Run-around with charge on solar

[Hill Thompson]

I think I need some help. I recently had 9.8ish kw and two powerwalls installed. After PTO, I was looking forward to using charge on solar. Of course, nothing showed up on the app even after doing all the app resets, logins, pairings, etc.
After talking to Tesla, they said I just need to give it some time for their backend to sync. After a couple of weeks, they said it was because I had some type of hold on my account, and it should be fine in a couple of days after they cleared it. After a couple of more weeks, they said it was because they didn’t remove limits on my system, so they will let me know when they perform this. This week they said they can’t remove limits on my system and that I’m unable to use charge on solar. Does any know anything about this? I feel like they are just making up a problem at random ever time I call…
I’m in socal on SCE. They installed a new main gateway and inverter in addition to the solar and batteries.
Thanks for the help.

 

[power.saver]

Doesn't sound right, but Tier 1 support is known for making stuff up. No reason why it shouldn't work with your setup.

That said, Charge on Solar isn't very good. You can't prioritize vehicle over battery, it constantly wakes up the vehicle even when excess solar isn't available, it delays charging starts to fixed time periods, causing excess solar to be returned to the grid, and doesn't track solar production as closely as other options.

I recommend Charge HQ for this task. It is much better, can be configured exactly as you want with priorities, supports a schedule to prevent on-peak charging, starts immediately when excess solar is available and doesn't wake the car up every 30 minutes to do it.

I've use both Charge on Solar and Charge HQ (on different vehicles) and by far Charge HQ is superior.

 

[LisaIrvin]

Doesn't sound right, but Tier 1 support is known for making stuff up. No reason why it shouldn't work with your setup.

That said, Charge on Solar isn't very good. You can't prioritize vehicle over battery, it constantly wakes up the vehicle even when excess solar isn't available, it delays charging starts to fixed time periods, causing excess solar to be returned to the grid, and doesn't track solar production as closely as other options.

I recommend Charge HQ for this task. It is much better, can be configured exactly as you want with priorities, supports a schedule to prevent on-peak charging, starts immediately when excess solar is available and doesn't wake the car up every 30 minutes to do it.

I've use both Charge on Solar and Charge HQ (on different vehicles) and by far Charge HQ is superior.

For me, Tesla's Charge on Solar is excellent. You can prioritize vehicle over battery by just setting your Powerwall to a lower reserve. I tried Charge HQ and it had lots of issues.

 

[Koolio46]

Regarding Charge on Solar not being available, thought I'd share what Tesla support (via chat) told me: "it can take up to 90 days for it to appear, but it usually appears a lot sooner." The support rep also told me it requires PTO (I'm still waiting for PTO; had my system installed 3 weeks ago). During a 2nd call with my solar "advisor", he told me it requires PTO and cannot be activated before then.

Frankly, I don't understand why it requires PTO to be enabled for this feature to appear. You'd think this feature would appear right away as it's arguably more useful to those of us who don't have PTO, yet.

 

[Vines]

Regarding Charge on Solar not being available, thought I'd share what Tesla support (via chat) told me: "it can take up to 90 days for it to appear, but it usually appears a lot sooner." The support rep also told me it requires PTO (I'm still waiting for PTO; had my system installed 3 weeks ago). During a 2nd call with my solar "advisor", he told me it requires PTO and cannot be activated before then.

Frankly, I don't understand why it requires PTO to be enabled for this feature to appear. You'd think this feature would appear right away as it's arguably more useful to those of us who don't have PTO, yet.

PTO is the point when the PV may backfeed to the grid at any time. Before PTO, the PV is curtailed so that it doesnt leave the PV and ESS system. It could be that the algo for Cos and for pre-PTO don't play nice together for some reason. Not really sure, as I do not use CoS.

 

[GregBallantyne]

The PTO issue might depend on where you live. My installation was ready for operation for months prior to getting PTO, but could not be operated without a meter swap. The meter swap was finally done about 10 days after PTO, and only then could the grid supply be connected to the Gateway and the load center supply connected from the Gateway followed by commissioning and operation.

With regard to charge on excess solar, I installed a wall connector in anticipation of being able to use it (to take advantage of higher generation rate charging beyond the 30A circuit I had been using) and then waited for more months for my them supporting car software update. In the meantime, I began using Charge HQ to do it. Once all was in place to use the Tesla app for this, the setup proved to be quite a struggle. I am sure that it was a winnable battle, but since Charge HQ was already working quite perfectly I did not go thru the effort required. I am still living the "Charge on excess solar" dream.