It just got installed, so technically we’re not supposed to even turn it on until it gets inspected by the city and the local utility company. I got that instruction verbally, but since the “on” switch is basically a toggle, I decided to try it out. So at 10am, not very good time for solar charging, this is what the app UI looks like. The image is static, but there are little moving icons that are directional between the circles. This shows the panels are generating 4.2 kW. The home is using 1.0 kW, the battery is receiving 2.3kW, and 0.9kW is going back to the grid. I’m still not sure the UI is an accurate reflection of what is happening, but I do notice it changing as I turn on and off the lights in the house with about a 2.5 second delay, so something is happening.
The powerwall was talked about in this thread before here, among others. I did opt for two batteries obviously. The old, *‘one is none, and two is better than one’ *thing. The first thing people talk about when discussing solar I find is the break even point. I tend to think of it more from an ROI point of view, and in that regard I start getting return immediately. Overall though, cost is not the primary driver for me, though the cost has to not be prohibitive. The other benefits, backup, prepper wannabe, and supporting a budding technology that I believe in, are all very important.
We contracted with Solar City in December and have just now done the install. I would say the installation team was great, finished in a single day for both panels and batteries. The communications team and administrative coordinator was and continues to be very very terrible in that they have horrible communication, over promise, and fail to deliver.
The installer did say I was the first to get it in my city, and the inspector said this was the first two battery installation they saw. Yay for early adopters, hopefully not too many bugs.
That’s pretty cool. I am also in a discussion with Solar City about a new system and also looking at the Powerwall. At this point, I’m not sure if I want to lease or buy, and if buy how I want to finance it. However, we received a $400 bill last month (it was particularly hot…hottest summer on record in fact), so that is driving our thinking on this. Definitely, update this thread as you get experience with this…I think there are a lot of potential customers for this on this board.
Do you know why you have energy going back into the grid? I think the powerwall is rated for 5.0kW, and you have two, so I’d have assumed it’d be able to absorb the entire load without sending anything to the grid.
I’m not sure. That would be my expectation as well, but the UI isn’t super useful. I would like to be able to fine tune more and have a bunch of questions out to Solar City. My guess is that the UI is designed for systems with only 1 battery and the two battery thing doesn’t display correctly. I’ll update when I find more on that one. Yay for early adopters!
About $40K. $5K each per battery + $500 installation so batteries cost $11K. Solar system was $30K. There is also a 30% tax credit on top of the whole thing, so the out the door cost is about $27.5K.
Totally SWAGing here - but do you variable pricing for what the utility pays you? If the Powerwall is smart enough it may be sending some power to the grid knowing it is the best choice during the potentially high-earning part of the day, and will charge up the batteries when the payoff goes down?
It does seem doubtful the system is that smart, however.
The promotional materials do tout benefits in setups that have variable pricing. Currently I am not on the variable pricing model but that arrangement is available if I switch with the utility company. I’m not really interested in doing that right now because it requires more micro management than I want to do, and the battery interface isn’t able to be fine tuned like that, yet, as far as I can tell.
It would be awesome if I could control a lot more things in the battery and Tesla has implied that will come later with over air software updates.
It took 1 day. Arrived at 8:30am and left at 6pm. They also installed a bunch of solar panels, as well. I think 8 guys maybe? I didn’t do a headcount but it seemed like a lot.
My WAG, based on how they ramp down the charging of the car batteries at supercharging stations once the battery is mostly full, is that the same sort of thing is happening here… past a certain point, the battery can only charge up at a certain rate, and if you’re generating electricity faster than the battery can safely accommodate, they throttle it back and send the excess off to the grid. It may have started out charging up at full speed, but now that it’s mostly charged, they’re putting on the brakes so you don’t overcharge some of the cells.
Still waiting for a call from Tesla about that solar roof that I put down a deposit on a few months ago. But, we don’t have net metering, so I’m definitely going for the battery. Thanks for the info.
There should be (at least, per Tesla’s specs) 27kW-h of energy storage total between OP’s two powerwalls. 10am of the first day of use seems a little early to be already “topping off” the batteries, but I guess that all depends on what charge state they were shipped at…
What a coincidence. We’ve got a Tesla/Solar City person coming over tonight to give us a price estimate. Didn’t know it might be 6 months before installation, or that an inspection might be required (don’t know about MD regulations).
That is cool! We got solar panels for our house a couple years back and they have worked great, especially here in sunny AZ. I’ve been interested in the Power Wall, but I might weight and see if the tech gets any better before I bite.
I am also in a discussion with Solar City about a new system and also looking at the Powerwall. At this point, I’m not sure if I want to lease or buy, and if buy how I want to finance it. However, we received a $400 bill last month (it was particularly hot…hottest summer on record in fact), so that is driving our thinking on this. Definitely, update this thread as you get experience with this…I think there are a lot of potential customers for this on this board.
