eTripping.au

Powerwall hits zero during the grid outage

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Well, that’s not good. The Tesla Powerwall at home has just gone flat (zero percent charge) at about 5pm today. Our new home town of Emerald is one of many affected by the grid outage in Victoria, after a wild storm hit on Tuesday afternoon. A couple of months ago, we had Lightning Energy install solar and a Powerwall battery at our new home. In a grid outage, the solar array is supposed to keep the house electricity going, recharge the battery each day, and keep the fridge cold. But the solar production stopped working when the grid outage started. Something is wrong with the installation.

The battery has slowly depleted, until it hit zero percent two days later (this afternoon).

I contacted the installer, Lightning Energy, a couple of days ago to hopefully fix it before the fridge died. No answer from service. So, I SMSed Andrew, who works for them and lives locally. He kindly offered to pop in on his way home to take a look. Here’s hoping we can get power from the sun back tomorrow.

AusNet is currently estimating up to a week before the grid is fixed in our area. We were also providing some emergency power for our neighbours (such as to recharge phones). Hopefully we can restore that benefit too.

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36 comments

  1. Christie Monk via Facebook ↗
    I'm in warragul, and have solar/power, your welcome to come charge here during the day if needed to keep the car topped up for charging etc.
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    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Christie Monk Hi 👋. That's very kind, thank you. There are also fast chargers around, if we get desperate. Hopefully our home "fuel station" will kick in soon.
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      1. Facebook visitor via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping no worries! Good luck!
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  2. Evert Numan via Facebook ↗
    Hopefully the cause will be discovered and rectified in short order.
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    1. Facebook visitor via Facebook ↗
      Tesla Tripping I noticed a post in MEEH where a circuit breaker was tripped during a storm. Perhaps this might help?
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  3. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
    Don't like the chances of solar kick starting the battery tomorrow. Especially since you haven't managed to get solar working so far.
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    1. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
      How many solar circuits do you have? Are there any Q relays installed?
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      1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
        Scott Cassidy I would answer if I understood enough of the question 😉. Three strings of panels.

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      2. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping should be near the circuit breakers. Looks similar to this

        https://www.acsolarwarehouse.com/products/enphase-q-relay…
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      3. Brendan Jones via Facebook ↗
        Scott Cassidy wouldn’t mind seeing a circuit diagram of how these would be installed. I’m guessing these are to help prevent back feed into the grid supply?
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      4. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
        Brendan Jones yeah you need a physical relay when the grid is not normal.
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      5. Brendan Jones via Facebook ↗
        Scott Cassidy Karl Jensen why the angry react?

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      6. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
        Scott Cassidy Does this photo of our circuit board help?

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      7. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
        Or this photo of the gateways:

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      8. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping all good, you don't have any Q relay, which is odd for the non backup circuits.

        The backup one is protect3d by the Gateway relay
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    2. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Scott Cassidy Fortunately, it worked (eventually). We have power now from solar and battery. See the sequel here:
      https://www.facebook.com/tesla.tripping/posts/pfbid02keMq…

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      1. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping yeah I saw that. Although my original comment was deleted.

        There is a Enphase Tech brief for the Powerwall which allows 7.6kW of solar on the backup.

        Looking at your board with 3 strings. There might be a string of 5 panels that can also be backed up with the above method.

        Glad to see the starting up after battery went flat. We had to almost test that the other day (haven't had to in 6 years)
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      2. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
        Scott Cassidy Thanks. Is that tech brief something I could pass on to Lightning Energy to hopefully increase our solar production during an outage? Is there a link?

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      3. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping yeah here is the link to the PDF that will guide them through the process

        https://enphase.com/en-au/download/setting-pv-power-produ…

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      4. Scott Cassidy via Facebook ↗
        I modified the above setup to enable export limiting on our system

        Can't do the modified setup as well as that setup to allow more solar during backup.
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  4. James Mackness via Facebook ↗
    Well done for helping your neighbours, but it would've probably been better to use the car for phone charging, not that they use much, but it's a much bigger battery and every little helps.
    You need the car awake though, so I set cabin keep with the AC off and fan on the lowest setting possible, which I think is the least draining option for the battery. You also have the 12V option in there too
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    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      James Mackness Good advice. However, we aren’t actually home. We’re returning from another road trip, in NSW. So, the house electricity was all I could offer. I will offer the car (EV) power where I can when we return home.
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  5. Darren Watt via Facebook ↗
    We are in The Patch and also have similar problem with battery at zero and system not recognizing solar at all. I’m not sure if losing internet and cellular contributes to this?? I think Starlink for is as I’m tired of losing cellular 8 hours after we lose power because Telstra won’t put proper power back up facilities on their towers.
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  6. David Cummings via Facebook ↗
    We are in Olinda and came back online last night at 11pm. We were expecting more than a couple of days so hopefully you won’t have to wait a week. We were using our petrol generator to power the house. If you need power you can borrow it.
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  7. Denise Dolan via Facebook ↗
    Yikes! That sounds like a nightmare. We also have recently renovated a property and put solar on the roof and a power wall. Your experience does make me a little nervous ….
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  8. Kerrie Punshon via Facebook ↗
    Hoping you get things sorted out.
    I have a Firewall Battery too, but didn’t lose power where I am.
    I (and I am sure, many others) will be interested to find out what the problem was, as it is not what is supposed to happen. Take care.
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    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Kerrie Punshon Here's the sequel. Spoiler: We have solar and battery power now!
      https://www.facebook.com/tesla.tripping/posts/pfbid02keMq…
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      1. Kerrie Punshon via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping
        Good to hear.
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  9. Greg Hayden via Facebook ↗
    Be better if you had a BYD then you could have used your car battery to keep the fridge and lights on.
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    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Greg Hayden Yes! I am very jealous of all the EVs with V2L (vehicle to load). Tesla is dragging the chain there.
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      1. Greg Hayden via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping a lady from Tamborine was powering a dialysis machine for a young boy recently.
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  10. Dynky Moke via Facebook ↗
    Maybe your neighbours have moved in and used up all the power 😉
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  11. Raymond Johnson via Facebook ↗
    Smart Energy Lab how would you rectify this issue? Maybe a dc coupled battery or add dc solar to feed powerwall
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  12. Kylie Gilroy via Facebook ↗
    Tesla Tripping we've got solar booked for 26th March, better late than never, that $75 a kWh is a killer 😉
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    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Kylie Gilroy LOL, yes, that was a cruel price 😉. Hopefully you'll charge a lower price when you get power free from the sun.
      https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=381432698151047&…

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      1. Kylie Gilroy via Facebook ↗
        Tesla Tripping looks like it will be sooner than later, they called yesterday to say they can fit it next Saturday WINNING
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