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Powerwall 2 Install by ******* - Not happy!
- Thread starter atj777
- Start date
If the PW2 is set to one of the Time Based Control (TBC) modes the battery will often be charged from the grid, depending on the state of charge, time of day, your usage patterns and I think even the weather forecast.
Even in self-consumption mode the grid will (very occasionally) charge the battery, but usually only for short periods of time, only at a rate of a few hundred watts, and only at night. I don’t know why this happens, it may be to prevent the charge level dropping below the reserve level.
After staying home all day - I had other things I would have preferred doing - the installer did not come. Apparently they job they had this morning took longer than expected. Yeah, probably because they did that one wrong, too.
Now they are meant to come back on Wednesday and I had to cancel my plans for the day.
So... I am going to name and shame.
Telsa use Skybridge Group Pty Ltd for the installations, and Skybridge bring in local electrical contractors for the install. In my case they used a mob called Platinum Electricians.
I strongly do not recommend buying Powerwall systems directly from Telsa.
Now they are meant to come back on Wednesday and I had to cancel my plans for the day.
So... I am going to name and shame.
Telsa use Skybridge Group Pty Ltd for the installations, and Skybridge bring in local electrical contractors for the install. In my case they used a mob called Platinum Electricians.
I strongly do not recommend buying Powerwall systems directly from Telsa.
Might get yourself in a bit of strife for slander should it not be them. Just sayin.
An update.
I complained to Telsa about all the issues with the installation (delays, getting bumped and missing configuration). It got escalated up through management. They have apologised, said the situation was unacceptable, and will do everything to rectify, including giving me some compensation.
Tesla also escalated it with Skybridge and made sure the installer came back this morning rather than this afternoon to fix all the issues.
The installer was back at 7:30am and didn't leave until 12:30pm. If they had come in the afternoon as originally planned, there's no way they would have finished and I'd be bumped again. That is, of course, assuming any other jobs they scheduled for this morning also didn't run long.
The system appears to be working now. The battery is charging! The gateway appears to be correctly reporting ALL the power usage in the house, not just the backed up circuit. I tested it by putting the Air Con on and the usage jumped as expected.
The one disappointment is that apparently with my system I can't have solar feeding the house/batteries during a grid outage. I was told that because the solar is 10kW it can't feed the 5kW batteries. Also something about the main solar switch being 50A (required for 10kW) instead of 32A. I'm only going on what the installer said and will take it up with Telsa when they call to check on the rectification work.
I did say above that I don't recommend buying a Powerwall system directly from Tesla but I might soften that stance now that they have stepped in to resolve the issues. While I some of the issues were caused because of the way the work is subcontracted and sub-subcontracted out, ultimately my contract is with Tesla and they are responsible for fixing any issues in the future. This could have been potentially worse if I'd chosen the installer myself - especially if they go out of business down the track.
I complained to Telsa about all the issues with the installation (delays, getting bumped and missing configuration). It got escalated up through management. They have apologised, said the situation was unacceptable, and will do everything to rectify, including giving me some compensation.
Tesla also escalated it with Skybridge and made sure the installer came back this morning rather than this afternoon to fix all the issues.
The installer was back at 7:30am and didn't leave until 12:30pm. If they had come in the afternoon as originally planned, there's no way they would have finished and I'd be bumped again. That is, of course, assuming any other jobs they scheduled for this morning also didn't run long.
The system appears to be working now. The battery is charging! The gateway appears to be correctly reporting ALL the power usage in the house, not just the backed up circuit. I tested it by putting the Air Con on and the usage jumped as expected.
The one disappointment is that apparently with my system I can't have solar feeding the house/batteries during a grid outage. I was told that because the solar is 10kW it can't feed the 5kW batteries. Also something about the main solar switch being 50A (required for 10kW) instead of 32A. I'm only going on what the installer said and will take it up with Telsa when they call to check on the rectification work.
I did say above that I don't recommend buying a Powerwall system directly from Tesla but I might soften that stance now that they have stepped in to resolve the issues. While I some of the issues were caused because of the way the work is subcontracted and sub-subcontracted out, ultimately my contract is with Tesla and they are responsible for fixing any issues in the future. This could have been potentially worse if I'd chosen the installer myself - especially if they go out of business down the track.
Shock-On-T
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
Great result, thanks for keeping us updated.
Very good that Tesla did the right thing so promptly.
Very good that Tesla did the right thing so promptly.
EcoCloudIT
Active Member
My solar system is a 12Kw array and has a 50amp circuit breaker on the solar. I also have a PW2 and my system can take the load in a black out as long as I am not drawing more than 5kw continuously (so no cars plugged in in a black out event). I had to agree that until I get my second PW2 on that if a blackout event occurs and I am drawing more than 5kw (and the sun isn’t shining) then I risk tripping the whole system.
In the unlikely event of all of these things occurring I was happy enough to take the risk.
So I am not sure if it is the installer not know what can be done or the fact that you have 3 phase (I am on single phase).
I’d talk to Tesla, I suspect it is a case that the installer is clueless. Tom is always great at Tesla.
That is correct as you have a 3-phase inverter. The 3-phase inverter needs to "see" the grid (or a source like the PW2) on each phase in order to operate. In a blackout it only sees one phase (the PW2).
