Power During a Grid Outage

Each A Battery can provide approximately 5 kW of continuous power. You can back up any number of appliances, so long as their combined power usage does not exceed the total power rating of your Battery.  

Starting some loads with high inrush current during a power outage, like air conditioners and motors, may overload A Battery and cause it to stop providing power to your home. If this occurs, turn off these loads, and A Battery will attempt to restart within a minute. 

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Energy Management During a Grid Outage

Weather events causing power outages may bring grid uncertainty where your outage could last days, not hours, with lower solar production. The best way to extend your use of A Battery during a grid outage is to reduce the use of energy-intensive appliances like air conditioners, car charging, electric heaters and dishwashers.

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Solar Panel Conditions

Some weather conditions may cause a reduction in your solar panel production, like depositing leaves or snow on your panels. Consider checking your panels daily during poor weather conditions to safely clear obstructions.

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Solar Production During an Extended Outage

If A Battery cannot charge at its expected rate, it will signal your solar inverter to reduce or turn off to protect your home from the excessive power produced. This typically occurs when the Battery is approaching 100% charge. Once the Battery has the ability to accept power again, your solar inverter will be signaled to produce and will re-start after the qualification period required by your local requirements.

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Running Low on Energy

If A Battery has less than 10% energy remaining, it will enter a standby state. A Battery will automatically attempt to recharge from solar for 6 minutes every hour between 8 am and 4 pm local time. If enough solar is available to charge A Battery, it will remain on. Otherwise, it will wait for the next hour.

 

Restarting A Battery

If your Battery system stops producing power, it may be in a standby state after running low on energy or after repeated overloads. To restart your system, switch off any energy-intensive loads to reduce the amount of power needed. You can initiate a restart with a quick toggle of the on/off switch on any  Battery in your system. Remember that in order to maintain a connection to the Gateway, you must leave the Battery switch in the ON position. 

A restart consumes some of the Battery’s remaining stored energy. If energy is low and there is insufficient solar to charge, A Battery will return to a standby state after 6 minutes, so it is best to initiate a restart during daylight hours.​

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With Solar

When the sun rises, solar begins powering the home. When additional power is required within the home, the home can pull from the utility grid. 

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A Battery is charged by solar during the day, when solar panels are producing more electricity than the home is consuming. A Battery then stores that energy until the home needs it, such as when solar is no longer producing at night, or when the utility grid is offline during a power outage.

The next day when the sun comes out, solar recharges A Battery so you have a cycle of clean, renewable energy. 

 

Without Solar

If your electricity rates vary throughout the day, A Battery will charge when electricity costs are low and discharge when electricity costs are high, generating automatic savings. A Battery will also provide seamless backup power by detecting grid outages and automatically becoming the home's main power source.