-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Powerwall go off grid option
- Thread starter sliyk
- Start date
PITA
Model 3 Performance
I've just paired my phone... but I've not used it yet.
About 18 months ago, I bought my first Powerwall and had it installed perfectly. All tested fine.
BUT... One day I decided to do an off-grid full test. From 100% to 0%
Turned off the Grid Isolation Switch and all was OK... up until about 75% battery level, and then it started resetting my house... on/off on/off on/off on/off repeatedly until I ran outside and turned the Grid back on.
So I called Tesla Support who dialed in remotely and identified my Powerwall was faulty... two weeks later they installed a brand new one.
Thing was... it seemed to work perfectly, right up until I did this Grid Outage pressure test.
I'm glad I did, because I would've only found out it wasn't healthy during an actual blackout... which would not have pleased me.
Since then I had a second Powerwall fitted, and the two now work perfectly together.
PITA
Model 3 Performance
I'm wondering if this feature maybe stops the Gateway 'polling' the Grid taking in 30-50w to check Grid frequency etc... as that task does use some small amount of Power.
So maybe it's an Energy Saving thing as well during Summer?, stops any power bleed. Just cut the Grid off completely.
So maybe it's an Energy Saving thing as well during Summer?, stops any power bleed. Just cut the Grid off completely.
I saw this option. I'd really like them re-instate the 'Balanced' setting which disappeared with V4 on the app. Mine used to run on self-powered, but wouldn't empty during cheap grid period, or would even top up a bit if the PW was low and anticipated a low sun day following. Now its just fill your boots during cheap and then export loads during the day, or solar only. It seemed much more intelligent last year.
PITA
Model 3 Performance
Do a full to nearly empty test as that'll test all the battery cells range...
Mine worked fine for 25 minutes before it failed.
PITA
Model 3 Performance
No, that's not right.
It worked correctly off-grid for 25 minutes before it failed... and I had to shut it down.
I suspect it may have been a faulty battery cell pack, but this was never known to me
Country Boy
Member
I massively miss the Balanced Option.
I have Economy 7, and get upset when the power wall insists on using battery power over night when Leccy is "Cheap" (its been a long time since you heard anyone say that!) so that it goes to 0% on an overcast day and starts pulling from the grid..
My experience of Time Based Control is it assumes you will get the same amount of sun tomorrow as you have had today. A sunny day followed by an overcast day results in power wall going flat.. Conversely an overcast day followed by sunny day results in charging at night and then you end up sending power back to the grid the following day...
But Elon knows best! I keep telling myself that. If I do it long enough, I may start to believe it
Oddly enough, I never had much faith in the balanced option when used with Octopus Go. Perhaps it responded better to your usage pattern.
Timed based isn’t perfect by any means but it does appear to work better for me.
that said of course, it still has no foresight to take account of sunny or dull days ahead.
Country Boy
Member
The balanced option worked well for me pulling power from the grid but not charging the battery overnight, leaving juice to power the house the following day. But then again, I have 7 hours per night at a lower tariff rather than 4, so worked better for me...
Now if I want to charge the car at night, it discharges the power wall until the level is very low, then charges it up again from the grid... With all the losses involved.
I have an interesting update on this.. Since posting about the TOU on 29th, I've noticed a change in behaviour since March 31st and wonder if anyone else has?
From that morning, the PW has only partially recharged during the cheap rate period, rather than filling to 100%. Initially up to around 75%, but each day since has varied somewhat, between 55 & 70%.
What changed? I set it back to self-use on 28th March, but found we ended up running on grid as it emptied itself into the car during our overnight charge and there was not much solar that day. So, I put it back onto time-based on the evening of the 30th. Overnight it filled to 91%, The next 73%, and didn't allow discharge until around 3.15am. It has since followed a similar pattern and appears to fill a little less overnight if the solar generation the day before was higher.
So, it seems to be behaving much as it used to when it was on balanced last year. I had tried going to self-use earlier in March and then reverted to TOU as there wasn't really enough solar and it was emptying into the car overnight. Back then the PW had just gone back to filling to 100% every night regardless of the solar output and household use. I can't explain the change in behaviour but am much happier with how its behaving now.
The only other change was that I paired my phone with the PW, which required powering it off and on again to confirm the pairing. I think this may have been on the 30th/31st, but can't remember now. I wonder if the power cycle reset something with set the TOU back to a more intelligent balance between grid and solar?
From that morning, the PW has only partially recharged during the cheap rate period, rather than filling to 100%. Initially up to around 75%, but each day since has varied somewhat, between 55 & 70%.
What changed? I set it back to self-use on 28th March, but found we ended up running on grid as it emptied itself into the car during our overnight charge and there was not much solar that day. So, I put it back onto time-based on the evening of the 30th. Overnight it filled to 91%, The next 73%, and didn't allow discharge until around 3.15am. It has since followed a similar pattern and appears to fill a little less overnight if the solar generation the day before was higher.
So, it seems to be behaving much as it used to when it was on balanced last year. I had tried going to self-use earlier in March and then reverted to TOU as there wasn't really enough solar and it was emptying into the car overnight. Back then the PW had just gone back to filling to 100% every night regardless of the solar output and household use. I can't explain the change in behaviour but am much happier with how its behaving now.
The only other change was that I paired my phone with the PW, which required powering it off and on again to confirm the pairing. I think this may have been on the 30th/31st, but can't remember now. I wonder if the power cycle reset something with set the TOU back to a more intelligent balance between grid and solar?
because self-powered now drains the PW into the car (instead of charging car from grid) if you charge the car when there's no solar coming in (pretty sure it didn't used to), our policy is to schedule car charging for midnight as we're on E7. Then we set an evening reminder to
I can't see any way around that nightly rigmarole if we want to make sure we minimise our grid use.
- check the weather
- set a reserve on the PW dependent on our estimate of the solar the next day
- make sure the car charge level is set appropriately or (if less than 50% is needed) car is unplugged
I can't see any way around that nightly rigmarole if we want to make sure we minimise our grid use.
Similar threads
