The #1 Powerwall Setting That Tesla Completely Missed

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👋My name’s Zach, and I’ve been in the solar industry since 2015. I enjoy talking about solar, battery storage, electric vehicles, Tesla products, and more! My goal with this channel is to provide transparent information, share my experiences, and empower both consumers and solar professionals

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Timestamps:
0:00 What’s Going On?
1:47 Netzero
2:06 Automation #1
4:26 Automation #2
6:54 Automation #3
8:09 Final Recap

[ZachSolar]

Thanks for watching 😎 If you have any questions on this setup, drop 'em below in the comments!

[Energy.Theory]

Thank you for this guide. This was a lot easier to follow than other online resources.

[ButterfliesNBirds]

Hi Zach, this video was extremely helpful. We are new Powerwall 3 owners in Texas, and the Tesla app wasn't quite giving us what we needed. Texas has a deregulated energy market, and in our area we have multiple companies and electric options to choose from. Currently a time-based rate plan called "Free Nights, 100% Solar" is our best option. We get totally free electricity from 8 PM to 6 AM every day and then a premium rate from 6 AM to 8 PM. What the Tesla app wasn't giving us was to force our Powerwall 3s to charge up during the "Free nights" so we had full batteries by 6 am. The Netzero app allowed us to set up a couple of automations to accomplish what we wanted to do to not use the grid during the hours of 6 AM and 8 PM, and then use grid power and charge up the Tesla batteries and be ready for the next day. Our solar panels and 2 Powerwall 3s get us through the daytime hours to the free nights. Thanks again for this video and walking through the settings!

[holefx]

I've been pondering how to do this. This is perfect! thank you very much.

[jubbujzulu]

I did this for a while but I then had a support call with Tesla for something unrelated and they told me to stop switching between modes as it negatively impacts the algorithm. It's incredibly infuriating to see my Powerwall decide to import to cover a fairly small increase in load, only to be full before peak. It actively costs me money sometimes, despite the fact that TBC is supposed to be for the greatest financial return. Personally, I think Tesla needs to stop believing the logic in its powerwalls is smarter than the owners of said powerwalls and let us programme things for ourselves

[richardskinner]

My biggest frustration with my pw3 is that it thinks it knows what I want better than I do. Just let me tell it to discharge at xx rate at yy time etc.

[bonnyboy]

@zachsolar, this is fantastic! I’ve implemented all the animations you suggested with a few personal tweaks, like a backup reserve percent. I have these 3 animations
1. Every day at 12:00 AM: Set backup reserve to: 1%; Set operational mode to: Self-Powered.
2. Every day at 1:00 PM: Set backup reserve to: 100%; Set operational mode to: Time-Based Control; Set grid charging to: Enabled.
3. Every day at 2:55 PM: Set backup reserve to: 1%; Set operational mode to: Time-Based Control; Set grid charging to: Disabled.
I have two questions:
1) How can I configure an animation so that, if I plug in my EV at any time during the day (peak or off-peak hours), it charges solely on solar power, but switches to charging from my three Tesla Powerwall 3s at 12 AM (off-peak)?
2) With the animation set to 'self-power' starting at 2:55PM, what happens if my EVs drain the battery completely? Would the system revert to the grid and continue charging and powering the house, or would 'self-power' prevent this option?

[Pete]

I use automations for a couple of another reasons, I don't have peak pricing times. My grid operator only allows a maximum of 5kW export and I get a free hour of electricity every day in the early hours.
So for the first issue, the 5kW export limit means my 8kW system gets clipped once my single powerwall is full and I'm not using 3kW in the house, the solution is to delay when the PW charges as there is no point charging when production is below export limit....so I tell the app 5am to 11am is peak and use automations to turn on time-based, this causes it export all the solar and run the house on the battery until 11am when automation switches to self powered and battery starts charging and reduces the export load. And for the free hour, I change it to time-based for and hour (tell the app it's free power and to charge from the grid) them back to self powered at the end of the hour.

[carrolllawton]

I have the same rate from my electric company in rural Missouri 24 hours a day. Laclede Electric Cooperative. I use self powered 24 hours a day. I have 2 power walls

[TechWorld]

Any update on this app since it got newer features for the powerwall 3 and also for charging the car. Can you make an updated video on the new features. Great video!!!

[RichardMoree-mn]

Hi Zach! Love the insight you provide. Is there a way to set a holiday rate schedule for the Powerwall 3? In Arizona, APS charges holidays at the weekend rate plan. I would like to be able to tell the system to know that a weekday holiday falls under the weekend rate plan to maximize usage. Thanks!

[dennisbean]

I export most of my battery after 6 pm by setting a higher export rate. I found that it would export too much and then use grid power at peak rate. In NetZero I set export solar only when discharged down to 15% and set export everything when charged up to 20%. This gives me enough power left to last until midnight when my cheap rate starts.

[ewanlatham]

Thanks for the videos. Very useful. I have been wondering if there is an automation that would “export” any spare power in the battery prior to off peak period. Only way I have found is to add a time period with an artificially high sell price… wonder if there is a better way?

[bwiele]

Hi Zach. Thanks for your super helpful videos. I have a system with 41 solar panels and 2 Powerwall 3s. Con Ed is our utility and they currently do 1-for-1 net metering and we don’t have a time of day rate plan. I believe it’s the case that for us, we’re indifferent between using our batteries to power the house at night vs. using grid power, right? The next day we would use excess solar to either recharge the batteries or to just export more energy. Am I thinking about this the right way? If yes, is there a benefit to cycling energy into and out of the batteries, or not really? Thanks for any guidance.

[jasonnuss]

Hey Zack, changed all my setting in netzero, but also followed your instruction in your video from the year prior about adding your rate plan and what not. I added all the automations but do not see the settings being reflected on my Tesla app. I see that netzero has been added as a third party on my Tesla app though. Any steps I may have missed?

[SVEverydaysailor]

I’m trying a variation with the difference being that automation #3 was replaced with set reserve to 100% at midnight, enable time based control and grid charging and solar export only. In theory, this should let me charge during super off peak rates to 100% by 6am and let me export all my solar until peak rates start, right?

[Poeticnotes]

Does it matter the order the automations are shown in the Netzero app? I followed your exact steps and in my automations it shows Automation No. 1 / Step 1., Automation No. 2 / Step 3 and Automation No. 3 / Step 2.

[philbou]

Zach, thanks for all you videos. I have solar panels and powerwall. y energy plan are free night from 9pm to 7 am. Can you explain and show the best setup? also if i use Netzero do i need to erase seting from Tesla app? thanks again.

[vahng]

Can you add one for ev charging? I generally charge overnight from the grid but i know if I'm self powered it'll drain the battery

[mcscience]

Zach
Do I have to change any of my settings on my Tesla app in order for Net Zero to work?