# Powerwall question



## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hello...

I am in the middle of my House electric changes planing and was wondering if anyone here already has experiences with any kind of full House UPS like Powerwall or similar...
I am not talking about off grid...
Just can't life with all the brown and blackouts here in our rural area and would like stopping to place small UPS in every corner when i could have a house wide one...
Can these kind of devices even used, when no solar is in place yet, to straighten the house electricity?
Like always kept charged by utility power and only kicking in in case of over/under or no power from grid?!
And later hooking solar to it as additional charging option to reduce electricity usage from Grid?


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

From what I have read about Powerwall, yes that is an option. But please, check with someone more in the know about Powerwall


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

I've been talking to Tesla about their Powerwall for a couple months now and have learned a lot.

The Powerwall will provide backup power but its not instant. I believe there is a 1 second delay between the grid going down and the Powerwall's built in inverter kicking in.. It has a built in 5000 watt, pure sign, split-phase 120/240 inverter.. NICE! But I believe there is a short delay for it to activate.. 

There is also the issue of "islanding" meaning that you can not feed power back into the grid when the grid is down. Some kind of critical load transfer switch is required.. It can be automated, but there still needs to be a transfer switch.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hmmm...THX...any other idea to buffer ****ty "out here" electricity?
I need reliable and not flickering power...in pure sine wave...
So i would love to have a device with batteries in front of my household, that conditions the power all the time and kicks in in real time when drop, peak or off...
I know that there a re several UPS that do that...so there should be a house UPS as well...


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

You have to specify how much power you need and for how long and for what purpose.. 

A 1 second delay for a powerwall to kick in is nothing.... unless you're on a computer that is.. but they sell UPS power supplies for computers that will give you an amount of run time after power goes out.

For things like your fans or refrigerator, one second wouldn't make squat difference.. 

UPS power supplies are expensive.. small ones not so bad.. big ones run into the thousands of dollars quick and are designed for things like operating rooms, air traffic control or other critical systems.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Murby...i know...but every time my well pump kicks in, my light flickers, same with fridge...
We are in 2017 and not in Nicolas Tesla's time, where one was happy to have electricity...
I get...new Country...new rules...and the outlet only gives u 120Volt and <1800 watts at 60hz...but i cannot believe that any US citizen accepts flickering light...or even brown outs...
I have UPS's on my Living room entertainment, my computers, server rack, etc...but i would just like to live without those but also without back in the woods electric...My power company says, that this would be normal...think they never went to Europe yet...i know i whine on high level, but that's why i was wondering if power wall or similar would do the power stabilization/conditioning or not...and a second is def to much...


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> Murby...i know...but every time my well pump kicks in, my light flickers, same with fridge...
> We are in 2017 and not in Nicolas Tesla's time, where one was happy to have electricity...
> I get...new Country...new rules...and the outlet only gives u 120Volt and <1800 watts at 60hz...but i cannot believe that any US citizen accepts flickering light...or even brown outs...
> I have UPS's on my Living room entertainment, my computers, server rack, etc...but i would just like to live without those but also without back in the woods electric...My power company says, that this would be normal...think they never went to Europe yet...i know i whine on high level, but that's why i was wondering if power wall or similar would do the power stabilization/conditioning or not...and a second is def to much...


Try running larger gauge wire from your circuit breaker panel to your loads that make your lights flicker.. Even a temporary setup with wires hanging lose while you monitor it would be fine. 

When you do the test, use a volt meter and see how far the voltage drops at the connection to your breaker box and at the connection to the load.

That will tell you were the problem is. Your lights are flickering because the start-up current from the motors are drawing so much energy that its sucking down the rest of the circuits. This could be caused by inadequate sized feed lines from your utility company.. The distance from the high voltage transformer on the utility pole to your home, or the wire gauge feeding power.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hi Murby...
I know that all...but as always thx for explaining...and your try to help
It is the line from the pole to the house or the what ever comes after it towards utility...
When wellpump starts, sometimes voltage drops to 90 volts on the 120 line...


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## Steve_S (Feb 25, 2015)

Could be the Pump Failing too and in the process as its could be drawing more power at startup.
Power from the Grid to Panel is 240V split phase which turns into 120V at the panel and the most commonly used water pumps are 240V. You should do a load test to see what that pump is drawing at startup.

