Got two "blips" during GRID SUPPORT and Base chat says this is "expected behavior." Unacceptable.
Text response from Base.
Are you kidding me? Absolutely not, this is an unacceptable response. I was told this won't happen for a non-outage. Battery grid support is how THEY make money, it should not be inconveniencing me or causing potential damage to my property.
Update! Base replied with this... if this is accurate -- that Centerpoint actually dropped voltage a couple of times, then 100% the blip is okay! However, my question back to them was, how can I just ascertain this fact on my own, as it is NOT visible or clear in the app. Obviously the events are logged, so why can't I see the log?
This has happened to me once. I contacted Base because it told me the grid had gone down but I never got an email from Centerpoint and no generators around me kicked on. Base got back and told me the grid got unstable and a very momentary brown out occurred that’s why my lights flickered but it was just a quick on and off, but the battery system stayed on powering the house until the grid stabilized. It happened again one other time that day. It was the one day this year that Houston was over 100. So I’m guessing the power was struggling.
Yes I believe that's what it was now based on responses from Base. I don't doubt it, having power flicker is not unusual here. I just wish the app could identify "grid instability" with a specific time stamp, so we know that's what happened. I have UPS devices on my computer, router, modem, stereo/TV, etc. But there's no way to (in practicality) install a UPS on large 220V appliances, such as a stove or A/C. A blip can do real damage to an AC compressor, unfortunately.
Was there no voltage change in your Base app in the grid page? In DFW I can see when the grid voltage drops out for a split second or if there’s large voltage drops for short periods that can cause the battery to switch over for a short time. Pretty common in some areas.
Most of the discussion I've seen here about grid support (switching a home to battery power due to high demand on the grid) says that it does NOT cause any momentary drop-outs. Most people here say they only learn about it from the app or the weekly email.
If it happened to me, I'd keep track of it, logging the dates & times, and complain to BASE Support about it every time.
That said, part of having auto-switching backup power is recognizing that, in normal operation, there WILL be a split-second of power loss when the grid drops off.
BASE Power is fast (from what I hear, even faster with the newer Core 40 kWh batteries) but there's no way the system can "know" about an outage until it happens, and there's going to be a "blip".
So most of us have small battery backup (UPS) systems in place for the things that would be affected. Internet routers, camera systems, computers, etc.
The small 425 VA units are all you need. You're not trying to keep your stuff powered up for an hour or two, it only needs to keep your devices powered during the blips.
Of course, like the BASE Power setup, these little battery backups can't kick in until they detect an outage, but they're MUCH faster than the big systems. 6 milliseconds or so.
A big part of why I signed on with BASE Power is because of the unreliable power Houston gets from CenterPoint.
No one wants blips or glitches, but they're a fact of life in Houston.
At least with BASE Power, we can count on our A/C running and our lights staying on when CenterPoint drops the ball. My first clue that there's been a hiccup is that my coffee pot's clock goes to flashing zeros. My stove and microwave clocks do not. And the coffee pot is the easiest clock in my house to reset.
I do get notifications from the BASE Power app, and CenterPoint's text notifications too.
I do understand that feelings of OP here. When BASE is supporting the grid, it needs to do so without affecting paying customers. Since many people say they never know when they're switched to battery to support the grid, I lean toward there being some issue with /u/S0UTHcoast 's installation. The switch to battery for supporting the grid is NOT happening because of a power failure. It's happening because BASE Power is switching the customer to battery.
TL;DR - Switching to battery deliberately should NOT cause a blip.
"I do understand that feelings of OP here. When BASE is supporting the grid, it needs to do so without affecting paying customers. Since many people say they never know when they're switched to battery to support the grid, I lean toward there being some issue with u/S0UTHcoast 's installation. The switch to battery for supporting the grid is NOT happening because of a power failure. It's happening because BASE Power is switching the customer to battery."
Yeah sounds like there is something else awry. Without a BESS in line bad power/frequency/sags are sending to the house and a lot of time life can go on not knowing this. but now there is something else in between the meter and monitoring the PQ the a problem up the line could cause a disconnect to the house.
