Tesla PwrWall/Gateway shutdowns

[caribconsult]

We have a recent (2018) Tesla Powerwall /Gateway setup with 21 panels and it works about 99% correctly. We are essentially "off grid." We have grid but it is not full-time connected to the gateway. So we are normally running on the battery, which is charging correctly during daylight hours, the panels go off and on according to the battery %, and if we don't get enough sunlight, we can switch on the grid for 2--3 hours, and that will power the house and charge the battery at the same time. ALL THAT WORKS CORRECTLY, and has been working consistently for over 3 months now. The app shows readings consistent with our observations. I'm not trying to blow my horn here, just want to state at I am an engineer (industrial) and am pretty well familiar with household electrical operation and I understand volts, amps, watts, kilowatthours, etc.

The 1% incorrect is the battery either shuts itself down or is shut down by the gateway at various erratic times. We are not overloading the system according to the app, and the shutdown is NOT load-independent, can happen at any time of the night or day under light (0.6kw) or heavy (~5kw) load. Then the system generally resets itself within a few seconds or a few minutes and the power returns. How do I know this? Both my wife and I have seen the whole house go dark for a brief time, then all the lights go back on, and the log file in my computer's UPS confirms the AC failure and resumption time and date. We'll get up in the moring and all the digital clocks in the house will be blinking, meaning there was a overnight power failure, usually in the UPS log as well. Weeks can go by without this happening and then there will be a burst of these, 7-8 within half an hour. Tesla cannot fully explain this, and the installers are even less informed.

So the question is: is anyone else having a similar issue? If so, how, if at all, did you resolve this?

 

[jaggedben]

Sounds like something Tesla needs to address.

My one question is whether you have the grid connected when it does this. The reason I ask is to narrow down whether the issue could be due to the Powerwall being too slow to switch over when the grid goes out, or perhaps having sync difficulties with an unstable grid. If the grid is definitely not connected when it happens then it's probably just a Powerwall internal issue. Your post is a little vague about the grid connection; are you manually controlling whether the grid is connected, or just letting the Gateway do its job, or some combination of both?

Since you say it's happening at night it is presumably not something being triggered by the solar inverter.

Sorry I have no experience to share.

 

[caribconsult]

PowerWall Issues

PowerWall Issues

Thanks very much for replying to my post.

No, the grid is not full-time connected to the gateway. There's a breaker I can throw to feed it to the gateway, which we do now and then, if, say, my wife has been running the electric clothes dryer late in the afternoon, like after 2pm and there is little or no sunlight so the battery doesn't recharge. In that case, we switch on the grid feed breaker to the gateway after sundown, it powers the house and recharges the battery, and after 2-3 hours the battery is well-charged, sometimes full, and we switch off the grid feed with the breaker.

If we don't disconnect the grid, then the gateway will try to feed power back to the grid once the battery is charged. We don't have a net metering system, nor do we want one for several substantial reasons. But attempting to 'back feed' the meter results in an error message at the meter, probably readable from the power company's office, since they can read the meter remotely. I think they use some sort of X10 technology. That's the main reason why we don't leave the grid connected. According to Tesla there is no way to turn off the 'back feed' but tech support folks have told me controlling the grid like this is a perfectly valid way to use the system.

We generally don't use much grid, sometimes for weeks at a time. We get enough sun to enter the evening hours with the battery at nearly 90%, it will lose some 35% from sundown through overnight and into the morning, running two refrigerators, and recharge fully by noon next day if there is a reasonable amount of sun. Even running the dryer once won't drain the battery enough to use the grid if the dryer is run earlier while sunlight is bright. Our 21 panels are rated at 5.2Kw and I've seen that much output many times in the Tesla app.

The system just 'burped' as I have described twice while I was writing this. The dryer was running and the load, according to the app, was 5.0 - 5.2kw, dipping down to 4.x at times, which is within spec I believe. After each burp it restarted in about a minute, then we turned on the dryer and everything is running fine right now. This happens at least 10x more often when there is little load, according to the log file on my computer's UPS, which records AC Failure, so I'm inclined to believe it is not load-related. Either the battery shuts itself off, or the gateway shuts it off, not sure where this gets initiated, then it restarts itself within minutes, sometimes seconds. At any hour of the night and day, loads or no loads, solar or no solar. Whether there is some 'hand-off' from the panels to the battery I can't say but even when the panels are inoperative (night time) this happens so such a 'hand-off being the problem sounds pretty speculative. I can't say I've observed this while the grid is connected, but as I said, we don't use much grid, and not every day, so that question remains unanswered.

