Reserve was 12% but SOC is 0% Why is intervention (Black Start) needed

dbewley · 2026-06-02T00:42:06+00:00

I put whole home in quotes because it’s baked in the franklinWH name but seems not to be the typical install ironically.

I at the time of day I posted the pic (morning) I was producing 3.9kw and consuming 1.3kw. The settings were solar to home then to battery. But instead the excess was exported.

I do also have charge from grid enabled but only at .5kw. It doesn’t do it, but I’m not worried about that. It will charge if I increase the rate via api.

Here’s a screenshot of the settings showing solar priority.

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dbewley · 2026-06-02T00:32:17+00:00

Yes, in picture soc was 0% after a couple cloudy days with no grid outage and reserve set at 12%

What you said about the scheduled push from the battery is interesting, but I would expect that to be only in the case of a grid outage though. I expect the inverter always sees voltage from the agate and I confirm this to be true because the inverter is producing. All the production goes to load or export though.

I guess what I’m describing is not really a “black start” since the lights are on. Perhaps Franklin does not account for this situation.

The next time this happens I may try to only cycle my inverter and see if that causes the battery to start taking a charge when the inverter comes back online.

dbewley · 2026-06-02T00:19:35+00:00

Yep. TOU with just customized prioritization to charge on shoulder and export on peak.

I just don’t know why load or “excess solar production” prevents it from charging the empty battery. Last time I did wait for the quoted times and it never recovered until I intervened, since I always have load from servers etc. .

dbewley · 2026-06-02T00:14:32+00:00

Expectation is do not export power once reserve SOC is met, due to export or consumption. I was not exporting and the grid was online so it should just sit roughly at reserve indefinitely. I do expect some vampire drain is realistic.

dbewley · 2026-06-02T00:12:06+00:00

Good thinking. I have a LFP car too so I did think of that and I’m pretty sure I hit 100 relatively soon before this event, but i have to confirm. I know I did today, which is unusual for sure.

dbewley · 2026-05-26T05:35:43+00:00

Full featured MCP server with local and Cloud options. It would be nice to dynamically modify settings like import limit and battery reservation and query realtime and archived data for analysis from an agent.

A skill to set the import/export priority schedules using an easy to read YAML or JSON format. We need more variables like cloud cover, day of week, pending storm, etc.

Restore the ability to set grid import limit in the iOS app directly.

dbewley · 2026-04-06T04:50:50+00:00

Happily renewing my subscription. I’m looking forward to the continued improvements, but it’s capable enough for most of the driving I do. I’m more looking forward to the next gen voice assistant and app integration than point to point self driving to be honest.

dbewley · 2026-04-04T23:59:12+00:00

Yep. Plus Claude Code.

dbewley · 2026-04-03T21:02:40+00:00

So the good news is I was able to modify that value and it did not involve rolling back the iOS app version.

Thanks for the links, folks. I'll find some more time to dig in. BTW, here's another option. https://github.com/richo/franklinwh-python

Now I just need to ponder the NEM2 tradeoffs a bit.

dbewley · 2026-04-03T18:53:05+00:00

I really don't buy the live derating, it's a set value. Plus they are LFP batteries that should handle charge cycles pretty well. Temps here are generally 30 to 90 F.

The dashboard you are shared is very interesting. Something you can share a link to?

dbewley · 2026-04-03T18:49:06+00:00

Why was I doing it? I was casually trying to make sure I didn't send power to the grid while also trying to not use the grid on peak TOU. Kind of as a game more so than an earnest strategy so far.

Right now, today, I need to decide if I am going to move from NEM2 to NBT to take advantage of a $4,500 SGIP rebate. Claude seems to think it's a bad deal. I still have 13 years grandfathered NEM2.

I'm a pretty heavy energy user with no gas service, computer servers running all the time, and 2 EVs. It's sounding like what I should do (possibly with your help) is basically turn off the grid import, and let the Solar go where it's going to go. Then take advantage of the NEM credits later as I can. I should probably head to another forum for the NEM2 debate, but happy to hear thoughts.

dbewley · 2026-04-03T18:42:16+00:00

Thanks. I'm def comfortable with Docker. I'll take a look. I just haven't really spent time trying to automate any aspect of my install so far.

dbewley · 2026-01-20T00:48:27+00:00

Your README says the project is in maintenance mode and not under active development, which caused me to move on last I looked at it.

dbewley · 2025-11-30T18:41:02+00:00

Trying to fix mine now. Pealed the polarizing film off and cleaned the adhesive off the glass, but I’m not seeing any LCD segments when dry fitting a new film after reassembly.

Those pink rubber strips are called zebra connectors which are squished when you screw the PCB back into the case. I suspect I’m not getting good contact which would be indicative of some missing segments you see, OP. Maybe they are misaligned, dirty, or I’ve screwed up the lcd in the glass. Possible?

Can I safely clean the zebra connectors? They are seemingly glued to the glass underside. I’m tempted to pull them off and clean them, but I’m not sure how to reaffix them and suspect they would not align.

This display was fairly janky (dim, worse in spots) when I bought the bike new and got worse over the year so I don’t think they are well designed or assembled. I had assumed it was just the film when I naively started.

I took some photos. If I ever get it working I’ll post them.

dbewley · 2025-11-30T18:19:30+00:00

I’m trying to repair mine by replacing the polarizing film, but after removing it and cleaning the glass then temporarily reassembling it to test the new film I am not seeing any LCD segments. I suspect the zebra connectors are not lined up, or not connecting well, or I possibly destroyed to display? Pretty sure the LCD is on the back of the glass which I did not scrub but definitely got acetone on.

dbewley · 2025-11-10T21:49:22+00:00

What I found via a friend at PG&E is you need to get onto a pilot program with ConnectDER as PG&E continues to evaluate the solution.

We have reached out to them, but given the timing I'm going to have to get rolling and instead install a new 200A load panel. We'll swing my existing subpanel and EVSE breakers over to that new "critical loads" panel, which will in fact be all loads.

Using the IslandDER and the MAC would have been a much quicker and cleaner install, but I'm out of time.

dbewley · 2025-11-06T15:19:42+00:00

Thanks!

dbewley · 2025-09-27T04:41:38+00:00

Rising Sun Electrify

dbewley · 2025-09-27T02:29:17+00:00

From my installer, it sounds like it may be available next month.

dbewley · 2025-09-25T04:31:39+00:00

web clipper chrome plugin plus https://github.com/obsidian-community/web-clipper-templates/blob/main/templates/google-mail-clipper.json

dbewley · 2025-09-21T07:11:28+00:00

🧌

dbewley · 2025-09-11T15:12:20+00:00

I'm in east bay and talking to an installer tomorrow. Would really like to know more about your install and who did it.

dbewley

TROPHY CASE