Tesla: we need more control over our PowerWalls

[sashton]

I do hope the request to be able to discharge a PW to grid doesn't die again. I have a connection agreement that permits me to export at 40kW. What I would dearly like to do is fill the 4xPWs from solar (Currently they are full be 10:00 a.m.) and then discharge a proportion e.g. 40% to the grid during the peak rate (04:00 p.m. - 07:00 p.m.).
Under the TEP it used to limit my solar+PW export to 6kW. I have no idea why as at the time my connection agreement was 23kW gen/17 kW export and Octopus had the export agreement. Since the closure of TEP I have moved to Octopus Flux and no option to discharge the PWs to grid

 

[JohnRatsey]

Under the TEP it used to limit my solar+PW export to 6kW. I have no idea why as at the time my connection agreement was 23kW gen/17 kW export and Octopus had the export agreement. Since the closure of TEP I have moved to Octopus Flux and no option to discharge the PWs to grid

I'm due to have a 2nd PW installed next month (ordered last year when TEP was available) which will give me spare storage capacity for half of the year so time-based export will earn me a bit of money (and help the grid). My research suggested that Tesla needed to enable the feature after which the battery would, after the tariffs have been set up, do peak period export.

 

[sashton]

I'm due to have a 2nd PW installed next month (ordered last year when TEP was available) which will give me spare storage capacity for half of the year so time-based export will earn me a bit of money (and help the grid). My research suggested that Tesla needed to enable the feature after which the battery would, after the tariffs have been set up, do peak period export.

Sadly all my contacts at Tesla UK no longer appear to there (emails to them now bounce). I still have the export setting on the GW as a legacy from TEP.
I'm currently sticking to Self-Powered as the Time-Based control draws ~4kWh/day whereas Self-Powered only 'leaks' about 1kWh/day.

It is frustrating that the setting below doesn't appear to be enabled in the UK.

 

[BiggusWallus]

I do hope the request to be able to discharge a PW to grid doesn't die again. I have a connection agreement that permits me to export at 40kW. What I would dearly like to do is fill the 4xPWs from solar (Currently they are full be 10:00 a.m.) and then discharge a proportion e.g. 40% to the grid during the peak rate (04:00 p.m. - 07:00 p.m.).
Under the TEP it used to limit my solar+PW export to 6kW. I have no idea why as at the time my connection agreement was 23kW gen/17 kW export and Octopus had the export agreement. Since the closure of TEP I have moved to Octopus Flux and no option to discharge the PWs to grid

Question for you - you do realise that you are not able to export higher levels of power without agreement from your local electricity infrastructure provider yes? Sorry you probably do and that's where your connection agreement comes in does it? Agreement with who though?
So re-reading your post you're saying that your powerwalls won't export more than 6kw total - across all powerwalls summated - at any given time is that right?And that that's a TEP limiter set somewhere is it? My limit for my single powewall is 3.7kw as per a standard home installation, without having to jump through additional hoops with the infrastructure provider. I'm interested to understand why and how we don't line up as it were.

Thanks.

 

[niveknow]

Yes. Buy a Hubitat, follow the instructions to install the powerwal manager and your good to go. You can then start getting into smart lighting and other home automation!

hey @Tim-in-CA @h2ofun does your Hubitat setup still work today for basic automation and control? I'm a old timer with SmartThings but it has no ability to control the powerwalls anymore. I had some basic automation working at one point with DawinsDen handlers in SmartThings, but the platform support stopped.

I'll gladly switch over to Hubitat if it means getting basic automation working again.

The main automation is to force the PW to charge from grid. This is either to force storm mode ON or I assume set Backup Reserve to 100% while enabling Grid Charging. I have to do this daily on the Tesla app if I want to top off the PW when I anticipate a stormy or just low solar next day.

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[Tim-in-CA]

hey @Tim-in-CA @h2ofun does your Hubitat setup still work today for basic automation and control? I'm a old timer with SmartThings but it has no ability to control the powerwalls anymore. I had some basic automation working at one point with DawinsDen handlers in SmartThings, but the platform support stopped.

I'll gladly switch over to Hubitat if it means getting basic automation working again.

The main automation is to force the PW to charge from grid. This is either to force storm mode ON or I assume set Backup Reserve to 100% while enabling Grid Charging. I have to do this daily on the Tesla app if I want to top off the PW when I anticipate a stormy or just low solar next day.

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Works great for me.

 

[niveknow]

Works great for me.

Thanks @Tim-in-CA

I took the plunge on it last week and you're right. Works great. I started a new thread so I don't hijack:

Hubitat and Powerwalls

Hello all. I've been on a hunt for a monitoring and automation solution for the Powerwalls for sometime now. Researched various places, but couldn't find a definitive solution that works in 2023. There was the Darwin's Den solution for SmartThings that worked for a while, until SmartThings...

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