What's really crazy about this situation is that the system functions perfectly about 99.99% of the time. The battery runs the whole house, the panels charge the battery when they should, and the grid usages shows up on the app and corresponds to what we know to be true about usage. This 'set/reset' business is the one and only issue we have.

I had a long conversation with a supervisor at the Tesla PowerWall support team, and they now say I'm the only one reporting this. Before, they said others were having this issue, so that sounds a yellow alarm to me, but if true, it points towards a defective or improperly setup/coded battery and/or gateway here. That's a distinct possibility, as you point out, and that's my suspicion, as well. I don't think it's a wiring error or we would have very different problems. The installers are sending out their techs who will troubleshoot this setup with Tesla, so we'll see what they find, and I'll keep you in the loop on this.

Your input is greatly appreciated and I'm sorry if I was less than clear with my first post. Hopefully this one will clarify things for you. Please add whatever your think is relevant.

Jeff

 

[jaggedben]

...Our 21 panels are rated at 5.2Kw and I've seen that much output many times in the Tesla app.

The system just 'burped' as I have described twice while I was writing this. The dryer was running and the load, according to the app, was 5.0 - 5.2kw, dipping down to 4.x at times, which is within spec I believe. After each burp it restarted in about a minute, then we turned on the dryer and everything is running fine right now. This happens at least 10x more often when there is little load, according to the log file on my computer's UPS, which records AC Failure, so I'm inclined to believe it is not load-related. ...

I'm assuming you only have one Powerwall unit. So here is one thing that could happen: If you are running off-grid with a load larger than the 5kW output of the Powerwall, and the battery is charging and then reaches full charge, then the Powerwall will knock the solar system offline (by small frequency shifting, I believe), and suddenly you will not have enough power for the load and the Powerwall would also have to shut down. This is a shortcoming of the Tesla product, and it has to be this way because the their design has no way to throttle the solar output when the battery can't absorb it. For this reason you really can't expect to run loads greater than the Powerwall nameplate output when off grid, regardless of how much solar you have. Now if you also have the grid at those times, then the grid can absorb whatever excess you have and nothing needs to shutdown. So that could have happened in your description of this one event.

Now I hasten to add that this explanation doesn't suffice for low-load or nighttime issues. It's possible there's more than one thing going on though. I do wonder if there is some high load that you have that might switch on automatically that would overload the Powerwall.

Either the battery shuts itself off, or the gateway shuts it off, not sure where this gets initiated,

The gateway doesn't have much brains, so it's the battery inverter that's shutting down. (If you only had problems that correlated with connecting or disconnecting from the grid, that might point to the gateway. Your problems point elsewhere.)

I had a long conversation with a supervisor at the Tesla PowerWall support team, and they now say I'm the only one reporting this. Before, they said others were having this issue, so that sounds a yellow alarm to me, but if true, it points towards a defective or improperly setup/coded battery ...

I'm mostly inclined to agree based on the information you've shared.

 

[ramsy]

..Now I hasten to add that this explanation doesn't suffice for low-load or nighttime issues. ..The gateway doesn't have much brains, so it's the battery inverter that's shutting down.

Can thermal issues cause battery auto shutdown?
Thermal runaway with harmonic motor loads.
Appliance exhaust, or hot-water line heating the wall / floor in contact with battery?

 

[caribconsult]

I'm assuming you only have one Powerwall unit. CORRECT.

