Powerwall 2 - Issues with cooling

[Bigtanuki]

In my efforts to maximize self consumption I have been charging my MS at ~11 kW (48A) during the peak solar periods. As I have only two PW2 units (3rd coming) I know that they should be able to deliver to a 10kW load continuously. During charging I noted that my cooling fans on the PW2 units weren't blowing at the same rate. One seemed maxed out. After running at 10kW output for about 25 minutes I noted that the output of my PW2 system was dropping and eventually leveled off at about 7.5 kW. Based on fan outputs I figured either the unit with low fan output was not getting air flow or the high fan output was maxing out because of a system issue.
Several calls to Tesla Powerwall support (poking, poking) I finally got someone is system diagnostics to confirm that one of the units cooling pumps weren't pumping or at least failing. I was told they would be replacing the unit with the bad pump. Based on "hundreds of Powerwalls going to Puerto Rico" I'm thinking it may take a while but that pretty okay by me. Those folks in PR need the power more than me. However, I won't be charging at home except with very low amps in order to not further strain the battery pack with the bad pump. Wouldn't want a major failure.
So the moral of the story is, you might want to assure yourselves that your system is delivering per spec and that there are no anomalies between units in a multiple PW2 setup.

Anyone out there had any issues with their systems? How long did it take to resolve them?

PS - I had planned on purchasing a third unit once my SGIP stuff moves forward but I received word that I made my fourth referral so I'll be cancelling my order for #3 and waiting until the red founder's edition PW2 shows up. During my original installation I had everything done to set up for the 3rd unit so it should be a plug and play installation. Woohoo.

 

[Bigtanuki]

Just an update. I received a call from Tesla local support and they scheduled a delivery/install of the replacement Powerwall on October 19th.

 

[Jays200]

And....

 

[Bigtanuki]

Finally got the new unit installed on the 19th. Cooling issues resolved but the new 1.9.0 firmware issue caused the system to be sticking backup mode. I was unable to change it to self consumption mode with the app. I finally got into the configuration wizard in the desktop UI and forced the swap. Received new firmware yesterday but have not tested full functionality yet.

 

[Ulmo]

In my efforts to maximize self consumption I have been charging my MS at ~11 kW (48A) during the peak solar periods. As I have only two PW2 units (3rd coming) I know that they should be able to deliver to a 10kW load continuously. During charging I noted that my cooling fans on the PW2 units weren't blowing at the same rate. One seemed maxed out. After running at 10kW output for about 25 minutes I noted that the output of my PW2 system was dropping and eventually leveled off at about 7.5 kW. Based on fan outputs I figured either the unit with low fan output was not getting air flow or the high fan output was maxing out because of a system issue.
Several calls to Tesla Powerwall support (poking, poking) I finally got someone is system diagnostics to confirm that one of the units cooling pumps weren't pumping or at least failing. I was told they would be replacing the unit with the bad pump. Based on "hundreds of Powerwalls going to Puerto Rico" I'm thinking it may take a while but that pretty okay by me. Those folks in PR need the power more than me. However, I won't be charging at home except with very low amps in order to not further strain the battery pack with the bad pump. Wouldn't want a major failure.
So the moral of the story is, you might want to assure yourselves that your system is delivering per spec and that there are no anomalies between units in a multiple PW2 setup.

Anyone out there had any issues with their systems? How long did it take to resolve them?

PS - I had planned on purchasing a third unit once my SGIP stuff moves forward but I received word that I made my fourth referral so I'll be cancelling my order for #3 and waiting until the red founder's edition PW2 shows up. During my original installation I had everything done to set up for the 3rd unit so it should be a plug and play installation. Woohoo.

I wish this was detected by the PowerWall system and alarms sent to both Tesla and owner. This type of problem will be frequent in aggregate.

 

[arnis]

I'm disappointed that PW2 does not act according to situation (bad firmware).
Algorithm should be able to detect pump, fan and airflow obstruction/fail with only these sensors:
1) exterior temperature sensor 2) battery module temperature sensors.
Have some virtual sensors (software) like heat generation rate (depends on load), fan speed, pump speed.
And expected temperatures can be estimated pretty darn precisely.
Throttling down is primary action of course, though it is not ok to hide the problem from owner.

Also app notification: "Powerwall is not operating correctly, please check for airflow obstructions."
And a button next to it "Send report to Tesla". Calling somebody is old-school and labor intensive for both sides,
especially when they have hundreds of thousands of PW's around the world.

 

[Bigtanuki]

I wish this was detected by the PowerWall system and alarms sent to both Tesla and owner. This type of problem will be frequent in aggregate.

Agreed. There are several conditions which merit notification to user and Tesla. Loss of forced cooling could be a safety issue if the BMS doesn't detect and compensate. Even if it does, the potential for significant hot spots in the battery matrix MAY be an issue. Since Tesla is so lacking in transparency about the internal functionality of the Powerwall we'll likely never know.

 

[eml2]

I wonder if I have the same problem as OP. I also have 2 PW's. During the day when the app shows PW is charging at high rate, like 6 kW, the one on the left is always blowing the fan at high speed. The right one is at a more slower speed. I have a thermal leak detector. I use it to check the temperature on the casing of the PW's. The one of the left is about 10F higher than the right one at the same spot. In addition, the exhaust fan outlet on the left PW is 6F lower than the right one. It seems that the cooling on the left PW is not working as good as the right one. Thus the fan is running at the higher speed, trying to cool it down.

