Solar Production dropped by over half!

[soumak]

Hey Guys,

Could use your help. I'm in Arvada, CO.

Got my solar panels installed by Tesla just over a year ago (May 2022) a 4.8kw system. Up until April of this year solar production looked fine. However, last 3 months has seen a significant drop in solar production. I think one of my panel sets are not working. Talked to tesla just today about this and they said to power cycle the system and see if that helps.

3 questions. 1) Has anyone experienced this before? 2) has power cycling fixed the issue? 3) What is the best method to get in touch with tesla solar? I used the chat function on the tesla product support page..is there a better way?

Any other feedback or thoughts are more than welcomed.

May 22: 559.6 kwh
Jun 22: 613.6 kwh
Jul 22: 600.7 kwh
Aug 22: 628 kwh
Sept 22: 559 kwh
Oct 22: 579 kwh
Nov 22: 418.5 kwh
Dec 22: 271.5 kwh
Jan 23: 229.9 kwh
Feb 23: 394.2 kwh
Mar 23: 558.8 kwh
Apr 23: 553.0 kwh
May 23: 204.2 kwh
Jun 23: 202.5 kwh
Jul 23: 130.0 kwh (1/2 month)

Oh and my setup looks like this:

North​

West

East

 

[jjrandorin]

What is the best method to get in touch with tesla solar? I used the chat function on the tesla product support page..is there a better way?

Yes, I personally believe chat is the absolute worst way to get in contact with any support organization (which is why many support organizations are pushing people to use it, but I digress).

I recommend calling (via a regular phone call using a cellphone or desk phone) Tesla energy support at 877-961-7652.

 

[Matt-FL]

There are a couple things you may be able to do, based on your comfort level.

First, if your system was setup in multiple MFTT strings, you can check if voltage is coming in on both with just a simple voltmeter.
Or, if your roof is accessible, you can check with a FLIR for temperature abnormalities between panels.

Or, you can reboot your inverter, then connect (within 15 minutes) directly to the inverter wifi, web into the inverter and view the string voltages. That will at least give you more data to provide to Tesla support.

I agree with @jjrandorin, calling is always better than chat.

 

[HeinzH]

Hi. I have same experience. I had a 14.8 kw system installed in February with 2 powerwalls.
still haven’t received PTO. But they produce up to demand which has been up to 10.5 kw at peak sun. Daily production the week prior to July 9, was from 45-56 kw per day. since then it has not exceeded 27kw. About 50% reduction. Sun and demand was similar. Just got off the phone with support (chat last week was horrible), they see the drop in production but can’t determine any faults in system. I tried power cycling to no improvement. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[soumak]

I don’t see any increase in production today after reboot yesterday. If anything it seems less and it’s a super bright day. Going to call their support. Will keep you all posted. I’m not an electrician so I get very nervous messing with electricity.

 

[Matt-FL]

You will see production dropout due to high temperature, but I don't think it would be that excessive. Mine has dropped maybe 20-30% due to the temperature, but some of that is the typical Florida afternoon storms blowing through. I tend to lose about an hour of the day while the panels get a bath.

@HeinzH, are you limited by inverter to 10.5kW? I would think in full sun, you'd get better than that with 14.8kW of panels.

 

[HeinzH]

You will see production dropout due to high temperature, but I don't think it would be that excessive. Mine has dropped maybe 20-30% due to the temperature, but some of that is the typical Florida afternoon storms blowing through. I tend to lose about an hour of the day while the panels get a bath.

@HeinzH, are you limited by inverter to 10.5kW? I would think in full sun, you'd get better than that with 14.8kW of panels.

Hi. I don’t think it’s limited, that’s just anecdotally what I’ve seen consistently on a sunny day. I think it hit 12kw once. It is quite a bit hotter out, over 100 at peak. Would it drop that much though? I was wondering why the fans in the inverters are not running in this heat. Is there A way to tell if/ when panels fail? It’s extremely frustrating to have such a drop off in production just when we need it the most with absolutely no error messages on app or on their end. Thanks for advice

 

[taphil]

Do you have the Tesla inverter? If so, log in to it and see what the string readouts are at peak sunlight.

Simplest explanation is you have a string of 8 panels and a string of 4 panels. Open the door on the inverter to verify. Your production in May of this year vs last year is down by 2/3, which suggests the string of 8 panels is not working or the connection is loose, or there is a problem with the inverter.

 

[soumak]

Do you have the Tesla inverter? If so, log in to it and see what the string readouts are at peak sunlight.

Simplest explanation is you have a string of 8 panels and a string of 4 panels. Open the door on the inverter to verify. Your production in May of this year vs last year is down by 2/3, which suggests the string of 8 panels is not working or the connection is loose, or there is a problem with the inverter.

so i do have a tesla inverter. how do you log into the inverter? i have the app but this shows the aggregate of all panels.

update: NM. answered my own question how to login: Connecting to Tesla Solar Inverter | Tesla Support

either way seems like tesla is going to have to come and fix something.

also i can see the exact date this happened. on april 28th my max peak generation was 3.9 kw (which is what i've noticed all though last year also between 3.5 - 3.9 at high sun). starting april 29th max generation is 1.5 - 1.7 kw and that has been constant through today with one day where it did hit the 3.9 kw # in early may.


