Tesla App reports incorrect Solar

[jax1]

I installed Tesla Solar just over 12 months ago and had 2 x Powerwall 2 installed two weeks ago. I noticed that the Tesla App reports half the solar power (whether instantaneous kW or cumulative kWh per day) compared to PowerGuide on mysolarcity.com. The net kWh per day reported in my PG&E account very closely matches what PowerGuide reports (taking into account my daily average consumption). So I'm convinced that the Tesla App is reporting half the actual solar production.

Has anyone else had this experience? I've put a call into Tesla Support - they've escalated internally and I'm waiting to hear back from them.

 

[cwied]

I installed Tesla Solar just over 12 months ago and had 2 x Powerwall 2 installed two weeks ago. I noticed that the Tesla App reports half the solar power (whether instantaneous kW or cumulative kWh per day) compared to PowerGuide on mysolarcity.com. The net kWh per day reported in my PG&E account very closely matches what PowerGuide reports (taking into account my daily average consumption). So I'm convinced that the Tesla App is reporting half the actual solar production.

Has anyone else had this experience? I've put a call into Tesla Support - they've escalated internally and I'm waiting to hear back from them.

With the Powerwall installs it seems to be pretty common to get the Current Transformer (CT) installation wrong. The CTs measure the power produced by the solar and the power coming in or going out to the grid. I'm guessing one of the CTs for your solar is not working. I believe PowerGuide gets the production data directly from your solar inverter, so is not affected by the direct measurement.

Bottom line is they'll probably have to send someone out to check and fix your installation.

 

[JD01]

I don't have my powerwalls yet so maybe this doesn't apply to you, but I had the same issue in the app right after my panels were installed. The network in one of my inverters wasn't configured properly. As soon as we enabled zigbee, everything displayed correctly in the Tesla app and all of the historical data for that inverter was uploaded over the next week or so.

 

[jax1]

With the Powerwall installs it seems to be pretty common to get the Current Transformer (CT) installation wrong. The CTs measure the power produced by the solar and the power coming in or going out to the grid. I'm guessing one of the CTs for your solar is not working. I believe PowerGuide gets the production data directly from your solar inverter, so is not affected by the direct measurement.

Bottom line is they'll probably have to send someone out to check and fix your installation.

Thanks cwied. I hope they're proactive enough to follow up without me having to hound them.

I spent 10 minutes at my meter and inverter today and discovered the following.

1. The Tesla App definitely reports 1/2 the solar shown by the inverter on its display
2. The Home load in the Tesla App seems correct, because the difference between inverter display and "alleged" home load matches the instantaneous kW shown by the PG&E meter as being fed back to the grid. (For the entire time I was there, Tesla App shows that I'm pulling from the grid while the meter shows I'm pushing to the grid!)

The rate at which the Powerwall SOC increases/decreases seems to match the charging/discharging kW rate shown by the Tesla App so that number is correct.

So effectively, due to this incorrect solar reading, I seem to be pushing energy unnecessarily to the grid when I could be charging my Powerwalls faster.

Let's see what Tesla has to say...

 

[jax1]

I don't have my powerwalls yet so maybe this doesn't apply to you, but I had the same issue in the app right after my panels were installed. The network in one of my inverters wasn't configured properly. As soon as we enabled zigbee, everything displayed correctly in the Tesla app and all of the historical data for that inverter was uploaded over the next week or so.

Solar readings on both Tesla App AND PowerGuide matched fine until I got my Powerwalls. So I think this has to do with the CTs as cwied pointed out.

 

[StuTheDog]

I think it is the app, just got my system energized yesterday and noticed the totals reported by the app didn't make sense, Home use was really low, Solar about 1/2 correct, Powerwalls and Grid are correct. The app isn't calculating the totals correctly. But the data to do so is there so you can do it yourself if you download the data and do the math yourself. Scroll to the bottom of the graph and select Download My Data.

The data records the load (kW) every 5 minutes, so to find the total in kWh just add each column then divide by 12. That is the correct total (rounded slightly due to the 5 minute report cycle). NOTE: if you have power going 2 ways, for example the Powerwall and Grid, you might want to add just the positive values separately from the negative values so to learn the total going out vs. coming in.

HTH.

 

[dandrewk]

I think it is the app, just got my system energized yesterday and noticed the totals reported by the app didn't make sense, Home use was really low, Solar about 1/2 correct, Powerwalls and Grid are correct. The app isn't calculating the totals correctly. But the data to do so is there so you can do it yourself if you download the data and do the math yourself. Scroll to the bottom of the graph and select Download My Data.

The data records the load (kW) every 5 minutes, so to find the total in kWh just add each column then divide by 12. That is the correct total (rounded slightly due to the 5 minute report cycle). NOTE: if you have power going 2 ways, for example the Powerwall and Grid, you might want to add just the positive values separately from the negative values so to learn the total going out vs. coming in.

HTH.

What did you mean you got your system "energized"? Did you add additional panels and inverter?

If so, this happened to me. When they wire the new system, they also have to update settings on their end. They didn't do that, so I had to get Powerwall support to fix things. It took them about a day, and all is well. No house call needed.

 

[Pale_Rider]

Same issue with my recent PW install. I haven’t been home enough lately to give them a call however...