So here is one thing that could happen: If you are running off-grid with a load larger than the 5kW output of the Powerwall, and the battery is charging and then reaches full charge, then the Powerwall will knock the solar system offline (by small frequency shifting, I believe), and suddenly you will not have enough power for the load and the Powerwall would also have to shut down. This is a shortcoming of the Tesla product, and it has to be this way because the their design has no way to throttle the solar output when the battery can't absorb it. For this reason you really can't expect to run loads greater than the Powerwall nameplate output when off grid, regardless of how much solar you have. Now if you also have the grid at those times, then the grid can absorb whatever excess you have and nothing needs to shutdown. So that could have happened in your description of this one event. EXCEPT: the event that just happened yesterday doesn't fit this scenario. The load was 0.2 watts above nameplate...that's not really an overload, especially since the dryer heating elements cycle on and off, making the average load somewhere down in the 3+w range. Also the battery was charging at the time, so there was no shortage of extra solar but you say the system can't exceed nameplate so the extra solar means nothing. Got it. But after the two shutdowns, we restarted everything, the load was back up to 5kw, and all ran fine. The computer UPS did not report the two power failures, but it does show that AC line voltage from the battery dipped down to 113v during these two shutdowns. So maybe this wasn't truly a shutdown, just a sort of 'brown out' sufficient to shut off the dryer and a TV. Tesla had fuzzily mentioned something about a "frequency" not either not being sent or received correctly and this could be the inverter signaling the panel array to shut off, but we have seen that shutoff many times, usually around noon or noon:30, the panel output drops to zero when the battery reaches full charge and thereafter the system goes into a 'topping off mode' where the panels will switch on briefly if the battery goes below 95%, top it off to 98% and then switch off. This happens repeatedly from about 3pm till sundown and I don't recall shutdowns concentrating in this time frame. Shutdowns are seen at night, at 8am, at 2pm, 6pm and 8pm,approximately.
This happens at random times during the day, when the battery should be charging. So while I understand overloads will shut down the system, I doubt that's the source of the problem. Also there are no other high loads that run automatically to jack up the load at odd moments. No hot water heater, no electric stove, no A/C, etc. I do have a table saw with a 3hp motor but it hasn't ever been used since the Tesla was install end of January, 2018. We do have waterpumps that will pull 5a at 220, but these have never been on (we can hear them) during one of these losses of power.

Now I hasten to add that this explanation doesn't suffice for low-load or nighttime issues. It's possible there's more than one thing going on though. I do wonder if there is some high load that you have that might switch on automatically that would overload the Powerwall. No, there is nothing else on our house wiring. This is key...if it were



The gateway doesn't have much brains, so it's the battery inverter that's shutting down. (If you only had problems that correlated with connecting or disconnecting from the grid, that might point to the gateway. Your problems point elsewhere.) OK, this sounds possible. I had assumed the gateway made the decisions but you say triggering off the solar could cause the inverter to issue the shutdown command. But that collides with the fact that this happens at night or day, when there is no solar output, the one and only source of power is the battery. Connecting to the grid had never cause this problem, nor have we seen it during the limited times we use the grid. For example, it was on for 3 hours yesterday after a few dryer runs and little late sun. We turned the grid on when the battery showed 50% at sundown, left if on for just under 3 hours. Loads were ~0.7kw. After 3 hours, the battery was at 88%, we shut the grid off and we stayed up till about 11pm watching tv, then shut every light and tv down, and went to bed without incident. It ran perfectly during the night. HOW DO WE KNOW THIS IS HAPPENING, AKSED TESLA ? 2 ways....we see it visibly as the lights and other appliances or tv's go dark, and the UPS log file generally show A/C power failure at the same time. I think that's enough, even though Tesla claims not to see all this from their end.; I told them they rely on some sort of vpn over AT&T wireless, and AT&T has been very erratic here since the storms 7 month ago. We had them for cell/internet and cancelled our service for this various reason. What I did say to the Telsa guy was "if you think I'm making this up just to give you problems, don't go there. DON'T GO THERE, repeated in my best NY voice. This is not our imagination.



I'm mostly inclined to agree based on the information you've shared.

Thanks again for you very thoughtful input. The installer crew is coming this week to do some testing under the direction of TESLA and my meter is finely calibrated. What these dimwits don't do is to listen carefully to the symptoms and try to find a scenario that fits all of them. I've heard many pie-in-the-sky theories from them (like unexpected loads) that don't hold water. I don't mean to blow my horn hear but I am a graduate engineer and have been dealing with, repairing and building electronic equipment since I could hold a soldering iron, including meters, 'scopes, so I'm conversant in watts, amps, volts, loads and the like. I know BS when I smell it. They will get to the bottom of this at some point, the question is are they going to heed some of what I tell them as the 24x7 observer of this system, or are they going to take the long road and test every piece, whether it controls the system or not. I need good troubleshooters, and I'm not sure these are the guys. The good side is I still owe the installers serious money and they're not getting it until this is fixed. Period. Non-negotiable. And since this is still going on after 3 months, I made use plan B, and put a time limit on this and just tell them if they can't fix it in 30 days, then they can remove their stuff, give us back our money (not in that order!) and we will go elsewhere. I have spent way too much time on this and I don't remember seeing anything in the sales contract where I volunteered to be their beta-tester or trouble shooter.