My PW's are located in the basement. So, the ambient temperature is the same.

 

[Ulmo]

I wonder if I have the same problem as OP. I also have 2 PW's. During the day when the app shows PW is charging at high rate, like 6 kW, the one on the left is always blowing the fan at high speed. The right one is at a more slower speed. I have a thermal leak detector. I use it to check the temperature on the casing of the PW's. The one of the left is about 10F higher than the right one at the same spot. In addition, the exhaust fan outlet on the left PW is 6F lower than the right one. It seems that the cooling on the left PW is not working as good as the right one. Thus the fan is running at the higher speed, trying to cool it down.

My PW's are located in the basement. So, the ambient temperature is the same.

Do they blow left to right? I wish mine blew right to left, since that's the prevailing windflow direction.

 

[eml2]

Do they blow left to right? I wish mine blew right to left, since that's the prevailing windflow direction.

They blow from left to right. Left vent is the intake, right vent is the exhaust.

 

[Bigtanuki]

I wonder if I have the same problem as OP. I also have 2 PW's. During the day when the app shows PW is charging at high rate, like 6 kW, the one on the left is always blowing the fan at high speed. The right one is at a more slower speed. I have a thermal leak detector. I use it to check the temperature on the casing of the PW's. The one of the left is about 10F higher than the right one at the same spot. In addition, the exhaust fan outlet on the left PW is 6F lower than the right one. It seems that the cooling on the left PW is not working as good as the right one. Thus the fan is running at the higher speed, trying to cool it down.

My PW's are located in the basement. So, the ambient temperature is the same.

That's exactly the symptoms I had. Call Powerwall support. Should be a warranty replacement. Mine took about three weeks of regulcalls for them to acknowledge the issue. If you have a way to pull a high load you can see if the output of your system drops after some delay. Mine dropped quickly after about 30 minutes with a 10 kW load. The system dropped about 2.5 kW of load. Pretty easy to see with the phone app.

 

[eml2]

One year ago, I reported that one of my two Powerwall's cooling system was malfunctioning. It was replaced 3 months after I reported to Tesla.

Now, the other Powerwall is acting up. Reported to Tesla last week. I called them back today asking for update and was told it needs to be replaced. Said it may take 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[Ulmo]

I wonder how well the new periodic self-maintenance mode helps in both maintaining and diagnosing the cooling systems. As soon as the new firmware was installed that does that, my PowerWalls would go into that mode on occasion, and they seemed to be doing fine before, during, and after; during, the fan would go at a high speed. I don't know what else is involved. I do not think I've had any cooling failures. Where I live it is usually cool since we have coastal weather. My max load is usually around 8kW discharging and 5.5kW charging on two PW2's. They are mounted outside, and can get exposed to very cold on very cold days, and to very hot on rare very hot days.

From the Software Update release notes: "September 2018: Version 1.23: Powerwall will automatically perform preventative maintenance on its thermal control system. During this time, you may hear louder than usual noise from Powerwall for approximately 30 minutes."

 

[eml2]

My Powerwalls are in the basement. It has a consistent ambient temperature around 60F. I never notice the self-maintenance mode.

It is currently charging at 6.9 kW. I took a thermal photo of them. The one on the right is the original one installed a year ago and Tesla said it needs to be replaced. The other one already replaced 8 months ago due to coolant pump failure.

 

[mg2204]

Hello,
I seem to have the same problem here in Germany. After loading some time the loading power is significantly reduced to about 2.3 kW.
The fan is not running, no matter what load. I also cannot hear the coolant pump.
So I just informed Tesal and my local dealer.

 

[thegruf]

guess Tesla are wishing they fitted a better pump now - this look like it could get quite costly.
I wonder if they could setup a ranger service for PWs?

And if the PWs blow left to right - what is the minimum lateral distance between them to ensure the heat from one isn't drawn into the next?

 

[JHellow]

guess Tesla are wishing they fitted a better pump now - this look like it could get quite costly.
I wonder if they could setup a ranger service for PWs?

And if the PWs blow left to right - what is the minimum lateral distance between them to ensure the heat from one isn't drawn into the next?

That’s a great point. One of my two is about to be replaced bacause it won’t maintain a 5kw output. If it’s the one on the right, I suspect Tesla is going to need to look at installation issues. The right unit on multi-unit side by side installations is always going to be sucking warm air from the left unit.

 

[nyprepper]

JHellow, how do you have visibility at the individual Powerwall level??? I have two Powerwalls and everything I can see as far as data represents them as a single unit. I would love to see that data broken down by individual battery. thx

 

[JHellow]

JHellow, how do you have visibility at the individual Powerwall level??? I have two Powerwalls and everything I can see as far as data represents them as a single unit. I would love to see that data broken down by individual battery. thx

I do not have visibility at the individual level. All that I know is one of the two is powering down when house demand is at 10kw. Within 15 minutes of such demand the system cycles down to 5+ kw. Tesla monitored the behavior and thinks it’s one of the two batteries. So we will see when they come out with the new one in a week which of the two is failing.

 

[miimura]

I do not have visibility at the individual level. All that I know is one of the two is powering down when house demand is at 10kw. Within 15 minutes of such demand the system cycles down to 5+ kw. Tesla monitored the behavior and thinks it’s one of the two batteries. So we will see when they come out with the new one in a week which of the two is failing.

It would be easy to figure out with an AC clamp meter while it's showing degraded output.