With a single phase inverter connected to a PW2 during a blackout the inverter is "seeing" the output of the PW2 so can still operate, so your solar still supplies power to your house and the battery. The 3-phase inverter won't work in a blackout scenario because only the phase with your PW2 on it would be operating. That's the downside of having a 3-phase inverter....in a blackout your solar is useless and once the PW2 is drained, that is it. If Tesla make a 3-phase PW2 system then this limitation would be removed, but I doubt it is a high priority for them
EcoCloudIT
Active Member
View attachment 620518
Thanks the explanation, glad I have single phase at the moment then
Whilst power outages don’t happen often it seems they happen more often than I thought:
Thanks the explanation, glad I have single phase at the moment then
Whilst power outages don’t happen often it seems they happen more often than I thought:
Thanks!
My inverter is a SUNNY MINI CENTRAL SMC 10000TL-10. A quick Google search suggests that it is only single phase.
Microinvertors partially solve this as they are fed into each phase seperately as single phase. Only one phase works in a power outage though, but that phase is kept live by the solar. PW2 gateway just isnt 3 phase optimised.
3 phase power seems to be pretty rare in the US, is that why Tesla has not bothered yet to “optimise” their PW2 product to properly support 3 phase? Maybe Powerwall 3 when it eventually comes...
Not knowing the ins-and-outs of this when mine was installed, I asked the installer who was doing it does the battery run all 3 phases in an outage and they obviously said no, but also said “You wouldn’t want to do that” the implication being even if it was possible it would be undesirable (I assume they mean flatten the battery extra quickly).
But there’s no reason why it would be undesirable. The PW2 already offsets the usage on all 3 phases if your solar is generating enough. If you were using 5A on each phase, for example, and your solar was generating 3.6 kW or more, the PW2/GW2 would export 10A to the grid on phase A, send 5A to your house on Phase A, any excess to the battery, and the grid would supply the 5A on each of Phases B and C for a total 10A - the same as being exported on Phase A.
The entire house consumption is being netted out and the array IS, in effect, running the whole house. There’s no fundamental reason why you’d not want the battery to do the same if it was wired to do so. If your entire house consumption is below 5kW, why not? You’d simply not turn on the heavy appliances in that situation (AC, car charging).
In an existing house, what circuits and lights are connected to each phase is a lottery, and in a backup situation your ‘preferred’ outlets and lights might not be connected to the phase that is backed up. While individual phases can be rearranged (e.g. if you’d prefer Phase A power sockets but Phase B lights to be backed up, Phase B lighting circuits could be swapped with Phase A lighting circuits at the meter board) but if what you want backed up is sprinkled across the phases, only a total house socket and lighting re-wiring could solve that, and in an established house, that may be impossible (or extremely expensive) to do. A 3-phase PW3/GW3 would solve that.
Tend to agree, although there needs to be some kind of notification in a blackout as it might be on a low solar day, and your battery would be flat before nightfall.3 phase power seems to be pretty rare in the US, is that why Tesla has not bothered yet to “optimise” their PW2 product to properly support 3 phase? Maybe Powerwall 3 when it eventually comes...
Not knowing the ins-and-outs of this when mine was installed, I asked the installer who was doing it does the battery run all 3 phases in an outage and they obviously said no, but also said “You wouldn’t want to do that” the implication being even if it was possible it would be undesirable (I assume they mean flatten the battery extra quickly).
But there’s no reason why it would be undesirable. The PW2 already offsets the usage on all 3 phases if your solar is generating enough. If you were using 5A on each phase, for example, and your solar was generating 3.6 kW or more, the PW2/GW2 would export 10A to the grid on phase A, send 5A to your house on Phase A, any excess to the battery, and the grid would supply the 5A on each of Phases B and C for a total 10A - the same as being exported on Phase A.
The entire house consumption is being netted out and the array IS, in effect, running the whole house. There’s no fundamental reason why you’d not want the battery to do the same if it was wired to do so. If your entire house consumption is below 5kW, why not? You’d simply not turn on the heavy appliances in that situation (AC, car charging).
In an existing house, what circuits and lights are connected to each phase is a lottery, and in a backup situation your ‘preferred’ outlets and lights might not be connected to the phase that is backed up. While individual phases can be rearranged (e.g. if you’d prefer Phase A power sockets but Phase B lights to be backed up, Phase B lighting circuits could be swapped with Phase A lighting circuits at the meter board) but if what you want backed up is sprinkled across the phases, only a total house socket and lighting re-wiring could solve that, and in an established house, that may be impossible (or extremely expensive) to do. A 3-phase PW3/GW3 would solve that.
You may well be aware of this, but for the benefit of those who don’t: strictly speaking, the PW2 doesn’t backup a phase.
It can provide backup to one or more circuits, with the restriction that these circuits must reside on the same phase. (Under normal operations, that phase can still supply other circuits which are not backed up, and naturally this phase still forms part of the supply to any 3-phase equipment).
To use your example, the issue is not so much when outlets or sockets for backup are “sprinkled across phases” - as long as the whole circuit/s they reside on can be backed up, this is usually an easy swap in the meter box, even if the circuits were originally on different phases.
The difficulty rather is when the outlets or sockets for backup are sprinkled across circuits, and it is desired that only part of those circuits are backed up for some reason (eg. to limit the total potential draw on the PW). This is when further electrical surgery is required.
Yes, that’s what I meant.
In my house the circuits on Phase A are backed up (two power and two lighting). The fridge and kitchen are on Phase A, so that’s good, but not the lounge room. The lighting is worse, we’d have power in the kitchen, but no lights, and lights in all the bedrooms, but not power
