Powerwall Monitoring Details with the Tesla App

[boaterva]

I couldn't find anything and asked this question buried in a thread, and thought I'd break it out here to make it easier to find.

This is how you get set up for detailed historical monitoring with Powerwalls, maybe only when added to Solar. People that have Tesla Solar are used to having statistics with day, week, month, and year. They aren't the most detailed, but better than nothing.

You also have your SolarCity account, at least I do/did, which has a little more detail.

To start, when you add PWs, all the Tesla app has by default is 'Today' and 'Yesterday'. The purpose of this thread is to document exactly what's needed to get the same level of history as you had before with Solar enabled. (Note the Solar section is still there, but it only shows that all the solar generation goes to the home, nothing about how much extra went back to the grid, or to top off the PWs, etc.)

I was told you just need to call and they will enable it. Did that today after the usual long explanation of what was actually 'wrong', and it's now a Tier 2 ticket, which seems sort of ridiculous. More details when I get a response and if it works as it should.

Note that I've also gotten an email (it's been five days since PW install and it came yesterday) that my Solar City account will be shut down on August 1. Reading that again, I can't tell if it's connected to the PW install, or just a general shutdown of SC.

Any additional info to add to the above appreciated as I wait for a response (2-3 days).

Also, is there an easy way to externally/third-party gather/monitor the data? I thought I'd seen where Tesla (now?) frowned on this and don't want to get any blowback.

Thanks!

 

[bmah]

Also, is there an easy way to externally/third-party gather/monitor the data? I thought I'd seen where Tesla (now?) frowned on this and don't want to get any blowback.

You can query the gateway's local API (as documented in https://github.com/vloschiavo/powerwall2/). I run some code to poll this API and dump the data into an InfluxDB instance. The use case is to be able to visualize this in a Grafana dashboard, but once the data is in InfluxDB, one could compute a bunch of different statistics on it.

I'm not sure if you'd call that "easy" or not.

Bruce.

 

[cwied]

As far as external monitoring goes, I use pvoutput (https://pvoutput.org) to get long-term statistics. Instructions on setting it up to monitor a Powerwall are here: https://mikesgear.com/2017/12/07/monitoring-teslas-powerwall2-on-pvoutput-org/. Note that with a little technical know-how, the instructions can be adapted to run on a Raspberry Pi or other non-Windows computers, depending on what you have available.

As far as I can tell, Tesla's own monitoring is meant to show well in a demo and check the box of monitoring capability. It isn't really a full-featured analysis tool. I don't have solar through Tesla, so this only refers to the solar part.

Other people have built their own data-gathering solutions. For me, pvoutput is good enough for now. It keeps 5 minute data of what my Powerwalls did each day that I can look up later if I want to.

 

[boaterva]

Thanks, Bruce, for the reference! Not sure if that does check the 'easy' box!
Thanks, @cwied, I had seen pvoutput before here, and that is the sort of thing I want to do, but was 'concerned' about Tesla. I thought I'd seen some people mentioned they had complained about external access to the gateway?

Once I get things (like, at least the app working and all inspections completed), I may give pvoutput a go.

 

[cwied]

I had seen pvoutput before here, and that is the sort of thing I want to do, but was 'concerned' about Tesla. I thought I'd seen some people mentioned they had complained about external access to the gateway?

Once I get things (like, at least the app working and all inspections completed), I may give pvoutput a go.

Tesla's support organization in my experience is quick to try to shift the blame for any issues elsewhere. I think it's in this context that Tesla has ever issued an opinion on anything related to pvoutput.

The pvoutput integration is equivalent to navigating to the Powerwall's local web interface and recording the data shown there every minute.
I don't see any way that that should have any impact to how the Powerwalls function. If there were an impact, I would consider that a bug in the Powerwall firmware.

 

[boaterva]

Tesla's support organization in my experience is quick to try to shift the blame for any issues elsewhere. I think it's in this context that Tesla has ever issued an opinion on anything related to pvoutput.

The pvoutput integration is equivalent to navigating to the Powerwall's local web interface and recording the data shown there every minute.
I don't see any way that that should have any impact to how the Powerwalls function. If there were an impact, I would consider that a bug in the Powerwall firmware.

Exactly. Once a minute, big deal. To reinforce what you said, when I called today on the original issue here I was first told 'your PWs have only been running since the 23rd', as if I can't count days and see that each third day is rolling off daily (leaving me with today and yesterday each day...).

I know they are used to dealing with idiots, but c'mon, man....

 

[MorrisonHiker]

In addition to Today and Yesterday, the app should also show you Week, Month and Year options. While it doesn't allow you to export or slice and dice the data, it will eventually allow you to see a bit farther into the past than just yesterday.

 

[woferry]

I don't think those longer-duration options show up until the system has been running long enough. I know I didn't see Month until at least a week in (maybe longer), and I don't have a Year option on my app yet (but I've only been producing since 5/4, though the system has been commissioned since 3/25).

