost more than usual electricity, yet we'd pay it. Also, with a decent API, we'd buy prediction services that do this for us earlier and buy cheaper electricity. Tesla not letting us control our own batteries and utilities not having a dynamic pricing model are actually hurting us.

 

[Gixx1300R]

I have a similar problem myself: unusual weather for my area including wind. When's the last time you saw a windmill in the status icons of the Dark Sky app? I have one for today right now. We have a "Wind Advisory" from the weather service. Dark Sky shows gusts of 43MPH at 11AM which is very unusual for us (which means loose items haven't been shaken out to that degree yet which means changes which means power outages since we don't have underground). Windy App shows 43MPH gusts at around 13:00 and 44MPH gusts around 21:00. Yet, my PowerWalls show no Storm Watch enaction. Right now, power is on, and it would be great to load up while the sun is shining and the grid has extra electricity available.

Storm Watch is more like a sales marketing buzzword than an actual feature. It doesn't come on when it's needed.

Also, PG&E isn't saying anything about shutdowns, so apparently the program of shutting down power when it is windy is gone. Does Tesla know something in the strategy meetings of PG&E and the Democrats that we don't know?

I think a "Storm Watch manual switch mode" would be nice, that would allow Power Wall owners to full charge before a storm.

 

[jjrandorin]

Maybe we will see this when we no longer have access to the Federal Tax credits.

 

[eml2]

For me, the Storm Watch is very consistent and predictable. When I receive either a Winter Storm Warning or High Wind Warning (only Warning will trigger Storm Watch, not Advisory or Watch), Storm Watch will activate. NWS Warning has a time frame, and Storm Watch will activate only within that time frame.