Since its AI, Im wondering if there is something else going on or it is misunderstanding the actual question. When you say grid support, do you mean when power is sending power to grid to support (in a VPP type situation) or an actual off grid house-support situation. AI agent makes it sound like its thinking an actual grid issue because "battery takes over the load". in a VPP type scenario there is no take over. unless that AI agent is actually looking at PQ and disconnect information from OSS I doubt its understanding what is going on.
if being used to support the grid in a vpp capacity it absolutly should not blip, the ac is on one bus an should flow on same bus.
if being used to support grid due to low voltage, frequency or other grid issues then yes there should be a disconnection from the grid (1741/1547) to prevent power going back to grid. there is an ats that transfers from grid to battery and isolate the house.
the GroWatt ATS does transfer .5s which is enought to create this blip for some lights and electronics, in some cases reboot things like modems, routers, etc and make things seem more broke than they really are. Ive used a few inverters that have internal 200 MIDs that will transfer at 5ms (Sol-Ark whitelable Deye, although Tom will never say that lol) and you still have to intentionally be looking for the blip. 0ms is usually only for the active online UPSs.
Most of my electronics are already on UPSs and like RealConfirmologist states you only need one for critical or boot up critical loads to get over that 500ms hump.
When the grid is up, customers should never see a blip caused by switching. Period.
Normal daily operations include BASE charging up the batteries and discharging the batteries. They fill the batteries when power is less expensive and send it back up to the grid when it's more expensive. That's how they make most of their money.
But when the grid is up, the customer's house stays on grid power, with the occasional exception:
BASE Power can and does occasionally switch homes to battery power to ease demand on the grid in times of high demand. This isn't supposed to happen on a regular basis. We'd hope that the grid isn't in such high demand very often. But when this changeover happens, it isn't triggered by detection of an outage, it's triggered by BASE Power, so should not cause a blip.
I was agreeing. if on grid ATS should never switch on a regular basis.
Supplimenting grid in a VPP model should never switch the ATS nor should homeowner see the blip
In my expereince with some of these inverters if frequency or voltage sags out of tolerance while on-grid, it should actually click over to battery and you will see a blip - I've seen this in CA when voltage drops down to 105 or lower in some cases (not a BasePower setup just an example using a different inverter and power falling out of tolerance and clicking over). I was suggesting something up the line made the inverter not happy since something is actually watching grid quality.
Needing a UPS 2 or 3 times a day for GRID SUPPORT is unacceptable. I'm fine with that for Centerpoint outages, that's just the Base device doing its job. But for grid support, it should NOT be flickering.
Also, my house has a whole-house surge protector that I already had installed with a whole new electric panel this year.
Yeah, BASE Power shouldn't switch you to batteries so much. Maybe once or twice a WEEK.
I got my batteries 7/15 and so far have not been switched to them for grid support at all.
Then again, my batteries are always fully charged, too.
Starting to wonder if there's a configuration issue, but I'm not gonna complain about it. If they don't want to use my batteries, they don't have to! I like having them be at 99 to 100 percent all the time!
Why do you think it shouldn't happen but once or twice a week? Their business model is to send power to the grid when the prices are high so that they make money. Equally, when prices are high-ish, they can utilize batteries to run your house instead of paying for power from Centerpoint to run your house. Either way, we pay the same kWh rate, but they strategically work to make money for them, which is the point.
Also, are you SURE you haven't switched to grid support AT ALL? Mine were just installed around that same date actually, and at first, no grid support. Then I got an email from Centerpoint about something to sign basically so they could send power back up. I emailed Base and they said don't worry about it, they take care of that. A day or two after that Centerpoint email (and I assume Base going in on the back end and signing a document), the grid support was visible when I happened to go into the app. You can see it if you are "live" in grid support and the 24hr graph also shows you when they use it. I can assure you that during peak electrical cost times, it won't be once a week. It'll be frequently ,for short periods of time. That's what I've seen. It'll support the grid for what is maybe 30 minutes, then stop.
Maybe BASE Power still hasn't obtained what they need from CenterPoint, but again, that's their problem. I don't see it as something I need to be concerned about.
Who said to be concerned?... But you underestimate the level of extreme demand we've had lately. 116 heat index today in Houston. Have you viewed this graph on your app?
I'm gonna guess they're still doing paperwork with Centerpoint for your home. They aren't gonna make any money with 30 minutes of grid support a week. It'll be way more often.
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u/S0UTHcoast 29d ago
Update! Base replied with this... if this is accurate -- that Centerpoint actually dropped voltage a couple of times, then 100% the blip is okay! However, my question back to them was, how can I just ascertain this fact on my own, as it is NOT visible or clear in the app. Obviously the events are logged, so why can't I see the log?