Cali Kid Corals

Anyone with Tesla Solar Panels?

So we are now maxed out on panels and 2 PW3s and, as expected, NEM 3.0 pays virtually nothing. EV was not in our plans for this year but couldn’t pass up a great opportunity, so now have one, so glad we started big. Unlike the experience of others, our solar bidders all proposed small systems and upgrading later.

What has been a pain is Tesla’s power distribution program and automatic changes being made in when we use, store, and send power to the grid. A Linux program shared by someone online provides this info. Our installer and my husband had been monitoring and tweaking it, with no help from Tesla support. Turns out a recent update made a lot of changes without informing anyone.
Anyway, we are currently monitoring it by running the Linux program on an old dedicated Acer Netbook I was getting rid of from my classroom. Sounds lame, but works great for this use. If anybody wants one (or more than one to combine their small memory) let me know and I will save some. Batteries do not hold charge so must use plugged in or find replacement.
 

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Depending on how much you need to charge enphase makes a ev charger that scales up and down to only use solar (if you want). Good if you only need to charge 1-2 times a week on the weekend. Although I’m not sure of compatibility with Tesla systems
 
MolaMola said:
So we are now maxed out on panels and 2 PW3s and, as expected, NEM 3.0 pays virtually nothing. EV was not in our plans for this year but couldn’t pass up a great opportunity, so now have one, so glad we started big. Unlike the experience of others, our solar bidders all proposed small systems and upgrading later.

What has been a pain is Tesla’s power distribution program and automatic changes being made in when we use, store, and send power to the grid. A Linux program shared by someone online provides this info. Our installer and my husband had been monitoring and tweaking it, with no help from Tesla support. Turns out a recent update made a lot of changes without informing anyone.
Anyway, we are currently monitoring it by running the Linux program on an old dedicated Acer Netbook I was getting rid of from my classroom. Sounds lame, but works great for this use. If anybody wants one (or more than one to combine their small memory) let me know and I will save some. Batteries do not hold charge so must use plugged in or find replacement.
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I've kept mine on self powered and haven't had any issues. Can pretty much get through the night without buying any power on days where we have good production. I haven't messed with the virtual power plant programs, is that what's messing up your system?
 
No, we are not on the virtual power plant program yet - just signed up. I just got clarification - turns out the recent Tesla update appears to have stopped export of any power to the grid from NEM 3 systems unless virtual power plant kicks in. Neither PGE nor Tesla said that would be the case; we were told we would just get the super lowest buyback rate during non-peak need times, but at least it could help offset our wintertime draw (we haven't had our system running through winter yet). However, what was happening to us and other NEM 3 customers was that issues from the Tesla NEM 3 update let our power walls charge up from our panels by mid-morning, then it's like the panels were turned off and we were buying electricity from the grid all day, and if you changed that option, you used the stored PW energy and started the evening with non-full PW. Crazy! As a workaround we switched our system to operate using Tesla's NEM 2 program (we do not get those rates, of course, bc PGE knows we are NEM 3) bc it works better, but we have to make a switch to stop the export to the grid at a certain time each day. We are okay for now, but I think there are NEM 3 customers who have no idea this change happened and they are paying for power during the day.
 
MolaMola said:
No, we are not on the virtual power plant program yet - just signed up. I just got clarification - turns out the recent Tesla update appears to have stopped export of any power to the grid from NEM 3 systems unless virtual power plant kicks in. Neither PGE nor Tesla said that would be the case; we were told we would just get the super lowest buyback rate during non-peak need times, but at least it could help offset our wintertime draw (we haven't had our system running through winter yet). However, what was happening to us and other NEM 3 customers was that issues from the Tesla NEM 3 update let our power walls charge up from our panels by mid-morning, then it's like the panels were turned off and we were buying electricity from the grid all day, and if you changed that option, you used the stored PW energy and started the evening with non-full PW. Crazy! As a workaround we switched our system to operate using Tesla's NEM 2 program (we do not get those rates, of course, bc PGE knows we are NEM 3) bc it works better, but we have to make a switch to stop the export to the grid at a certain time each day. We are okay for now, but I think there are NEM 3 customers who have no idea this change happened and they are paying for power during the day.
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I didn't sign up for the power plant since most people said they're getting almost nothing for opting into it. That's really odd your system isn't exporting now assuming PG&E said you're fully interconnected. I'm on NEM 3 as well on a PW3.

Mine once it hits full exports everything (numbers aren't exact because the garage panels are on a sub panel and complicate the math):

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Are your settings looking like this?
1000007462.png
 
@Darkxerox Thanks for posting that - I'll ask my husband when he gets back. That is helpful. I've been slammed hard by work and was waiting until summer break to get all in-the-know about our system (and how to drive EV without whiplash). I think our program was based on a specific time schedule after PW were full and did not send max to PGE at all times. Unsure.
 
Darkxerox said:
I didn't sign up for the power plant since most people said they're getting almost nothing for opting into it. That's really odd your system isn't exporting now assuming PG&E said you're fully interconnected. I'm on NEM 3 as well on a PW3.

Mine once it hits full exports everything (numbers aren't exact because the garage panels are on a sub panel and complicate the math):

View attachment 69865View attachment 69866

Are your settings looking like this? View attachment 69873
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My last payout for the VPP was $238. Not life changing, but it cost me nothing to opt-in, and is kind of cool.
 
JVU said:
My last payout for the VPP was $238. Not life changing, but it cost me nothing to opt-in, and is kind of cool.
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Exactly why we signed up. Why not? No central HVAC, so generating way excess power. Were hoping for that next year or so but now that 30% tax credit is ending we have to decide to go for it now or see if cost drops 30% next year when no one buys it anymore. Hmmmm.
 
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