A Comprehensive Guide to Testing Your Sonnen Home Battery System
In the modern world, where energy sustainability and self-sufficiency are gaining importance, home battery systems like Sonnen have become popular choices for homeowners. These systems store surplus energy generated from renewable sources, such as solar panels, to be used when the cost of power is high and to provide you with a dependable backup power source during outages. However, like any technology, it’s essential to understand how to test and maintain your Sonnen home battery system to ensure optimal performance and longevity.
Why Test Your Sonnen Home Battery System?
Testing your Sonnen home battery system is crucial for several reasons: Performance Verification: Regular testing ensures that your battery system is operating as intended, storing, and releasing energy efficiently. Early Issue Detection: Testing can help identify any potential issues before they escalate, allowing for timely maintenance and preventing system downtime. Optimal Utilization: By understanding how to monitor and manage your battery system, you can make the most of the energy it stores, leading to potential cost savings.
Steps to Test Your Sonnen Home Battery System:
Safety First
Before you start, make sure to follow safety precautions. Familiarize yourself with your Sonnen user manual and locate the emergency shut-off switch in case you need to stop the test.
Verify Battery Charge:
Ensure that your Sonnen system has enough charge to perform the test. It’s recommended to have at least 50% battery charge before testing. You can check the battery charge level through the screen on the Sonnen unit, on the Sonnen online portal or the Sonnen smartphone app.
Familiarize Yourself with the Sonnen unit: Your Sonnen home battery system has a few ways to change settings as well as how to interact with the battery. It is good to look through your owner’s manual and know how they all work and when to make changes for the best experience during outages. Spend some time getting acquainted with the interface and its various features.
Check System Status: Regularly check the system status on the homeowner app. Look for any abnormal readings during or before you test the system. This can give you an early indication of any potential issues that might come up during a power outage or while you are testing the system.
Monitor Energy Flow: Observe how energy flows into and out of the battery system. During sunny days, your solar panels should be charging the battery. Take note of the energy stored and discharged.
To Preform a load test, you need to simulate a Power Outage: you will need to intentionally disconnect from the grid and run some of your essential home loads on battery power. This test assesses the battery’s capacity to supply energy during an outage. There are two methods to test your Sonnen home battery.
a) The first option involves switching off the main electrical supply to your home, mimicking an actual outage and activating your battery backup system. To do this, locate your main circuit breaker panel and turn off the main breaker for the property.
b) The second option is applicable if you have additional circuits that should remain powered during the test (e.g., rental properties, electric vehicle chargers, hot tubs, or pool pumps). When conducting this variation of the test, locate the main circuit breaker for the Sonnen battery unit itself and turn it off while keeping the rest of the breakers on. It’s important to note that with this testing method, you won’t be able to determine which circuits are on the backup system.
Time-Based Tests: Try running your home on battery power for various durations—30 minutes, an hour, or longer. Synergy suggests conducting this test for a complete day or for as long as possible to fully immerse yourself in the experience of using and interacting with the Sonnen system. This can help you gauge how long the battery can sustain your energy needs. As well as show you what things you may need to limit during outages.
Watch for Trends: Over time, monitor patterns in your energy consumption, solar production, and battery usage. This can help you optimize your energy usage and identify irregularities.
Seasonal Considerations: Test your system’s performance during different seasons. Solar energy production and energy consumption can vary, so understanding these patterns ensures year-round reliability.
Conclusion:
Testing your Sonnen home battery system isn’t just a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process to ensure its efficiency and longevity. By regularly monitoring your system, understanding its performance, and being prepared to troubleshoot minor issues, you can rely on your Sonnen home battery system to provide clean and reliable energy whenever you need it. Embracing this proactive approach not only benefits you as a homeowner but also contributes to a greener and more sustainable future. The primary advantage of testing your system while the utility grid is still operational is the capability to easily reconnect to it in the event of any issues.
Sonnen has released a new Sonnen app for customers to interact with and manage their Sonnen home battery system in a more personalized manner.
The new Sonnen App is available for download in the Apple App and Google Play stores, starting on April 11, 2023 and includes a range of enhanced features that help customers:
Get detailed insights on a household’s live energy flow, including real-time and historical energy production and consumption data.