More to follow after the tech guys have a look. If they can't find anything, then I may go to plan B. Thanks again for your time and analysis. You made some good points and I will quiz them on the battery inverter vs. the gateway issue.

 

[Sierrasparky]

I was wondering and please don't fault me.
Have you left the grid tie breaker closed to see if the problem goes away or is diminished?
I know you don't want to send power back to the grid. If it stops the shutdown problem then it might lead to the solution you desire.

 

[Sierrasparky]

What is your set up

KW solar panels
Inverter size
How many power wall- we assume only 1

I assume this is a electric clothes dryer? what is the actual wattage?
Many electric dryers are rated well over 5kw I just looked at some GE specs and they show 5.6k.
Some dryers if you leave the clothes in them they will occasionally cycle to keep the clothes from wrinkling.
Thanks

 

[FionaZuppa]

Tesla consumer stuff is mostly crap and hype, and as most dont know, Tesla is mostly funded by US govt, aka, taxpayers!
the days of lithium powered cars and trucks will soon be gone, just go look at what Toyota is doing. Tesla was on a high short wave, the thinkers are on that not so high wave that goes for a very long time. i find it so funny that Musk puts future in lithium when lithium itself is very very limited and hard to dispose of. Musk has pockets full of purple coolaid flasks, ready for you at a whims notice.

 

[jaggedben]

... The good side is I still owe the installers serious money and they're not getting it until this is fixed. Period. Non-negotiable. And since this is still going on after 3 months, I made use plan B, and put a time limit on this and just tell them if they can't fix it in 30 days, then they can remove their stuff, give us back our money (not in that order!) and we will go elsewhere. I have spent way too much time on this and I don't remember seeing anything in the sales contract where I volunteered to be their beta-tester or trouble shooter. ...

I don't think that's particularly fair to the installer. Their responsibility is to ensure they didn't make errors in the install (which might include improper clearances for thermal dissipation a la ramsy's question above, but I think that's pure speculation at this point). If the system's not behaving as it should then that's Tesla's problem. Also, residential micro-grids are pretty cutting edge, and as you have stated it works 99% of the time. You are not going to find an alternative that can do the job for anything close to the same price.

I do think that running an electric dryer on a single Powerwall unit is not the greatest system design. It's very borderline on spec. Even if the dryer nameplate is under 5kW, system behavior could be pretty susceptible to a little voltage drop due to a poor termination somewhere on the circuit. It's important to understand that UL listed inverters typically have a hard stop on their maximum output current. A second Powerwall unit would fix that possibility, but of course I'm sure you don't want to be told you have to pay for that.

I think it's quite possible that if Tesla were simply to replace the Powerwall unit (or some part of it), all would be well. But in light of what I said in my last paragraph, I can understand why they would be hesitant to do so without really eliminating the load as a cause of the problem. I also wouldn't be surprised if replacing the unit fixed the nightime and low-load problems but still left you susceptible to the occasional shutdown due to a high-load control issue like I described in my last post.

Tesla consumer stuff is mostly crap and hype, ...

Let's not even go there. I'm no big fan of the company, but I have to admit they have the best design for residential scale ESS and micro-grid. It has a couple shortcomings but those are outweighed by the shortcomings of the closest competitors. I'd debate the taxpayer's money question with you if it had anything to do with solving the OP's problem, but it doesn't.

 

[caribconsult]

I don't think that's particularly fair to the installer. Their responsibility is to ensure they didn't make errors in the install (which might include improper clearances for thermal dissipation a la ramsy's question above, but I think that's pure speculation at this point). All pieces of the system are mounted in a cool dry spot with adequate space to ventilate. If the system's not behaving as it should then that's Tesla's problem. Also, residential micro-grids are pretty cutting edge, and as you have stated it works 99% of the time. You are not going to find an alternative that can do the job for anything close to the same price. You may be right, and I'm not happy holding up the installers money, but what other leverage do I have to get this fixed? The supervisor of Tesla cust supt agrees this should not be a problem, that my usage of the Tesla is perfectly within specs, and they have instructed the installers to come out and run some tests.

