Solar and powerwall stop producing at random

[xelaca]

I’ve been having a weird issue the last few days where Solar production and powerwall contribution just… stop

First screenshot is mid-day when it would normally be discharging some but still getting power. Second is later in the day after the sun went down when things were back to normal. Third is the powerwall graph showing the weirdness of it all. Last is the graph from yesterday showing total solar production.

Any ideas of wtf is happening? This is now day 3 in a row of strangeness

 

[jjrandorin]

How long ago was your system installed (and is it powerwall 2 or does it include powerwall+) and do you have official PTO from your utility?

 

[xelaca]

Installed a little over two months ago, no PTO yet (it's been a saga - haven't even had inspections!), 2x powerwall+. The lack of PTO wouldn't be the cause I do not think. Not only does it stop providing power to the house, stop charging, and stop discharging, but it also drops off my network all together - can't ping it, can't hit its API, nothin... even the router thinks its gone. It will drop off in the middle of the day when the batteries are nowhere near full as well - and I will be pulling from the grid when there is full sun out and batteries that still are not full.

This just started happening over the last few days. I expect it to not produce all day when it can't feed back to the grid.. this is entirely different.

 

[Rebel]

Have you tried logging into the inverter?
Do a system stop and then a start or try to run the install wizard and keep all settings the same?
Also go take a look at your system information make sure your strings and everything is connecting correclty

 

[AaronD12]

I'm in the same boat as xelaca. My system was installed a little over a month ago and worked fine for two weeks. Then it started exhibiting the same issue described above.

What's worse, my system started feeding back to the grid before PTO. Not a little, either. One day was over 47kWh. I verified that with the smart meter outside -- it was definitely running backwards.

Now my system is dead in the water. No solar, no battery, just grid. Complains and threats of system removal have not done much. I have a number of my friends awaiting resolution because they want to see if they want to go with Tesla or another solar company. I'm really, REALLY close to having them remove the system, repair the roof and walls, and call another company.

 

[BGbreeder]

What firmware version are you on, and how often have you tried to reset the gateway?

All the best,

BG

 

[AaronD12]

I'm on firmware 21.35.0 (67f943cb05d). I've bounced the gateway more times than I can count, both with support and without. This issue is with engineering now. I suggested they pull the inverter and give me a new one. No response.

The solar cutoff switch was engaged outside, so I reset it and at least I have solar now. Powerwalls are still at their 96% charge level from the last time the solar panels charged them.

I got notification from the power company that I'm running a non-approved solar array and feeding back to the grid. I forwarded the email to Tesla. They responded by saying I should shut the system down. Yeah? For how long? And run 100% grid when I have almost $50K worth of equipment idle? I'm not too happy about that. At least with just solar, I can make up for my grid use at night.

This does appear to be a software issue, which jibes with them being unwilling to replace the inverter. If Tesla makes the inverter AND the software, one might think it would work well together (think Apple).

 

[jjrandorin]

I got notification from the power company that I'm running a non-approved solar array and feeding back to the grid. I forwarded the email to Tesla. They responded by saying I should shut the system down. Yeah? For how long? And run 100% grid when I have almost $50K worth of equipment idle? I'm not too happy about that. At least with just solar, I can make up for my grid use at night.

Until tesla added this new "use the system while waiting for PTO" way of curtailment, thats what we all did (not power on the system, OR, Turn off the main breaker so we were not connected to the grid). If I were you, and got notice from the utility to "stop backfeeding prior to PTO" I would also assume that comes with a "or Else...." attached to it, and shut my system down.

 

[sunwarriors]

I'm on firmware 21.35.0 (67f943cb05d). I've bounced the gateway more times than I can count, both with support and without. This issue is with engineering now. I suggested they pull the inverter and give me a new one. No response.

The solar cutoff switch was engaged outside, so I reset it and at least I have solar now. Powerwalls are still at their 96% charge level from the last time the solar panels charged them.

I got notification from the power company that I'm running a non-approved solar array and feeding back to the grid. I forwarded the email to Tesla. They responded by saying I should shut the system down. Yeah? For how long? And run 100% grid when I have almost $50K worth of equipment idle? I'm not too happy about that. At least with just solar, I can make up for my grid use at night.

This does appear to be a software issue, which jibes with them being unwilling to replace the inverter. If Tesla makes the inverter AND the software, one might think it would work well together (think Apple).

I've also heard of utilities charging YOU for backfeeding to the grid so I'd listen and shut it down honestly. Not only did you not get credits for sending power, you now got charged for it.

That and if a utility wants to screw you over, it's not really a fight I'd want to get into with them since they can probably drag things out for you.

 

[h2ofun]

I've also heard of utilities charging YOU for backfeeding to the grid so I'd listen and shut it down honestly. Not only did you not get credits for sending power, you now got charged for it.

That and if a utility wants to screw you over, it's not really a fight I'd want to get into with them since they can probably drag things out for you.

Seems the rules are clearly stated, no PTO, no turning on solar to grid. How is this so hard to understand? Now, some ignore this, like PGE did for me, but I knew I was risk of getting in trouble.