Choose how a home’s energy data is displayed with the new and improved user interface.
Monitor the performance of an entire Sonnen home battery system all in one place, including the Sonnen battery and the rooftop solar system from a single screen.
Protect households from power outages by setting a minimum battery backup reserve or activating the emergency backup mode to immediately charge the battery to 100%.
Integrate and control smart appliances such as home automation systems or heat pumps in the future.
Please note that Sonnen will be inviting existing Sonnen customers to download the new Sonnen App via a notification in the existing “my sonnen app” and via a direct email sent out in late April 2023. If you are an existing my sonnen application user your email should already be associated with sonnen, if this is your first time using any sonnen application you will need to register your system with the email your installer used to commission your home battery.
Discover what the new Sonnen App can do for you today, click here.
Tips for Preparing for Planned and Extended Outages
To download a PDF version of this webpage, click here.
Power outages are inconvenient and becoming more common. Take control of your energy and prepare for an outage with these steps in order to maximize the performance of your sonnen and keep your essentials powered when the grid goes out.
Backup Buffer Considerations
You can use sonnen’s simple, customizable backup buffer setting to preserve a percentage of your storage capacity for grid outages, while enabling you to utilize and cycle your system daily.
If your primary goal is to minimize your reliance on grid power in Self-Consumption or Time of Use (TOU) Modes of operation, consider setting a low backup buffer (15-20%), which will still allow for maximum grid autonomy.
Alternatively, if your primary use case is backup power, you have two options: set your a high backup buffer (50-75%+) to ensure more backup capacity is preserved for grid outages or keep your system in Backup Mode.
3 Actions to Take in Advance of Planned Power Outages
Place the sonnen in Backup Mode as soon as you receive an outage warning, ideally 1-2 days prior to an anticipated outage to ensure maximum battery charge. Refer to Gen 3 User Manual, p 17-18 or Gen 2 User Manual, p. 12-14.
Confirm that microgrid settings are enabled and the three wake-up times are scheduled for the optimal times of day when the sun will saturate your solar array. Refer to Gen 3 User Manual, p 17-18 or Gen 2 User Manual, p. 12-14. For west, southwest, and south facing solar arrays, suggested microgrid wake up times are 11am, 12pm, and 1pm. For east facing solar arrays, suggested microgrid wake up times are 8am, 10am, and 12pm.Pro-Tip: If your sonnen has gone into Standby Mode (~5% state of charge), set reminders on your phone just before your wake up times to turn off all connected loads for a few minutes in order to enable a smooth wake up process.
Preserve your stored energy by reducing the loads powered by your sonnen and try to avoid discharging your battery below 5% during a power outage warning period.
Pro-Tip: Minimizing your loads powered during a grid outage will enable your battery to recharge. If you are unable to carefully manage your loads, connecting your sonnen to an auto-starting generator can prevent your system from entering Standby Mode by automatically charging it when it reaches a configured low state of charge.
What to Do If Your sonnen Goes into Standby Mode
At ~5% state of charge, your sonnen automatically goes into Standby Mode and waits for grid power to return or for the first set microgrid wake up time to energize the solar inverter — whichever comes first. Your sonnen is AC coupled, so solar production will always supply household loads first. Any excess solar power will be used to charge your sonnen.
Turn off all loads connected to your sonnen prior to your microgrid wake up times to ensure any available solar production can begin charging the sonnen back up to normal levels and out of Standby Mode.
Once the sonnen comes out of Standby Mode, wait at least 300 seconds (5 minutes) for the solar inverter to start providing power to your home. During these 5 minutes, all household loads will be powered by the remaining energy stored in the battery, which is why it is essential to turn them off.
Once your solar system is operating and your battery charge reaches an acceptable level, loads may be turned back on.
Pro-Tip: Heavier loads will drain your sonnen faster than other equipment. In a prolonged outage, limit consumption to essentials such as the refrigerator, low energy lights (like LED), internet, cell phone chargers, and TV/radio.
