Tesla Solar in Houston & Surrounding Area’s

[Jones1]

Those of you with free nights with Centerpoint, how are you setting time based control? I've seen a few questions on this and don't see any fixes, and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

I'm on free nights, and want to grid charge the powerwalls offpeak (grid charging is on). I have to manually change my reserve to 100% at off-peak, and back to time based before peak. Otherwise, it tries to rely on the grid as little as possible and doesn't charge the PWs above reserve if it thinks it can charge from solar the next day.

I've tried playing with the prices, but no luck. I've tried adding some cost to the offpeak, but doesn't seem to make a difference. I really wish I could see what the algorithm was planning daily.

Goal
- Charge powerwalls to 100% during off peak
- Rely on solar and powerwalls during peak

I don't believe I can automate this yet, as the APIs for powerwall 3 aren't fully known.

View attachment 993257

 

[SteveO332]

Thanks, I'll try splitting up the off-peak times tonight and see if that makes any difference. I'm setting export to zero since I can't with Reliant and don't have a PTO.

 

[DrewHou]

Those of you with free nights with Centerpoint, how are you setting time based control? I've seen a few questions on this and don't see any fixes, and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

I'm on free nights, and want to grid charge the powerwalls offpeak (grid charging is on). I have to manually change my reserve to 100% at off-peak, and back to time based before peak. Otherwise, it tries to rely on the grid as little as possible and doesn't charge the PWs above reserve if it thinks it can charge from solar the next day.

I've tried playing with the prices, but no luck. I've tried adding some cost to the offpeak, but doesn't seem to make a difference. I really wish I could see what the algorithm was planning daily.

Goal
- Charge powerwalls to 100% during off peak
- Rely on solar and powerwalls during peak

I don't believe I can automate this yet, as the APIs for powerwall 3 aren't fully known.

View attachment 993257

So with mine I have to manually do it until the system “learns” and then it just automatically starts doing it on its own after a while. I had mine also forget again once and had to teach it again by manually changing it again. I don’t know why Tesla has it setup the way they do but that’s been my experience. I think it may have taken a week or so before I realized it was just starting the grid charge at off peak on its own.

 

[DrewHou]

Here’s my setup.

 

[EL0NTRK]

I had the same issue with Tesla not following the night plan. I have to call Tesla and opened an investigation. They changed something in their system and it worked perfectly since then.

 

[Jones1]

Happy Thanksgiving and of Course. Go Cowboys!

 

[SteveO332]

So with mine I have to manually do it until the system “learns” and then it just automatically starts doing it on its own after a while. I had mine also forget again once and had to teach it again by manually changing it again. I don’t know why Tesla has it setup the way they do but that’s been my experience. I think it may have taken a week or so before I realized it was just starting the grid charge at off peak on its own.

When you say manually switch, you mean raising the backup reserve to 100%?

Nothing really changed last night, so I'll call in next week to see if there is anything to tweak on Tesla's end.

 

[DrewHou]

When you say manually switch, you mean raising the backup reserve to 100%?

Nothing really changed last night, so I'll call in next week to see if there is anything to tweak on Tesla's end.

Yep just kept changing it from 100 to 20 and 20 to 100.

 

[Jones1]

I just came back from the 290 Tesla Store. Cypress.
CyberTruck is on display.

 

[Jones1]

Beautiful Beast of a Machine.

TikTok · Unplug & Go

Check out Unplug & Go's video.

www.tiktok.com

 

[Jones1]

Great Video

 

[Jones1]

I picked up 3 Dreo Wi-Fi Space Heaters. During summer. They work great. You can set them up. With an Alexa Skill. Have them turn on and off at peak /off peak times. There is an eco mode. That can turn heat on at a set temperature. Hopefully I can save on my natural gas cost now.

 

[h2ofun]

I picked up 3 Dreo Wi-Fi Space Heaters. During summer. They work great. You can set them up. With an Alexa Skill. Have them turn on and off at peak /off peak times. There is an eco mode. That can turn heat on at a set temperature. Hopefully I can save on my natural gas cost now.

View attachment 994366

Electric space heaters are by far the worse energy hogs one can use

 

[Jones1]

Electric space heaters are by far the worse energy hogs one can use

They are working Fabulous for the free nights.

 

[Jones1]

I just signed the Centerpoint DER Application. For the Powerwall expansion project.

 

[DrewHou]

Electric space heaters are by far the worse energy hogs one can use

Yeah I had a built in electric fireplace installed and while it’s nice to look at that’s about it. My two story ceilings mean I would have to run the fireplace 24 hours to raise it a degree if that. It also uses about 4x the amount of electricity as my gas heat uses (blower) so I figure I will just use the gas heat and just turn on the “fire” with no heat on the fireplace. Gas heat doesn’t seem to run that long to keep things toasty anyways.

 

[DrewHou]

I picked up 3 Dreo Wi-Fi Space Heaters. During summer. They work great. You can set them up. With an Alexa Skill. Have them turn on and off at peak /off peak times. There is an eco mode. That can turn heat on at a set temperature. Hopefully I can save on my natural gas cost now.

My big thing is heated mattress pad and electric blankets in the ottoman for the living spaces. Use less gas because I can keep the house a bit cooler overall. I am to forgetful to have space heaters… I forget and throw a blanket over it one night and bye bye me haha.

 

[cbdream99]

I picked up 3 Dreo Wi-Fi Space Heaters. During summer. They work great. You can set them up. With an Alexa Skill. Have them turn on and off at peak /off peak times. There is an eco mode. That can turn heat on at a set temperature. Hopefully I can save on my natural gas cost now.

View attachment 994366

Someone in Canada built a super energy efficient/passive house, a 5000 sq ft house can be heated in under 2000W, it is crazy, but of course the cost of the house and finding the builder that knows how is another story

 

[DrewHou]

Someone in Canada built a super energy efficient/passive house, a 5000 sq ft house can be heated in under 2000W, it is crazy, but of course the cost of the house and finding the builder that knows how is another story

Wow that’s impressive especially in Canada. I have also wondered with those 3D printed concrete homes they have been building recently if those are much easier to heat and cool. Seems like it would be since there is significantly less places to lose air.

 

[cbdream99]

Wow that’s impressive especially in Canada. I have also wondered with those 3D printed concrete homes they have been building recently if those are much easier to heat and cool. Seems like it would be since there is significantly less places to lose air.

Yeah, those ICON houses in Austin area are very interesting, and I think the prices are not too bad at all, from what I read it is around 3-4 times more energy efficient than similar wood/foam insulated house, since there are no studs and the cavity is filled with foam insulation, I think it is around 4 inches, definitely more than enough for Texas, the key is to seal up all the thermal bridges and the lava crete should last a life time.