Tesla PW Design and Installation problems - anyone have a good contact?

[pgrovetom1]

I'm midstream in the process of having Power Walls installed onto my existing 17KW solar system. I'm hung up in the design process and have encountered the bad internal Tesla communication between customer service, engineering and operations ( installation). I originally asked for 3 PW2 installed to match my 3 solar system groups ( SunnyBoy 7000 #1, SunnyBoy 7000 #2 and 18 Enphase ). I wanted this because I'm in Northern CA and PG&E shut off my power last fall tiwce for 4 days each. I want to be able to store enough power during backup to run the next day with some margin for lousy days. But the engineer said it could figure out how to do it and designed a 2 PW2 system. They began the install process but I asked if they could take another look and try to do a 3 PW2 system aligned with my 3 solar inverters and power production.

I still over produce in the summer but I should be able to store most of my late fall and winter production. I've measured my home power with me being careful and I use on average about 24KWH/day. 3 PW2 will give me up to 14.5x3= 43KWHrs which seems comfortable. My winter production exceeds the 3 PW2s capacity of 43.5KWHrs.

Then everyone at Tesla disappeared for about 2 months and the customer service person I then got knows nothing about PW2s, power or installs. He cannot answer any questions. Its absurd. I was worried the 'new" engineer he said was on my project did not know all the issues. They kept asking me if I wanted my well pump backed up and that was a hang up. I told 3 different Tesla people that I don't use the well for home water and it doesn't need to be backed up as I told the first engineer. My customer service person said he was told doing so would make my 3 PW2 system "more streamlined". I asked what does that mean? Then they scheduled a site visit which I thought was great so I could explain what I had.

The day of the site visit came and went and nobody showed standing me up for 4 hours on a Saturday 2 weeks ago. They said they were sorry and said it would be this last Monday. That was the last I heard and nobody came called or emailed me yet again. I begged to speak with the engineer and was told Tesla doesn't do that. I told him I spoke with the first engineer 3 times. So he arranged a call with the new engineer who told me that the well was the only thing not backed up and doing so would make things easier. I told him about my pool at 50AMPs which "is not backed up" and he said "oh". So he said he would start over and now he knew why the I kept saying no to the well since it doesn't provide drinking water. Nobody talks to anyone.

Sorry about the long story. Does anyone have a good Tesla contact email where I could straighten this mess out. Since my Tesla contact doesn't know anything about engineering, communication, Electricity, PW2s, install requirements or schedules, he is useless. His lack of understand leaves me begging to speak with someone who understands minor details like the pool and why a "streamlined design" means nothing but there must be some important hidden misunderstanding that needs to be found. I'm concerned about installation issues since I built a wall near my PG&E service entrance, sent them photos but I haven't a clue if its ok and I've been stood up twice with site visits. Tesla is in big trouble if this kind of thing is happening to everyone.

I added a photo of my 7'x7' installation to see if anyone here sees any issues.

thanks

 

[jjrandorin]

I dont have a contact, sorry... but just wanted to say that the USABLE power per powerwall is 13.5 each.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

It's not clear from the angle, but that wall looks a big small to support 3 PW's and the associated electrical panels. Note that PW's are about 250lb each if you're planning on hanging them on that wall.

 

[bob_p]

If the PowerWalls are floor mounted, the wall isn't load bearing and only provides stability - not holding the weight of the PowerWalls.

The PowerWalls can be stacked back-to-back, so there may be enough room to have two PowerWalls side-by-side, plus one or two PowerWalls stacked in front.

 

[pgrovetom1]

The limited discussions with Tesla suggested the 3 PW2s could be stacked back to back and mounted on the concrete slab. So the weight rests on the concrete and the wall is not carrying their weight and most of the space can be used by the Gateway and panels required. I am concerned that even in this configuration it could be tight. I asked everyone I spoke with at Tesla about this and I was told its "ok" but I didn't have a lot of confidence. I was also told now that a site visit isn't necessary which worries me even more.

 

[SMAlset]

Did you give them the measurements of your recessed wall area?

