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Powerwalls Don't Turn On When Grid Goes Down

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First time we lost power due to a big storm our Powerwalls did not turn on. We only had lights on in the house. We have NO electric heat, water heater, air conditioning, etc. Nothing was on that was sucking power. I restarted the Powerwalls but they still didn't turn on. I called Tesla Tech, the service rep had me restart the Powerwalls, restart the Gateway (twice), turn off the breakers to the electric oven and clothes dryer (though they were not on) Nothing worked and she was perplexed. After awhile the Powerwalls finally kicked in; she had no idea why and referred our case to "Tier 2." Tier 2 did not get back to us like they were supposed to but when we finally heard from them they said the problem was caused by us using too much electricity at the time, which was not the case. They said if it happened again to just restart the Powerwalls, which didn't work.

The next time we lost power the same thing happened and restarting the Powerwalls didn't work. That time the grid was only off for about 15 minutes, then the power company turned it back on.

We have no confidence that we can count on the Powerwalls coming on during the next power outage and Tesla service is not helping. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
 
First time we lost power due to a big storm our Powerwalls did not turn on. We only had lights on in the house. We have NO electric heat, water heater, air conditioning, etc. Nothing was on that was sucking power. I restarted the Powerwalls but they still didn't turn on. I called Tesla Tech, the service rep had me restart the Powerwalls, restart the Gateway (twice), turn off the breakers to the electric oven and clothes dryer (though they were not on) Nothing worked and she was perplexed. After awhile the Powerwalls finally kicked in; she had no idea why and referred our case to "Tier 2." Tier 2 did not get back to us like they were supposed to but when we finally heard from them they said the problem was caused by us using too much electricity at the time, which was not the case. They said if it happened again to just restart the Powerwalls, which didn't work.

The next time we lost power the same thing happened and restarting the Powerwalls didn't work. That time the grid was only off for about 15 minutes, then the power company turned it back on.

We have no confidence that we can count on the Powerwalls coming on during the next power outage and Tesla service is not helping. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
Sounds like you have a partial home backup and not a whole home backup. How many Powerwalls do you have?

In a partial home backup, large loads like HVAC, water heater, oven and dryer are not backed up because they could overload the Powerwall. Lights, plugs and other items are backed up. You said lights were on, so it sounds like you have a partial home backup, and if so, what you describe is normal.

If you have a whole home backup, then something else is wrong, especially if your lights work but not your heavy load appliances.
 
Sounds like you have a partial home backup and not a whole home backup. How many Powerwalls do you have?

In a partial home backup, large loads like HVAC, water heater, oven and dryer are not backed up because they could overload the Powerwall. Lights, plugs and other items are backed up. You said lights were on, so it sounds like you have a partial home backup, and if so, what you describe is normal.

If you have a whole home backup, then something else is wrong, especially if your lights work but not your heavy load appliances.
I think the OP was trying to state that they only had lights on prior to losing power and no large loads that would overload the powerwall as the event occurred not that they only had lights on after the outage. At least that is how I read it.
 
We have no confidence that we can count on the Powerwalls coming on during the next power outage and Tesla service is not helping. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

You need to provide quite a bit more information for anyone to try to guess at this. For starters:

1. How Large is your solar install?
2. How many powerwalls do you have?
3. Do you have a full home backup, or partial home backup?

Just from your description, the most likely culprit is "not enough powerwalls for the loads you tried to start", but from your description you were told that already.
 
You need to provide quite a bit more information for anyone to try to guess at this. For starters:

1. How Large is your solar install?
2. How many powerwalls do you have?
3. Do you have a full home backup, or partial home backup?

Just from your description, the most likely culprit is "not enough powerwalls for the loads you tried to start", but from your description you were told that already.
Our system is 8.4 kW with 2 Powerwalls and full home backup. We have used the "Go off grid" feature on the app to simulate a power outage and the Powerwalls come on immediately.
We are on a PG&E time of use plan so we don't use energy hungry appliances during peak times. The power went off at app. 7:30 P.M. (peak time). Only a few lights (LEDs) and perhaps the refrigerator were on. What frustrates me is that I restarted the Powerwalls myself, the tech had me restart the Powerwalls, and she had me restart the Gateway. Nothing worked. After 15 or 20 minutes the Powerwalls came back on but she had no idea why so she kicked it up to Tier 2 and said I would hear something in 2 to 3 days. After hearing nothing for a month I called support again and was told they would "re-escalate" my problem. Tier 2 must not have read my Case # info as a few days later I got an email saying "good news, all you have to do is restart your Powerwalls".
Thank you for your help.

