Solar pulling from grid vs Powerwall [in small amounts]

[George75]

I've had solar 7.2kw and the Powewall+ installed last month (August). Everything has been excellent, zero issues until today. I got PTO yesterday and activated exporting from the app yesterday afternoon. I didn't notice this issue then.

Today I noticed every few seconds the system will pull 0.1kw from the grid then stop. I've over 70% on the battery and about 7kw coming in from the panels yet it keeps pulling from the grid on and off every few seconds. I've also noticed my home usage reports dropping to 0kw for a few seconds then jumps? It also exported some to the grid even though I'm set to self powered and it should be going to the batteries.

I opened a ticket but just wondering if anyone else has this issue.

 

[EdA]

Perhaps this is the same issue?

Plenty of solar to cover house and charge PW - but still pulls from grid - Why?

I'm in Time Based Control mode, Battery at 85% and charging with excess solar. Batteries will get to 100% in less than 2 hours based on current production. Most of the time it is not drawing from the grid, but periodically it starts drawing ~.2kW - ~.4kWs from the grid for 20 - 30 seconds...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[jjrandorin]

Perhaps this is the same issue?

Plenty of solar to cover house and charge PW - but still pulls from grid - Why?

I'm in Time Based Control mode, Battery at 85% and charging with excess solar. Batteries will get to 100% in less than 2 hours based on current production. Most of the time it is not drawing from the grid, but periodically it starts drawing ~.2kW - ~.4kWs from the grid for 20 - 30 seconds...

teslamotorsclub.com

Would be my guess as well. My system both pulls from, and sends to the grid a little bit of energy every so often (when its grid connected of course). I use self powered mode, but I dont think there is any issue with this.

 

[yblaser]

I agree the small push and pull from the grid is normal, but your home load going to zero is not.

 

[getakey]

I agree the small push and pull from the grid is normal, but your home load going to zero is not.

I think he meant zero pulling from grid

 

[George75]

Would be my guess as well. My system both pulls from, and sends to the grid a little bit of energy every so often (when its grid connected of course). I use self powered mode, but I dont think there is any issue with this.

That seems to be the exact issue I'm having. I think it's an issue because before PTO it never did this. It didn't even do it yesterday..just started this morning.

I'm hoping it's a bug of some sort but it's not normal. I'm normally self powered 95% to 99% most days. Tesla didn't believe it was normal and escalated the ticket. When I get home I'm restarting it.

It makes no sense to be pulling electric from the grid if there's plenty from solar and the battery. It's only pulling small amounts but it isn't needed and it's pulled a total or 1kw so far today and the day isn't over.

 

[jjrandorin]

It makes no sense to be pulling electric from the grid if there's plenty from solar and the battery. It's only pulling small amounts but it isn't needed and it's pulled a total or 1kw so far today and the day isn't over.

Let us know what tesla tells you. I am betting they will tell you its normal. I have been looking at my system do that since 2015.

 

[George75]

Let us know what tesla tells you. I am betting they will tell you its normal. I have been looking at my system do that since 2015.

It is definitely not normal. I just went into the app and set PTO to No and suddenly it stopped randomly pulling from the grid. Set PTO to Yes and it's pulling from the grid again. I believe it's a software issue hopefully they can confirm what I've found and fix it. Still I'll do a full restart when I get home hopefully that fixes it.

 

[jjrandorin]

It is definitely not normal. I just went into the app and set PTO to No and suddenly it stopped randomly pulling from the grid. Set PTO to Yes and it's pulling from the grid again. I believe it's a software issue hopefully they can confirm what I've found and fix it. Still I'll do a full restart when I get home hopefully that fixes it.

You have powerwall+? (if so, thats why setting PTO = no does not exhibit this, because you dont have permission to export anything to the grid)

 

[George75]

You have powerwall+? (if so, thats why setting PTO = no does not exhibit this, because you dont have permission to export anything to the grid)

Yes I have a Powerwall+. I have PTO from the power company. Setting PTO to No in the app stops the system from pulling from the grid every few seconds even though it has plenty of power already available. At the rate it's pulling from the grid it'll pull about 2kw per day or 60 kw per month that it really doesn't need to.

 

[jjrandorin]

Well, im not going to keep repeating myself, so... Let us know what they tell you.

 

[George75]

Well, im not going to keep repeating myself, so... Let us know what they tell you.

I did a restart when I got home and now it's back to not using the grid at all I'm curious, if this is a bug, different software in the newer power walls? I'll report back whenever Tesla have on this.

Just to confirm I'm still set to self powered, storm watch is on, permission to export is Yes.

 

[George75]

I think he meant zero pulling from grid

It would randomly show in the app 0kw being consumed by the house which can't be accurate. When it was pulling from the grid it did it every few seconds. It pulled a total of 2kw (not much) in total but it did that even though it had decent solar production and plenty of battery available? I get it randomly pulling from the grid once in a while but not every few seconds. The restart has stopped this behavior. I'm hoping this is a bug in the software.

 

[George75]

Ok I give up, sun is up and it's back to pulling every few seconds from the grid when it absolutely doesn't need to. This might be normal behavior but I don't understand why. Why pull power from the grid if there's solar and battery to pull from. Why isn't it doing this if I switch PTO to No. It only does this and consistently when PTO it set to Yes. It's annoying because that's extra power from the grid I'll have to pay for that I shouldn't. It's not a lot of power but most utilities here in Florida give you next to nothing (2c) for anything you export.

 

[jjrandorin]

Why isn't it doing this if I switch PTO to No.

I believe I answered this earlier in this thread. If you dont have permission to operate, on a powerwall + setup it gets set to non export so nothing is allowed to export at all. In that state the system will curtail / shut off production when the powerwalls get full.

 

[jjrandorin]

It's not a lot of power but most utilities here in Florida give you next to nothing (2c) for anything you export.

Unless florida is much different than other places in the US (possible, I dont know) that "2c for export" is likely at true up, not as a running total. You typically get retail rates as credit for net metering, at the same rate you would be purchasing from at that time. The only time you actually get that "2c at true up" is probably at the end of your net metering period, if you still have credit on your account at that time.

You can check, but thats the way it works almost everywhere else in the US. That means that you are buying and selling at the same rate when you see that, but may be paying non bypassable charges on that energy if your plan has those.

 

[charlesj]

Out of curiosity I checked my grid usage on Tuesday, self-power mode and a clean grid usage or rather no usage except for those 3 very short, small spikes.
As other mentioned must be an auto checking as it seems to happen every day at different times and past Sunday only one spike.

 

[GRV0928]

pulling Little bit from the grid is normal, Tesla powerwall inverter Is set to grid following, once in a while gateway check if there’s power from the grid by pulling or sending back power to zero out what it has pulled out from the grid, it also the grid act like Transformer and it does this mostly when there’s a surge power needed for the house load… if you don’t like seeing pulling from the grid and have enough power to cover the house load overnight until sun is up then I would recommend Go Off Grid using the app, just in case you don’t have enough power then gateway will automatically connect it to the grid.

 

[jjrandorin]

if you don’t like seeing pulling from the grid and have enough power to cover the house load overnight until sun is up the I would recommend Go Off Grid using the app, just in case you don’t have enough power then gateway will automatically connect it to the grid.

This is really cool information, I didnt know that the off grid in the app setting would re connect like that. Thanks for sharing!

 

[George75]

I believe I answered this earlier in this thread. If you dont have permission to operate, on a powerwall + setup it gets set to non export so nothing is allowed to export at all. In that state the system will curtail / shut off production when the powerwalls get full.

I answered this already, I have PTO.