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Storm watch - when does it clear?
- Thread starter stevenj24k
- Start date
that was original warning, then it was switched to end on monday at 5:00, and no other warning since. as getakey mentioned above, there is one in tahoe region, but nothing currently here. feel better knowing i'm not alone though. thanks.
yeah, i split the difference and put it in self powered, but with a high reserve (70%). with batteries always between 70 and 100, i feel completely covered. and this time of year, solar production is so high and night time electricity use so low, mine never really drop below 60 or 70 after a full night anyway.
good luck...
It is a complicated decision. You need to factor in your power usage, weather, solar panel generation, etc. And for us that means making decisions on where to set A/C, how high to charge cars, and other power consumption issues.
In the Houston area - our system went into Storm Watch mode as Laura was approaching.
We're on a Free Nights plan - so when they triggered this during the day, we used grid power to charge the PowerWalls - and paid for that. And once the PowerWalls were full, excess solar power was sent to the grid - which we do not get compensated for.
Now that Laura has left our area, we're still in Storm Watch mode this morning. I put out system into BACKUP with 100% reserve, so that when Storm Watch is turned off, if we are during the Free Nights period, the TEG will use grid power and not PowerWall power. And during the day, I'll manually switch back to our normal time-based mode, until the PowerWall charge level gets down to normal range - doing this to minimize how much power we are purchasing during the day and not use any of the PowerWall power during our Free Nights period.
When Storm Watch is triggered, has anyone tried turning it off - and then turning it back on during free/low cost electricity periods? I was concerned that if I did that and waited to charge the PowerWalls after 9PM, that I might lose the Storm Watch setting if I had disabled it when Storm Watch had been triggered.
We're on a Free Nights plan - so when they triggered this during the day, we used grid power to charge the PowerWalls - and paid for that. And once the PowerWalls were full, excess solar power was sent to the grid - which we do not get compensated for.
Now that Laura has left our area, we're still in Storm Watch mode this morning. I put out system into BACKUP with 100% reserve, so that when Storm Watch is turned off, if we are during the Free Nights period, the TEG will use grid power and not PowerWall power. And during the day, I'll manually switch back to our normal time-based mode, until the PowerWall charge level gets down to normal range - doing this to minimize how much power we are purchasing during the day and not use any of the PowerWall power during our Free Nights period.
When Storm Watch is triggered, has anyone tried turning it off - and then turning it back on during free/low cost electricity periods? I was concerned that if I did that and waited to charge the PowerWalls after 9PM, that I might lose the Storm Watch setting if I had disabled it when Storm Watch had been triggered.
Sonus
Member
If you turn SW off everything goes back to normal operation as you configured before. When you switch it back it will go back into SW mode (if it is still active in your area) i.e PW will charge form the grid to 99% and stay inactive waiting for the grid to go down.
I used to toggle it back and forth to enable grid charging when prices are at the lowest, it is a cool feature they should rename it to grid charging instead
Yeah, it would be nice if you could schedule Storm Watch coverage. The way it is now, it just prioritizes charging the Powerwalls but it would be nice if you could schedule hours or give it a hint not to charge during peak if not absolutely necessary. Fortunately, the app sends a notification so any time I see the Powerwalls charging from the grid during peak, I just turn it off and set an alarm to remind me to turn it back on after peak is over. It's nice that it responds so quickly these days too, usually within a few seconds. Before, it took up to an hour for it to register any changes from the app. If there was a real emergency then I'd probably just let it charge from the grid while it was still up.
Yes, I did that earlier this week when Storm Watch was active. StormWatch here in California was trigger by the existing fires, potential for more lightning, and red flag warning for more fire weather. StormWatch was on for several days. During that time I did exactly what you talked about. Charged up during low cost, turned off Storm Watch as high-cost period was approaching, ran home on PowerWall during high-cost period, and re-enabled Storm Watch after high-cost period. Then, as expected A/C was run and batteries were recharged with the lower-cost electricity only.
I could see where it would be convenient to set rules that say stormwatch is only to be enabled at certain times, but I also kind of understand Tesla's approach here. In principle, it only activates when there really is a higher risk of an outage, so you are essentially paying for some insurance against that, and typical users might get confused and then upset if this setting got more complicated and they didn't get charged up. In general, the expectation is these events should be rare (notwithstanding the current mess of fires/red flag alerts in CA) so it shouldn't end up being a huge cost overall. Ensuring timely notifications and response to changing the setting should probably be the priority to make it work for most users and allow more advanced users to quickly adapt.
charlesj
Active Member
It wasn't that long ago that it didn't work at all when I toggled it off. Even after many hours it charged my batteries in the off position. I finally turned off main breaker.
Called Tesla and it worked as it should on this last SW. I toggled it off. By the time I switched screens to check, it stopped powering battery.
Confirmed yesterday that Storm Watch will re-activate if you toggle it off and then back on.
Since the storm missed us in Houston, I wanted to turn Storm Watch off yesterday, so the PowerWalls would provide power to the house between 9AM to 9PM when we pay for electricity. When I turned it off and then tried turning it back on a few minutes later, the TEG went back into Storm Watch mode.
When we get the next storm, I'll try turning off the Storm Watch mode until after 9PM and charge the PowerWalls during our Free Nights...
Since the storm missed us in Houston, I wanted to turn Storm Watch off yesterday, so the PowerWalls would provide power to the house between 9AM to 9PM when we pay for electricity. When I turned it off and then tried turning it back on a few minutes later, the TEG went back into Storm Watch mode.
When we get the next storm, I'll try turning off the Storm Watch mode until after 9PM and charge the PowerWalls during our Free Nights...
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