Powerwall firmware issue during install day. How long before I can generate solar?

[machantu]

Hi all - I finally had my install done yesterday after placing my order in Sep 2022. 7 month wait! Overview below:

Powerwall, 8.4kWH system in Orange County, CA

At the end of the installation, the Tesla electrician left my place saying that there was a firmware issue causing the Powerwall to continuously restart, therefore it couldn’t be used. He said that someone would be working to fix it remotely after he leaves and that I would be able to use the Powerwall soon. However, as of today, Saturday, neither the Powerwall nor the solar generation works yet. Is this typical? He said that the city inspection could take up to a few weeks to schedule as well.

My question is how soon can you typically start generating once the install happens? Has anyone encountered a similar “firmware” issue with a Powerwall install?

Was planning to follow up with them Monday when customer support reopens.

The gateway seems to be working but not anything else. See screenshot:

Thanks in advance for any insights!

 

[jjrandorin]

"normally" the system is functional when the installer leaves, but it sounds like there is something with the firmware of your system that needs to be updated or something (could be inverter firmware or powerwall firmware).

Thats not very common, at least from what people who post here experience. It sounds like your install was friday, and this is the weekend, so if I were in your shoes I would wait until monday evening to see if it was working, then I would call tesla energy on tuesday morning (or call the installer if they left you their contact information, some do, some dont).

 

[CrazyRabbit]

What are your powerwall settings? 100% backup. Try setting to 20% backup. That way you can use your batteries to power the house and charge during the day.

 

[karkrazy]

Doesn’t sound like the installer commissioned (turned on) either PV or powerwall. Only Tesla will be able to resolve.

Typically, solar generation can start almost immediately.

 

[machantu]

"normally" the system is functional when the installer leaves, but it sounds like there is something with the firmware of your system that needs to be updated or something (could be inverter firmware or powerwall firmware).

Thats not very common, at least from what people who post here experience. It sounds like your install was friday, and this is the weekend, so if I were in your shoes I would wait until monday evening to see if it was working, then I would call tesla energy on tuesday morning (or call the installer if they left you their contact information, some do, some dont)

Thanks all for the responses!

Installer came back out today.

Apparently, this is a nationwide issue for the firmware update on this latest batch of Powerwalls. The installer mentioned that until there is a firmware update, the solar generation cannot be commissioned, and that other recent installs were having similar issues. He also could not provide an ETA on when this would be resolved (which may be after the City inspection).

Has anyone run into similar issues? Not sure what else I can do but wait.

 

[jjrandorin]

You have powerwall+ or powerwall 2?

This is the first thread I remember where it was put out that a system could not even be commissioned due to powerwall firmware. It really sounds kinda sus to me (meaning I am questioning the installer, not you).

 

[machantu]

Have the Powerwall+ (with the Solar inverter integrated on top)

 

[jjrandorin]

Have the Powerwall+ (with the Solar inverter integrated on top)

I wonder if this is a powerwall+ thing (firmware for the inverter on top of it)? If this is the case, I am surprised we are not hearing more of it here.

Please let us know how it comes out.

I should have said this earlier, but "Welcome to TMC energy subforum", and sorry that your first visit is with a strange issue like this. Really interested to hear the outcome.

 

[machantu]

I wonder if this is a powerwall+ thing (firmware for the inverter on top of it)? If this is the case, I am surprised we are not hearing more of it here.

Please let us know how it comes out.

I should have said this earlier, but "Welcome to TMC energy subforum", and sorry that your first visit is with a strange issue like this. Really interested to hear the outcome.

Thank you!

Chatted with Tesla support the next day and asked them to escalate the issue given that it was impacting other installs.

It worked a few hours later. Powerwall and solar generation are now operational!

Tesla scheduled another appointment Friday to come out, presumably for the city inspection.

 

[YRide]

I think I may have had similar issue (or issues).

2x PW+ and 2x PW2 installed on 5/2 along with 10.8 kW of PV. Two day install went smoothly. But before leaving the team couldn’t turn on system, had a FW issue with the powerwalls. After about one hour of trying to load FW and provision they gave up because it was 7p (credit to them for sticking around so late), and they couldn’t get “Buffalo, NY” on the phone who does the advanced behind the scenes support.

They came back out today, 5/5, and spent another few hours. It seems like they got the FW updated, but now could not get the Neurio CT’s (there’s two, one on each PW+) to “connect”. It was unclear to me if the Neurio’s are connected to the GW2 or my home network.

They tried everything. Swapping the Neurio’s. Replacing the Neurio’s with new ones. Repositioning the antennas. Even added extension cables to move the antennas closer to the GW2…even though it’s only 40ft (though GW2 is inside garage and PW’s are outside on a wall).

