Powerwall Burning?

[PT920]

Hi,

I just recently had 2 Powerwall's installed last Thursday and today it looks like one of them burned out. If left some marks on top of the PW and it took a while for the electric burning stench to dissipate from the garage. Tesla sent back the electrician who installed it and he deemed the unit was faulty and needed to be replaced. Hoping this is a one off and I don't run into any issues down the road. Has this happened to anyone before? Thanks.

 

[SMAlset]

Yours is the first I’ve heard of since I started watching this thread in January when we placed our deposit. Glad that that was the extent of the problem and appeared self-contained. Will follow your thread. We’re doing a garage install too. Any smoke detectors in your garage area? Assume the odor otherwise alerted you to the issue? Did you get any alert on your app indicating an error or such?

 

[wwhitney]

Maybe if it is faulty, it should be turned off? And why is the green light on for the one with the burn marks, but not for the other one?

Cheers, Wayne

 

[PT920]

Yours is the first I’ve heard of since I started watching this thread in January when we placed our deposit. Glad that that was the extent of the problem and appeared self-contained. Will follow your thread. We’re doing a garage install too. Any smoke detectors in your garage area? Assume the odor otherwise alerted you to the issue? Did you get any alert on your app indicating an error or such?

No smoke detectors in my garage but it was definitely the strong odor that alerted me. No error messages on the app unfortunately. The electrician who installed it said he rarely sees anything like this so most likely just bad luck on my part. Can't wait until they call me back to schedule a new unit install!

 

[PT920]

Maybe if it is faulty, it should be turned off? And why is the green light on for the one with the burn marks, but not for the other one?

Cheers, Wayne

It is off currently. I took the photo immediately when I stepped into the garage. The lights were pulsating so its the timing of the photo that makes the 2nd unit looks off.

 

[wwhitney]

Thanks for the explanation. Wayne

 

[getakey]

No smoke detectors in my garage but it was definitely the strong odor that alerted me. No error messages on the app unfortunately. The electrician who installed it said he rarely sees anything like this so most likely just bad luck on my part. Can't wait until they call me back to schedule a new unit install!

That doesn't give me the warm and fuzzy. Rarely sees it meaning he has seen it before? He's only 1 installer

 

[SSonnentag]

First failure I've heard of as well.

 

[Vines]

I have not seen this yet, with 400ish installed.

Please ensure the Powerwall AC breaker is off as well as the switch on the side of the unit. Make sure to keep an eye on it, and it might not be a bad idea to put one smoke alarm in the garage for the moment.

 

[PT920]

Just to update:

Tesla came back out and replaced the faulty unit. Everything seems to be working normal with the exception of the other PW's fan seems to be not running or running low compared to the new unit they put in. Also on a side note, It looks like Tesla's install crew also knocked down one of my concrete roof tiles when they installed the solar panels last week. I wish I had found out sooner than later. Guess i'll have to reach out to Tesla again. It's been a rough journey so far!

 

[BrettS]

Everything seems to be working normal with the exception of the other PW's fan seems to be not running or running low compared to the new unit they put in.

If this was immediately after they installed the new unit then I suspect that this is normal, especially if the new unit came with a low state of charge and your other powerwalls had a higher state of charge. The system tries to keep the powerwalls at the same state of charge, so if the new one was much lower then it would be sending more power to that one to help it catch up to the other ones. That would generate more heat and cause it’s fans to run more than the others. But I would only expect that behavior for the first day or so, by then it should be able to get everything balanced and they should behave the same.

 

[jboy210]

This failure makes me consider a smoke/CO detector for my garage. Perhaps another Nest
We only drive EVs, so no worry about car emission.

 

[BrettS]

This failure makes me consider a smoke/CO detector for my garage. Perhaps another Nest
We only drive EVs, so no worry about car emission.

They actually recommend that you do not have a smoke detector in the garage. And I believe that it’s even against code in some jurisdictions. There is more info here...

Should You Have A Smoke Alarm In The Attic or Garage? Yes or No - Buyers Ask

 

[SMAlset]

This failure makes me consider a smoke/CO detector for my garage. Perhaps another Nest
We only drive EVs, so no worry about car emission.

Whether due to concerns regarding the PW batteries or if you had EVSE (or NEMA 14-50) installed in your garage for charging, not a bad idea regardless. The forum has had a few reports of wiring issues inside their garage walls where the wiring overheated for different reasons (ie poor connection that caused arcing).

Our house is hardwired with a smoke alarm system but they never added any in the garages at build time. So the stand-alone battery powered ones are our way to go without adding a lot of expense. Easy enough to install and now they are made with 10-year sensors so the units don’t need to be replaced as often, just the 9v batteries in them.

 

[SMAlset]

They actually recommend that you do not have a smoke detector in the garage. And I believe that it’s even against code in some jurisdictions. There is more info here...

Should You Have A Smoke Alarm In The Attic or Garage? Yes or No - Buyers Ask

interesting because I believe the Santa Clara Fire District here in the bay area have been updating their code and apparently are requiring alarms in the garage but they want them hardwired from what I understand and want a rising heat sensor with them as well and want UL certification on them. From what I understand in speaking with a rep from DCS (mfgr of residential and commercial alarms) there aren’t any certified, not even for commercial applications. As I recall he said it wasn’t a matter of paying for UL certification on the heat rise sensor (its UL certified for the smoke and carbon monoxide portion) but due to no standards being set to rate them.

I know our house’s garage walls has a so many minute/hour fire rating. So if built to code would offer some level of protection in which case I think even having a smoke detector would be useful.

 

[jboy210]

Whether due to concerns regarding the PW batteries or if you had EVSE (or NEMA 14-50) installed in your garage for charging, not a bad idea regardless. The forum has had a few reports of wiring issues inside their garage walls where the wiring overheated for different reasons (ie poor connection that caused arcing).

Our house is hardwired with a smoke alarm system but they never added any in the garages at build time. So the stand-alone battery powered ones are our way to go without adding a lot of expense. Easy enough to install and now they are made with 10-year sensors so the units don’t need to be replaced as often, just the 9v batteries in them.

We also do not have alarm power wired into the garage. But, since we are talking about a part of the electrical system I think a separate battery powered unit might be a good idea. Do you have a brand/model you recommend?

 

[SMAlset]

We also do not have alarm power wired into the garage. But, since we are talking about a part of the electrical system I think a separate battery powered unit might be a good idea. Do you have a brand/model you recommend?

Haven't spent much time looking into them but this was the wireless DSC model that had the heat detector I had looked at before (WS4916). Everyone's garage situation will be different depending on where you live and conditions around it so read through the specs. Note that the Australian version has a different temperature operating requirement for smoke detection and it doesn't come with a heat detector. The manual does warn about placing it in areas where dust or insects can cause false alarms as was mentioned in that article linked to above so very well may not be a good choice.

Wireless Smoke Detector with Heat Detection - WS4916 | DSC Security Products | DSC

Installation/Operating Instructions: https://cms.dsc.com/download.php?t=1&id=13278

If you live in an older home where hardwiring your home with smoke detectors may not be easy or possible without great expense, there are wireless alarm systems out there now that can connect to hardwired and wireless alarm devices in the home. DSC does have several of these models available where you would hardwire the main panel and go from there setting up the system.

There are heat detectors alone designed for garages. Do a google search for “heat detectors for garage”. There are also 2 types, one triggered by a set temp and the other based on temperature rise.

Now in OP’s situation here the smell of something overheating and producing the odor was what caught his attention, presumably not a rise in temperature yet in the garage.