PowerShare active (CT + Gateway + Universal Charger) - do I add solar only or solar plus powerwall?

[Djinndjinn]

So confused after reading all the threads. For better or for worse, we bought the cyber truck, and the gateway, and the universal charger. So that’s our native set up currently, and when the power goes out, and the cyber truck is plugged in, it flips to cyber truck backing up the entire house for close to three days. That’s all great. But if we’re out driving the cyber truck on a trip, and the power goes out, then we have no home back up system.

So now, with the 30% tax credit going away, and electricity prices in our area going up by over 40%, we’re considering whether to add to the system. Can someone please check to see if I’m thinking about this correctly?

If we just add solar panels, no power wall, to our system above, am I correct that…
I don’t need any additional hardware, they just add the solar panels
The solar panels will power our home (including EV charging), and if there’s any excess, we can sell it back to our electrical utility (PPL)
if the solar panels are not sufficient to power our Home, PPL (our utility) power will supplement what’s needed.
The limitation is if the power goes out, the solar panels don’t work anymore, so if the power goes out and we are on a trip with the cybertruck, there is no Home back up.
The main advantage of this system is simply adding free electricity as the sun provides, reducing the cost of our monthly electrical bill.

If we add solar panels AND a power wall to our system above, am I correct that…
The gateway is no longer needed, so we just wasted the expensive of that install and hardware cost
This system will currently not function correctly, until Tesla issues some type of software update that will allow solar, power wall, and Powershare to work together
Once the software update comes, then the system should supply power to the house through the solar panels, the solar panels will also charge the power wall, and in the event of a power outage, the house would be backed up by the solar panels, the power wall, and the cyber truck.

is there any way to just add solar panels, and have them actually function during a power outage along with the cyber truck Powershare system? Or is a battery back up required for this to happen?

I guess my main concern is how much money I wasted, and also what the advantage would be of adding the power wall to the solar, as opposed to just getting solar alone. if anybody can explain the above or clarify the above, I would be eternally grateful!

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[ABILISK]

Following this thread to learn more about all this. I use the mobile charger only currently

 

[koolio]

Quick background: I have Tesla Solar, Powerwall 3, and Cybertruck. No Powershare as I’m waiting for the Powerwall software update to enable PowerShare (should be this quarter, Q3).

I’m not an expert but here’s what I believe to be the answer to some of your questions:
1. Solar panels, only: if you do this and the grid has an outage, your panels will still generate electricity but only enough to meet the demands of your home. It won’t feed back any excess to the grid.
2. Solar + Powerwall: I’m pretty sure you’d still be able to use your PowerShare gateway. If you had it installed before Tesla Energy releases the PW software update that enables PowerShare, I believe you’d still have PowerShare functioning (whereas all of us PW owners are waiting for the update).

If I were you, and given the questions / functional requirements you have, I’d add Powerwall to your Solar purchase.

 

[JimBuck333]

We have a Cybertruck, an old solar system, the PowerShare Gateway, and the Universal Charger (the latter two that came with the Foundation package). The solar supposedly operates seamlessly with the PowerShare if and when there is a utility power outage.
I can give slight correction to some of the things above, at least as explained to me, since we haven't had any meaningful outages yet to confirm that it works the way it's "supposed to".
For one thing, the solar won't just provide electricity to, say, reduce costs; it will keep working during an outage when the CT is connected, potentially extending the time that a lengthy outage can be covered.
Secondly, your solar system will in all likelihood not be sized large enough so that you never need grid power. Such as the worst months in winter. (Unless it is WAY oversized for the average time of year. So it is probably not "if", but "when" you draw from the grid.
Thirdly, some state still have what they call Net Metering, and some don't anymore, and if not, the electricity you send to the grid is considered by the utility to be much less valuable than the power you take from the grid. You don't just get a one-for-one credit against the kilowatts that you purchase. So if your state doesn't have net metering, that makes a PowerWall more valuable, because you can store your own solar power and use it, say, at night, rather than grid power. A lot of people buy PowerWalls for that reason even more so than for the emergency backup that it provides.
Fourthly, the amount of energy available in the Cybertruck is like nine times what is available in a PowerWall. So buying PowerWalls as backup only is not economically efficient at all, especially if you already have a CT. If there are some critical things that you want to back up while away, such as a furnace or refrigerator, I would consider a nice-sized power station with UPS capability on those appliances. Rather than PowerWalls. (Unless you can't get Net Metering, then you could consider PowerWalls for storing your own energy for times without sufficient solar. And have easy backup when traveling with the CT without needing a power station.)
A final consideration is that the CT is capable of 11.6 kilowatts of power, which is pretty good, but having several PowerWalls can provide even more power at one time, I believe, if, say, you have multiple 220 volt very-high-wattage appliances.

