United States-headquartered electric car and battery manufacturer Tesla has confirmed that a software update enabling Powerwall 3 battery energy storage systems to communicate and sync with existing Powerwall 2 units is now available in Australia.
Tesla said the backwards compatibility update allows households with a Powerwall 2 system to expand their home energy system with Powerwall 3 without replacing existing equipment.
“Powerwall 3 can now be added to eligible Powerwall 2 systems with the latest software update,” the company said, noting that the existing Powerwall system must run software version 26.26 or later.
Powerwall 2 Owners: You can now increase your storage capacity with a Powerwall 3
Available in North America & Australia pic.twitter.com/iDq1RQOnVJ
With Powerwall 2 no longer available for new installations in Australia, the lack of compatibility between the two products has made it difficult for homeowners to increase their battery storage capacity without replacing existing equipment.
When Powerwall 3 launched, it couldn’t communicate with Powerwall 2 systems due to their different internal architectures. The older generation product combines a battery pack with a separate Tesla Gateway and usually relies on external solar inverters. Powerwall 3 integrates a solar inverter directly into the unit and uses a different internal battery chemistry and communication protocol.
Tesla said the new software update allows existing Powerwall 2 systems to communicate and sync with the newer Powerwall 3 and to operate together as a single combined home energy system.
“Powerwall 3 is now compatible with Powerwall 2,” Tesla said, adding that supported system configurations can include up to four Powerwall 2 units, one Powerwall 3 unit and up to three Powerwall 3 Expansion units. Each Powerwall 3 unit adds 13.5 kWh of usable energy and about 11.5 kW of continuous power output, while each Powerwall 3 Expansion unit adds another 13.5 kWh of storage.
Tesla said when adding Powerwall 3 to an existing Powerwall 2 system, only the Clean Energy Council (CEC) listing for Powerwall 3 is required with the existing Powerwall 2 systems remaining valid.
The company also confirmed that existing Powerwall 2 systems will retain their original warranty while new Powerwall 3 and Powerwall 3 Expansion units include a separate 10-year warranty.
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