Powerwall Backorders

[Vines]

Not all, but a lot as construction had commenced.

Having dealt with complexities like this before, I find the lack of practical troubleshooting insights and spare parts slightly more than annoying.

"Oh no 12V from the motherboard? Let's pop a new one in and see how it goes."​

"Oh, no 12V passing out the CANbus on that power wall? Ok, let's drop a new controller in."​

Either you can reprogram the board in a minute or two, or you can't, and it is time to move to a new piece of hardware. This is not hard.

Tesla Tier 2 support going "We will get back to you in three to five business days."

Excuse me?...this isn't a toenail polisher, it isn't a car, it is a 24x7 critical infrastructure component. Neither Hertz, nor support are offering a loaner system to be temporarily spliced in to tide us through the outages. (And good luck with the permits on that.)​

None of my standby power vendors have ever been this bad. Not even close. Even during adverse events, and I have set up or advised on more than a few. This isn't unprofessional, it is indescribably bad.

Some aspects of this business may be complex rocket science, but troubleshooting isn't one, or shouldn't be one. Remember the line on rocket science, right?
"'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department,' says Wernher von Braun."

The Powerwalls were ordered to solve a practical problem: outages. It wasn't trying to keep up with the neighbors or Instagram it. The problem is not solved, and I am beginning to question the longer term reliability/viability of this solution, if spare parts aren't readily available. So, all of you considering one of these systems, I would strongly encourage you to consider a transfer switch for a generator, or a more modular system like Enphase.

Pitchforks are looking mighty attractive.

All the best,

BG

That is not a great look, and I hope your team can get the system running!

I wish I had better help to offer, but the post installation hardware or software issues are a weak point in my knowledge.

 

[BGbreeder]

That is not a great look, and I hope your team can get the system running!

I wish I had better help to offer, but the post installation hardware or software issues are a weak point in my knowledge.

Me, too! On both counts.

I do have to say that if the gizmo won't power up, I tend to look back at the manufacturer, not the installer, at least once you have ruled out gross installation errors...

I remember a complex ($$$$) piece of electronics a few years ago that was failing pretty rapidly after installation that turned out to be due to bad packing or harsh treatment during shipment. The manufacturer tried to blame the shipper, and that we would have to take it up with the shipper. I pointed out that as they had control of both the packing and shipping that it was their problem to address, period. They relented and went with their own trucks and drivers for awhile until they could redesign the hardware to survive shipment...but it took months to work through, even after organizing buyers nationally.

I can't wait for spare parts to turn up on eBay...meanwhile, keep your transfer switches and disconnects in good working condition.

All the best,

BG

 

[BGbreeder]

I had a delightful conversation with tech support person at Tesla energy tech support today who told me that Powerwalls weren't essential because I had lived without them before, so the fact that they weren't functioning wasn't a problem, nor was waiting weeks to get them functioning an issue. I was told that I should just wait for Tier 2 to decide what "we" would do. No timeline, no commitment, no "sorry that this isn't working for you."

It was a pretty amazing conversation.

It reminded me that if you don't measure your performance it is hard to improve...

Oh, she was also quick to point out that the three to five working day response time told to me by others wasn't at all accurate. "No, no, it is more like 7-10 days, but it is really up to Tier 2 on how long it takes."

Read 'em and weep folks....

 

[Vines]

I had a delightful conversation with tech support person at Tesla energy tech support today who told me that Powerwalls weren't essential because I had lived without them before, so the fact that they weren't functioning wasn't a problem, nor was waiting weeks to get them functioning an issue. I was told that I should just wait for Tier 2 to decide what "we" would do. No timeline, no commitment, no "sorry that this isn't working for you."

It was a pretty amazing conversation.

It reminded me that if you don't measure your performance it is hard to improve...

Oh, she was also quick to point out that the three to five working day response time told to me by others wasn't at all accurate. "No, no, it is more like 7-10 days, but it is really up to Tier 2 on how long it takes."

Read 'em and weep folks....

Well, I hope it is worth the wait! Those had better be mighty fine answers to have to cook so long.

 

[sunwarriors]

I had a delightful conversation with tech support person at Tesla energy tech support today who told me that Powerwalls weren't essential because I had lived without them before, so the fact that they weren't functioning wasn't a problem, nor was waiting weeks to get them functioning an issue. I was told that I should just wait for Tier 2 to decide what "we" would do. No timeline, no commitment, no "sorry that this isn't working for you."

It was a pretty amazing conversation.

It reminded me that if you don't measure your performance it is hard to improve...

Oh, she was also quick to point out that the three to five working day response time told to me by others wasn't at all accurate. "No, no, it is more like 7-10 days, but it is really up to Tier 2 on how long it takes."

Read 'em and weep folks....

This is why it's a good thing when we can have more competition in this and the EV industry. When everyone wants your product to the tune of 80k+ PW backlog, companies get arrogant, lazy and downright nasty on servicing folks since it's like:

"What, where else are you going to go or buy? <rep LOL>".

 

[holeydonut]

This is why it's a good thing when we can have more competition in this and the EV industry. When everyone wants your product to the tune of 80k+ PW backlog, companies get arrogant, lazy and downright nasty on servicing folks since it's like:

"What, where else are you going to go or buy? <rep LOL>".

Agreed, Tesla's arrogance is pretty high up there for how new of a company they are. Most companies spend decades honing this level of arrogance.

