Expected PowerShare (unexpectedly) tested during power outage -- results

[siedam]

Well It finally happened. Grid power went out about 22:08:04 on 8/15 , the PowerShare activated backup power to the house at 22:10:16 (within 2min and 12 seconds). CT was plugged to the charger and at about 80% charged.

While on backup power, the house used about 0.7kW during the outage. It was middle of the night , so very low power was needed.

Power came back on at 0:32:23 on 8/15. It took 3V gateway about 5 minutes of wait time to recognize stable power from the grid , at which point it shut off the backup at 0:37:22 and again took about 2 min to reconnect back to the grid power at 0:39:40 (specifically - 2 minutes and 18 seconds).

Great work Tesla team.

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[getsometom]

Looks like it’s working as it should. Mine is installed too but luckily have not needed to use it yet.

 

[Walt!]

Question, are you dark for the 2ish minutes while it switches back to line power?

 

[REM]

Question, are you dark for the 2ish minutes while it switches back to line power?

Yes, all of Tesla's residential stuff is failover, and not uninterrupted. So there will be a short period while it safely switched between sources.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Well It finally happened. Grid power went out about 22:08:04 on 8/15 , the PowerShare activated backup power to the house at 22:10:16 (within 2min and 12 seconds). CT was plugged to the charger and at about 80% charged.

While on backup power, the house used about 0.7kW during the outage. It was middle of the night , so very low power was needed.

Power came back on at 0:32:23 on 8/15. It took 3V gateway about 5 minutes of wait time to recognize stable power from the grid , at which point it shut off the backup at 0:37:22 and again took about 2 min to reconnect back to the grid power at 0:39:40 (specifically - 2 minutes and 18 seconds).

Great work Tesla team.

Does it really take that long to provide power or is that configurable like a generator?

 

[Sandman1962]

No, all of Tesla's residential stuff is failover, and not uninterrupted. So there will be a short period while it safely switched between sources.

I’m not sure this is exactly relevant to this thought, so forgive me if it isn’t. I have been told by Tesla that my PowerShare should work without any additional equipment - I have solar and Powerwalls. In my situation, the Powerwalls do provide electricity uninterrupted (lights don’t flicker, routers don’t reboot) in event of the grid going down. I don’t even know that anything is amiss until I get a notification from Tesla advising that the powerwalls are providing power. (I didn’t even notice when I drove into my darkened neighborhood at night… my house was lit up with landscaping lighting!) If my CT were connected via my HPWC, I would think it would just act as a larger Powerwall and provide uninterrupted power.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

I’m not sure this is exactly relevant to this thought, so forgive me if it isn’t. I have been told by Tesla that my PowerShare should work without any additional equipment - I have solar and Powerwalls. In my situation, the Powerwalls do provide electricity uninterrupted (lights don’t flicker, routers don’t reboot) in event of the grid going down. I don’t even know that anything is amiss until I get a notification from Tesla advising that the powerwalls are providing power. (I didn’t even notice when I drove into my darkened neighborhood at night… my house was lit up with landscaping lighting!) If my CT were connected via my HPWC, I would think it would just act as a larger Powerwall and provide uninterrupted power.

I will have solar, Tesla Gateway, and a backup generator downstream of the Tesla Gateway. So I could see there being a lag but that is a pretty big lag, especially if there is medical equipment involved. I would need a separate UPS for that until the CT kicks in.

 

[FitNess]

PowerShare (without Powerwall) a couple minutes without power.

PowerShare with just one (more is ok too) Powerwall equals nearly instant backup.

In the end both keep your food from spoiling and your water hot (if you want).

 

[REM]

I’m not sure this is exactly relevant to this thought, so forgive me if it isn’t. I have been told by Tesla that my PowerShare should work without any additional equipment - I have solar and Powerwalls. In my situation, the Powerwalls do provide electricity uninterrupted (lights don’t flicker, routers don’t reboot) in event of the grid going down. I don’t even know that anything is amiss until I get a notification from Tesla advising that the powerwalls are providing power. (I didn’t even notice when I drove into my darkened neighborhood at night… my house was lit up with landscaping lighting!) If my CT were connected via my HPWC, I would think it would just act as a larger Powerwall and provide uninterrupted power.

Sorry, I meant to say "yes" to the question. The house would likely be in the dark of a period of time until it switches sources.