At one point they got one Neurio connected. But couldn’t get the other. And then the one that connected seemed to disconnect.

I have AT&T fiber, with their AT&T extenders (3x of them). I tried turning off the extenders. I also tried changing the name if the 5GHz network SSID, so that only the 2.4GHz SSID was “live” (I’ve had issues with 2.4G only devices in the past struggling to connect if both 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios were “on” and using same SSID, like AT&T requires).

Anyways, nothing worked. Powerwall techs left, and indicated that FST (field service technicians) would contact me ASAP.

 

[BGbreeder]

Based on my experience, the neurios and the Tesla Gateway need a separate 2.4GHz network (not a combined 2.4/5GHz combined SSID), no WiFi extenders, and they all also need reserved (static IP) addresses in your router. Then, you, or the installers, need to go into the configuration section of the Gateway interface, and make sure that the Gateway has the correct MAC addresses for each neurio at the correct static IP addresses. We had install issues for a week or two due to a typo in the MAC address that got entered into the Gateway. It is my belief (based on watching network traffic) that once on the network, neurios and Gateways communicate via their MAC addresses directly.

FYI: Speaking from experience, it is easy to damage the extension cable by bending it too sharply, or crushing it.

All the best,

BG

 

[YRide]

Based on my experience, the neurios and the Tesla Gateway need a separate 2.4GHz network (not a combined 2.4/5GHz combined SSID), no WiFi extenders, and they all also need reserved (static IP) addresses in your router. Then, you, or the installers, need to go into the configuration section of the Gateway interface, and make sure that the Gateway has the correct MAC addresses for each neurio at the correct static IP addresses. We had install issues for a week or two due to a typo in the MAC address that got entered into the Gateway. It is my belief (based on watching network traffic) that once on the network, neurios and Gateways communicate via their MAC addresses directly.

FYI: Speaking from experience, it is easy to damage the extension cable by bending it too sharply, or crushing it.

All the best,

BG

I was able to go directly into the Neurio’s and connect to my home network, solid and stable blue light on both now. So I think I solved that.

FWIW, I thought this might have been the issue, if you have a shared SSID for 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, like AT&T requires on their newest gateway with range extenders, then you can temporarily change the 5GHz SSID, conned the device to the 2.4GHz band, then change the 5G back. Didn’t seem to be the issue in my case, but I’ve used this to solve other 2.4G-only device connection issues.

Back to my turn-on woes…

So, Neurio’s are now both on, I’m connected to Wi-Fi (stable blue light, can see them on network).

All 4 powerwalls are now on (solid green light strips).

GW2 appears to be connected to home network also. And when I direct connect to it from my phone is see this.

So…am I close? What left to turning this thing on? Is it on? Does Tesla still need to “provision” something?

Note: presently it’s fully cloudy and raining, so not expecting solar (10.8kW system).

 

[BGbreeder]

I was able to go directly into the Neurio’s and connect to my home network, solid and stable blue light on both now. So I think I solved that.

FWIW, I thought this might have been the issue, if you have a shared SSID for 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, like AT&T requires on their newest gateway with range extenders, then you can temporarily change the 5GHz SSID, conned the device to the 2.4GHz band, then change the 5G back. Didn’t seem to be the issue in my case, but I’ve used this to solve other 2.4G-only device connection issues.

Back to my turn-on woes…

So, Neurio’s are now both on, I’m connected to Wi-Fi (stable blue light, can see them on network).

All 4 powerwalls are now on (solid green light strips).

GW2 appears to be connected to home network also. And when I direct connect to it from my phone is see this.

So…am I close? What left to turning this thing on? Is it on? Does Tesla still need to “provision” something?

Note: presently it’s fully cloudy and raining, so not expecting solar (10.8kW system).

That's great!

You might want to set the reserve on your powerwalls. I would go into the app, set you tariff (with modifications, as needed), set your reserve, and it should be good. Don't expect to see solar exported until after PTO.

Minor heads up: you may run into difficulties with the PW+/Gateway when the router reboots and/ or after 24 hours (DHCP lease expiration) with the combined 2.4/5GHz network. You may improve your odds by turning off "bandwidth steering" or whatever your router calls it that tries to push 2.4GHz devices to 5GHz. I do not recommend having Tesla devices on a combined 2.4/5GHz network as there have been too many issues in the past. If your router supports more than one 2.4GHz network, I would strongly encourage you to move the Tesla devices to a separate network. (E.g. an IoT network.) If it doesn't support it, I would encourage you to get a router that does. IOT devices have a long history of poor network security; why run the risk?

All the best,

BG

 

[YRide]

That's great!