John
 
With that system size and 2 powerwalls, you should have been ok, so it doesnt sound to me like "not enough powerwalls for the loads" is the answer, unless you tried to start a bunch of stuff at the same time, and you mention you didnt.

i would suggest to you that you simulate a real outage, not with the "go off grid" function, but by actually throwing the main breaker for your home. I dont trust that the "go off grid" in the app function is the same thing (well it really isnt). One (throwing the main breaker) actually cuts off power from the utility to your home, simulating a real power outage.

The other (go off grid in the app) seems to just have the gateway stop using power from the grid, simulating an outage.

Its certainly frustrating to spend all the money this equipment costs and not have it function the way you expect it to. Hope you can get it figured out.
 
With that system size and 2 powerwalls, you should have been ok, so it doesnt sound to me like "not enough powerwalls for the loads" is the answer, unless you tried to start a bunch of stuff at the same time, and you mention you didnt.

i would suggest to you that you simulate a real outage, not with the "go off grid" function, but by actually throwing the main breaker for your home. I dont trust that the "go off grid" in the app function is the same thing (well it really isnt). One (throwing the main breaker) actually cuts off power from the utility to your home, simulating a real power outage.

The other (go off grid in the app) seems to just have the gateway stop using power from the grid, simulating an outage.

Its certainly frustrating to spend all the money this equipment costs and not have it function the way you expect it to. Hope you can get it figured out.
I turned the grid off with the main breaker this morning. The Powerwalls immediately took over and the phone app said they were powering the house. So hopefully my problem is solved. Thank you so much for your help.
John
 
I can turn off the powerwalls, flip the PW breaker, throw the main service disconnect and the TEG is still powerered! I have to pull the positive wire on the CAN bus at the TEG to get a true cold start. Might work for you…
I did this once, turned off the PW's by the switches, and had trouble getting back on. PW support told me to not do that again.
 
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I simulated a power outage by throwing the disconnect, teg switched over very quickly. Turned power back on and teg would not switch back to grid. Had to force the hand by throwing the main breaker to the powerwalls.
Yeah, firmware needs fixing.
How long did you wait for the TEG to reconnect after turning power back on?

I've seen it take up to 5 minutes to qualify the grid and then synchronize the frequency before the TEG reconnects.
 
The last time my Powerwalls did not power my house during an outage, the app said the load was too much. I don't recall the exact message. However, the backed up loads could not have been more than 10kW (2 Powerwalls) because I simply don't have that much connected load on the backup side. I got Tesla Energy support on the phone during the outage and they were unable to figure out why it didn't work.

The only logical explanation is that the Gateway's switch didn't open and it was seeing the load of the dark neighborhood. I really wish I had tried turning off the main breaker during that outage to see if that would have allowed the Powerwalls to start. This is hard to test when the grid is up. I can't think of a safe way to test for this failure mode.
 
The last time my Powerwalls did not power my house during an outage, the app said the load was too much. I don't recall the exact message. However, the backed up loads could not have been more than 10kW (2 Powerwalls) because I simply don't have that much connected load on the backup side. I got Tesla Energy support on the phone during the outage and they were unable to figure out why it didn't work.

The only logical explanation is that the Gateway's switch didn't open and it was seeing the load of the dark neighborhood. I really wish I had tried turning off the main breaker during that outage to see if that would have allowed the Powerwalls to start. This is hard to test when the grid is up. I can't think of a safe way to test for this failure mode.
If you have a non backed up EVSE you could get that going then open the main breaker. That would let the GW see a large load just prior to it opening the main contactor.
 
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The last time my Powerwalls did not power my house during an outage, the app said the load was too much…

The only logical explanation is that the Gateway's switch didn't open and it was seeing the load of the dark neighborhood. I really wish I had tried turning off the main breaker during that outage to see if that would have allowed the Powerwalls to start. This is hard to test when the grid is up. I can't think of a safe way to test for this failure mode.
I might remove the cover to the transfer switch in my gateway so I can visibly see the position. But perhaps you are on to something.
 
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I turned the grid off with the main breaker this morning. The Powerwalls immediately took over and the phone app said they were powering the house. So hopefully my problem is solved. Thank you so much for your help.
John
May want to experiment again by throwing the main breaker at the same time you had the initial issue, 7:30PM with the same loads on that you can think of.
By the way, what was the state of charge on your batteries when it happened, if you remember.
 
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