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“I am absolutely furious.”
Photo Credit: iStock
When a major storm knocks out the grid, a solar-and-battery setup is supposed to do the opposite of cause panic, and instead keep the lights on and make use of available sunshine. 
After Hurricane Lowell, though, one Hawaii homeowner said their system showed a “normal” status even though solar output stayed stuck at 0.0 kilowatts.
In a Reddit post to the site’s r/Enphase forum, the homeowner described an extended outage in which daytime generation never resumed.
The original poster wrote, “I am absolutely furious with Enphase right now. The entire reason I spent the money on a large solar + battery system was resiliency during exactly this type of disaster…. Enphase support has no answers.”
OP described their system as having 24 REC 400-watt panels, 24 Enphase IQ8H microinverters, five Enphase IQ Battery 5P units totaling 25 kilowatt-hours, and an Enphase IQ System Controller 3 set up for whole-home backup.
But even with room left in the batteries, the OP said the solar array still was not producing. They wrote, “The house is being powered entirely by the batteries while the solar array sits there producing nothing.”
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They added that this was not a case of full batteries with nowhere for extra power to go, saying the system still showed “approximately 10.7 kWh of battery capacity available and 19.2 kW of available battery power” while PV production remained at 0.0 kW.
Several commenters speculated about restart procedures, battery state-of-charge thresholds, and communication issues, but none offered a definitive answer.
Multiple commenters also suggested the problem may have affected more than one household.
One wrote, “My grid outage was 40+ hours. My system was dark for ~14 hours.”
Another added, “Yes, tried it and had the same issue.”
A third explained that they have the “Same system, same issue first reported here and to Enphase in May. They know about it. They are being intentionally silent.”
A functioning solar-and-battery system can also reduce grid purchases, soften the impact of rising utility rates, and limit the need for noisy, fuel-burning backup generators.
Documenting system behavior during any outage, including battery charge level, available sunlight, internet or cellular status, and screenshots from the monitoring app, gives installers and manufacturers a clearer record to review. It also helps ensure any problems actually get addressed.
For most people with these systems, they do provide peace of mind in addition to energy savings. If you’re in the market for a backup energy system, EnergySage offers free tools that let you curate competitive bids from local installers without sharing your contact information unless you choose to move forward with one. That can make it easier to compare equipment, backup configurations, and expected bill savings before signing a contract.
Backup power can look very different from one home to the next. Some of these stories show solar and batteries doing exactly what homeowners hoped during major outages, while others highlight how weather, system design, and buying decisions can change the result.
• After a devastating hurricane, one homeowner found the real payoff was backup power, not just lower bills.
• On Reddit, homeowners considering larger battery systems found they don’t even notice outages with enough backup.
• An off-grid homeowner showed that snow-covered solar panels can still generate useful power in harsh weather.
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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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