Hey all, I got a quote for an 8.8kw system with a PW3 and expansion pack in the Bay Area, CA and keep going back and forth on whether to purchase the system with a loan (~$40,000) or leasing the system until the buyout after five years. The buyout is capped at $24,950 or FMV, whichever is less.

The difference between lease and purchase is not very much overall and the lease would free up some capital to do some other home improvement projects. Are there additional taxes or fees associated with the buyout after five years? Does anyone have any strong opinions either way or any horror stories one way or the other?

Hi fellow MA Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) users.
I don't have a Tesla system but reading through here I deduct that you guys get a notification when an event is triggered by National Grid.

I have a SolArk system and we don't get any notifications, not a "heads up", not a "it's happening", not even a "this is what happened" notification. CRICKETS!!!!

Can one / some of you be so generous as to post here when you get these events?

It would help greatly in being able to "verify" the payout we get at the end of the year, so far, NOBODY PROVIDES ANY REPORTS for that, neither National Grid nor SolArk (in my case as a SolArk user).

Thank you!!!

A funny thing happened on June 10, 2026. My Tesla app started showing zero exports to the grid whereas before that I always had exports going to the grid once the powerwall batteries were fully charged (solar goes to charge the batteries until full, then excess to the grid). I also noticed that my reported Home Kw Use nearly doubled from what it is normally every day once the batteries got full, and the Home Use curve was mimicking the Solar Generation Curve.

After a month of troubleshooting with Tesla Support, turns out a glitch got into my system somehow on June 10 that caused this error in the App data reporting. Fortunately, the electrical company still received the correct amount of Grid Exports to give me credits as they do not rely on the Tesla data but on the meter itself.

So exported energy was being incorrectly allocated to Home usage rather than Grid export. While the Powerwalls were charging, all energy flows were normal. On July 19, Tesla pushed Gateway firmware 26.10.3 (build 4f924de8) into my system which fixed the problem. After the update, Grid Export and Home energy accounting returned to normal.

Question. I’m installing a system with 4 powerwall 3’s and 2 expansions. Problem is powerwalls and inverter because they’re as one unit are going to be about a 1000’ away from the solar via a trench. Everything I’m seeing says the mcis can’t be further than 525’ and that’s for a round trip, so half that really. Any ideas on how to make this work?

Is there any way to export my power from battery to grid during high peak rates at night ?? Thanks in advance. Rick. If so, how ?? Right now it only exports my solar power to grid. When the sun goes down, I still have high peak rates that I could sell back to Ameren.

Hello,

We have solar and two Powerwall 2 batteries. When we have an outage, our power consumption is throttled to .6. kW. That’s fine but in an outage during summer, sometimes we do want to run our a/c for a little bit just to cool our house down, then shut the a/c off to conserve power. Any way to adjust this setting?

I had solar installed with a powerwall. Those have worked pretty well for the past year. Considered getting expansion packs. Asked Tesla for a quote to install expansion pack . Anyway, total price would be 5,900 for the expansion and 6,500 for the installation. Seems high but maybe the limit they are willing to come out to install it. Should I even attempt to see if they come down or perhaps look for a third party installer?

Peak hours with Xcel here is 5-9PM, I noticed during this time the powerwall is directing solar to the grid versus home - problem is my net metering isn’t 1:1 during this time so I’d rather have it be powering the home - it isn’t much during this time since it’s so late in the day, but enough to add up - anyone know how to fix this? Thank you!

Please be kind, not sure I have all my terms correct. My main panel,is a 200amp service. I have a sub-panel in my basement that has a 30amp breaker for my resistance pool (really love my resistance pool) and a 15 amp breaker for a sunroom up in my main house. When the PWs kick in for whole house backup, (aka grid shutdown) I don’t want my pool to be using the PWs. I’m told that there is something about a Tesla compatible switch on just that circuit that automatically drops non-essential loads when backup power is limited. I’m told this is a known Tesla feature category. Thanks for any help on where to get that equipment or how to wire/code it going forward. OR, maybe it’s an option in the Tesla app? Thanks.

