Home solar and powershare

[StainlessVoyager]

I have powershare. Wish I had Powerwalls because powershare won't run either heat pump on the house (we have 2). So, it basically runs some lights, the 220v water pump, oven, and microwave. It can get hot/cold in the house here. It'd be nice to have enough amperage to run the heatpumps but I am told the powershare can't provide that much power for compressor startup. Sigh. Next house, for sure.

Yes I think looking back it was a mistake getting PowerShare if I knew then that I would get solar with powerwalls. But Tesla was giving a credit for installation(beast) and equipment so although I had to pay out of pocket i didn’t pay that much. So it’s kinda of a wash

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[mongo]

Thanks, this makes sense. Only thing I think I am missing is charge on solar. Or at least I can’t find it in the app or car. I think it’s connected to the set up

Ah, yeah that makes sense, the truck is linked to the other house, not the Powerwalls so it doesn't get commanded by them to charge.
Might be worth switching to single house, no Powershare.

 

[StainlessVoyager]

Ah, yeah that makes sense, the truck is linked to the other house, not the Powerwalls so it doesn't get commanded by them to charge.
Might be worth switching to single house, no Powershare.

Do you know if they would only need to remove communication wire from the gateway to home charger or they would need to remove the gateway completely

 

[mongo]

Do you know if they would only need to remove communication wire from the gateway to home charger or they would need to remove the gateway completely

I'm pretty sure it only gets power from the UWC. Without the comms cable it should just sit there like any other panel.
Then it's just a matter of removing the UWC from one "site" and placing it in the other.

 

[StainlessVoyager]

Right. If we move the UWC out of the gateway it should appear in the other hours

 

[StainlessVoyager]

As I expected my tesla certified installer doesn't think the issue is that UWC is in the powershare gateway and that's why its not showing up in the new solar site. He thinks its a Tesla ui issue and if am able to restart or delete original site it will all get combined. I told him ill speak with someone at tesla. But in the meantime is there any paperwork or something you guys have seen that states that charging on solar in my set up is not available and that he needs to switch UWC to the new site.

 

[mongo]

As I expected my tesla certified installer doesn't think the issue is that UWC is in the powershare gateway and that's why its not showing up in the new solar site. He thinks its a Tesla ui issue and if am able to restart or delete original site it will all get combined. I told him ill speak with someone at tesla. But in the meantime is there any paperwork or something you guys have seen that states that charging on solar in my set up is not available and that he needs to switch UWC to the new site.

Installers are mostly correct. Charge on solar isn't available because the UWC and Powerwall aren't in the same site. As a result, when the truck connects to the UWC it isn't seen as part of the Powerwall's local grid and so their is no coordination between the two. However, the site can't be Powerwall + Powershare Gateway + UWC and things won't automatically combine.

You need to disconnect the UWC communication cable if you move it to the Powerwall site to avoid weirdness.
Best order of steps might be:
Remove UWC from Powershare site
Power down UWC and disconnect communication cable
Power up UWC and add to the Powerwall site

(But I'm not an official installer)

 

[pricedm]

I appreciate this discussion. I'm considering solar now to take advantage of last two months to order solar and receive 30% federal tax credits. Based on my local energy provider, I would also get a powerwall to take advantage of incentives. Since I have a Cybertruck, ideally I would also add Powershare hardward, so "eventually" I could use both Powerwall and Cybertruck to back up my home.

In these cases of solar + Powerwall + Powershare, the long-term deployment might be Powershare isn't compatible and I have a $1,900 paperweight to resell here...

Decisions on Powershare + Powerwall or skip Powershare...

 

[mongo]

I appreciate this discussion. I'm considering solar now to take advantage of last two months to order solar and receive 30% federal tax credits. Based on my local energy provider, I would also get a powerwall to take advantage of incentives. Since I have a Cybertruck, ideally I would also add Powershare hardward, so "eventually" I could use both Powerwall and Cybertruck to back up my home.

In these cases of solar + Powerwall + Powershare, the long-term deployment might be Powershare isn't compatible and I have a $1,900 paperweight to resell here...

Decisions on Powershare + Powerwall or skip Powershare...

If getting Powerwall then skip Powershare (meaning extra Gateway 3V). When Powershare and Powerwall work together, all you'll need is the Wall Connector on the backed up side of the Powerwall system.

 

[StainlessVoyager]

I appreciate this discussion. I'm considering solar now to take advantage of last two months to order solar and receive 30% federal tax credits. Based on my local energy provider, I would also get a powerwall to take advantage of incentives. Since I have a Cybertruck, ideally I would also add Powershare hardward, so "eventually" I could use both Powerwall and Cybertruck to back up my home.

