Powershare update: Home Backup enabled for Solar + Backup Switch

[CyberVeteran]

That has always been my understanding as well, but when they link to the following verbiage, it again causes the confusion. I’m not sure whether this verbiage has been the same all along or is part of some sort of an update. No mention of, or alluding to, a power wall below as far as I can tell

“Home Backup
With Powershare, your Cybertruck can automatically provide backup power to your home with up to 11.5 kW of power for up to three days.1 When paired with solar panels or Solar Roof, you can extend your backup duration by powering your home and charging your Tesla vehicle through an outage. Powershare Home Backup can detect an outage and start providing power within one minute without noise, emissions or maintenance.”

With the powershare there is a grid disconnect in the switch (from what I recall). My solar system will not power my home currently when grid is down, this will change today as my final inspection on my power walls and additional panels will be done this afternoon. With all of the PG&E rate hikes my true up/power bills have risen expenentially, thus the addition of panels and PowerWalls.

Powershare Gateway
Powershare Gateway controls connection to the grid, automatically detects outages and provides seamless transition to backup power.

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[CyberLucky]

Very interested in this. I'm having the Universal Charger installed Wednesday in anticipation of later installing PowerShare. I have solar. As it was explained to me by my electrician, solar shuts off during an outage. I can have it set up so the PowerShare provides power to the solar panels and allows them to operate, but only in a way that disconnects them from the grid and makes my house its own "grid". It was suggested that I should install a sub panel for only those essential items to be powered by solar / Cybertruck during an outage (like the furnace, stove, sump pump, some plugs, etc).

Those of you using PowerShare, did you install a sub panel? Or does the truck power your whole house?

For context, we have about 3,500 sq ft and draw about 132 A, and our solar is 13.5 kW.

PS the Cybertruck X account posted this - it seems the:"backup circuit" is the important part:

"Powershare Home Backup has been enabled for customers who have solar in their home's backup circuit."

 

[ocshellback]

Gosh. You’d think that if it’s really that important for those of us who also have solar that Tesla would have included that notification on the "LEARN MORE" page.

And for the record, I haven’t received that email either and my PV/PW/Gateway/UWC system has been operational & shown on the Tesla app for 16 months now.

That said. Before connecting my Cybertruck to perform the backup test, I will first disconnect my PV system as stated & see what happens.

Good luck everyone.

I've had my Cybertruck less than a month and the PowerShare Gateway for even less. Last week I noticed all the PowerShare options for the app and on the Cybertruck were available. I have Enphase Solar system with no battery backup. To test it I turned off the main to simulate the grid going off. It seemed to switch over to the Cybertruck battery and power my house in about 10 seconds or less. I do not have my solar system going through the PowerShare Gateway so I don't see how it could still work in an outage. Now if it was hooked up to my gateway, then I can see how it might be able to. Problems is, I was told I could only use 12 circuits from my panel to run off the Gateway/Cybertruck battery. I don't run my pool, a/c and one circuit that was labeled lights plugs. Even though I have these items not running through the gateway, all my 4 bedrooms, kitchen, baths, living/family rooms, garage have power in an outage. I have SDG&E in Orange County CA. It's an amazing technology.

 

[CyberLucky]

I've had my Cybertruck less than a month and the PowerShare Gateway for even less. Last week I noticed all the PowerShare options for the app and on the Cybertruck were available. I have Enphase Solar system with no battery backup. To test it I turned off the main to simulate the grid going off. It seemed to switch over to the Cybertruck battery and power my house in about 10 seconds or less. I do not have my solar system going through the PowerShare Gateway so I don't see how it could still work in an outage. Now if it was hooked up to my gateway, then I can see how it might be able to. Problems is, I was told I could only use 12 circuits from my panel to run off the Gateway/Cybertruck battery. I don't run my pool, a/c and one circuit that was labeled lights plugs. Even though I have these items not running through the gateway, all my 4 bedrooms, kitchen, baths, living/family rooms, garage have power in an outage. I have SDG&E in Orange County CA. It's an amazing technology.