I do think that running an electric dryer on a single Powerwall unit is not the greatest system design. No it's not but our option is to turn on the grid or fire up the generator, and how will this help the midnight burps, or random burps? Maybe I'm not explaining this well so let me try again: we've seen this shutdown/reset action at random times, and random loads, and night time as well as daytime, and it seems to have no relationship to the level of charge of the battery. It's very borderline on spec. Even if the dryer nameplate is under 5kW, system behavior could be pretty susceptible to a little voltage drop due to a poor termination somewhere on the circuit That's possible. Perhaps a bad ground? It's important to understand that UL listed inverters typically have a hard stop on their maximum output current. A second Powerwall unit would fix that possibility, but of course I'm sure you don't want to be told you have to pay for that. We've considered a 2nd PW but until this one works right, no way. We've run the dryer on the PW many times with no interruptions. Way more times with no problem than with shutdowns. I don't think the dryer load varies much from one wash to another, so if it were overloading the system, wouldn't you think we'd see this more often when running the dryer? the 'burps,' as I call them, happen way more frequently when there is little load, so I don't see how the problem can be the load, when 99% of the time the dryer runs and the battery absorbs it. If this is done early enough in the day, the panels will fully recharge the battery. If no sun, we switch on the grid for 2-3 hours and that's that. Tesla says this is OK.

I think it's quite possible that if Tesla were simply to replace the Powerwall unit (or some part of it), all would be well You could be exactly right about this. But in light of what I said in my last paragraph, I can understand why they would be hesitant to do so without really eliminating the load as a cause of the problem. I also wouldn't be surprised if replacing the unit fixed the nightime and low-load problems but still left you susceptible to the occasional shutdown due to a high-load control issue like I described in my last post As I've said, I don't believe we are having a high load shutdown. I would accept that but that's not what we have. I know how to use test gear and I've carefully watched the app during dryer runs and the load floats around 5.0-5.2Kw and usually completes with out issue. Sometimes my wife might run the dryer 3-4 times in one afternoon and there are no shutdowns. When they installed the system, they did a current check with the dryer running and it was pulling about 18.7 amps on each phase, which works out to 4.4Kw for 240vAC. Even with two refrigerators running it does not go over 5.2kw and I've seen the system run many times with that load and not burp. I think the problem lies elsewhere, but they are going to give it a thorough check in a few days.

Anyhow, thank you for the input - any of your ideas could be the solution, and I plan on getting to the bottom of this. We are not content with a system that should work 100% according to Tesla, and doesn't. I think you'd feel the same way. I will post any new developments, and thanks again for your thoughts. You make me think about this and that's good.

 

[bordrshane]

Non export

Non export

Don’t know what type inverter you have, but several manufactures have optional non export equipment. Enphase Envoy S-meter, Solaredge consumption meter, SunPower consumption meter etc. We install Tesla non export systems very often with no trouble. Then you can leave your main breaker on.

Do you have central AC? Any motors in you home with a LRA above 30 amps? Powerwall is sensitive to LRA above 30a for 1 Powerwall.

You said it has happened at night, but you should still check the min and max frequency settings of the inverter. As someone else has mentioned, the Powerwall will raise Frequency (droop control) to throttle down pv inverters.

We have dozens of Powerwall systems and they all work great.

 

[caribconsult]

Don’t know what type inverter you have, but several manufactures have optional non export equipment. I don't know either. I think the panels have a little inverter for each one but I'm not sure. Enphase Envoy S-meter, Solaredge consumption meter, SunPower consumption meter etc. We install Tesla non export systems very often with no trouble. Then you can leave your main breaker on. We don't have nor do we want a 'sell-back' net metering system.

Do you have central AC? NO Any motors in you home with a LRA above 30 amps? NO Powerwall is sensitive to LRA above 30a for 1 Powerwall.

You said it has happened at night, but you should still check the min and max frequency settings of the inverter Tesla is sending out technicians this week to check the system. I don't have the requisite meters or cables to do this and I'm very reluctant to mess with the inverter settiings. That's the installer's job. As someone else has mentioned, the Powerwall will raise Frequency (droop control) to throttle down pv inverters.

We have dozens of Powerwall systems and they all work great.

