The Powerwall is a great product and I have high hopes for the future of battery storage at personal residences. Powerwalls can increase our consumption of solar energy, minimize our use of expensive peak power, and provide valuable backup services. For most people, the existing Backup-only, Self-powered, and Advanced modes should generally work okay without significant intervention - "set it and forget it".
However, there is a significant minority of Powerwall users, including myself and a number of other regular TMC posters, who enjoy doing our best to optimize our use of the Powerwall. I'd love to see Tesla implement an Expert mode, aka. "Nerd Mode", for users like us. I've had two Powerwalls at my home for over a year, and I still make frequent use of the Tesla app to check on our solar generation, home consumption, use of the Powerwalls, and use of the grid, even when I'm away from home.
Our electricity usage patterns at home are highly variable, so it seems somewhat futile for the Powerwalls to attempt to "learn" our patterns in order to control their charging and discharging. We are at home a great deal (I work from home), we have electric vehicles that occasionally need to be charged while peak electricity rates are in effect, we are in PlugShare and have EV visitors from time to time, and we appreciate being able to use our electric appliances at our convenience rather than on a set schedule. Further, as for our solar production, we're in an area where the weather can vary substantially over just a couple of miles' distance.
Rather than depending on charge/discharge/standby decisions that are essentially hidden in a black box, I'd rather have as much manual control as possible, subject of course to physical limitations, the need to maintain the long term health of the batteries, and regulatory compliance demands.
Specifically, a proposed Expert mode would allow us to set time of day and day of week ranges (going beyond Advanced mode), then configure a charge/discharge profile for each day/time range.
For example, I would set the following day/time ranges:
Range 1: Weekdays+weekends 12AM-8AM; weekdays+weekends 10PM-12AM
Range 2: Weekdays 8AM-2PM
Range 3: Weekends 8AM-10PM
Range 4: Weekdays 2PM-10PM
Then I would set the profiles for these day/time ranges as follows:
Range 1 (equivalent to Off Peak):
- Discharge on outages only
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 100%
Range 2 (equivalent to weekday Part Peak):
- Discharge on outages only
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 50%
- Charge using excess solar above reserve of 50%
Range 3 (equivalent to weekend Part Peak):
- Discharge on outages only
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 30%
- Charge using excess solar above reserve of 30%
Range 4 (equivalent to Peak):
- Discharge to cover all home usage, down to reserve of 30% (all solar exported)
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 30%
I think this particular configuration would cover our current needs/desires quite well, though I would tweak the reserve percentages with the seasons. Obviously, charging and discharging would be limited to whatever the Powerwalls can appropriately handle. Overlapping ranges and gaps would not be allowed. Charging would always take place, when possible, during power outages. When charging from "excess solar", home usage gets priority on using available solar energy.
Here are the options that I'd propose Tesla implement for each day/time range:
1. Discharge options:
A. Outages only
B. To cover all home usage, down to specified reserve % (all solar is exported)
C. To cover home usage in excess of available solar, down to specified reserve %
D. Discharge to grid (where permitted), down to specified reserve %
If (A) is chosen, then no other options apply. (B), (C), and (D) can be simultaneously selected, at different reserve levels.
2. Charge options:
A. All solar, up to specified reserve %
B. Charge on excess solar when above reserve given in (A)
C. From grid (where permitted), up to specified reserve %
All of these options can be simultaneously chosen. If none are chosen, then charging takes place only if necessary to maintain the health of the batteries or in response to a Storm Watch activation.
If there are conflicts between the discharge options and the charge options, then the discharge options would take precedence.
I've attempted to keep this relatively simple, to increase the likelihood of an Expert mode actually getting implemented and used. Does this make sense? Am I missing anything?
However, there is a significant minority of Powerwall users, including myself and a number of other regular TMC posters, who enjoy doing our best to optimize our use of the Powerwall. I'd love to see Tesla implement an Expert mode, aka. "Nerd Mode", for users like us. I've had two Powerwalls at my home for over a year, and I still make frequent use of the Tesla app to check on our solar generation, home consumption, use of the Powerwalls, and use of the grid, even when I'm away from home.
Our electricity usage patterns at home are highly variable, so it seems somewhat futile for the Powerwalls to attempt to "learn" our patterns in order to control their charging and discharging. We are at home a great deal (I work from home), we have electric vehicles that occasionally need to be charged while peak electricity rates are in effect, we are in PlugShare and have EV visitors from time to time, and we appreciate being able to use our electric appliances at our convenience rather than on a set schedule. Further, as for our solar production, we're in an area where the weather can vary substantially over just a couple of miles' distance.
Rather than depending on charge/discharge/standby decisions that are essentially hidden in a black box, I'd rather have as much manual control as possible, subject of course to physical limitations, the need to maintain the long term health of the batteries, and regulatory compliance demands.
Specifically, a proposed Expert mode would allow us to set time of day and day of week ranges (going beyond Advanced mode), then configure a charge/discharge profile for each day/time range.
For example, I would set the following day/time ranges:
Range 1: Weekdays+weekends 12AM-8AM; weekdays+weekends 10PM-12AM
Range 2: Weekdays 8AM-2PM
Range 3: Weekends 8AM-10PM
Range 4: Weekdays 2PM-10PM
Then I would set the profiles for these day/time ranges as follows:
Range 1 (equivalent to Off Peak):
- Discharge on outages only
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 100%
Range 2 (equivalent to weekday Part Peak):
- Discharge on outages only
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 50%
- Charge using excess solar above reserve of 50%
Range 3 (equivalent to weekend Part Peak):
- Discharge on outages only
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 30%
- Charge using excess solar above reserve of 30%
Range 4 (equivalent to Peak):
- Discharge to cover all home usage, down to reserve of 30% (all solar exported)
- Charge using all solar up to reserve of 30%
I think this particular configuration would cover our current needs/desires quite well, though I would tweak the reserve percentages with the seasons. Obviously, charging and discharging would be limited to whatever the Powerwalls can appropriately handle. Overlapping ranges and gaps would not be allowed. Charging would always take place, when possible, during power outages. When charging from "excess solar", home usage gets priority on using available solar energy.
Here are the options that I'd propose Tesla implement for each day/time range:
1. Discharge options:
A. Outages only
B. To cover all home usage, down to specified reserve % (all solar is exported)
C. To cover home usage in excess of available solar, down to specified reserve %
D. Discharge to grid (where permitted), down to specified reserve %
If (A) is chosen, then no other options apply. (B), (C), and (D) can be simultaneously selected, at different reserve levels.
2. Charge options:
A. All solar, up to specified reserve %
B. Charge on excess solar when above reserve given in (A)
C. From grid (where permitted), up to specified reserve %
All of these options can be simultaneously chosen. If none are chosen, then charging takes place only if necessary to maintain the health of the batteries or in response to a Storm Watch activation.
If there are conflicts between the discharge options and the charge options, then the discharge options would take precedence.
I've attempted to keep this relatively simple, to increase the likelihood of an Expert mode actually getting implemented and used. Does this make sense? Am I missing anything?