Great info - thank you! Is the 12 circuit limitation applicable to the number of circuits, or is it the load, which in your case happened to end up limiting you to those 12? I'm confused about the amount of power the truck can provide, because I've heard the battery pack described as equivalent to 3 PowerWalls and that should be plenty to power my whole house.

 

[mongo]

Great info - thank you! Is the 12 circuit limitation applicable to the number of circuits, or is it the load, which in your case happened to end up limiting you to those 12? I'm confused about the amount of power the truck can provide, because I've heard the battery pack described as equivalent to 3 PowerWalls and that should be plenty to power my whole house.

The power output of Cybertruck is equivalent to one PW3. The energy in Cybertruck is around 6 PW3s.
The Gateway 3V has eight full sized breaker slots internally which can support 16 half height (duplex) breakers, and can also feed a subpanel with its own additional breakers (or even the entire 200A formerly main house panel (with manual load shedding)).

 

[ocshellback]

Great info - thank you! Is the 12 circuit limitation applicable to the number of circuits, or is it the load, which in your case happened to end up limiting you to those 12? I'm confused about the amount of power the truck can provide, because I've heard the battery pack described as equivalent to 3 PowerWalls and that should be plenty to power my whole house.

I believe it's both. In my case that included the 60amp circuit for the new Universal Wall Charger. As you can see in the attached photo of my electrical panel, everything labeled as "Spare" now goes through the PowerShare Gateway and will be powered during an outage with the Cybertruck. As you can see, my Solar is not going through the gateway. The other photo is of the PowerShare
Gateway showing everything marked as spare in my electrical panel goes through here now.

 

[ocshellback]

The power output of Cybertruck is equivalent to one PW3. The energy in Cybertruck is around 6 PW3s.
The Gateway 3V has eight full sized breaker slots internally which can support 16 half height (duplex) breakers, and can also feed a subpanel with its own additional breakers (or even the entire 200A formerly main house panel (with manual load shedding)).

Great info - thank you! Is the 12 circuit limitation applicable to the number of circuits, or is it the load, which in your case happened to end up limiting you to those 12? I'm confused about the amount of power the truck can provide, because I've heard the battery pack described as equivalent to 3 PowerWalls and that should be plenty to power my whole house.

Here's a screenshot from my phone app when running off the Cybertruck showing the stats. As you see, I was only using .3kW and the max available was 11.5kW.

 

[mongo]

Here's a screenshot from my phone app when running off the Cybertruck showing the stats. As you see, I was only using .3kW and the max available was 11.5kW.

Yep, and from your photos, the 12 circuit limitation was due to the wall connector taking up two full slots on the internal panel.

 

[Cybrtr808]

yeah, I now see the white horizontal line at the top of the card, indicating you can swipe / pull it up.

Yep, it shows as disconnected for me too. I’m not expecting it to show connected until the PW software update in Q3….but I still enabled it.

I just checked my Tesla app today.

Tapping on them Swiping up on the Controls I now see the PowerShare Home Backup as noted in first pic. However, originally it showed not connected. I plugged the truck in to charge then hit the main breaker to cut off power from the grid. The PowerShare gateway clicked and the truck was charging the house. finally works - truck battery powering the house. In the Tesla app the Controls show under the PowerShare Home Backup screen that Home is Connected,

even after I disconnected the UWC charging cable from the truck it still shows Home is connected even though the UWC is not plugged into the truck.

my system setup is:

* I have solar panels - third party Enphase micro inverters
* I have a Cybertruck
* I have PowerShare installed
* I have the universal wall connector installed wired directly to the Gateway with a separate 60 amp breaker. My two 100 amp breaker boxes are connected to the Gateway each on 100 amp breakers in the gateway wired as sub panels. thus all electric circuits in the house are backed up and should be powered by the truck. As the power coming from the truck is limited to about 11 KWh I know I can’t run all at once the 240 AC units along with 240 oven and 240 water heater.

