How sonnen helps you weather power outages.

Will my PV system work off-grid?

If PV is available, it will seamlessly connect to your sonnen microgrid.  The PV energy will first go to power the loads in your home, and any leftover energy will charge your battery.  If the battery reaches a high State of Charge (SOC) and PV is still producing, the battery will increase the frequency of the microgrid slightly to turn off the PV. Once the battery is no longer at a high State of Charge, it will return the frequency to 60Hz and PV operation will resume.

The inverter within the battery has a limited size, which you can find on your battery specification sticker on the side of the unit, on the battery spec sheet, or the user manual.  Your installer will have sized the backed up loads to work with this inverter, but it's still possible to consume too much power for the inverter to provide.  If this happens, your sonnen battery will disable the microgrid and pause for a short while before trying to restart the microgrid again.  If the loads no longer exceed the system's capabilities, the microgrid will resume normal operations.  The battery will try restarting the microgrid 3 times before shutting off. If this happens, you should disconnect all but the most essential loads and turn your battery back on. Instructions can be found in the operating manual.

What happens if my batteries run out of energy?

You should manage your consumption carefully to avoid running out of power.  Instructions can be found on this page.

If you consume all of the energy in the battery and there is no PV available to recharge the battery, the battery will go into standby mode.  In standby mode, the battery will remain on, but will stop powering the microgrid.  At a preset time in the morning (Microgrid Wakeup Time 1), the battery will reenable the microgrid for 7 minutes.  If PV is available to charge the battery, it will remain on and charge to a safe level from PV.  If PV is not available, the battery will reenter standby mode and start again at Microgrid Wakeup Time 2. The cycle will continue a second and third time, and if PV is not available, the battery will turn off until the grid is restored. 

What to do before an outage.

If you expect an outage soon, set your battery to “Emergency Mode”.  This will change your battery backup buffer to 100%, fully charging the battery so it is prepared to power your house during an outage.  After the outage, you will need to set your battery back to normal operating mode.   

• On a computer, click “sonnenBatterie” and then “Overview”, then toggle the “Emergency mode” until it is blue.   
• On a phone app, click the image of the battery, scroll down, then either set the Backup Buffer to 100% or Set Emergency Mode Timer and follow the instructions. 

We also recommend preparing for the outage by completing any energy-intensive activities before the outage.  Pre-cooling your home so the air conditioner does not need to run, running your washing machine or dryer before the outage, or preparing any food will ensure you don’t use energy unnecessarily during an outage, saving valuable energy in your battery to power what’s most important for you.   

What to do when you expect you’re in an outage. 

Depending on which sonnen battery is installed at your house, you may have little or no indication that a power outage has occurred without looking at your sonnen battery or the app.  The easiest way to tell if you are currently off-grid is to look at your sonnen battery.  All sonnen systems will display a green light when off-grid.  You can also look at your sonnen app or the “Live State” tab of the desktop customer portal for an offgrid notification. See below for more details and tips on how you can maximize your battery while you are off-grid. 

sonnen will also send an email message to the email listed on your account if we record an outage.  However, if your router is not connected to your protected loads panel, you might not receive an email.   As such, we recommend you closely monitor your sonnen system when an outage is expected.   

What to do during an outage.

When off-grid, energy conservation is key.  Even though sonnen batteries can scale to meet your needs, you’ll want to save the stored energy for the things that matter most. Limiting consumption on “non-essential” usage will ensure you have more saved to power your refrigerator, lights, and internet router to keep you comfortable and connected.   

• In general, central cooling and electric heating, large electric ranges and ovens, electric vehicles, and large tank water heaters are some of the largest energy consumers in the house.  Reduce consumption of those whenever possible.  
• When installed properly, a local PV system can power loads and charge the sonnen battery.  Shifting consumption of energy to the midday hours will make the most of your PV system, feeding large loads when the sun is shining.  This will save more of your battery for evening and nighttime hours.   
• Lastly, the closer you monitor your sonnen’s state of charge, the better you can manage your consumption to make it through the night.  The State of Charge can be seen on the “Live State” page and the “sonnen Battery Overview” page of your portal, and the Main page, Live Energy page and Battery page, as seen in the images below.  

How can I tell if my house is offgrid and being powered by my battery?

All sonnen systems will display a green light when off-grid.  You can also look at your sonnen app or the “Live State” tab of the desktop customer portal for notifications. 

How do I maximize the energy in my battery while in offgrid? 

When off-grid, energy conservation is key.  Even though sonnen batteries can scale to meet your needs, you’ll want to save the stored energy for the things that matter most. Limiting consumption on “non-essential” usage will ensure you have more saved to power your refrigerator, lights, and internet router to keep you comfortable and connected.   

• In general, central cooling and electric heating, large electric ranges and ovens, electric vehicles, and large tank water heaters are some of the largest energy consumers in the house.  Reduce consumption of those whenever possible.  
• When installed properly, a local PV system can power loads and charge the sonnen battery.  Shifting consumption of energy to the midday hours will make the most of your PV system, feeding large loads when the sun is shining.  This will save more of your battery for evening and nighttime hours.   

How do I check how much energy is left in my battery? 

The closer you monitor your sonnen’s state of charge, the better you can manage your consumption to make it through the night.  The State of Charge can be seen on the “Live State” page and the “sonnen Battery Overview” page of your portal, and the Main page, Live Energy page and Battery page, as seen in the images below.  

What if I can’t see battery data on my app or portal?

If your battery is on and the eclipse is lighted green, your system may not be connecting to the internet.  First, make sure your router is powered.  If it’s not, you’ll need to move it to a wall outlet that is backed up by the battery. 

If you have recently changed your internet password, installed a new router, or changed network providers, it is likely that your sonnen is disconnected from the home network.  You can confirm this by looking at your sonnen. The indicator light will pulse amber if the sonnen is not connected to a communication device, but we can’t rule out a network problem even if it is pulsing white/light blue. 

Ensure the Cat5 or Cat6 cable from the sonnen or any intermediary devices are connected to the router and communicating properly.  If they are, and your sonnen is still not connecting, reboot the router and the sonnen.  If this does not correct the problem, you may need to contact an internet network administrator for help.   

What if my sonnen is off or has no lights on the eclipse? 

If your system is not backing up your house, we recommend trying to “power cycle” the battery by turning it off and on.  An instruction video can be found by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiv1bPoVXOc. 

We recommend against repeatedly power cycling the battery, as the system may have stopped operating after using all of the battery capacity, and repeatedly cycling can over-discharge the modules and damage them.