BTW: Due to Musk's deal with Australia and now they are jumping in to help Puerto Rico recover from the Hurricane Destruction, powerwall units will be somewhat backordered for a bit.


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> Hi Murby...
> I know that all...but as always thx for explaining...and your try to help
> It is the line from the pole to the house or the what ever comes after it towards utility...
> When wellpump starts, sometimes voltage drops to 90 volts on the 120 line...


How much distance is there between your circuit breaker box and the first utility pole transformer?

How old is your circuit breaker box? Do you see any corrosion or oxidation in it? Did you check to make sure all your lugs are tightened down properly? 

On older homes with aluminum wire coming from the utility pole, there is the possibility that the main power lugs in your breaker box have become loose.. usually this shows some visual indication of them arcing or heating up under heavy loads but not always. 

You'll need to take care here not to electrocute yourself or perhaps its better to call an electrician and let them electrocute themselves.. But if it was me, I'd either call the utility company and tell them I have to break the seal on their meter to pull it because I need to check those lugs, or I'd wrap up the proper tool and do it live.. (I'd probably just wrap up a tool with electrical tape and do it while the circuit is live but that's just me, I'm used to working on large 3phase 480 volt systems).. 

I hesitate to tell you to dig into this without completely shutting down power.. one mistake and its lights out for you.... figuratively and literally...


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

One other question.. Does it ALWAYS give you problems or does it just do this at certain times of the day?

For instance, does it do the same thing at 1am in the morning?


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Hello...thx for your thoughts...it is always...and if i vacuum and well kicks on it is clsoe to collapse and tv/pc turns off...well nat anymore since i have my UPS's in place...will check for breaker box issues...
It was blue is red and plus is minus, right?


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

I don't know what you're asking "Blue is red and plus is minus"


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Old German electrical personal joke...was not sure if it translates to English...
Was supposed to mean that someone really has no clue to scare the other side he is talking to


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> Old German electrical personal joke...was not sure if it translates to English...
> Was supposed to mean that someone really has no clue to scare the other side he is talking to


Oh ya.. right over my head.. No translation at all.. 

I'm used to it however.. My wife is Russian and stuff goes by me all the time with her.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Haha...Stastvutje...kak dila...harashoh?


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

Meinecke said:


> Haha...Stastvutje...kak dila...harashoh?


While I understand what you just said, its only because they taught me that one.
My brain see's it as "Cock De La".. 

My standard response to any Russian I don't understand would be "KREE JAFFA!" 

Spasibo.

My wife talks to her mother across the planet with Skype all the time.. My kid, who just started kindergarten, knows more Russian than I do.

Oddly however, my wife or mother in law will sometimes say something in Russian and I'll respond out of some sort of instinct.. mostly an English response but occasionally some Russian will pop out and they get all wide eyed and stare at me.. Then I'll look at them and say "What? What I say?" LOL

The last time it happened, my wife's mother asked if I was mad (in Russian) and I heard the question and answered "I'm pissed" in English. I have no idea what "Is he mad" in Russian is...


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## Steve_S (Feb 25, 2015)

LMAO: Kree Jaffa... Indeed... Dal shakka mel !


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Love that forum...you guys crack me up...


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## Mupwi (Jul 14, 2014)

if your supply line is undersized to handle the starting load you could try instaling a soft starter on the pump to prevent the heavy starting load but as others have sugested check the terminals all through for loose or coroded conections before you start buying stuff


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## Solar Geek (Mar 14, 2014)

Mupwi said:


> if your supply line is undersized to handle the starting load you could try instaling a soft starter on the pump to prevent the heavy starting load but as others have sugested check the terminals all through for loose or coroded conections before you start buying stuff


I don't think that will help him. Our pump is soft start Grunfoss and we have our lights dim at 11pm-11:05 pm every night in 2 rooms. Electric company spent hours trying to figure out why and after much line testing etc (everything said above basically) they took me down to basement, triggered the water pump manually and yup, lights dimmed.
We must have a pre-set fill up on the water softener or else the pump runs a self check at that time. 
At least i know for sure what causes it. 

Use of many electric items (hair dryers, computers, vacuums) at one time does not trigger it. ONLY the soft start pump. 
Hope this helps


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