Safely disconnect all energy sources

Fred B

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
Got an installation that I need to replace the main panel. There is an exterior disconnect a solar system that feeds a power wall and for back feed and power wall acts a generator when primary power is off. Question is what is the shut down sequence to eliminate all power without causing an issue to the PV and power wall? Or does it matter?
 
Is there a Tesla gateway on the load side of of the panel your replacing? Or is there a Tesla meter collar? Can you sketch a line diagram?

If there is a Gateway and you shut down the grid-side supply to the gateway then it should disconnect the microgrid. That should leave the main panel bus only supplied by the grid like usual. However if the installers passed any backup load wiring back through the main panel (as they often do), that wiring would still be energized from the backup panel. So probably best advice from here is to shut it all down.

If there is a Tesla Meter collar then the Powerwall will definitely have to be shut down.

I don't think there's a sequence that matters but I could be wrong. The client should really probably have someone from Tesla involved. (Good luck with that.)
 
Fred B said:
Got an installation that I need to replace the main panel. There is an exterior disconnect a solar system that feeds a power wall and for back feed and power wall acts a generator when primary power is off. Question is what is the shut down sequence to eliminate all power without causing an issue to the PV and power wall? Or does it matter?
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There is likely a micro grid interconnect device (a transfer switch) as well. Shutdown and startup sequence can change slightly with different inverters, but generally for a hybrid system with battery backup it is:
Place inverter in standby or off mode with any logical switch it might have.
Turn off battery logically if it has that capability.
Turn off DC disconnect to battery
Turn off DC disconnect on inverter
Put transfer switch in bypass so critical loads can be grid powered, if it has that capability.
Turn off AC disconnect between grid and inverter
Turn off any backed breaker the inverter may be landed on.
Some systems are installed with a rapid shutdown switch for the PV inverter and some have an emergency disconnect or remote switch for the battery.
If you post what make and model of inverter and any MID or transfer switch maybe we can provide more detailed guidance.
Then lock out and tag out and check v
 
The system is not a Tesla, it is a Solar Edge. I know Powerwall is a Tesla but using the term like kleenex.

From my guess there is what looks like an ATS but besides a connection from the inverter and the utility there is also a generator terminal currently not being used inside.

The lines seem to feed from the utility disconnect to the solar edge "ATS", power wall DC feeds to the inverter where the PV DC also enter, then AC to the "ATS" and then to the main breaker panel.
There is a disconnect at the service, at the transfer and at the inverter there is both AC and DC disconnects, one DC from the powerwall and the other from the rooftop PV.
 
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