Tbanks very much for your input. Where are you located and can you give me a phone number? We are in Puerto Rico

 

[caribconsult]

Thanks to all who've chimed in here with ideas. UPDATE: two days ago we ran the dryer several times from around 11am - 1pm, the battery recharged itself fully by 3pm and there were no shutdowns. The app showed house loads at 4.5-5.2Kw, varying as the dryer cycled. We have one of those that cycles on and off to avoid wrinkling, as someone mentioned above, so the the 4500w nameplate load is not a constant. Nevertheless, the system ran without a hitch, as is usually the case. The 'burps' can occur at any time of the day or night, and since we only use the grid sparingly, it's hard to tell if leaving it connected would change anything, but we CAN'T leave it connected because we don't have a sell-back net metering system, it produces an error message at the meter if it is trying to back feed when the battery is charged, and I don't need the power company here giving me a hard time. We just got our grid power bill for the current month of $5.54. I like it. The installers are coming tomorrow and they said I might need a software update from Tesla. We'll know more on Friday.

Thanks again to everyone and keep it up...we'll get to the bottom of this...it's only electronics.

 

[caribconsult]

Don’t know what type inverter you have, ENPHASE, According to the installer, built in to the battery, I think. but several manufactures have optional non export equipment. Enphase Envoy S-meter, Solaredge consumption meter, SunPower consumption meter etc. We install Tesla non export systems very often with no trouble. Then you can leave your main breaker on. NO, WE DON'T WANT TO LEAVE THE GRID CONTINUOUSLY CONNECTED BECAUSE OF THE 'ERROR' ISSUE NOTED PREVIOUSLY. I DON'T NEED THE POWER COMPANY HERE BITCHING THAT I'M STEALING THEIR POWER.

Do you have central AC? NO Any motors in you home with a LRA above 30 amps? NO Powerwall is sensitive to LRA above 30a for 1 Powerwall.

You said it has happened at night, but you should still check the min and max frequency settings of the inverter. HOW EXACTLY DO YOU DO THAT? I HAVE NO SPECIAL TEST GEAR FOR THE SYSTEM, JUST A MULTIMETER AND IT DOESN'T MEASURE FREQUENCIES As someone else has mentioned, the Powerwall will raise Frequency (droop control) to throttle down pv inverters.

We have dozens of Powerwall systems and they all work great.

GREAT. MAYBE YOU HAVE SOME INSIGHT HERE. SO CONSIDERING ALL FACTORS (RANDOM SHUTDOWNS, LOAD INDEPENDENT, NOT CONNECTED TO GRID) WHAT COULD CAUSE THE SYSTEM TO JUST SHUTDOWN AND THEN RESTART ITSELF? WHERE WOULD YOU LOOK FOR THE PROBLEM, CONSIDERING ALL THE FACTORS I MENTIONED? IT HANDS OFF THE POWER CORRECTLY ACCORDING TO THE APP, AND I ALSO HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO THE POWERALL UI ON MY CELLPHONE. THE UI IS MORE REALTIME THAN THE APP, BUT THEY BOTH SHOW PRETTY MUCH THE SAME ACTION OF TRANSFERRING POWER FROM THE BATTERY TO THE HOUSE, OR FROM THE PANELS TO THE HOUSE AND/OR BATTERY, THE THE GRID TO BOTH THE HOUSE AND BATTERY WHEN IT IS SWITCHED ON....I CAN'T FIND IT STUMBLING OVER ANY OF THIS. I ALSO NOTE THAT THE APP BACKUP HISTORY HAS A LONG LIST OF DATES AND TIMES, MANY OF WHICH CORRESPOND TO THE SHUTDOWN DATES IN THE UPS LOG FILE. NOT SURE WHAT THAT MEANS. MY DEALER SENT HIS INSTALLERS (INCLUDING A LICENSED ELECTRICIAN) TO THE HOUSE FRIDAY AND THEY FOUND NOTHING. NO ERRORS, NO WIRING MISTAKES, NO NOTHING. THEY ARE TOTALLY IN THE DARK AND I THINK TESLA SUPPORT BELIEVES I'M MAKING THIS UP. I DON'T DO STUFF LIKE THAT. ANY IDEAS? THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT HERE.

BY THE WAY, I WOULD LIKE VERY MUCH IF WE COULD SPEAK ON THE PHONE AND ADDRESS ALL THESE ISSUES. YOU SOUND LIKE THE MOST INFORMED PERSON ON THIS THREAD. CAN YOU PLEASE PROVIDE ME A PHONE NUMBER AND BEST TIME TO CALL? I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE THAT.