Acccesing Your sonnen When Internet Service Is Down
Figure 1 Mac ID — located on the inside of door of the sonnen system
If internet service is down, rest assured your sonnen will continue to operate as designed offline. Monitoring and remote accessibility will become available once the internet service provider (ISP) restores connectivity in the area. If your sonnen is powering the router that provides the Local Area Network (LAN), it is possible to access the system Dashboard Login page by finding the DHCP IP address the router has assigned to the sonnen.
Login to your home router and navigate to view your connected device list.
Identify your sonnen by locating its MAC ID on the list of connected devices. The router will identify a MAC ID and assign it an IP address. The sonnen IP
address will be listed next to its MAC ID (See Figure 1). Note: Some routers will name the sonnen “SB-serial #” along with listing the MAC ID (e.g. SB110570).
Open your web browser, type the sonnen IP address into the web address bar, and press Enter. You should now see the Login page for your sonnen.
Proceed by entering the following sonnen login credentials: Username: user and Password: Sonnen2016 (or sonnenUser3552)
Use Cases for an Uninterruptible Power Supply
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is an electrical device that enables an instantaneous transition of power when the main input power source fails. Adding a UPS can provide a more seamless experience in an outage and protect equipment such as: Home router — Your WiFi router may assign a new address for internet communications if it temporarily shuts off, which may interrupt the data connection with your sonnen. While you can correct this by rebooting your sonnen, plugging your router into a small UPS will prevent the router from turning off during an outage and enable seamless communication. Sensitive electronics (home computer, printers, external disk drives) — While it only takes sonnen a few seconds for your sonnen to begin providing power in the event of a grid outage, adding a UPS enables instantaneous transition of power for devices that may otherwise turn off and re-boot, protecting sensitive devices and preventing any potential file or data loss.
Important Safety Note and Additional Resources
If you rely on electronic medical equipment for your health, you should have an appropriate plan for charging batteries during extended outages in bad weather and for extended outages in general.
For issues you are unable to resolve on your own, your installer can assist you. If you cannot reach your installer, you can email sonnen’s Service Team at service@sonnen-batterie.com or call sonnen’s Service Hotline (818) 824-6363 Monday through Friday — 5am to 5pm PT. Voicemails are monitored outside of these hours. Reference your unit’s serial number.
Did you know that the “Eclipse” light on the front of your sonnen lets you know what is happening internally? Here is a key to the color coded light system.
Sonnen is updating the website where your battery settings are controlled, https://find-my.sonnen-batterie.com. Sonnen calls this site the Dashboard. Remember that you can only access this site from your home’s network for security purposes. (Also recall there are two Sonnen sites. The other site, https://my.sonnen-batterie.com, which is not effected, is for monitoring your usage and can be viewed remotely.) Important in this update: Sonnen is automatically changing the password to access the Dashboard. This change may have already taken effect for your system or it may take effect in the near future. Please take note:
If you see Commissioning Assistant 1.0:
Login: User
Password: Sonnen2016
If you see Commissioning Assistant 2.0:
Login: User
Password: sonnenUser3552
We recommend that you log in to the updated site and confirm that your battery settings are as you wish them to be. Synergy cannot change settings for you.
To read more about the Dashboard updates and configurations, click here for downloadable information. And we encourage you to watch this video.
Users have several different modes to choose from depending on their goals and usage. The sonnen battery system can charge from three primary sources; solar, the grid, or a generator (only in Back-Up mode). Which mode the sonnen is set to establishes the source of the energy in the battery. This blog will focus on modes of operation when the grid is up.
For purposes of this blog, I will be referencing sonnen’s Eco 10 or larger systems, and examples will be from my sonnen, an Eco 17.5 with a 9 kW solar system. My sonnen system feeds a protected load panel (PLP) which has the circuits I want backed up when the power is out.
There are three modes on a sonnen battery; Time of Use, Back Up, and Self-Consumption. Most of our users prefer the Time of Use (TOU) mode as it saves money daily, allows a buffer of stored energy for back-up power, and is arguably the most environmentally efficient. Back-Up mode is our second most popular option which maximizes back-up power stored for an outage and can also be used as a temporary option when outages are forecasted. Finally, Self-Consumption mode provides maximum autonomy from the grid, usually retains a smaller back-up buffer for outages, is considered environmentally efficient, and allows the maximum amount of power to be use/stored locally, minimizing importing or exporting to the grid.
