What to expect after commissioning, but before PTO

[LadyLion]

To "turn it off", do I merely turn the round dial on the bottom of the inverter to the off position? If I want to turn it on again to charge the PWs or to power the house, do I simply turn it back to on?

Is this damaging to the SolsrEdge inverter to do that intermittently ie, every other day or two, to prevent sending power to the grid during midday high production, (granted this is operating pre PTO) This could be a long wait time with my new permit modifications required and current city office covid partial shutdowns, then utility permission.

Using inverter on/off switch seems easier than learning where the grid shut off breaker is, using it to prevent flow back to grid, and worrying about running out of PW power "living totally off the grid". Also want to have PWs full in event of PSPS.

Is the shut off to the grid the large lever on the box near the smart meter or does that lever shutdown ALL power including PV to our house?

@jboy210. @BrettS @Vines @jrweiss98020

 

[GHTech]

Something else that I would be concerned about is that if the meter is not one that can recognize the direction of the flow of power, your bill maybe increasing by the power that you are generating. In my case (no PTO) yet, I had PV from before that I uninstalled, but my meter is capable of know the flow direction.

 

[wjgjr]

To "turn it off", do I merely turn the round dial on the bottom of the inverter to the off position? If I want to turn it on again to charge the PWs or to power the house, do I simply turn it back to on?

Is this damaging to the SolsrEdge inverter to do that intermittently ie, every other day or two, to prevent sending power to the grid during midday high production, (granted this is operating pre PTO) This could be a long wait time with my new permit modifications required and current city office covid partial shutdowns, then utility permission.

Using inverter on/off switch seems easier than learning where the grid shut off breaker is, using it to prevent flow back to grid, and worrying about running out of PW power "living totally off the grid". Also want to have PWs full in event of PSPS.

Is the shut off to the grid the large lever on the box near the smart meter or does that lever shutdown ALL power including PV to our house?

@jboy210. @BrettS @Vines @jrweiss98020

Does your gateway have a breaker labeled "service disconnect"? When I was operating off-grid, what I did every morning was:

1. Turn off service at the service disconnect. I am now isolated from the grid (and operating on PWs.)
2. Turn on inverter. I know I have a different model, but it is a similar dial that gets turned 90 degrees to turn it off/on. Within 5-10 minutes, I will begin generating solar, assuming sun is out.

I then perform those steps in the opposite order at night (turn off inverter, then turn on service disconnect breaker.)

Our system is not large enough to reliably power our home overnight, even with PWs (it covers ~80%, so sometimes it can, sometimes it can't.) Depending on the size of your system, number of PWs and expected usage overnight, you may be able to leave it on overnight, or, I found I could turn it off from just before sunset until bed time to conserve enough PW capacity to make it through the night. It may also be something where you may want to track your usage a couple nights to calculate out how close it will be. For us, the determining factor (assuming we could get the PW to 100% during the day) was A/C usage.

 

[jrweiss98020]

Another issue is that you may pay double for electricity if you keep it connected. If your meter is not compatible with solar power, it may trigger an anti-spoof system and record any electricity going TO the grid as coming FROM the grid...

 

[BrettS]

Another issue is that you may pay double for electricity if you keep it connected. If your meter is not compatible with solar power, it may trigger an anti-spoof system and record any electricity going TO the grid as coming FROM the grid...

I’m not sure it’s anything as advanced as an anti-spoof system. It’s my understanding that the non bi-directional meters simply read power passing through them without being able to tell which direction the power is flowing. So when you are generating power the meter sees that, say, 4kW is passing through it and it’s just assumed that it is power coming from the grid to power your house.

 

[isjka]

I had my system installed over a week ago and on three different attempts, they could not get one optimizer to communicate. What normally happens when this occurs? I still haven't paid the final invoice yet. I had 23 panels installed but only 22 are registering.

 

[jjrandorin]

I had my system installed over a week ago and on three different attempts, they could not get one optimizer to communicate. What normally happens when this occurs? I still haven't paid the final invoice yet. I had 23 panels installed but only 22 are registering.

Its not operating properly, so I wouldnt pay for it until it is operating properly, if it were me. Tesla should have some plan on fixing it, what have they told you is the plan?

 

[BrettS]

What normally happens when this occurs?

That’s kind of hard to answer, because the whole situation doesn’t normally occur. In fact, I think you’re the first one to report an issue with an optimizer on this forum. Certainly within the last few months at least.

However, there have been people who have had other issues at install or shortly after install. In those cases tesla eventually was able to get things resolved, but it generally took longer than people were hoping. Often several weeks. I’m sure tesla will get this resolved as well.

 

[sorka]

During the limited testing, if there is sun and/or the PowerWalls have some energy stored, you can perform a quick "off grid" test by throwing the breaker in the Tesla Gateway panel.

Who says this has to be quick. I plan to be off grid from between final inspection and PTO. That could be a few months.

 

[isjka]

That’s kind of hard to answer, because the whole situation doesn’t normally occur. In fact, I think you’re the first one to report an issue with an optimizer on this forum. Certainly within the last few months at least.

However, there have been people who have had other issues at install or shortly after install. In those cases tesla eventually was able to get things resolved, but it generally took longer than people were hoping. Often several weeks. I’m sure tesla will get this resolved as well.

Interesting to know not too many people are in this same situation. So far I haven't seen or been communicated a plan. I sent an email to my Sr Permit & Inspection Coordinator last Thu to no reply. Today I also sent the email to the project manager and help@tesla. So far, no reply except the permit guys out of office until tomorrow.

Panels were installed 9/28. The day of install only 22 of 23 were registering. They said it was due to the sun. A few days later a senior electrician comes by to test and sure enough, 22 of 23 register. Day or so after this permit guy comes back and can't get them all to register. I kept hearing the statement "the last one takes a while". Finally on Wed another guy comes and it's bright sunlight perfect timing, etc. and can't get the last one to register. He said he would need to take it up with the field team since it's out of his hands. Invoice is due tomorrow. I am not going to pay, and shouldn't need to pay for a system that hasn't even been fully commissioned. I'll keep you all posted.