Powerwall 2 low charge rate

[ddetty]

I noticed today that my Powerwall 2 (2x) is charging lower than the normal 10kw rate. See the attached screenshot. Normally they charge at 10kw and any excess then goes to the grid. Batteries are at about 70F inside my house.

Anyone know why the charge rate would drop this low when batteries at mid-80%?

Dave Detty

 

[jjrandorin]

I dont know the answer to your question. With that said. my powerwalls have never charged at "5kW". They charge at around 3 ish kW each, and have since they were installed in Jan of 2020, and they are inside of a fully enclosed, drywalled garage with insulated garage doors, in southern california. My garage is never hotter than 90 degrees, or colder than about 45 degrees at any point during the year.

Im not the only one here who sees that max charge rate either.

 

[ddetty]

I've seen that on various threads here that many don't see 5kw charge rate per battery. Until today, mine have always charged (and discharged) at that max rate.

 

[dailo]

From the API you can see what each powerwall is limited to charging. As the SOC gets higher, although usually 95%+ for me the rate slowly drops. If you’re interested, would recommend using the pypowerwall python library to get more info from your setup and it will show any alerts that might be flagged on your systems. The vitals API endpoint has a lot of information.

 

[ddetty]

dailo,

Thanks for the info on the API tip. Looks like I might need to brush the dust off my programmers hat and see how this works!

Dave

 

[Billme]

Are you in Time Based Control? I find if I switch to Self Powered, my PW charges at 5, but otherwise at 3.5.

 

[dailo]

Just to add a datapoint, each of my PW can charge at a max of 5.4kW each per the API and I have seen it hit that when I get enough solar. Imagine it is also dependent on how everything is installed.

 

[ddetty]

My system is not on Time-Based Control. With no change to the system today it decided to charge at the reduced rate. I'll keep an eye on it and check in with Tesla or my installer if it continues this way.

 

[jhn_]

I see the reduced rate when it is cold outside. Are your Powerwalls less than their optimum 60-70’ish degrees F?

 

[ddetty]

PW are inside and temperature is around 70F.