Time of Use mode (TOU):
Let’s first look how the system works using the Time of Use mode. Sonnen is an AC coupled system, which means the solar first covers a home’s electrical loads before charging the batteries or exporting power to the grid. The order of using solar power is:
Cover the household loads
Charge the battery system
Export excess power to the grid
For example, it is currently August and my solar system usually turns on around 7am. On sunny days, by 8am my solar power is producing more then my home needs and so my battery begins charging. My sonnen system can charge at up to 7 KW (kilo watt), which means my 17.5 KWH sonnen can be fully charged from solar on a sunny day in just over two hours and my system is usually fully charged by about 10:30am. From 10:30am until about 6:30pm I export power to the grid, receiving credits based on my PG&E rate schedule (I am on EV2).
At 6:30pm, rather than buying expensive power from Sonoma Clean Power/PG&E, I “peak shave” and use my battery power charged by solar, instead of the utility. At midnight my sonnen system gets to rest, and power for the home is imported from the grid (while it is least expensive) until my solar wakes up and begins a new day. I can also set a back-up buffer. (On my system, due to the current fires in the area I have mine set to 75%.)
Back-up buffer sets a State of Charge (SOC) floor and it will not discharge past that floor allowing me a comfortable safety net in case the power goes out. Another option available is to enable grid charging, which will allow you to charge at 250 watts per hour from the grid, per battery module during low tariff /cost windows. In most of our systems, this feature is turned off, meaning we are charging the battery from solar only.
Self-Consumption mode:
Self-consumption mode operates almost exactly as Time of Use mode, except it is not based on time (Time of Use mode is often called partial self-consumption.) In Self-Consumption mode, as long as solar power exceeds usage, the system uses solar to power the home. When consumption exceeds solar production, it will first discharge from the battery system down to your reserve buffer setting, regardless of the time of day (and PG&E rates) before drawing from the grid. So using my house as an example, if I were in Self-consumption mode, at midnight rather than my battery turning off in the example above, it would continue to discharge the battery until the solar system produces more power than my house uses or until my SOC reaches my reserve buffer. Self-Consumption does allow maximum autonomy from the utility, however this mode is the least popular option of our users as it is not as efficient or financial advantageous as TOU and leaves a smaller buffer reserve then backup mode.
Back-Up mode:
The sonnen system can also be set into Back-Up mode, saving 100% of the battery for power outages. Some of our customers have their system always in this mode, while others put it into this mode when PG&E announces a Public Safety Power Shut-off (PSPS), when rolling black outs are announce, or when other disasters occur. In Back-Up mode, the system will charge the battery from the moment it is activated, regardless of time, and will use the grid and/or solar. The charge rate in Back-Up mode is 250 watts per battery module (an Eco 10, Generation 3.1 system has 4, 2.5 KWH battery modules) and can take between 8-10 hours to fully charge batteries without solar. In this mode it will keep the batteries charged at 100% until it senses the grid is down when it will power your PLP circuits and recharge from your solar.
Modified Time of Use mode:
Another option that is very similar and more cost effective, is to stay in TOU mode and move the reserve buffer to 100%. This still keeps your battery at a 100% charge, but will only charge from the grid during low cost tariffs. In TOU mode you can also either disable grid charging so it is only charges from solar or enable grid charging which will charge at 250 watts per module, with or without the solar.
One final tip I like to recommend is to remember the primary purpose for buying your storage system. If the primary purpose was to save money, you should be in a TOU mode with a low buffer. If your primary goal is to have power when the grid is down, you should be in TOU mode with a high buffer, or you should be in Back-Up mode. Personally, I prefer to run my system in TOU mode. My battery and solar usually cover all of my PLP usage during high tariff windows (3 pm to midnight). This not only saves money, but it also minimizes the need for natural gas driven peaker plants, reduces the demand on utility infrastructure and still provides me a good buffer for power outages.
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Users have several different modes to choose from depending on their goals and usage. The sonnen battery system can charge from three primary sources; solar, the grid, or a generator (only in Back-Up mode). Which mode the sonnen is set to establishes the source of the energy in the battery. This blog will focus on modes of operation when the grid is up.