* my solar panels are breakered into one of the 100 amp sub panels.

Most of the time on sunny days with nothing 240v running my solar panels are feeding back to the grid. However, during my test the solar panels were not charging the truck. Presumably cloud cover such that not enough KWh generated to power the house and any excess charging the truck. I need to have the Qmerit installer come back to test the system install and explain how this PowerShare is suppose to work as configured. Install was completed about two months ago. Installers first PowerShare install.

But the good news is have not been billed for the installation, about 5,800.

 

[Cybrtr808]

Very interested in this. I'm having the Universal Charger installed Wednesday in anticipation of later installing PowerShare. I have solar. As it was explained to me by my electrician, solar shuts off during an outage. I can have it set up so the PowerShare provides power to the solar panels and allows them to operate, but only in a way that disconnects them from the grid and makes my house its own "grid". It was suggested that I should install a sub panel for only those essential items to be powered by solar / Cybertruck during an outage (like the furnace, stove, sump pump, some plugs, etc).

Those of you using PowerShare, did you install a sub panel? Or does the truck power your whole house?

For context, we have about 3,500 sq ft and draw about 132 A, and our solar is 13.5 kW.

PS the Cybertruck X account posted this - it seems the:"backup circuit" is the important part:

"Powershare Home Backup has been enabled for customers who have solar in their home's backup circuit."

My setup is the truck powers the whole house but the 60 amps from the truck would not be able to power everything. I must self monitor what is being used. My original main 100 amp panel and the 100 amp sub panel are setup as sub panels of the PowerShare Gateway.

 

[koolio]

I just checked my Tesla app today.

Tapping on them Swiping up on the Controls I now see the PowerShare Home Backup as noted in first pic. However, originally it showed not connected. I plugged the truck in to charge then hit the main breaker to cut off power from the grid. The PowerShare gateway clicked and the truck was charging the house. finally works - truck battery powering the house. In the Tesla app the Controls show under the PowerShare Home Backup screen that Home is Connected,

even after I disconnected the UWC charging cable from the truck it still shows Home is connected even though the UWC is not plugged into the truck.

my system setup is:

* I have solar panels - third party Enphase micro inverters
* I have a Cybertruck
* I have PowerShare installed
* I have the universal wall connector installed wired directly to the Gateway with a separate 60 amp breaker. My two 100 amp breaker boxes are connected to the Gateway each on 100 amp breakers in the gateway wired as sub panels. thus all electric circuits in the house are backed up and should be powered by the truck. As the power coming from the truck is limited to about 11 KWh I know I can’t run all at once the 240 AC units along with 240 oven and 240 water heater.

* my solar panels are breakered into one of the 100 amp sub panels.

Most of the time on sunny days with nothing 240v running my solar panels are feeding back to the grid. However, during my test the solar panels were not charging the truck. Presumably cloud cover such that not enough KWh generated to power the house and any excess charging the truck. I need to have the Qmerit installer come back to test the system install and explain how this PowerShare is suppose to work as configured. Install was completed about two months ago. Installers first PowerShare install.

But the good news is have not been billed for the installation, about 5,800.

Nice!

Regarding solar charging the truck, I’m assuming it needs the same excess solar amount as my Powerwall 3, which is that it needs at least 1 or 1.5 kWh of steady excess energy before Charge on Solar will charge the vehicle. Maybe that’s why?

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

My installer came out to test my Powershare installation today. Spoiler alert: things did not go as hoped.

2 weeks ago we had a storm that knocked out power. I was suspecting it might so I plugged the truck into the wall connector. When the power did go out, I got a notification that Powershare had failed. I took a pic of it and showed it to the installer when he came today. He checked all of the software and hardware and couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he called Tesla Energy and they had him turn off the solar and my generator, and then he tripped the grid breaker, and I got the same error. This time, however, there was a button on my app that allowed me to start powersharing. When I selected it, powersharing started working.

