Solar System Type

[201reyes]

Hello, Just curious as to what type of install the forum members have in their homes. I have a full home backup, 48 (400w) panel ground mount array, 3 Sunnyboy inverters, 3 Tesla Powerwalls. I don't see any power blips or anything when the power goes from solar, to powerwall, to grid or any combination theirin, etc. I am happy with how it works. Thanks to all who respond.

 

[jjrandorin]

I don't see any power blips or anything when the power goes from solar, to powerwall, to grid or any combination theirin, etc.

You likely will, at some point, its pretty impossible to avoid noticing it in the specific circumstances you tend to see them, which was covered in this thread:

How come power changeover was not seamless during power outage blip?

Well, this is interesting. Am sitting at my computer and the screen glitches. I get a text from my Ting line monitoring device that power has gone out, and then was restored "quickly". Looks like a transformer blew in the area, but we had a quick restore. Others are not without power. But...

teslamotorsclub.com

I would be categorized as having "partial home backup" because my tesla wall connector is not backed up, but it is the only circuit that isnt.

 

[gpez]

Partial Home Backup. 8.6kw system and only 1 Powerwall so fairly limited in what can be backed up. Have natural gas stove, tankless water heater, and furnace. High wattage circuits are not backed up: A/C, oven, dryer, level 2 EV charger.

We have full net metering so the Powerwall is backup only.

 

[skepticcyclist]

I selected partial only because my AC and pool are not backed up on my one PW; everything else is. We have natural gas for everything: oven/range, dryer, water heater, furnace so they can easily run along with everything else on one PW. The only two things I have on 220v are the AC and pool pump. I would need another PW to run those in the event of power loss. The powerwall can run everything, including my pool and AC during my peak time as long as I am connect to the grid.

 

[cparker85]

We have a "Partial Home Backup". 7.2kW solar system w/ 2 Powerwalls. It's basically a Whole Home Backup minus the pool pump and EVSE. Appliances are all natural gas and the HVAC only draws ~3kW so everything was able to be backed up.

 

[aesculus]

My heat pumps are backed up because of a wiring issue that could not be overcome, but functionally they must be turned off during backup mode or they will trip the PWs if they turn on. I will be looking for a more automated way of doing this in the future but for now I can live with this solution.

 

[201reyes]

Partial Home Backup. 8.6kw system and only 1 Powerwall so fairly limited in what can be backed up. Have natural gas stove, tankless water heater, and furnace. High wattage circuits are not backed up: A/C, oven, dryer, level 2 EV charger.

We have full net metering so the Powerwall is backup only.

How's the tankless water heater? what does it heat up?

 

[201reyes]

You likely will, at some point, its pretty impossible to avoid noticing it in the specific circumstances you tend to see them, which was covered in this thread:

How come power changeover was not seamless during power outage blip?

Well, this is interesting. Am sitting at my computer and the screen glitches. I get a text from my Ting line monitoring device that power has gone out, and then was restored "quickly". Looks like a transformer blew in the area, but we had a quick restore. Others are not without power. But...

teslamotorsclub.com

I would be categorized as having "partial home backup" because my tesla wall connector is not backed up, but it is the only circuit that isnt.

interesting, at night, if the draw is greater than the batteries can supply, the grid kicks in, but there is no 'hiccup' 'blip', seamless so far. I've intentionally ran (to test) the batteries down to their 'reserved for power outage' setting' - 25% and the switch to the grid is seamless. I am on the lookout for the 'blip' because it seems too good to be true to be that smooth, still knocking on wood though....

 

[gpez]

How's the tankless water heater? what does it heat up?

How is it? Awesome - efficient (both with electricity and natural gas) and never runs out. Not sure what you mean by what it heats up...it heats water

I've told this story on the board before but the tl;dr is we have a power outage before we had the Powerwall installed and I was able to take a hot shower by using a larger computer UPS to run the water heater. Would not have been possible with an electric tankless heater.

 

[jjrandorin]

interesting, at night, if the draw is greater than the batteries can supply, the grid kicks in, but there is no 'hiccup' 'blip', seamless so far. I've intentionally ran (to test) the batteries down to their 'reserved for power outage' setting' - 25% and the switch to the grid is seamless. I am on the lookout for the 'blip' because it seems too good to be true to be that smooth, still knocking on wood though....

There wouldnt be one in that case. Any "blips" would be in transition between a "grid up" and grid down / no grid" situation, but its covered in that thread pretty well so dont want to take this one too far off topic.