During a grid outage, an Enphase Energy System with IQ Batteries can help keep your home powered.
Read through to learn how to prepare for an outage, monitor your system during an outage, and conserve power until grid power comes back.
1. Prepare for an outage
The Enphase App allows you to set up advanced warnings and notifications for potential grid outages and system changes.
Enable Storm Guard
The Storm Guard feature ensures that your IQ Batteries get fully charged if bad weather is detected in your area by automatically switching the system profile to Full Backup.
To enable Storm Guard, tap Menu > Settings > Profile > Enable (Storm Guard).
|
|
Turn on notifications
The Enphase App can notify you about the charge status of your IQ Batteries, whether you are using on-grid or off-grid power, and if there is a communication or hardware issue. You can receive notifications through text, email, and push messages.
To manage your notification preferences, tap Menu > Account > My Notifications.
2. Monitor your system
The Enphase App provides real-time data to help you manage your energy usage during a grid outage.
View your system's Live Status
Live Status is a feature that visually represents where your home’s power is coming from and going—between your solar panels, your IQ Batteries, and the grid—at any moment.
To see your home’s power in real-time, tap LIVE STATUS on the home screen of the Enphase App.
Monitor the charge level of your IQ Batteries
On the home screen and Live Status screen, you can view the charge level of your IQ Batteries, displayed as a percentage of the remaining power.
Important: Remember to monitor the charge level of your IQ Batteries overnight during an outage.
If the charge drops to the battery shutdown level at night, your system pauses backup power to your home until solar power is available.
If your system has IQ8 Series Microinverters, it will resume powering your home when sunlight is available.
If your system has IQ7 Series Microinverters or older microinverters, it will check for sunlight at 9:30 a.m. and then power your home.
To check your microinverter type, tap Menu > System > Devices > Microinverters.
Note:
|
3. Conserve power
You can make the most of your system during a grid outage by reserving the charge in your IQ Batteries for what is most important and using solar power as much as possible.
Turn off large appliances
Turning off large, high-powered appliances and using only essential appliances can conserve a significant amount of energy and help the charge in your IQ Batteries last longer.
If you are currently experiencing a grid outage, or one is expected imminently, we recommend that you turn off all non-essential appliances.
If your system has an IQ Load Controller, you can automatically manage power flow to your appliances through the Enphase App.
To choose which appliances are important to keep on or off during a grid outage, tap Menu > Settings > Load Control.
When the grid is down at night, your home relies heavily on energy stored in your IQ Batteries. It is important to limit usage to essential appliances only during a long outage and wait for bright sunlight to produce solar power to run your non-essential appliances.