A Look Inside SunVault™ Storage

[@hmurchison8123]

Nice Matt. Having the subpanel connected to the backup gen is a way to get more circuits backuped up. We've had pretty good luck with just relocating breakers into the Hub+ for people that are comfortable with the 10 breaker spaces.

[@mattbrost3094]

Agreed, that's the beauty of the HUB+. I needed more circuits backed up, so the sub was an easy solution.

[@russael001]

I had 18, 420w Sunpower panels installed on my roof along with the Sunvault storage system with the extra battery for a total capacity of 26kw/h of storage. I wish there was more - the secondary battery cabinet is the same exact case but doesn't have the inverter in it; if they offered a way to fit 2 additional battery packs inside that for a total of 39kw/h, that would've been awesome, otherwise it is wasted space. Each battery is 7.5kw/h of storage, and they install them in pairs. That being said, it does have somewhat adequate storage for my needs, and I chose to have my entire service panel backed up. Most of my appliances all run on natural gas - furnace, hot water heater, clothes dryer, and my stove. I do have a small house - 900sq/ft with a basement. I do have an older, crusty central a/c system, but while it is running, it only consumes about 2200w. The inverter supplied in the sunvault system is rated for 6800w continuous, and a lot more in surge watts. I have not yet tried running my central a/c solely from it, but with the panels producing power during the day, it should have no trouble. I do have plans to upgrade my HVAC system with a new high efficiency gas furnace with a heat pump, so hopefully that will let me nuke the gas bill a fair bit. I've had only one power outage since having the system installed, and it performed well. I came home, heard a bunch of small engine generators droning away, saw the street light out, but my house was lit, and I was able to open my garage door with the opener, no problem, went inside, and pretended power wasn't out. A neighbor across the street was staring daggers at me. :) The only issue I noticed is that power would flicker (brighter) once every second, and if you listened to the inverter, you could hear it pulsing. No idea why it was doing that, but it wasn't enough to make us sick or anything. After a few minutes of that, it would smooth out and I'd have steady, solid power, but maybe 15 minutes later, it would start the pulsing again. I could really see it with incandescent light bulbs (have those in my old fridge) but I could also see it with LED bulbs. The only other issue I've been experiencing is with the power company. Specifically, high grid voltage. I didn't know this at the time (I wound up calling Sunpower support thinking something was wrong with the battery), but the battery inverter is set to shut down and stop charging/discharging if grid voltage goes over 252v. Voltage routinely creeps to 253 - 255. Everything here still works, but instead of having solar charge the battery, it exports to the grid instead, and I think some of the micro-inverters shut down too, but not all of them. Been fighting with the power company to fix the issue for 5 weeks now. Spoke to a guy on the distribution side and he checked the switching station and voltage there was perfect, so he checked plant maps and found a cluster of transformers that feeds my neighborhood set with a 2.5% boost voltage. Hopefully they get that resolved sooner than later. Aside from all of that, I'm mostly satisfied with the system as a whole. I do wonder though if my system is undersized - the sales contractor swears the system is designed to produce 101% of my yearly consumption, but I earned zero credit since my system was commissioned in the beginning of July last year. I hope to see something different this year, or I will order more panels.

[@vickensarkissian-po4ht]

When will they fix the reliability of SunVault ? System shuts down completely every 3 to 4 weeks and requires SunPower Tech Support to reboot remotely, that is if they are not off for the weekend or holidays. Will have to wait for Solar Generation until after July 4th due to no support.

[@zeinaali4207]

Hi, does the Sunvault battery power the whole home at night or does it only power the back up circuits? Thank you.

[@sunpower]

Hello. When the power goes out, SunVault Storage can provide seamless backup to power your essential appliances, such as keeping the lights on. For more information, please check the link bit.ly/35o2r6s.

[@onefireguy]

Is there any reason why we wouldn't just back up our entire panel? We should be able to limit the use of power at the user interfaces during an extended outage. My thought process is that I would like to have the battery system, propane powered generator, and solar array and use the grid as primary, battery as secondary, generator as third source for longer outages and recharging, and sell back excess solar to the grid. Is that reasonable for a consumer system of two buildings with a total sq ft of 1600 feet?

[@zm9142]

Certain things require a lot of power which arent necessary in outages. Ie a dishwasher or an AC unit will drain any battery in a matter of hrs. Also it has a voltage max per breaker. It would make more sense to add another battery instead of a generator, but the generator would give you more diversification. However these batteries can last up to a week or longer if you use them sparingly and the sun comes back up. One battery should be plenty for a 1600sqft house used specifically for backup

[@onefireguy]

@@zm9142 I understand that switching required is not approved in all states. Is there a common work around?

[@ddbear8786]

I have the same question, I am interested in backing up the entire main panel from the battery plus having a generator that I can switch to in case there is an extended power outage. The SunVault would keep things going in the house seamlessly until I can get the generator started. How might the system accommodate this type of main panel connection and source switching?

[@pavellabovich7654]

Why do they say 10 backed up circuits if there are 12? Can only 10 be used, because 2 are taken by the storage inverter?

[@mattbrost3094]

Correct.

[@onefireguy]

@@mattbrost3094 Can the circuits be tied back to specific circuits via sub panel? For instance, I have a 400 sq foot cottage on one, 100A breaker that leads to the cottage, and a subpanel in the cottage. Could that be a single one of the 10 available?

[@Arctic513]

I just purchased for install, a Sunpower solar panel system. They said the Sun vault is not available yet, so how much will it run? And when will it come out?

[@sunpower]

Hello. Please send us an email to [e-mail] and we`ll have a solar advisor to contact you and discuss the matter. Thank you

[@JesusIsLord1976]

Is there no audio to his voice? Only hear music. Thanks

[@sunpower]

Hi Manny, Matt's voice is coming through loud and clear for us. Sorry you're experiencing issues.

[@thomasbuck996]

@@sunpower Are you in Mono?

[@MysteryS68]

They seriously need to cut down the size of these boxes

[@jeffreyyee6009]

Cost Savings Mode doesn't run during the weekend, rendering the battery useless. I have to default it to Self Supply or else the battery goes unused on the weekends. I called customer service and they said they're working on it, but they've been working on this for years now... This is just bad customer service after they've already locked people in. Ridiculous

[@sunpower]

Hello and thanks for reaching out. We would like to be of assistance. Please provide us with your contact information and we will have a representative reach out to you at a time that works for you.

[@jeffreyyee6009]

@@sunpower I prefer not to post my contact info on KZbin, is there a way I can reach out to you?

[@sunpower]

Yes, our apologies, Jeffrey. You can email your information to [e-mail].

[@oldshield]

don't need the music, difficult to hear the guy with that distraction.

[@whatamove]

My right ear is lonely.

[@paulb5432]

Stay away form Sunpower if your system goes down there is no customer service!!!

[@sunpower]

Hi. We want to help. Please see my response to your earlier comment on this same topic.

[@paulb5432]

@@sunpower I have sent emails no replies