You might want to set the reserve on your powerwalls. I would go into the app, set you tariff (with modifications, as needed), set your reserve, and it should be good. Don't expect to see solar exported until after PTO.

Minor heads up: you may run into difficulties with the PW+/Gateway when the router reboots and/ or after 24 hours (DHCP lease expiration) with the combined 2.4/5GHz network. You may improve your odds by turning off "bandwidth steering" or whatever your router calls it that tries to push 2.4GHz devices to 5GHz. I do not recommend having Tesla devices on a combined 2.4/5GHz network as there have been too many issues in the past. If your router supports more than one 2.4GHz network, I would strongly encourage you to move the Tesla devices to a separate network. (E.g. an IoT network.) If it doesn't support it, I would encourage you to get a router that does. IOT devices have a long history of poor network security; why run the risk?

All the best,

BG

Thx for the experienced-based insights. I’ll watch out for those. For the moment I’m stuck with single SSID 2.4/5, but I could always add a dedicated network later. Let’s see, but for now at least network is OK.

That said, I don’t think my system is “provisioned” yet.

I don’t see any flow from grid to my house, which I would expect.

Also, I can’t see anything in the Tesla app, just when I direct connect my phone to the GW2.

I manually tried adding my Powerwalls in the Tesla app, scanned the QR code inside the GW2 to setup, and got this error.

So it seems like it’s registered, just not to me?

 

[BGbreeder]

Can you check what the reserve is set to via the TEG interface and perhaps set it to something like 20%? You should be getting power from the grid. If not, you risk your Powerwall running themselves to zero, shutting down and bricking themselves.

Once the sun starts shining, it is less of an issue.

As to the error, follow the advice in the error, and call Tesla.

All the best,

BG

 

[YRide]

Can you check what the reserve is set to via the TEG interface and perhaps set it to something like 20%? You should be getting power from the grid. If not, you risk your Powerwall running themselves to zero, shutting down and bricking themselves.

Once the sun starts shining, it is less of an issue.

As to the error, follow the advice in the error, and call Tesla.

All the best,

BG

Reserve is set to 20% (by default?). However, there’s no way for me to adjust it (I’m just using the browser directly connected to GW2, not the Tesla app because my system doesn’t seem to be registered there).

Now that the sun is peaking out, it does seem like there is some generation going up. So it appears things are working…just can’t use the Tesla app (yet).

Can you actually speak to Tesla Energy support on a Saturday? Can you speak to them at all? Anyone have the number?

 

[YRide]

Reserve is set to 20% (by default?). However, there’s no way for me to adjust it (I’m just using the browser directly connected to GW2, not the Tesla app because my system doesn’t seem to be registered there).

Now that the sun is peaking out, it does seem like there is some generation going up. So it appears things are working…just can’t use the Tesla app (yet).

Can you actually speak to Tesla Energy support on a Saturday? Can you speak to them at all? Anyone have the number?

also, any idea why my system would pull 0.7kW from the grid when I have more then enough solar production?

 

[BGbreeder]

also, any idea why my system would pull 0.7kW from the grid when I have more then enough solar production?

Well, .... welcome to Tesla's black box algorithms.

Short answer is nobody knows for sure.

My guess is that the longer answer is that your Gateway may be running on "Time Based Control" and a TOU tariff. The algorithm appears to prioritize no grid use during peak times (16:00-21:00 for EV2A), so it will allow sufficient grid use to have the Powerwalls charge enough to get the house through peak, and perhaps shoulder hours, on Powerwalls. "Sufficient" being the result of a calculus of past use, current solar, current use, current state of charge on the battery packs, temperature, and perhaps forecast weather, and...?

Our system recently started little consumption bursts from the grid off peak under a new release of the software. I don't know why bursts are better than a slow constant consumption, but apparently the algorithm "thinks" that it does. In fairness, there are lots of potential things to optimize, not the least of which is what charge pattern works best for this particular pack at this particular moment, based on data from who knows how many other packs and charging results.

Under prior versions, I noticed that if I offset the the buy and sell tariff rates by 10% (to cover the round trip energy losses) and the cost differential for grid buy vs grid sell (NBCs), plus a few cents more, I got what I thought looked like reasonable grid/home/export power use. YMWV!

I think that the Tesla energy number is (888) 765-2489.

All the best,

BG

 

[YRide]

Wrapping my aspects of this thread in case anyone finds it during their install…

Neurio’s have been stable since I direct connected them to home network. Even with 3x repeaters (ATT), no issues at all.

As for the Tesla app, it was some back end provisioning thing hanging. The Project Advisor team just kept telling me to wait. I asked to speak to a Tesla Energy technical support lead, gave them my SN for the GW2, and 10min later everything was working. System had been functional for 10 days prior.