During the day, your system is running directly off of solar and not the grid, so there is nothing lost when the grid goes down for you. At night are you configured to run completely from batteries? If so, it sounds like the grid is a backup for you instead of the other way around.

 

[FitNess]

You'll find different behaviors from the Powerwall when the grid is disconnected:

When the Powerwall is full or nearly fully charged (~96%+):

• If the solar production is greater than the house consumption (ie your system was feeding the grid) the house will disconnect until the PV system turns off which will take 1 to 2 seconds. This is to protect the batteries - with nowhere for the excess solar production to go the system must "hard disconnect".
• If the solar production is less than or equal to the house consumption (ie you were pulling from the grid) the transfer will be very fast, less than 500ms.

When the Powerwall is not fully charged (<96%):

• If the solar production minus your home's consumption is greater than the Powerwall's maximum (surge) inverter rating (7kw for each PW2) the house will disconnect until the PV system turns off which will take 1 to 2 seconds. This is to protect the inverters - they cannot accept more than 7kw each for 10s (as per the spec sheet) and will shut down momentarily to protect themselves.
• If the your home's consumption minus solar production is greater than the Powerwall's maximum (surge) inverter rating (7kw for each PW2) the house will disconnect until the PV system turns off which will take 1 to 2 seconds. This is to protect the inverters - they cannot provide more than 7kw each for 10s (as per the spec sheet) and will shut down momentarily to protect themselves.
• If the solar production minus your home's consumption is less than the Powerwall's maximum inverter rating the transfer will be very fast, less than 500ms

 

[SeattleTom]

You'll find different behaviors from the Powerwall when the grid is disconnected:

When the Powerwall is full or nearly fully charged (~96%+):

• If the solar production is greater than the house consumption (ie your system was feeding the grid) the house will disconnect until the PV system turns off which will take 1 to 2 seconds. This is to protect the batteries - with nowhere for the excess solar production to go the system must "hard disconnect".
• If the solar production is less than or equal to the house consumption (ie you were pulling from the grid) the transfer will be very fast, less than 500ms.

When the Powerwall is not fully charged (<96%):

• If the solar production minus your home's consumption is greater than the Powerwall's maximum (surge) inverter rating (7kw for each PW2) the house will disconnect until the PV system turns off which will take 1 to 2 seconds. This is to protect the inverters - they cannot accept more than 7kw each for 10s (as per the spec sheet) and will shut down momentarily to protect themselves.
• If the your home's consumption minus solar production is greater than the Powerwall's maximum (surge) inverter rating (7kw for each PW2) the house will disconnect until the PV system turns off which will take 1 to 2 seconds. This is to protect the inverters - they cannot provide more than 7kw each for 10s (as per the spec sheet) and will shut down momentarily to protect themselves.
• If the solar production minus your home's consumption is less than the Powerwall's maximum inverter rating the transfer will be very fast, less than 500ms

Wow, thank you for that great explanation.

Powerwall is usually near instantaneous but last week we had a brief outage (rare in summer for us) and I wondered why the lights went off and I lost the router for two seconds. Now I know - it was the middle of the day so the solar panels were going full tilt and needed to shut down first.

Much appreciated!

 

[cyberHoward]

My Powershare with V3 Gateway took 2 mins to kick in, but that is after I plugged in the truck in which it wasn't when the power went out. The switch-over back to grid only caused 2-5 seconds of down time.

 

[jimbobb23]

Yes, all of Tesla's residential stuff is failover, and not uninterrupted. So there will be a short period while it safely switched between sources.

I thought power wall was uninterrupted....no gaps? Thats interesting if not the case because restarting everything is a big draw.

 

[mongo]

I thought power wall was uninterrupted....no gaps? Thats interesting if not the case because restarting everything is a big draw.

There is a mechanical disconnect switch in the Gateway that has to transition before Powerwall can restart generation. It's not an online UPS setup which has a grid->charger->battery->inverter->house power flow and continuous operation.

Depending on grid behavior before switch over, solar, battery state, house loading, voltage phasing, etc... the transition may be imperceptible or induce blinking clocks.

 

[REM]

I thought power wall was uninterrupted....no gaps? Thats interesting if not the case because restarting everything is a big draw.

Typically you only power critical circuits when backup systems are engaged.

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