Powerwall 2 - new installation teething issues?

[pete8314]

Hi All

Finally got my first PW installed last week. Since I care more about harvesting power from solar during the day, to use at night, I set the reserve to just 15% and the PW to Self-powered mode. However, it never discharges any energy. I called the support number, and they said it was an app issue, and that they'd have the next level of tech support 'force' the update. This will take 3-5 days. Not impressed. They also have issues finding my account everytime I call, whatever system they're using is hopeless.

Is anyone else having this issue?

My only other question for now: is there a way to export the power usage data? The 2 days the app gives me makes it a bit tricky to do any analysis. I'm on the fence between getting a super-cheap rate (currently 3.8c per kWh) and storing as much as I can, or re-upping with Green Mountain for them to buy-back surplus power, in which case the PW becomes all about backup.

Thanks all!

 

[he1957]

@pete8314, Another chap and I have some starters: try this link: Rest Interface for Powerwall 2 Energy Gateway | Tesla


Cheers,

Harry E.
===

 

[pete8314]

Thanks Harry, that looks promising, a bit beyond my coding skills, but I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[drsamuel]

@pete8314, was your issue fixed. Is your Powerwall now discharging energy?

 

[Kenz]

Hi All

Finally got my first PW installed last week. Since I care more about harvesting power from solar during the day, to use at night, I set the reserve to just 15% and the PW to Self-powered mode. However, it never discharges any energy. I called the support number, and they said it was an app issue, and that they'd have the next level of tech support 'force' the update. This will take 3-5 days. Not impressed. They also have issues finding my account everytime I call, whatever system they're using is hopeless.

Is anyone else having this issue?

My only other question for now: is there a way to export the power usage data? The 2 days the app gives me makes it a bit tricky to do any analysis. I'm on the fence between getting a super-cheap rate (currently 3.8c per kWh) and storing as much as I can, or re-upping with Green Mountain for them to buy-back surplus power, in which case the PW becomes all about backup.

Thanks all!

Check out this video?
It seems like Tesla could do something similar.

Zappi smart EV charger | Fully Charged - YouTube

 

[pete8314]

@pete8314, was your issue fixed. Is your Powerwall now discharging energy?

Sort of. It does discharge as expected, but the 15% backup level can't be changed. Or to be more precise, it doesn't matter what I change it to in the app, it'll stop at 15%, and I guess I'll have to call Powerwall Support again to change it (and wait a few days for the 'back-end change'). It's not a big deal, but until I switch to a sellback power plan on 1 Dec, I'd rather it was fully discharging overnight.

 

[Parzival]

I had a similar issue, and it was solved by running through the enrollment process (wizard) on the energy gateway again. It couldn't hurt to force a firmware update if you're not on the latest 1.9.0, either.

Changes in the operating mode and backup reserve set in the app only take effect once every 30-60 minutes even when it's working correctly.

 

[pete8314]

That was all done by the installer. Is it something the user/owner can do as well?

 

[Parzival]

That was all done by the installer. Is it something the user/owner can do as well?

I'm sure they don't want you to, but the installer who put mine in realized I was more tech-savvy than he was, so I ended up doing it myself, and I know others on here have done it. They can do this remotely, so you shouldn't *have* to do anything.

 

[Shygar]

I had a similar issue, and it was solved by running through the enrollment process (wizard) on the energy gateway again. It couldn't hurt to force a firmware update if you're not on the latest 1.9.0, either.

Changes in the operating mode and backup reserve set in the app only take effect once every 30-60 minutes even when it's working correctly.

Just curious, how do you force a firmware update?

 

[Parzival]

Just curious, how do you force a firmware update?

It's one of the steps in the wizard.

 

[Shygar]

It's one of the steps in the wizard.

Oh cool. I've gone to the IP address for the powerwall but haven't attempted to rerun the wizard. Do I risk unenrolling it from Tesla if I attempt to run through that?

 

[Parzival]

Oh cool. I've gone to the IP address for the powerwall but haven't attempted to rerun the wizard. Do I risk unenrolling it from Tesla if I attempt to run through that?

Probably not unless you mess with network settings, but I'd highly encourage you to not change any settings in there at all.

 

[he1957]

The only settings I have changed (or want/need) to are the:

1. Reserve level - ie: in anticipation of scheduled outage I raise this value in case the weather turns bad
2. The TCP/IP address and/or default gateway

Not that the IP address needs changing but I have noticed that with firmware version 1.6 while running the Wizard, the default gateway setting has been lost. This causes communication failure and the PW-2 remains uncommissioned (it gets decommissioned when you run the wizard). On two occasions I have had to set the networking settings to DHCP in order to restore the default gateway setting but after that works OK, I can re-run the Wizard to set it back to a static IP address.

If the Mobile Phone App setting the Reserve Battery Level worked properly I would not need to run the wizard at all.

 

[Parzival]

The only settings I have changed (or want/need) to are the:

1. Reserve level - ie: in anticipation of scheduled outage I raise this value in case the weather turns bad
2. The TCP/IP address and/or default gateway

Not that the IP address needs changing but I have noticed that with firmware version 1.6 while running the Wizard, the default gateway setting has been lost. This causes communication failure and the PW-2 remains uncommissioned (it gets decommissioned when you run the wizard). On two occasions I have had to set the networking settings to DHCP in order to restore the default gateway setting but after that works OK, I can re-run the Wizard to set it back to a static IP address.

If the Mobile Phone App setting the Reserve Battery Level worked properly I would not need to run the wizard at all.

The mobile phone setting for reserve level works fine for me. I would pursue that with support. Ask them why you are not on current firmware.

 

[eml2]

The reserve level on the mobile app also works fine for me. I have solar and the backup gateway is running 1.7.0.

 

[pete8314]

I called support, again, since my ticket has been open since Oct 6. No real update, they'll call me when it's resolved. Not at all impressed. They wouldn't tell me the gateway version, but they did say they're trying to push a recently released update to my gateway.

 

[dhu1]

Hi All

Finally got my first PW installed last week. Since I care more about harvesting power from solar during the day, to use at night, I set the reserve to just 15% and the PW to Self-powered mode. However, it never discharges any energy. I called the support number, and they said it was an app issue, and that they'd have the next level of tech support 'force' the update. This will take 3-5 days. Not impressed. They also have issues finding my account everytime I call, whatever system they're using is hopeless.

Is anyone else having this issue?

My only other question for now: is there a way to export the power usage data? The 2 days the app gives me makes it a bit tricky to do any analysis. I'm on the fence between getting a super-cheap rate (currently 3.8c per kWh) and storing as much as I can, or re-upping with Green Mountain for them to buy-back surplus power, in which case the PW becomes all about backup.

Thanks all!

I have the same issue...how long before they were able to force the update?

 

[pete8314]

I have the same issue...how long before they were able to force the update?

I'm glad it's not just me, but sorry you're having the issue. I opened the ticket on the 6th, the first time I noticed that it was correctly discharging to 15% was on the 13th, a week later just as I was getting ready to call them. So it might have been a week, or just a couple of days, since they didn't call to update me.

 

[coolgj]

Ok with all of these issues, it makes me worry about the two I’m getting installed in a couple of weeks...

For your guys that are having issues is it Worth it or should I start looking at sonnen again?