 

[Tringa2]

We have a Cybertruck, an old solar system, the PowerShare Gateway, and the Universal Charger (the latter two that came with the Foundation package). The solar supposedly operates seamlessly with the PowerShare if and when there is a utility power outage.
I can give slight correction to some of the things above, at least as explained to me, since we haven't had any meaningful outages yet to confirm that it works the way it's "supposed to".

Ditto, except that we've had two brief power outages - - first one about a week after PowerShare was installed and active -- and the truck automatically took over both times, ran what was connected just fine, and then went back to charge mode after the grid came back.

A *significant* difference, not often made clear, is that it takes more than 30 seconds for the switchover to occur. This rules out the truck's ability to provide a UPS capability for electronic devices like switches, routers, and computers running on AC. If you don't care about these devices ungracefully shutting down and later rebooting, this isn't a problem. I've switched over to powering all our sensitive electronic devices directly from a 'house' battery system which is kept fully charged by a collection of miscellaneous solar panels.

All of this works fine, but for me the 'Holy Grail' would be for Tesla to add an MPPT controller in every vehicle and make every charge port connection truly bi-directional by allowing *any* solar panels to push whatever electrons they produce directly into the car(s), and with the PowerShare/Gateway system to have any excess electrons go into the house.

 

[mongo]

The gateway is no longer needed, so we just wasted the expensive of that install and hardware cost

Powerwall also uses a Gateway, but your Powershare version (3V) would need to be replaced with the Powerwall version (3). Depending where yous us installed, it might just be remove & replace (some reuse of previous installation cost).

is there any way to just add solar panels, and have them actually function during a power outage along with the cyber truck Powershare system? Or is a battery back up required for this to happen?

With the truck, yes.
Without the truck, no. The Gateway will not operate without the truck, so no grid isolation. There are a few standalone solar islanding systems, but functionality is limited and wouldn't be compatible with Powershare.

Other option is 3rd party battery + charger/inverter that is downstream of Powershare, but Powerwall might be the better route.

 

[Djinndjinn]

Powerwall also uses a Gateway, but your Powershare version (3V) would need to be replaced with the Powerwall version (3). Depending where yous us installed, it might just be remove & replace (some reuse of previous installation cost).



With the truck, yes.
Without the truck, no. The Gateway will not operate without the truck, so no grid isolation. There are a few standalone solar islanding systems, but functionality is limited and wouldn't be compatible with Powershare.

Other option is 3rd party battery + charger/inverter that is downstream of Powershare, but Powerwall might be the better route.

thanks so much. so is this correct?

solar + CT + powershare gateway (no powerwall):
no power outage: solar panels generate electricity regardless of whether CT is plugged in
power outage: battery backup from CT only

solar + CT + power wall + powerwall gateway:
(note: this is awaiting some type of software update from Tesla)
no power outage: solar panels generate electricity and charge powerwall
power outage: home powered by solar panels + backup battery + CT battery

Did I get that right Mongo?

 

[mongo]

thanks so much. so is this correct?

solar + CT + powershare gateway (no powerwall):
no power outage: solar panels generate electricity regardless of whether CT is plugged in
power outage: battery backup from CT only

solar + CT + power wall + powerwall gateway:
(note: this is awaiting some type of software update from Tesla)
no power outage: solar panels generate electricity and charge powerwall
power outage: home powered by solar panels + backup battery + CT battery

Did I get that right Mongo?

Solar + Powershare + truck => power from solar and truck during outage. Requires solar on backed up side of Gateway and UL 1741 compliance, 11.5 kW solar maximum.
https://energylibrary.tesla.com/doc...UID-04DE7F20-2290-4489-A9A1-53F639BB85CB.html

Powerwall section is correct .

 

[Djinndjinn]

Solar + Powershare + truck => power from solar and truck during outage. Requires solar on backed up side of Gateway and UL 1741 compliance, 11.5 kW solar maximum.
https://energylibrary.tesla.com/doc...UID-04DE7F20-2290-4489-A9A1-53F639BB85CB.html

Powerwall section is correct .

Mongo, thanks. so sorry to be a pain. for solar + CT + powershare, if a power outage and NO CT plugged in, I assume that solar does NOT work, correct? So the limitation of this setup is ... power outage and no CT = no solar. Is that right?

 

[mongo]

Mongo, thanks. so sorry to be a pain. for solar + CT + powershare, if a power outage and NO CT plugged in, I assume that solar does NOT work, correct? So the limitation of this setup is ... power outage and no CT = no solar. Is that right?