Hello, is it standard practice for Tesla technicians to connect Powerwall 3 to external Powerwall 2 inverter when replacing the Powerwall 2 to the 3's? Did you have issues after installation of the Powerwall 3's?

I looked into why my solar panels were missing from my Tesla app compared with typical images. It appears my system was configured with the installation type as Solar Roof rather than Solar Panel, even though I do not have a Tesla Solar Roof.

For those familiar with the system, is this change purely cosmetic in the app, or could incorrect algorithms affect solar production or charging?

I logged into the battery using Tesla One and confirmed the setting. Would changing it cause problems, or should I ask the installer to adjust it?

Got the latest PW firmware update 26.18.3 Thursday. Just noticed my solar production is doing weird things now. Anyone else having this issue with the latest PW firmware? Pics are one day before update and the day of update.

Update : July 19, 2026.

After suggestions from few folks here I was able to resolve the issue now I see 10+ kw in peak. First of all thank you very much all the inputs.

Here is what I did.

Today morning, connected the inverter 2 using Tesla one app. I saw it was in idle mode and there one error stating ground Fault. There was option to clear the ground fault. Looks like it rebooted once clicked the clear button on the app. Heard noises after it came back online. Then I saw the electricity flowing. Wow wow wow this is simple fix and researching a lot spent too much time on this now. Attached the updates screenshot for everyone’s reference.

Below is the original post.

Is this how much I get peak? I have switched ON after PTO. This was first day today. Tesla didn’t send me email to switch on however I switched by pulling the rapid shutdown received email from my utility though. Is Tesla blocking on their end as system is fully not approved. I have two inverters and no power wall. First day it has generated 42kW. Location Fairfax VA, date July 17,2026.

for background: I installed solar panels on my home in February 2026. I have a 12kw system with 2 PW3's. My system broke early March due to an arc fault which burnt my inverter to a crisp. Tesla replaced my powerwalls at the end of June.

I've been monitoring the solar production pretty much every day since then, and for about the first 2 weeks production was great, everything worked as it should. But a week ago my panels stopped producing, I called tesla and they said something about my solar strings and that I would have to schedule an appointment. The next day solar productions working again! And at full power so I know all my strings are operating as they should. For two days they worked, then I woke up yesterday and they weren't working. But today they are! The difference between yesterday and today? I charged my car yesterday.

I am almost certain that charging my car is functionally breaking my solar panels for 24 hrs. I'm going to charge it again tonight to confirm this theory, but in the meantime I cannot find anything about this online and wanted to see if anyone else experienced this or had any insight into why this may be happening. I'll update the post or comment on it tomorrow if my solar is down.

My Tesla app previously used to show the energy data being produced by the panels and the grid, and the energy being sent to the grid historically(Day/Week/Month). Now I am only seeing the snap shot of that data. Tesla has told me that the historical data is no longer visible and that I would need to contact my energy company for that info.

This sounds unsatisfactory to me. Has anyone else had similar issues? Are you seeing the historical data still? My now only says 100% energy from the panels -which is obviously incorrect(I don't have the Powerbanks).

My PW + has been recalled and they couldn't select a better time to disable my PW :( The summer heat and posssible grid outages, wild fire..... I'm in LA county and with SCE. Just want to know the experience/possible issues for those who have completed the replacement.

I called Tesla this morning and asked about the following:

1. I want to schedule the on site apptthey said they couldn't sechedule until parts in warehouse. they won't provide timing but said it would take 3-4 weeks...
2. I asked about if they are pulling building permit from LA county

They said battery upgrade/replacement, permit is not needed. I'm not sure about this.

3) NEM 2 contract to stay intact

I read somehwere here that their NEM 2 got changed to NEM 3 after PW replacement. Tesla kept saying they don't need to change anything on their end. It's with SCE.

4) since mine is PW +, it comes with inverter. I'm not up to date on PW 3 design and architecture. Tesla said it won't affect the NEM2 contract or export limit.

5) I asked Tesla to renable my PW so I can continue to use it while waiting for parts. they said they can't do it but I read somewhere here that they did it for some people.

I would appreciate for those of you in LA county and with SCE to kindly share your PW replacement timeline and issues/concerns with me.