The Tesla Energy guy said that systems with backup generators and solar are not approved yet from Tesla, and that it will probably happen sometime but clearly not at my house (San Francisco Coastal Peninsula). They told me that when the power goes out, and before my generator kicks in, I can hit the 'start powersharing' button in the app, and that when the grid power is restored I'll get another notification to turn off powersharing and I can then find that button in the app to turn it off and return to grid power.

Of course this sucks, but at least I know that the hardware was hooked up correctly and that this is all on Tesla, but it sucks to be told that everything is working only to find out that it isn't. I am glad that it is working for some people; I just don't understand how others with basically the same setup as me have it 'all' working (i.e., automatic turn on and off) and I do not.

Just thought I'd share this with everyone.

 

[FlyShacker]

So I need to chime in here. I have had my CT since last November. But we are JUST NOW getting a solar system installed by a third party using all Tesla components with Powerwall3, AND I already bought a Gateway3D(?) directly from Tesla at the time I bought my CT and Universal Wall Connector.

More background... In my previous residence, we had a Tesla solar system installed back in 2020 with Powerwall2 before we moved here. At that time, we didn't have an EV. So I have been through installing and living with a Tesla solar power system long before we ever decided to get a solar system installed now in our new house.

So, my next-door neighbor at my previous residence had a legacy solar system that would not (could not) operate if the grid went down. But my newer Tesla solar system, WITH a Powerwall2, COULD and DID operate when the grid went down!! The difference was having a battery. However, I also understand there are different restrictions state by state according to laws, and Tesla supports the laws in each state.

Now during the work for today's install we ran into an interesting problem. The electrician/installer could not get the Powerwall3 to talk to the Gateway3D that I bought from Tesla last November. He called Tesla. They told him that THE MODEL OF GATEWAY I BOUGHT FROM TESLA (from their CT order page!) ONLY WORKS WHEN THERE IS NO POWERWALL!! Seriously?? A different model of Gateway is needed if a Powerwall is part of the system. Thanks, Tesla, for NOT explaining this when I bought the Gateway!

Fortunately, the installer didn't know that I already had my own Gateway, so he brought one with him, and his gateway is the RIGHT KIND of Gateway to work with the Powerwall3. The only downside is that he already installed my Gateway that I bought! So, after speaking with Tesla, he decided it would be easier to replace the guts of my Gateway with the components from the Gateway he brought! That's where we are now! Next time he comes back, he will start the job of replacing the components in the Gateway he already installed. (Removing the installed gateway is not an option because he already drilled customizations into the case to accommodate our unique wiring, etc.)

MY QUESTION IS.... Do any of you have any knowledge about all this? Does my story fit with your experience? My goal is to have my panels and SOME Gateway and Powerwall3 and my CT all working together, so that the CT can provide power to the house if the grid goes down, and I can charge the CT from the solar panels WHETHER OR NOT the grid goes down, etc. My installer says that the whole system will be completely configurable! I hope that is true. He says I will be able to charge the Powerwall3 from the solar panels or from the grid and charge my CT from any of the above! So does that mean, if the grid goes down, the house could draw from the solar panels FIRST, then if the solar is not sufficient to power the house as the sun sets, start drawing from the Powerwall3, and then if the Powerwall3 gets low on juice, start drawing power from my CT? My installer says YES! "All of this will be configurable," he says. IS THAT TRUE? I hope, I hope!

It's crazy that Tesla sells multiple versions of their Gateway but doesn't make clear what system configurations the different versions are designed for and what they can do!

Your knowledgeable comments are most welcome, and WILD GUESSES are also welcome!

I look forward to reading your replies! Thank you!

 

[koolio]

So I need to chime in here. I have had my CT since last November. But we are JUST NOW getting a solar system installed by a third party using all Tesla components with Powerwall3, AND I already bought a Gateway3D(?) directly from Tesla at the time I bought my CT and Universal Wall Connector.

