Powerwall 2 - Issues with cooling

[boaterva]

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.

Wonder if they expected them to be stacked for some reason? I would have thought wall mounting would have been the default and air intake from the top or bottom and exhaust the other way or out to the space (which wouldn't work if you stacked them, lol). But sideways seems to be the worst way to design these. Perhaps that's why there seems to be a lot of space between them in the installation drawings.

I'll have to bring this up when I have my site visit, as I have 'room' for three side-by-side, but not if they need two feet or whatever in between each one.

Edit: The specs I see from the Tesla site is that they need to be on 4' centers, and the PWs are 30" wide, which means they are 18" apart, if I'm doing the math correctly. So three of them would take 10.5 feet (with no clearance at the end, which, of course, wouldn't work, but that's the physical space).

 

[MP3Mike]

I'll have to bring this up when I have my site visit, as I have 'room' for three side-by-side, but not if they need two feet or whatever in between each one.

Edit: The specs I see from the Tesla site is that they need to be on 4' centers, and the PWs are 30" wide, which means they are 18" apart, if I'm doing the math correctly. So three of them would take 10.5 feet (with no clearance at the end, which, of course, wouldn't work, but that's the physical space).

In the past someone got specs from Tesla: Powerwall 2 Installation Manual

Minimum clearance between side-by-side Powerwalls:

250 mm (10 in)

 

[Bigtanuki]

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.

The one with the fan blowing the hardest is the one with the failed (failing) pump. The fans maximize the cooling and will to some small extent induce some natural circulation to help with cooling. Since the system isn't likely designed to maximize natural circulation the battery management system ramps down power to control system temperature at safe levels. At least that's my best guess as we don't have any concrete design specs from Tesla....

 

[JHellow]

The one with the fan blowing the hardest is the one with the failed (failing) pump. The fans maximize the cooling and will to some small extent induce some natural circulation to help with cooling. Since the system isn't likely designed to maximize natural circulation the battery management system ramps down power to control system temperature at safe levels. At least that's my best guess as we don't have any concrete design specs from Tesla....

Thanks, I will check this when I next charge a car in the evening. Its the only time my system needs to go above 6kw, short of running the air and the electric oven at the same time.

 

[Ulmo]

Wonder if they expected them to be stacked for some reason?

Mine are mounted on the concrete floor, one in front of the other.

I too have been concerned with the airflow direction, in the case of expansion, or in my case, because of the fan fighting prevailing winds, which go the other direction. Architectural and mechnical designs should always take into consideration prevailing winds; that is a huge failure in many designs.

 

[roblab]

Having worked in Heating & Air Conditioning, we did a lot of sheet metal bending. I wonder if a piece of bent metal (paintable, of course) could direct the air from the side vent to out in front of the unit. Would be fairly cheap and easy. \ =|Powerwall|

 

[boaterva]

Mine are mounted on the concrete floor, one in front of the other.

I too have been concerned with the airflow direction, in the case of expansion, or in my case, because of the fan fighting prevailing winds, which go the other direction. Architectural and mechnical designs should always take into consideration prevailing winds; that is a huge failure in many designs.

It’s clesrly documented that they can be mounted either way (against the wall or stacked out). I assume they think the 18” between units is sufficient when against the wall, and it may not be. A deflector as in the post above may be a good idea!

 

[miimura]

Having worked in Heating & Air Conditioning, we did a lot of sheet metal bending. I wonder if a piece of bent metal (paintable, of course) could direct the air from the side vent to out in front of the unit. Would be fairly cheap and easy. \ =|Powerwall|

I would suggest directing the output air straight up if protected from precipitation. Outdoors you wouldn't want it to act like a funnel.

 

[JHellow]

My two PowerWall2s were replaced yesterday due to a failed pump in at least one of the units. I watched the removal and installation, which did not take much time. My two are mounted side by side, about 18 inches apart. When I commented about the exhaust output of the left unit facing the air input of the other unit, the engineer removed the exhaust side cover to show me that the plastic face has louvers angled up so that the exhaust ports above the input of the right unit. The internal louvers are angled at about 45 degrees. When the fans came on I place my hand at the midpoint between the units and felt very little in any exhaust from the left unit is directed at the input of the right unit. So I think we are good with side by sides unless the spacing is less than 15 inches or so.

The contractor that handled the replacements said this was the first replacement they have had to do, out of several hundred installs since last February. However, my replacement units were remanufactured and not brand new.

 

[eml2]

However, my replacement units were remanufactured and not brand new.

Does your replacement Powerwalls sound louder than the original ones? I also had my 2 Powerwall's replaced. One replaced last February, the another one just last month. Last month's replacement has a word "REMAN" on the nameplate (above the serial #). The one replaced last February does not. The REMAN one has a much noticeable hum coming from the pump compared to my other Powerwall's.

 

[JHellow]

eml2 - Both of mine have the Reman label and you can see the old serial numbers under the current tag. I was told Reman is short of Remanufactured. Both of my pumps are pretty quite, I can hear them, but just barely. I could never hear much from my originals. But the output from the exhausted when they were charging was significant.