Update: so i talked to tesla today. they opened a case. they agreed their was a drop in solar production so they opened a "performance case" which will be reviewed in the next 3 - 5 business days. i'm thinking the wind probably disconnected something.

 

[HeinzH]

Do you have the Tesla inverter? If so, log in to it and see what the string readouts are at peak sunlight.

Simplest explanation is you have a string of 8 panels and a string of 4 panels. Open the door on the inverter to verify. Your production in May of this year vs last year is down by 2/3, which suggests the string of 8 panels is not working or the connection is loose, or there is a problem with the inverter.

How do you log in to inverter other than with the Tesla app? I have the powerwall+ . Can I do that? Thanks

 

[taphil]

I assume it's the same as the inverter? Instructions are in the link above. Basically open up the door on the inverter to get the inverter's wifi password, reboot the inverter, connect to it's wifi, browse to 192.168.92.1, then you can see startup and production info.

 

[Matt-FL]

With the Powerwall+. you may not need to reboot. With the prior versions, you could only see string data for 15 minutes after reboot.

Another option, and helpful for capturing data over time, is the Powerwall Dashboard.

GitHub - jasonacox/Powerwall-Dashboard: Grafana Monitoring Dashboard for Tesla Solar and Powerwall Systems

Grafana Monitoring Dashboard for Tesla Solar and Powerwall Systems - jasonacox/Powerwall-Dashboard

github.com

This will pull in string data in near real time, and capture over time. That will help you identify potential issues over the long term. Also has lots of great statistics for other aspects of the system.

 

[soumak]

just a quick update. Tesla did send me an email on Wednesday stating that they have "detected a problem" (pretty easy to detect when you have someone give you the exact information and the date when it went wrong..but okay). They scheduled something with me via the app for august 17th.

also i did notice the "pipe" connecting the panels on the garage to the top panels before it goes to my invertor looks broken. i need to get a binocular out to have a closer look or fly the drone up there.

 

[Mase408]

My production dropped by half this week and Tesla finally acknowledged that. One of my two inverters is dead. My install is a little less than a year old.
Do you guys know if the inverter is the same? Or perhaps a newer generation inverter?

Thanks
Mase

 

[Matt-FL]

My production dropped by half this week and Tesla finally acknowledged that. One of my two inverters is dead. My install is a little less than a year old.
Do you guys know if the inverter is the same? Or perhaps a newer generation inverter?

Thanks
Mase

If it is less than a year old, I would presume you have a PW+ inverter. There have been several other threads discussing issues with PW+ inverters. From looking at pictures comparing PW+ inverters and the prior gen, they do not seem as robust (smaller footprint, fewer fans, etc).

Typically Tesla will replace like for like, so they do not have to redesign your system or go through permitting again.

 

[LRCasey]

I experienced the same issue. My solar production went to zero on June 19th. I opened a ticket and called support but over the course of weeks they couldn't resolve the issue. We restarted my entire system multiple times, tried to push a new firmware, etc. Then they opened a ticket with the next level support but they wouldn't open an on-site service ticket for me at that time. Finally after a month the next level support team said, "oh, you need a site visit to resolve". Of course there were no appointments for another 6 weeks. They are scheduled to come out on August 17th.

I can see that one inverter is not running and there is a powerwall connected that isn't powering up either. I have to manually take myself off of the grid each day (wifi TEG, log into gateway. The Go Off Grid button in the app doesn't work.) to force solar production (reduced) to try and fill my 2 remaining powerwalls as much as possible. On non air conditioning days I can go indefinitely on my reduced solar and battery use but on days when I need AC or to charge the car, I have to go back on the grid to get power. When I am on the grid, solar production stops. Very frustrated with Telsa that it will be 2 months (best case) between when my issue started and when it might be resolved.

 

[Mase408]

Down 3 weeks now (50%). I was told it was escalated to "Tier 2" group who will take another 7-10 business days before they get back to me.
So I am optimistic on the 10th day Tesla assigns a repair ticket for someone to come out and replace the down inverter.

I didn't have high expectations from Tesla from Service so I will deal with this process. Maybe there is an opportunity to submit a claim for the downtime when my unit is up and running.

 

[soumak]

They pushed my support back from Aug 17th to Aug 23rd now.

 

[psychguy]

Hi,
I have a similar issue. Install was Feb this year (solar and 2 PW). A few weeks ago I noticed my production was cut in half. Spoke to Tesla who had me restart PWs - didn’t fix it but they acknowledged the problem and escalated to L2 support. Was told 10-15 business days for a response and still waiting to hear anything. Very frustrating to have such slow customer support.

 

[Mase408]

Down 4.5 weeks now, still in L2 support. When I called to follow with the Tesla Technical team, the agent said they have a resource constraint and a very long backlog. He said he was being honest, it could take a few months.