 

[caribconsult]

Thanks again for you very thoughtful input. The installer crew came last week to do some testing....they found nothing extraordinary, no wiring errors, we started and restarted the system, connected and disconnected the grid and nothing showed up. All readings from the app, and the PW UI interface, which I can connect to, reported normal activity. Nothing was replaced or changed. It remains to be seen if the problem continues because it is random....no pattern seen regarding load/no load, sun/no sun, grid/no grid/ battery %, etc. You could wait here for two weeks and nothing would happen and then there might be a flurry the next day. What part of this system could cause that? Thanks for your assistance here...much appreciated.

 

[jaggedben]

Could just be a defective unit.

 

[caribconsult]

Tesla Powerwall issues

Tesla Powerwall issues

Certainly could be. The first battery they delivered was leaking coolant. They took it back and brought the one I have now. What's worse, Tesla instructed my installers to come here, contact Tesla and run certain tests while they were on the phone with Tesla. Apparently the installers weren't told this. It's not unusual here in PR...people in many businesses here are very lax about passing on information. They came, tested something and didn't call Tesla. So Tesla will instruct them to come again and do it again. The rep at Tesla said they need this info before they can authorize anything further.

I suspect a defect somewhere, since according to Tesla, this is not a widespread issue, at least that was their last take....prior to that they said others are having this problem, so I don't know what to believe from Tesla. A helpful rep at Tesla said she will push this along and we'll hope for the best. Since I owe the installers a pile of bucks, this will get fixed, either by them, or I will fly an engineer here from Tesla, on their dime.

Wish me luck! And thanks for your input. I will def post any positive results.

 

[gadfly56]

Certainly could be. The first battery they delivered was leaking coolant. They took it back and brought the one I have now. What's worse, Tesla instructed my installers to come here, contact Tesla and run certain tests while they were on the phone with Tesla. Apparently the installers weren't told this. It's not unusual here in PR...people in many businesses here are very lax about passing on information. They came, tested something and didn't call Tesla. So Tesla will instruct them to come again and do it again. The rep at Tesla said they need this info before they can authorize anything further.

I suspect a defect somewhere, since according to Tesla, this is not a widespread issue, at least that was their last take....prior to that they said others are having this problem, so I don't know what to believe from Tesla. A helpful rep at Tesla said she will push this along and we'll hope for the best. Since I owe the installers a pile of bucks, this will get fixed, either by them, or I will fly an engineer here from Tesla, on their dime.

Wish me luck! And thanks for your input. I will def post any positive results.

On the truthfulness of vendors...

Many years ago, the owner of my last company used to visit the Kidde plant in Belleville, NJ on a regular basis. Well, they were having issues with one of their model fire extinguishers, but the company line was "Everything is awesome!" Being well-known at that location, Roland would mosey on into the plant via the back way, through shipping. He sees a bunch of fire extinguishers jumbled up and shrink-wrapped on a pallet. So he asks the dock guy what's up, and he tells Roland that's a bunch of defective units they had to take back and need to dispose of. And it wasn't the only pallet.

When they change their tune, that's when you know the problem has grown from "annoying bump" to "this is going to crush our quarter".

 

[caribconsult]

Latest developments

Latest developments

Apparently no one at the installer's company told the electrician who came out here that he needed to get on the phone with Tesla at the same time to run some specific tests under their guidance, or something along those lines. So naturally, there was no call to Tesla, no specific testing, all he did was review the wiring, which is 100% correct, test the grid out - voltage has creeped back up a bit ~250-, but no shutdowns, grid or no grid, lately. I don't think the problem has cured itself. The electrician will come again (3rd time) next week at a time of day when he can reach the right party at Tesla. We have a 3 hour time difference. I'm starting to pickup bits and pieces about some frequency that apparently is a signal to shut down the panels once the battery is charged, and basically let the house run on the battery until it sinks to around 95%, then the panels will light up if there's any sun and 'top off' the battery. This cycle repeats itself several times from about 1pm until sundown, at which point there's no more sun. So where is this frequency signal generated? The gateway or the battery? And where's the other 'receiving' end? The PV entry to the gateway? And if this is how it signals to the panels, how can that result in a battery shutdown if the battery has charge? I've watched both the app, and the PW UI on my cell, which is close to real time, but tells you way less than the app. I've seen these 'handoffs' from the panels to the house, or to the battery and from the battery to the house and the flow to and from the grid, if connected, and it does this repeatedly and without any hiccups. Something else is triggering the complete shutdown/pilot light off at the battery. Cross ya fingahs!