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“They didn’t really explain if there was a glitch in the app or a problem with firmware.”
Photo Credit: iStock
An Oregon homeowner testing their solar backup system on a sunny day encountered an unexpected problem. The panels stopped producing electricity when the house went off-grid, leaving batteries to power the home.
The homeowner shared the experience in a Reddit post. Full Backup mode and PowerMatch were enabled for the installation, which was completed in December 2025 at their home in Portland’s West Hills. The system has 15.5 kilowatts of solar capacity and three 5P batteries.
Battery power kept the house running without interruption during the follow-up test through the system’s app, the homeowner reported, even as switching off-grid brought solar production to a halt. Before the switch, the batteries were fully charged, and the panels were generating about 9 kilowatts.
“The solar panels began producing again when batteries dropped down to 85%,” the original poster wrote in a follow-up.
Another solar shutoff occurred at approximately 98% battery charge, according to the homeowner, after the panels had supplied the house and replenished the batteries.
For homeowners comparing equipment, EnergySage offers a resource for exploring battery products and provides competitive installation estimates. Its partnership with electrification company Qmerit aims to help homeowners secure the best available battery-storage pricing.
Microgrid stability, household demand, battery charge, and charging capacity all influence solar production during an outage, according to customer-support emails from the manufacturer shared by another commenter. That correspondence addressed similar behavior in the commenter’s IQ Battery 10C system.
Drawing on stored power to run the home leaves the batteries with room to accept more energy. When the batteries are nearly full, the system may create that room by reducing solar production while household demand draws down their charge.
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The restart point can change, the company explained, so solar does not necessarily resume after the batteries lose 5% or 10% of their charge.
“I went through the same thing and spent 3 hours on the phone with customer service as well as 3-4 hours with my AI talking through this,” the commenter wrote, reporting almost 40 minutes without solar production during an off-grid test.
However, the Portland homeowner’s recurring charge-and-discharge pattern differs from the normal behavior described in the manufacturer’s emails, which said the battery should not repeatedly be drawn down through the same charge range.
Storing solar energy for later use can also help lower electricity bills, depending on local electricity rates and system settings. For the OP, it also had the potential to provide some independence if they could only get to the bottom of their issues.
A shutdown and restart, performed with guidance from the manufacturer’s support team, restored the homeowner’s grid connection after the test, they wrote. An app error had blocked reconnection even though utility power was available.
While the support call restored the homeowner’s grid connection, the cause remained unclear.
“They didn’t really explain if there was a glitch in the app or a problem with firmware,” the original poster wrote.
For households exploring a smaller backup option, Pila offers a plug-and-play alternative at a substantially lower price than whole-home backup systems.
Other homeowners have also found that their solar backup systems don’t always work as expected. 
• A homeowner’s solar failed during outages despite battery backup, as the equipment company and installer clashed.
• An Illinois solar owner seeking outage protection received warnings about sunlight backup’s limited capabilities.
• In Hawai’i, a homeowner’s solar production hit zero as batteries drained after Hurricane Lowell.
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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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