Whole Home Backup with 400, 600 or 800 amp service?

[preilly44]

I have 800 amp service (4 200 amp panels). Does anyone know if I'll be able to get "whole home backup" with PW+?

I asked my Tesla rep multiple times over the last month or so and they never are able to get an answer.

Does anyone have more than 200 amp service with PW+?

 

[Will792]

I have 800 amp service (4 200 amp panels). Does anyone know if I'll be able to get "whole home backup" with PW+?

I asked my Tesla rep multiple times over the last month or so and they never are able to get an answer.

Does anyone have more than 200 amp service with PW+?

Since Gateway is limited to 200A it will have to be installed for each panel and solar/batteries distributed across these 4 gateways. Not exactly a great option since it makes it difficult to match possible demand during backup to supply, batteries/inverter/panels.

Technically it is doable but nearly impossible to do it well.

 

[holeydonut]

Since your home is already disaggregated into 4x 200A branches, it is possible to treat your home like 4x homes and technically get whole home backup for each segment.

If you know the energy usage & requirements of each 200A sub-system, you could pair enough solar and enough PW+ to provide a reasonable day to day generation, and enough solar to provide backup self-generation to keep things going. It'd be expensive, but would be really cool to see lol.

If you want to make your entire house one microgrid... it looks like you need to get a Tesla Powerpack. Do you happen to have $500k lying around?

 

[Tam]

...they never are able to get an answer...

It's just like 1 million FSD robotaxis by 2020, Tesla has been working on new houses with more than 200A circuits and it's still behind.

In the meantime, like the above answers, you might just expect to treat each 200A as a different house/system for now.

 

[preilly44]

Okay, that's what I thought. Maybe I'll just backup the two most important panels and leave the rest powerless.

Thanks for the quick responses!

 

[holeydonut]

Okay, that's what I thought. Maybe I'll just backup the two most important panels and leave the rest powerless.

Thanks for the quick responses!

Yeah, without knowing exactly how your house is set up, it's probably easier to just do a partial backup.

Based on what we see here on TMC, Tesla Energy doesn't really like complex puzzles to solve in their systems. They tend to just bid on the simple stuff and leave the harder projects to others. It helps keep their costs low and lets them pound out more volume.

 

[gpez]

Okay, that's what I thought. Maybe I'll just backup the two most important panels and leave the rest powerless.

Thanks for the quick responses!

I'm personally interested in learning what necessitates 800 amp home service...

Genuinely curious! That'd be a pretty big...uh...agricultural operation.

 

[CSFTN]

I'm interested by this. While I am not expert in this, I don't think its your panels which determine the system capcity. Its the supply and/or the meter. Does your meter state > 400 amps? (it may say 320 but thats continuous, and means the same as a typical "400 amp" service. Do you have > 1 meter? Does the meter have > 2 lines coming out of it?

 

[Ampster]

As far as I know the meters are not limited in capacity and in North America split phase there are two wires in every 240 volt service.

 

[GaitherBill]

Okay, that's what I thought. Maybe I'll just backup the two most important panels and leave the rest powerless.

Thanks for the quick responses!

That’s what we did with our 400 amp service. 2 200 amp breaker panels. Only one is on the Powerwalls and gateway. The other acts as a grid-tie panel.

Works fine. We really don’t need everything backed up.

 

[h2ofun]

That’s what we did with our 400 amp service. 2 200 amp breaker panels. Only one is on the Powerwalls and gateway. The other acts as a grid-tie panel.

Works fine. We really don’t need everything backed up.

I have a 400 amp service, and 2 200 subpanels. I have a gateway per 200 amp panel. The trick is for each gateway, is how many solar panels does one connect? Depends on the loads to panels. And if adding batteries, same question.

 

[EL0NTRK]

So if you have 400A service, is there any reason why you have two 200 A panels instead of one 400A panel? Which one is a better option?

 

[miimura]

So if you have 400A service, is there any reason why you have two 200 A panels instead of one 400A panel? Which one is a better option?

I have 400A service with a CL320 meter and the meter feed is split to two 200A main breakers. One main breaker feeds the integrated 200A panel and the other is available to feed another remote panel. It is not common for a residential split phase panel bus to support more than 200A-225A. Three phase is a different story and some large properties, even residential, are provisioned with 600A 120Y208V supply instead of 120/240V split phase.

