Powerwall appears to not be charging

[garcianc]

I recently had a Solar Roof and 3 Powerwalls installed. As I stated in other threads, I have not really been able to monitor or control my system as intended due to misconfiguration by Tesla. Instead, my only option is via the web interface using the installer interface. This is typical of what I see every day:

The state of charge for my Powerwall has never gone over 72%. The power generation has also been lower than I expected, but that's for another discussion.

When I go to the "System" page, this is typical of what I see for the Powerwalls:

As you can see, the 2 Powerwall+'s are at 100% and the lone Powerwall shows 13.7% but has never gone above 16%.

I have no idea what mode my system is in, so I am wondering if this behavior would be normal for a particular configuration.

I have emailed support (again) and asked them to look into this issue, but I would honestly feel better if I heard from an independent voice. After so much back-and-forth, I am not confident that Tesla is giving me the right answers. I would rather say that they are incompetent than dishonest, to give them the benefit of the doubt.

It is also quite possible that I don't know what I am looking at, but Tesla does not make it easy by not giving me answers.

 

[garcianc]

Thanks to another member, I was able to log in via the browser interface as a customer. Turns out that gives me less functionality, though I was able to change the password. I am still not able to change the mode or other parameters.

Below screenshot is the summary page for my system. Could someone tell me what does it mean to be in "direct" mode? I could not find that mode explained in any documentation.

 

[aesculus]

Your grid code says you don't have a PTO yet. Is that true? If so a lot does not work until then.

 

[dailo]

Your grid code says you don't have a PTO yet. Is that true? If so a lot does not work until then.

How can you tell by the grid code?

 

[aesculus]

How can you tell by the grid code?

It has no location or UL code. Here is mine.

60Hz_240V_s_UL1741SA:2019_California

 

[Rebel]

Do you know how many strings you have? If you drop down the powerwall+ ?
I've been having issues with one of my powerwall+ and 2 strings don't show up.

 

[sorka]

Your grid code says you don't have a PTO yet. Is that true? If so a lot does not work until then.

Says who? My 8.16kw + 3 PW system was fully functional the day it was installed and I left it on self powered mode only going off grid when there was risk of discharging back to the grid for the two months it took to get PTO.

 

[garcianc]

Your grid code says you don't have a PTO yet. Is that true? If so a lot does not work until then.

I have a PTO according to both Tesla and PEPCO (my electric utility). I confirmed this directly with my utility.
Whether that is how my Powerwall is configured, that's another story. Nothing has gone right thus far...

 

[garcianc]

Do you know how many strings you have? If you drop down the powerwall+ ?
I've been having issues with one of my powerwall+ and 2 strings don't show up.

Sorry for my ignorance, I don't speak powerwall just yet. What do you mean by strings? as in the data type? where would I see that?

 

[jboy210]

Says who? My 8.16kw + 3 PW system was fully functional the day it was installed and I left it on self powered mode only going off grid when there was risk of discharging back to the grid for the two months it took to get PTO.

Sometime around late summer, they reduce functionality while you wait for PTO.

 

[jhn_]

Sometime around late summer, they reduce functionality while you wait for PTO.

Yes this is a Tesla change in policy/procedure that has happened since your install @sorka

 

[jjrandorin]

Says who? My 8.16kw + 3 PW system was fully functional the day it was installed and I left it on self powered mode only going off grid when there was risk of discharging back to the grid for the two months it took to get PTO.

You dont have a PW+ so your (and any of us who dont have that inverter / system) experience isnt relevant to this OPs as far as this goes. Tesla did not have a setting for us to run the system but have the system itself prevent grid export, like they do for powerwall+ installs.

 

[garcianc]

Thank you so much everyone for your responses, but let me recap to make sure I am following:
- It sounds like the the "Mode - Direct" shown on the summary page is not a concern (?)
- It is probable that the Powerwall+ is misconfigured to act as if I am not at PTO, even though I am.

 

[dailo]

Thank you so much everyone for your responses, but let me recap to make sure I am following:
- It sounds like the the "Mode - Direct" shown on the summary page is not a concern (?)
- It is probable that the Powerwall+ is misconfigured to act as if I am not at PTO, even though I am.

I am not sure what Direct mode is, haven't seen that one before. Your system seems to be working properly outside of the Powerwall not charging, once you get access to the mobile app you'll be able to change your modes which will probably update that field. You can try running "Diagnostics" from the Installer screen to see if any errors shows up there, possibly some wiring issue with the 3rd PW but either way probably something Tesla needs to fix. Hopefully their support will get back to you soon and update your account so you can see it in the app. You will have to logout/login to the app to see it though once they make the change, at least I did.

 

[garcianc]

Sharing an update in case it helps anyone.
So yesterday (Saturday 10/30/2021) my Solar Roof/Powerwall+ system changed mode (I am assuming per some remote input from Tesla) from "Direct" to "Self Consumption". The batteries now show charged to 100%. The customer version also changed to 21.35.3. Nothing else changed on the status page.
The app still shows no data.

 

[garcianc]

As a way to close out my earlier post, my issues were resolved this past weekend. There are some people at Tesla Energy who are doing an amazing job, and I am not sure how to recognize them. I don't want to mention her name but I had this lady who took a relentless approach to solving my case. She even called me on Saturday to check if my app was showing the correct status. It did, and everything works perfectly now. It turns out that the initial configuration for my system (on Tesla's servers) was associated with the wrong system.