More background... In my previous residence, we had a Tesla solar system installed back in 2020 with Powerwall2 before we moved here. At that time, we didn't have an EV. So I have been through installing and living with a Tesla solar power system long before we ever decided to get a solar system installed now in our new house.

So, my next-door neighbor at my previous residence had a legacy solar system that would not (could not) operate if the grid went down. But my newer Tesla solar system, WITH a Powerwall2, COULD and DID operate when the grid went down!! The difference was having a battery. However, I also understand there are different restrictions state by state according to laws, and Tesla supports the laws in each state.

Now during the work for today's install we ran into an interesting problem. The electrician/installer could not get the Powerwall3 to talk to the Gateway3D that I bought from Tesla last November. He called Tesla. They told him that THE MODEL OF GATEWAY I BOUGHT FROM TESLA (from their CT order page!) ONLY WORKS WHEN THERE IS NO POWERWALL!! Seriously?? A different model of Gateway is needed if a Powerwall is part of the system. Thanks, Tesla, for NOT explaining this when I bought the Gateway!

Fortunately, the installer didn't know that I already had my own Gateway, so he brought one with him, and his gateway is the RIGHT KIND of Gateway to work with the Powerwall3. The only downside is that he already installed my Gateway that I bought! So, after speaking with Tesla, he decided it would be easier to replace the guts of my Gateway with the components from the Gateway he brought! That's where we are now! Next time he comes back, he will start the job of replacing the components in the Gateway he already installed. (Removing the installed gateway is not an option because he already drilled customizations into the case to accommodate our unique wiring, etc.)

MY QUESTION IS.... Do any of you have any knowledge about all this? Does my story fit with your experience? My goal is to have my panels and SOME Gateway and Powerwall3 and my CT all working together, so that the CT can provide power to the house if the grid goes down, and I can charge the CT from the solar panels WHETHER OR NOT the grid goes down, etc. My installer says that the whole system will be completely configurable! I hope that is true. He says I will be able to charge the Powerwall3 from the solar panels or from the grid and charge my CT from any of the above! So does that mean, if the grid goes down, the house could draw from the solar panels FIRST, then if the solar is not sufficient to power the house as the sun sets, start drawing from the Powerwall3, and then if the Powerwall3 gets low on juice, start drawing power from my CT? My installer says YES! "All of this will be configurable," he says. IS THAT TRUE? I hope, I hope!

It's crazy that Tesla sells multiple versions of their Gateway but doesn't make clear what system configurations the different versions are designed for and what they can do!

Your knowledgeable comments are most welcome, and WILD GUESSES are also welcome!

I look forward to reading your replies! Thank you!

If you have a Powerwall 3, you don’t need a gateway for PowerShare. All you need is the Unversal Wall Connector or the Wall Connector Gen3 (which is the current one they sell). Tesla says this on their website, and recently via their X post. BUT, it won’t be available until Q3 2025 via a software update.

I have Tesla Solar and Powerwall 3 and am waiting for them to release it.

So, you don’t need the gateway.

 

[FlyShacker]

If you have a Powerwall 3, you don’t need a gateway for PowerShare. All you need is the Unversal Wall Connector or the Wall Connector Gen3 (which is the current one they sell). Tesla says this on their website, and recently via their X post. BUT, it won’t be available until Q3 2025 via a software update.

I have Tesla Solar and Powerwall 3 and am waiting for them to release it.

So, you don’t need the gateway.

Wow! Okay thanks! I will tell our electrician when he gets here! But I think he said the same thing that you just said, but he wants to get our Power Share working for us now. So that's why he wants to install the other Gateway. This is crazy. IF this is going to cause a problem or make my system work differently than just using the Powerwall3 for Power Share, I would like to know exactly how, so I can decide whether to wait or to go ahead with this.

I guess I need to contact Tesla to get to the bottom of this. They don't make it easy!

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