 

[hmcgregoraz]

We also have a "split 400" with a 320A meter and 2x 200 amp panels.

We installed extra conduit between the two locations, and my plan is to make the 200 amp panel in the garage the battery backed panel, and some extra loads on the 200 amp outside. I am still trying to figure out what makes the most sense to move, but really want to have the vast majority of the house on the backup.

We currently have 2x Solar Edge 10KW inverters with a line side tap out at the outdoor panel/meter location, with 50 LG panels installed by a very high quality local solar installer, and they are certified for Powerwalls.

Current layout:
Outdoor 200 amp:
100 amp sub for 5x mini split AC units (9 amps max load each, 45 amp total max load, so it would be fine on a 60amp breaker)
125 amp sub inside the house for about half the house, almost all outlet and lighting loads
100 amp tesla wall connector outside west side
20 amp out door outlet near the pool
room to add the pool pump once we refurbish the pool

Garage 200amp:
60amp sub for 3x mini split AC units (9 amp max load each, 21 amp total max load, so it would be fine on a 40amp breaker)
Kitchen loads
the other half of the house outlet and lighting loads
water heater (hybrid heat pump based)
100 amp tesla wall connector in the garage
50 amp 14-50 on the east side of the house for tesla charging

My plan is to move some circuits around to look like this:

Outdoor 200 amp (not backed up):
100 amp tesla wall connector outside west side
20 amp out door outlet near the pool
room to add the pool pump once we refurbish the pool

Garage 200amp (backed up), this will put a heavier load on the 200amp panel, but it will still be fine:
60amp sub for 3x mini split AC units (9 amp max load each, 21 amp total max load, so it would be fine on a 40amp breaker)
Kitchen loads
the other half of the house outlet and lighting loads
water heater (hybrid heat pump based)
(Downgrade to 60amp breaker?) 100 amp tesla wall connector in the garage
Put these two together on a 125 amp breaker in the garage:
100 amp sub for 5x mini split AC units (9 amps max load each, 45 amp total max load, so it would be fine on a 60amp breaker)
125 amp sub inside the house for about half the house, almost all outlet and lighting loads
50 amp 14-50 on the east side of the house for tesla charging
possibly replace this with a piggy back tesla wall connector on the east side of the house shared off of the 100/60 amp tesla wall connector in the garage.

-Harry

 

[CrazyRabbit]

320 amp meter with two 200 amp panels which will both be backed up with a few nonessential things (spa, car charger) being moved to a new non backed up panel. run a loads calc using alternate method and you will find 200 amps is plenty for your house.
i have three central A/C systems with resistance heat, electric hot water (hybrid water heater).

 

[CrazyRabbit]

the A/C system for the main living area has two resistance heaters. while waiting for permission to operate, i turned off the second element so i could heat my house off of solar only and not pull from grid. i was running my solar with the no export profile applied and was attempting to heat house on solar only...
so i may move the second element into the non backup panel.

 

[preilly44]

I'm personally interested in learning what necessitates 800 amp home service...

Genuinely curious! That'd be a pretty big...uh...agricultural operation.

We are right on the border for 400 amp service but wouldn't leave much room for expansion if needed down the road. Pepco doesn't have a 600 amp option so we had to go from 400 to 800 amp service.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

We are right on the border for 400 amp service but wouldn't leave much room for expansion if needed down the road. Pepco doesn't have a 600 amp option so we had to go from 400 to 800 amp service.

i doubt the house is truly over 200 amps. do the alternate loads calc without car chargers and pool equipment as those would be in the non-backup loads panel.

 

[Bosspen]

320 amp meter with two 200 amp panels which will both be backed up with a few nonessential things (spa, car charger) being moved to a new non backed up panel. run a loads calc using alternate method and you will find 200 amps is plenty for your house.
i have three central A/C systems with resistance heat, electric hot water (hybrid water heater).

Hi, I also have 320 amp meter with two 200amp panels, can you share your gateway PW and solar configuration? I was told by Tesla either 1 gateway for 1 panel backup or 2 gateways for 2 panels. I doubt I am over 200amp aw well.

 

[h2ofun]

Hi, I also have 320 amp meter with two 200amp panels, can you share your gateway PW and solar configuration? I was told by Tesla either 1 gateway for 1 panel backup or 2 gateways for 2 panels. I doubt I am over 200amp aw well.

Yep, I have one gateway per panel. I have batteries and a solar inverter per gateway.