For example, it took me the better part of forever to find an electrician to come out and do a Gen 3 HPWC (errr some users here have corrected me that it's a Gen 3 TWC). Normal electricians were not familiar enough with Powerwalls and didn't want to get near my whole home backup. But I found a guy who signed up his solar shop to also do Tesla Powerwalls as an authorized "partner".

The entire time he was installing and testing the HPWC, he went on and on and on and on and on about how Tesla screwed him and how Tesla is screwing a lot of customers. I've worked for a Detroit big 3 automaker ... and I'd be hard pressed to find someone in the industry who could rant that long nonstop about how Detroit's Big 3 screwed their dealers over.

How Tesla got this bad so quickly to stick it to someone who paid money for the privilege of being a reseller/partner is kind of shocking. If Tesla will screw over their partners, imagine how they might be screwing over their customers.

 

[BGbreeder]

Agreed, Tesla's arrogance is pretty high up there for how new of a company they are. Most companies spend decades honing this level of arrogance.

...

How Tesla got this bad so quickly to stick it to someone who paid money for the privilege of being a reseller/partner is kind of shocking. If Tesla will screw over their partners, imagine how they might be screwing over their customers.

Great! Something else to look forward to.

Still, I am sure that I had it coming. I guess it is all my doing for not putting up enough of the good luck tokens of masses of disconnects.

Woe is me, if I had only known...oh wait I did know. @holeydonut shared the power of these new devices to attract arrogance...
bizzz zap " Not enough disconnects! Thou shalt have no heat in November!"
"Not enough disconnects, you are banished into the seventh circle of tech support limbo!"
Bizz zap "Thou shalt need a part with a chip no longer imported. Boouuhaha, the wait shall be at least another fifteen months. "
Bizz zap! "It is done!"

That is why my PG&E transformers blew up the day the Gateway was turned on? Not enough disconnects to ward off the forces of arrogance? We may be on to something. Time to pass out the tinfoil hats to keep the
...


I am laughing about this fiasco. You couldn't make this stuff up.

And yes, I have heard more than a few reseller complaints, and not just the, shall we say not exactly uniform, Powerwall allocations.

All the best,

BG

 

[BGbreeder]

On the bright side...just had a delightful call with another representative at Tesla Energy tech support. Night and day. She took the time to read the file, double checked with the Tier 2 notes, found some gaps, and took it upon herself to draft an email to Tier 2, summarizing the status and advice to be ready for the next site visit by the installers.

Oh, and very apologetic for the install not working, the delay, not having backup during outages, and the process lapses. I hope that she goes far.



All the best,

BG

 

[holeydonut]

On the bright side...just had a delightful call with another representative at Tesla Energy tech support. Night and day. She took the time to read the file, double checked with the Tier 2 notes, found some gaps, and took it upon herself to draft an email to Tier 2, summarizing the status and advice to be ready for the next site visit by the installers.

Oh, and very apologetic for the install not working, the delay, not having backup during outages, and the process lapses. I hope that she goes far.



All the best,

BG

I hope this means Elon's AI bots that search social media found your post, and they routed your issue to the AI bots that have
class Persona { $this->charm = "Extra Nice" }

 

[BGbreeder]

I hope this means Elon's AI bots that search social media found your post, and they routed your issue to the AI bots that have
class Persona { $this->charm = "Extra Nice" }

One can only hope! I hope that the other rep finds something that she is better at.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

i think she might have found a new job at lorex ! ! !

 

[BGbreeder]

Quick update: one Powerwall appears to have a bad CANbus port, which kept all three Powerwalls from powering up. (The "out" port, but since CANbus just daisy chains, it is just "a" port.) At Tesla's suggestion installers have done a weird routing of wires (#1 to #3, #3 to #2) to avoid having signal at the "bad" out port. This leaves the bus termination resistor in a nonfunctioning port. For every other bus that I have dealt with that has terminating resistors, this is generally a recipe for future issues. Anyone here have experience with CANbus termination? Could the resistor be added to the connector with the incoming CANbus wires, aka communication bus?

Our second solar panel location doesn't seem to be reliably making connections to the gateway, probably because the neurio isn't either strong enough to push signals through the WiFi, or because it isn't configured to be on our network.

On the bright side, the Powerwalls are installed and appear to be working! May 2020 to mid-Sept. 2021.

We are under a Storm watch due to high winds...just what the Powerwalls were purchased to backup. It is nice to have them full and online.

All the best,

BG

 

[CrazyRabbit]

i'm being told i'm on the schedule for next Thursday for my powerwall install. wish me luck.

 

[zƬesla]

i'm being told i'm on the schedule for next Thursday for my powerwall install. wish me luck.

Luck!

 

[CrazyRabbit]

wish me good luck please!

 

[Vines]

wish me good luck please!

Good Luck!

Glad to see the backlog is breaking free for other installers as well.

 

[lavalamp425]

wish me good luck please!

Good luck with the install! Hope it all goes smoothly from here on out.

Post some pics

 

[h2ofun]

Good Luck!

Glad to see the backlog is breaking free for other installers as well.

Are you seeing supply improvements?

 

[lavalamp425]

I'm not seeing any improvement in supply from my installer; I asked today when they were at my house for a pre-construction walkthrough, but I already switched to Enphase so it is kind of academic for me now. Regardless, I'm glad some supply seems to be shaking loose.

 

[pjax_]

is it ever possible to get Tesla Solar but skip the Powerwall? With all the shortages and everything, I'd really just want to get solar right now. I don't think I really need a battery backup any time soon.