Not a pain!
Right, without the truck solar would only work if it were its own stand alone system. In which case, it wouldn't work with Powershare and that type of setup is really brittle (capacity varying with brightness). Unless it had batteries, in which case going with Powerwall is easier.

 

[Model3Guy]

So confused after reading all the threads. For better or for worse, we bought the cyber truck, and the gateway, and the universal charger. So that’s our native set up currently, and when the power goes out, and the cyber truck is plugged in, it flips to cyber truck backing up the entire house for close to three days. That’s all great. But if we’re out driving the cyber truck on a trip, and the power goes out, then we have no home back up system.

So now, with the 30% tax credit going away, and electricity prices in our area going up by over 40%, we’re considering whether to add to the system. Can someone please check to see if I’m thinking about this correctly?

If we just add solar panels, no power wall, to our system above, am I correct that…
I don’t need any additional hardware, they just add the solar panels
The solar panels will power our home (including EV charging), and if there’s any excess, we can sell it back to our electrical utility (PPL)
if the solar panels are not sufficient to power our Home, PPL (our utility) power will supplement what’s needed.
The limitation is if the power goes out, the solar panels don’t work anymore, so if the power goes out and we are on a trip with the cybertruck, there is no Home back up.
The main advantage of this system is simply adding free electricity as the sun provides, reducing the cost of our monthly electrical bill.

If we add solar panels AND a power wall to our system above, am I correct that…
The gateway is no longer needed, so we just wasted the expensive of that install and hardware cost
This system will currently not function correctly, until Tesla issues some type of software update that will allow solar, power wall, and Powershare to work together
Once the software update comes, then the system should supply power to the house through the solar panels, the solar panels will also charge the power wall, and in the event of a power outage, the house would be backed up by the solar panels, the power wall, and the cyber truck.

is there any way to just add solar panels, and have them actually function during a power outage along with the cyber truck Powershare system? Or is a battery back up required for this to happen?

I guess my main concern is how much money I wasted, and also what the advantage would be of adding the power wall to the solar, as opposed to just getting solar alone. if anybody can explain the above or clarify the above, I would be eternally grateful!

So confused after reading all the threads. For better or for worse, we bought the cyber truck, and the gateway, and the universal charger. So that’s our native set up currently, and when the power goes out, and the cyber truck is plugged in, it flips to cyber truck backing up the entire house for close to three days. That’s all great. But if we’re out driving the cyber truck on a trip, and the power goes out, then we have no home back up system.

So now, with the 30% tax credit going away, and electricity prices in our area going up by over 40%, we’re considering whether to add to the system. Can someone please check to see if I’m thinking about this correctly?

If we just add solar panels, no power wall, to our system above, am I correct that…
I don’t need any additional hardware, they just add the solar panels
The solar panels will power our home (including EV charging), and if there’s any excess, we can sell it back to our electrical utility (PPL)
if the solar panels are not sufficient to power our Home, PPL (our utility) power will supplement what’s needed.
The limitation is if the power goes out, the solar panels don’t work anymore, so if the power goes out and we are on a trip with the cybertruck, there is no Home back up.
The main advantage of this system is simply adding free electricity as the sun provides, reducing the cost of our monthly electrical bill.

If we add solar panels AND a power wall to our system above, am I correct that…
The gateway is no longer needed, so we just wasted the expensive of that install and hardware cost
This system will currently not function correctly, until Tesla issues some type of software update that will allow solar, power wall, and Powershare to work together
Once the software update comes, then the system should supply power to the house through the solar panels, the solar panels will also charge the power wall, and in the event of a power outage, the house would be backed up by the solar panels, the power wall, and the cyber truck.

is there any way to just add solar panels, and have them actually function during a power outage along with the cyber truck Powershare system? Or is a battery back up required for this to happen?

I guess my main concern is how much money I wasted, and also what the advantage would be of adding the power wall to the solar, as opposed to just getting solar alone. if anybody can explain the above or clarify the above, I would be eternally grateful!

I live in the same area as you. I have Solar City solar panels, the Powerwall and I charge several times a week. The only way I know that power went out is when I read it on the app (no time delay for backup power). My setup will allow me to run my whole house about 3 days in the winter. (Never figured it out for the summer but I rarely use the a/c.) PW solar charges every day and excess goes to PPL, which shows as a credit on my monthly bill. (I don't have an electric bill from May/June until Sept/Oct). I can disconnect from the grid and charge off the PW whenever I want. I can also run my whole house off the PW whenever I want. PW charges itself up to 100% in case of impending storm and possible grid failure, automatically. Whole setup was done by Solar City (panels, PW, wiring, etc.) in one day.

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