It seems whatever group inside Tesla needs to switch the account configuration doesn't always 'get the memo' when things actually change. The only thing I have is Solar+Powerwall, and after Commissioning my Tesla field rep said the app should be working, but it kept telling me I had no Tesla products. I called tech support, and within a few minutes while I was on the phone with them they got it straightened out and the app let me log-in. So if you had solar then added PW I'd guess the appropriate folks just haven't found out about it yet, though I don't know any magic phrases to use to kick that. It probably would be good to check the Gateway's page and see if it shows it's Connected to Tesla, if not maybe there is a technical issue that needs to be sorted out first (like ensuring it has WiFi and/or ethernet access to the internet).

Looks like I need to call them again, my page at tesla.com still doesn't reflect that my project is finished, and still offers me an option to cancel my deposit. I think it's a bit late for that.

 

[boaterva]

Yeah, this is the issue. I only have a rolling Today/Yesterday under the 'Home Energy Gateway' (Powerwall) Section. If all was correct, I would 'assume' I would see Week and perhaps even Month and Year. I had those almost immediately with Solar (and still do, but the recent info is somewhat contaminating it, since it shows all power going to the home under Solar).

As far as I'm concerned, the *only* thing not working is the historical data. So, let's see what the Tier 2 ticket does. I understand they don't want T1 working with 'important' buttons....


(Talking about not getting updates, the My Tesla page online still shows I have two PWs, and not three, which was changed about six months ago. The two was my original reservation, over a year ago.)

 

[zanary]

I have two properties, (1) Property one with 10 panels + 3 powerwalls, (2) Property 2 with 8 Panels only. I use the Tesla app on my iPhone to see the data.

I see all historical data for both. Property 2 is only a few weeks old, so it shows a different historical time selection, but they will eventually be the same.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I have two properties, (1) Property one with 10 panels + 3 powerwalls, (2) Property 2 with 8 Panels only. I use the Tesla app on my iPhone to see the data.

I see all historical data for both. Property 2 is only a few weeks old, so it shows a different historical time selection, but they will eventually be the same.

View attachment 412890 View attachment 412891

Exactly. I remember my app worked the same way after my system was first activated. I bet @boaterva will start seeing the Week option in a few days...and will probably see the Month option once June starts.

 

[boaterva]

I have two properties, (1) Property one with 10 panels + 3 powerwalls, (2) Property 2 with 8 Panels only. I use the Tesla app on my iPhone to see the data.

I see all historical data for both. Property 2 is only a few weeks old, so it shows a different historical time selection, but they will eventually be the same.

View attachment 412890 View attachment 412891

That looks like the display under the Solar section when you have PWs, which isn't really accurate, at least for the property with PWs, since it shows (for me) all the power going to the 'Home', meaning no power to the grid, and no power to the PWs. I guess this is why they 'leave' the Solar pane in the app, in case you have a Solar-only install still.

 

[boaterva]

Exactly. I remember my app worked the same way after my system was first activated. I bet @boaterva will start seeing the Week option in a few days...and will probably see the Month option once June starts.

Yeah, but I should see the week *now*, it's been five days. I bet they still need to throw some history keeping switch, or I've lost a few days (not that I really care, I just want to be sure it's set up correctly).

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Yeah, but I should see the week *now*, it's been five days. I bet they still need to throw some history keeping switch, or I've lost a few days (not that I really care, I just want to be sure it's set up correctly).

I think you might have to wait a full week before the Week option appears. I suppose if that's the case, you might have to wait a full month for the Month option, but I'm guessing it will show up in early June.

 

[boaterva]

I think you might have to wait a full week before the Week option appears. I suppose if that's the case, you might have to wait a full month for the Month option, but I'm guessing it will show up in early June.

Gotcha. Let's see. Either they will turn it on or tell me that.

But that's not the case for months and years (when I got Solar installed)....

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Gotcha. Let's see. Either they will turn it on or tell me that.

But that's not the case for months and years (when I got Solar installed)....

Yeah. I definitely didn't wait a month or year for those options to show up, fortunately!

 

[woferry]

Coincidentally, "Year" just showed-up for me this afternoon. Though it's clearly doing something strange, it shows 6.8kWh of solar energy, which isn't even close to what I produced today or yesterday. Seems like it's "this year but not including the last 30 days", or something like that. "Month", meanwhile, shows 1188 kWh of solar energy. Will be curious to see when/if it catches-up.

 

[power.saver]

Year does not include the current month. Month does not include the current week. Week does not include the current day.

 

[woferry]

Year does not include the current month. Month does not include the current week. Week does not include the current day.

Not totally true. Just before midnight tonight (took me a few minutes to post this), my Month screen showed:
4/30-5/7 5/7-5/14 5/14-5/21 Last week
So "Last week" would have to have been 5/21-5/28, and that was taken on 5/28.

Anyway, it's silly that "Year", when all it shows is one set of bars for 2019, wouldn't include all of this year. Last time I looked May 2019 is still 2019.

 

[boaterva]

Is there any documentation for this on the Tesla side or did you have to ask them or just figure this out? I recall a similar insanity when I started Solar that “Year” didn’t match what you thought it should, etc.

That’s when I discovered the Solar City app had clearer detail but as I said I’ve received notice it’s going away. Has anyone else received that email?