 

[dandrewk]

I think this may happen when you add solar to an existing solar/powerwall setup. The Powerwall guys come out and everything works great. Then you add the solar and things go nutty. I think this is because solar installers aren't trained to update settings for your account on Tesla servers. The way the PW tech support guy explained it - the solar guys wired everything correctly, but didn't do "Part B".

It's a pain, but calling PW support will fix it. I only recently discovered that the "on hold with support" recording gives you an option for a call back after about 10 mins. on hold. I think you dial "8". You don't lose your place in line, and you get a call when it's your turn.

 

[Pale_Rider]

I actually had solar first and then added powerwalls, but I don’t doubt it is something along those lines.

 

[Pale_Rider]

Just got firmware 1.40.1 and am happy to report that the app now reports the correct amount of solar production when compared to my solar edge app.

 

[Unofficial]

Solar puts off a balanced 240v output so tesla finally went to a single ct for the Pv which gets doubled. However this is still an option in the wizard.
So if you are seeing half the real production, you either have one ct that is not working/connected properly or the system is set up with a single Ct and the guys didn't set it to double the readings. This can be resolved remotely if you talk to the right person...

 

[Pale_Rider]

Yes, I physically have one CT that goes around both my inverter outputs. Either they noticed it on the backend and it took them 2 months to fix it or something in the new firmware fixed it. When I reported it to them they said it was a known issue but didn’t offer any remedy at the time of installation. I’m just glad it’s not underreporting anymore. Lol.

 

[SRZRAD]

I'm noticing a similar issue in the TESLA Energy app. I'm tracking energy usage on a daily basis since I got our system activated less than 2 months ago. On 1/30, the solar production for the prior day read 41.1 kWh. When looking at that day's production today (2/1), it has dropped to 29.0 kWh. Other metrics on that day for Home Usage, From/To Powerwall, and From/To Grid have changed as well. When I compare the solar production for 1/29 on Enphase, it does show that we produced 40.7 kWh, which would roughly be in line with what the TESLA app had originally reported.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? I observed this previously already. Any ideas why this happens?

 

[Ampster]

Did the Enphase production show a similar drop? I can't tell from you post what days produced what?

 

[SRZRAD]

Did the Enphase production show a similar drop? I can't tell from you post what days produced what?

Enphase showed correct readings, and didn't doesn't change. It also appears that after a few days, the TESLA app has the original reading listed again that is closely aligned with the reading from Enphase. So at this point, I trust the Enphase reading more than what the TESLA app is showing. It would be useful if TESLA could advise why their readings fluctuate, for now, I can't see any specific pattern.

 

[Morts]

What did you mean you got your system "energized"? Did you add additional panels and inverter?

If so, this happened to me. When they wire the new system, they also have to update settings on their end. They didn't do that, so I had to get Powerwall support to fix things. It took them about a day, and all is well. No house call needed.

I think this may happen when you add solar to an existing solar/powerwall setup. The Powerwall guys come out and everything works great. Then you add the solar and things go nutty. I think this is because solar installers aren't trained to update settings for your account on Tesla servers. The way the PW tech support guy explained it - the solar guys wired everything correctly, but didn't do "Part B".

It's a pain, but calling PW support will fix it. I only recently discovered that the "on hold with support" recording gives you an option for a call back after about 10 mins. on hold. I think you dial "8". You don't lose your place in line, and you get a call when it's your turn.

I have a identical scenario I had a existing system 6.6kw with Powerwall with my Telsa app working fine. I added a new Fronius Inverter and added a further 6.6kw and now my Tesla App is not recording totals accurately namely home usage is basically zero which is obviously incorrect and its only showing on app about half of the solar generated from inverters. I called Powerwall support who tried to tell me that I needed my Installers to come back and rewire it. However when I suggested that this problem can be rectified by remotely accessing my Powerwall and changing the settings they said they would look into it. Its been 2 days and im still waiting.

 

[BGbreeder]

We went through this our neurio wasn't reporting. If your new solar didn't land in a generation panel (and by the sound of it it didn't), you will need a neurio added and configured to capture the new solar production.

All the best,

BG

 

[Morts]

We went through this our neurio wasn't reporting. If your new solar didn't land in a generation panel (and by the sound of it it didn't), you will need a neurio added and configured to capture the new solar production.

All the best,

BG

I have worked out that the Tesla App is displaying solar production after usage has been subtracted. so basically if my Fronius inverters both say I'm generating 8KW total my Tesla app will say I'm Generating 6.5kw and my home usage will be 1.5kw, even though my App will display home usage as 0kw on the App The way that I discovered this was when my Powerwall was fully charged I went to Solarweb App and all the data and the totals on their app were correct namely Solar production, Home usage and solar fed back to the grid. Is this something that Powerwall support can fix or do I need to get my installers to make a house call to fix my tesla app. I note on one of the previous comments on this thread that it was suggested that most installers are not trained in updating tesla account settings.

 

[BGbreeder]

Depending on where the issue is, it may be software only, and something that Tesla can fix remotely, although my bet is your installer needs to add some current transformers (CTs). Your installer is likely to be more responsive that Tesla, but I would call both tomorrow.

All the best,

BG