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Possible 60 mph winds, possible Tornadoes, storm watcg
- Thread starter Gixx1300R
- Start date
charlesj
Active Member
Do you know if such declaration was made in your region that your PW would depend on such notification?
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.
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.
I know for a fact the Storm Watch system is not intelligent. Last month Storm Watch was activated for a National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning. The next day, a separate weather advisory was issued, not including any potential for power loss. However, an error was made on the Weather Service side. The headline of the advisory read Winter Storm Warning with Storm Watch immediately activated and continuing through the listed expiration time.
I'm not sure what I would wish for as an improvement. For one thing, have the computer system read through all the advisories looking for "possible power loss". We have had those that haven't risen to the level of Warning. I realize the user can use his own intelligence to change settings proactively. Those actions help only during solar production.
David
I'm not sure what I would wish for as an improvement. For one thing, have the computer system read through all the advisories looking for "possible power loss". We have had those that haven't risen to the level of Warning. I realize the user can use his own intelligence to change settings proactively. Those actions help only during solar production.
David
chrisbailey13
Member
I had storm watch activated once a few weeks ago for most of the day. Stormwatch Active
I am still not sure why, there was no bad weather in the area(other than it was cold). I was watching yesterday also, and didn't see it activate even though there were NWS warnings in the area.
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I've never had storm watch kick in despite knowing for a fact that people in neighboring cities (same county) have had theirs on during some recent stormy weather and NWS warnings. I have an open ticket with Tesla's T2 support which they say they've escalated to their engineering operations team, which tells me either they don't know what's happening or they know its broken and can't fix it through T2.
Honestly the lack of transparency is killer here. Tesla if you're listening I don't really care what the criteria is, just tell me what it is and when it changes so that if I'm seeing strange behavior I can engage support and get it fixed.
Honestly the lack of transparency is killer here. Tesla if you're listening I don't really care what the criteria is, just tell me what it is and when it changes so that if I'm seeing strange behavior I can engage support and get it fixed.
Part of this may have to do with the laws and contracts between Tesla, power companies, state and local authorities. Together they determine the conditions for when Storm Watch is triggered. I envision this as a bunch of lawyers and lobbyists in a room with a few engineers (standing in the corner?) all trying to ensure the policies benefit their particular entity.
That's a totally fair point, I understand there are complexities. Transparency is extra important where things are complex.
For my specific scenario I know of people with my same utility, in the same state and county that have had their storm watch trigger while mine never has.
You could see if you could find the exact NWS message. It may call out certain areas. Also, If you live in the city and others live a different city or unincorporated area of the country the rules could be different.
When stormwatch activates, if you have previously toggled on the stormwatch ability in the app, the powerwalls will immediately start charging from the grid, get to 100% and basically stay there, not feeding your house at all, waiting for the possibility of power loss... At least that was my experience last week when stormwatch activated on my powerwalls.
I had a high wind advisory, with possible gusts to 60 MPH and warnings of possible power outages. The warning lasted either 2.5 or 3 days, and I let my powerwalls operate in the stormwatch mode they had triggered. The powerwalls fluctuated from 97%-99% and sat there until the end of the weather alert.
I use a weather app called "dark sky" so had seen the weather alert previously through that app, and was surprised that the stormwatch mode went through the whole alert, especially since it was basically high winds. When stormwatch went off, my powerwalls were still at 99% and were on standby mode. It confused me why they did not go back to automatically powering my house, because my normal mode is self powered... but then I realized that was because my solar itself was providing more than enough power to power the house when stormwatch mode turned off.
Anyway, I dont know the rhyme or reason behind stormwatch mode, but I know I wont "depend" on it to activate if I knew there was some weather event rolling through. I would just up my reserve or switch modes myself.
Maybe this doesnt bother me as much because my solar can fill my 2 powerwalls from my reserve of 35% to 100% by 1:00 to 1:30 PM, and thats right now in early february. in about a month it will fill them before noon.
Good information. If you don't mind me asking, how big is your solar system? And how long will your two powerwalls power your home?
I am trying to determine if I want to enable Stormwatch, or just proactively up the battery limits.
darhall993
Member
My experience with Storm Watch here in Georgia is very inconsistent. We had severe thunderstorms along with high winds and a Tornado for Wednesday and Thursday, storm watch was not activated once. On other occasions we've had a minor thunderstorm roll through and storm watch will turn on for 15-20 and then turn off.
I did: Storm Watch not working. We're currently under an actual and expected (NWS terms) Wind advisory (https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwaatmget.php?x=WAC061&y=1), my Storm Watch is currently not activated.
Paging @marksvend - is your storm watch activated given the wind?
Edit: spoke with marksvend offline and he reminded me that advisories don't trigger Storm Watch. If the wind advisory increases to a warning I'll ask him again
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Sure, no problem. I love the collaborative spirit of this section of TMC!
My solar install is "8.745 kW". My home is 3300 Square feet, two story, with 2 AC units and 2 Heater units. The home was built in 2006 and we have installed LED lighting, etc. Now that I have a consumption meter, I can see that my average daily electrical use without my model 3 is between 20-25 kWh per day. My solar install, during this time of year (late Jan / early feb) is generating between 25-31 kWh of energy (low production is late december which is around 20-22 kwh production a day). Starting in March or so, my system generates high 30s into low 40s and up to 50-52 kWh a day.
Solar production at my home starts around 7:15 or so in the morning, and goes to about 5:15 or so at night, right now, and of course as time goes on stretches later.
Thanks. Those are some impressive generation numbers, even during the dead of winter (OK SD winter) you are covering your usage. Must have been a huge decrease in your power bills! BTW, are you on full net metering?
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