In these cases of solar + Powerwall + Powershare, the long-term deployment might be Powershare isn't compatible and I have a $1,900 paperweight to resell here...

Decisions on Powershare + Powerwall or skip Powershare...

100% skip powershare, with two powrwall3 you will have enough energy to last you a whole night and in the morning/day solar will recharge them. If you are expecting heavy use of AC maybe get 3 powewalls.

 

[its2kito]

I won’t buy anything like Power Share from Tesla until they redesign a better, reliable home wall charging device.

 

[hemiarch]

I won’t buy anything like Power Share from Tesla until they redesign a better, reliable home wall charging device.

This one is fine, they just need it reliably stay on WiFi and have access to settings on something better than that fucking Tesla one app.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

So the powerwall has several important components of the system aside from the battery.
First of all, it has the mppt controllers the solar panels plug into so so you can harvest the DC current made by the panels(very impressive mppt’s I might add). There are 6 of them per powerwall and together they can accept up to 20kw of solar panels.
Then it has the inverter that lets you make alternating current out of it like you get from the city for your house to use. The inverters are 11kw or so per powerwall and these are additive so if you have 3 powerwalls you’d have the ability to support up to 33kw of draw. This is likely overkill for most homes. I’d say 2 should support just about anything residential you want to do.
The Cybertruck I think can provide around 10kw tops when it’s acting as a PowerShare backup battery but I’m not certain of that. So it’s a backup, but not an optimal one if your use including air conditioning and appliances is greater than 10kw. That said, it’s a much bigger battery. Roughly the size of 10 powerwalls.
The powerwall also has a collar system (I believe the terminology is Tesla backup switch) that goes in front of your panel. This detects when there is a power outage and cuts you off from the mains so you can use your powerwall and/or solar without frying any technicians working on the public utility.
When people have solar without such a system, a power outage means they cannot use the solar because of the backfeed risk.
So you’re SOL in a power outage. Even if you’re making a ton of solar, your house is in the same blackout state as the rest of your neighborhood.
The Cybertruck lacks this ability by itself and that’s why the PowerShare gateway is installed (which it sounds like you have) but that’s not necessary if you have a powerwall.
The complication is that the software for concurrently using the Cybertruck and the truly excellent powerwall 3 is not out yet. Those in the know tell me it should be very soon.
So, in my opinion, your best approach is to install solar with a powerwall 3 (or probably two) and use that system on a time based utility rate plan until that happens and then you can also use the Cybertruck as extra backup once the software is out.
In the meantime, you can still use the charge on solar feature to dump any excess energy into the truck rather than sell it to your utility for an unfavorable rate.
In practical terms this means you only need to buy enough powerwall 3’s to give you the size of inverters and solar input capacity you need for your house plus the universal wall connector running at 48 amps and you also need to make sure that said universal wall connector originates from the same panel being backed up by the powerwall.
Sorry for the long winded explanation, it’s just a lot of information and hard to tell what you have read or not read yet.

Also, just to assure you I’m not just talking out of some orifice other than my mouth, that’s exactly what I did at my house. My money is exactly where my mouth is.
I have a Cybertruck which plugs into a universal wall connector and that comes from a mains panel backed up by two powerwall 3’s. Currently waiting for software update so I can also use the Cybertruck battery in the event of a power failure that exhausts both my powerwalls.

My system was installed in August. To use solar with CT, Tesla specified and required Gateway 3 plus Powerwall 3. They say it’s not possible to have both CT backup and solar/powerwall without Gateway 3 (but not 3v). Of course, still waiting for the software update to actually work.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

True. What do you think I should do with the PS gateway. Try to sell it? Put it in storage. My installer was telling me he thinks he can wire it to feed Powerwallls first but I think it’s just a big complication that he thinks he can do and not needed

Tesla swapped my Powershare Gateway (3v) for the correct Gateway 3. But my sense is that’s because it was their mistake at the time of my CT purchase.

 

[stealthynorm]

I have powershare. Wish I had Powerwalls because powershare won't run either heat pump on the house (we have 2). So, it basically runs some lights, the 220v water pump, oven, and microwave. It can get hot/cold in the house here. It'd be nice to have enough amperage to run the heatpumps but I am told the powershare can't provide that much power for compressor startup. Sigh. Next house, for sure.

I believe if you put a Soft Start kit on your heat pump it should be fine. If you have a variable speed heat pump, I understand they have a lower draw than a single speed one. In that case, you may be fine. If you happen to need a Soft Start kit, I have a used one I can sell at a very reasonable price.

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