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PowerWall Cold Start without Grid Power
- Thread starter Cottonwood
- Start date
eml2
Member
I particularly like the idea of an "Emergency Start" button and procedure.
Ulmo
Active Member
While I'm not convinced it's necessary since I maintain that the PowerWalls start up when you ask them to, if it turns out I'm wrong in any way, then I would and do agree.
mikemillar
Member
[QUOTE="evp, post: 2667184, member: 30429" I'd suggest putting a tiny Honda generator on the upstream side of the PowerWall and see if it would sync to that. [/QUOTE] - don't know why this won't display properly.
I've just picked up this rather long thread and haven't read it all so sorry if this has been mentioned before. I would be very wary about putting a small Honda generator anywhere near a Powerwall. I once blew two central heating controllers using a small Honda type generator during power outages before I realised that it was frequency and voltage wild and the voltage was a function of engine rpm. It was producing major voltage spikes. Make sure your generator has proper voltage control before you try that experiment - otherwise you might destroy a $2000 Gateway.
I should add that my generator was not a proprietary Honda one, it just had a Honda engine, and is now 20 years old so maybe modern ones have proper automatic voltage regulation.
I've just picked up this rather long thread and haven't read it all so sorry if this has been mentioned before. I would be very wary about putting a small Honda generator anywhere near a Powerwall. I once blew two central heating controllers using a small Honda type generator during power outages before I realised that it was frequency and voltage wild and the voltage was a function of engine rpm. It was producing major voltage spikes. Make sure your generator has proper voltage control before you try that experiment - otherwise you might destroy a $2000 Gateway.
I should add that my generator was not a proprietary Honda one, it just had a Honda engine, and is now 20 years old so maybe modern ones have proper automatic voltage regulation.
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I am currently having that issue in Puerto Rico. Wondering if anyone can verify the cold jumping method for a completely drained powerwall.
Do you have solar to recharge it?
Needs 12V to the Gateway per this recent video:
Tesla Reportedly Makes Powerwall "How-To" Video For Ukrainians
You can provide a 12V power source with a 3A max fuse to the center 2 pins of the GW2 as shown here
This should wake the GW2 up and allow the PV to begin charging.
If you have the GW1 the pins are slightly different.
Wow, this was awesome to watch! I feel like I learned a lot about how this is connected at a basic level. Thanks for sharing it!
Hey,
Can anyone co firm? I'm in PR and have been out of power for a while. My Powerwall is dead and won't come on at all.
Wait until the sun is out and your solar inverter is ready to produce power. Disconnect or turn off all loads in the home, so the only thing connected to the gateway is your solar inverter. Apply 12VDC to the Jump input to start the gateway. Once started, it will form a micro-grid, if there is enough energy remaining in your Powerwall. Once the micro-grid is formed, the solar inverter should begin generating power after a few minutes. Disconnect the 12VDC and let the Powerwall charge up for a few hours, then reconnect your loads.
The packaging with all the premade connectors really made setup easy.
I was surprised that they didn't have to take either major component out of the box!
Yes, I have but since I work for an installer maybe I do not really count lol.
reddy
Active Member
See my post #129 above, not sure if you are actually missing it or?
I can't share the document but there's little else you need to know.
reddy
Active Member
A manual would be great. I was told the same 2 pins by my installer in 2019, and posted that. I've never had the opportunity to test it, but would like some confidence beyond hearsay.
I'm a layperson and using this and another TMC thread I was able to jump my powerwall today.
The first 12v powerbank I tried wasn't able to jump it - it just turned off when I connected it. I eventually tried with a more powerful power station that had a 12v cigarette lighter and it started right up.
Circumstance:
Powerwalls fully charged but offline, medium sun, grid outage
Steps:
1. Ensure powerwall switch is on
2. Remove cover from gateway
3. Instal wires into jump pins on gateway
4. Touch wires to 12v power source
5. See lights go on in the gateway
6. Wait about 5 minutes, powerwall backup resumed
How did the system end up in that circumstance?
I thought this thread was for the case of off grid and PWs offline because they hit the low charge level self-protection limit. And then you have to do a "cold start" to bring them back online, presumably with all loads turned off and the sun shining, so they can reestablish the microgrid and let the PV inverters sync and start charging them again.
Cheers, Wayne