Haven't had our PW install yet but I do know that the PWs need a certain separation between them on each side. Stacked ones can be set right next to each other. I've seen 3 and even 4 I think stacked on the ground in photos here on the forum. Look through some of the threads for the photos of other installs people have shared. We have a 90-inch wall in our garage we will be having the 2 PWs against sitting on the garage floor. The units have small feet and the units are protected from water intrusion a good distance up from the base so we were told that even if we had a water heater leak that ran past our units on the floor, it would not be a problem. Our PWs will be positioned adjacent to each other and during install they will be set up so that we could add an additional one stacked to one of those units later. If your created alcove wall can place 2 units adjacent to each other with proper spacing I don't see any reason why a third unit couldn't be added stacked to one of those.

We haven't had a site visit yet, and as I understand it they don't come out until ready to install, talk with the owner about placement and then mark out locations and then they go to work in ernest to get everything wired up. I do get the hesitation you feel about all this equipment going in without someone being there before install but have to say from all accounts on the forum here and in talking with a few people in our neighborhood that have had units installed it all has worked out for them. From everything I've read/heard the installers are very flexible when it comes to routing conduit and such and they have extra lengths with them. I've been assured with them having seen our photos of our outer wall and inside garage area that running conduit and placing equipment as we'd like won't be an issue. I guess it comes down to a level of trust at this point. You can pay to have someone come out for a site survey, I think it was something like $100 (don't quote me on that), we asked about this early on, but we decided to pass on it and just submit photos. We saw another neighbor's prior-site-unseen installation work and Tesla Energy did a nice job, were very good about cleaning up, and our neighbor was really happy with their work. He's very excited he now has battery back up.

 

[SMAlset]

Here's a photo of a 3 stacked ground set up if it helps: Arizona Powerwall Installs

suppose you could PM him to ask any questions you might have.

 

[Patrick66]

You are code limited to stacking 3, as it would be over 50kW with a 4th. If you want to do a stack of two plus one then you need 2x the width, plus 36” clear between. You also need 36” clear in front (level area in some communities, but no obstructions like the pipe. You also need space for the gateway and any extra disconnects or panels.

Is the problem just layout, or electrical as well?

 

[pgrovetom1]

Here's a photo of a 3 stacked ground set up if it helps: Arizona Powerwall Installs

suppose you could PM him to ask any questions you might have.

Thanks, the photo of 3 helps.

 

[pgrovetom1]

You are code limited to stacking 3, as it would be over 50kW with a 4th. If you want to do a stack of two plus one then you need 2x the width, plus 36” clear between. You also need 36” clear in front (level area in some communities, but no obstructions like the pipe. You also need space for the gateway and any extra disconnects or panels.

Is the problem just layout, or electrical as well?

I have both layout and electrical issues that concern me. The layout is "is there enough room when 3 PW2s are stacked?" and "where is the 36" measured from?" I've spoken with two designers at Tesla but since then I have run into additional questions. My layout thinking is stacking 3 PW2s sitting on the concrete pad and located away from my existing main panel ( on the 4x6 post) and closest to the camera in the photo. There is a PVC pipe on the concrete 34 inches from the wall which could be moved easily if it violates the 36 inch space. Once the PW2s are stacked 3 deep it looks like they will stick out 5.75" x 3 = 17.25". If the code is 36" from the outermost PW2, then I will have some major pipe moving to do. I fear the people at Tesla who have seen the photo and say its ok, are not the people who really know. I've asked everyone who will listen and emailed multiple photos but they just say "it looks fine". One forwarded it to the "operations" people who do the install who emailed back it was ok but the lack of details or questions bothered me.

I'm a bit concerned that my ratio of PW2s to solar power may not be ok. I will have:

One PW2 associated with a SMA SB7000 putting out a maximum of 6.1KW
A second PW2 associated with another SMA SB7000 putting out a maximum of 6.1KW
Another PW2 associated with 18 Enphase M215 inverters at a maximum of 4.0KW.

I've not yet seen the 3 PW2 circuit diagram and am waiting. They have told me that I will have "solar meters" based PG&E's requirements for > 2PW2s. That seemed a bit mysterious. Why does PG&E need solar specific meters? Does anybody know anything about this and where they put them in the circuit? One per solar circuit near the cutoff switches or one aggregated meter?

 

[Patrick66]

Yes, you would need 18+36” clear in front of three PWs.

The battery system sizing is a function primarily of peak demand and energy storage requirement. If you have two, you might need to be careful about how you use your major appliances; three is unlikely to have that issue. More is generally better for an off-grid installation, but not economically viable on-grid.

Everything is AC-coupled, so your inverter configuration doesn’t really matter. The inverters will see the “grid” as downstream of the battery.