Custom Schedule
Run a single action at a specific time each day — switch operational mode, toggle Storm Watch, or set battery reserve. Simple and flexible.
Automations Overview
Automations are rules you create once and Grid Getter runs for you automatically. They watch the clock, your energy data, and your schedule — then take action on your Tesla Powerwall without you having to think about it.
To get there: click Automations in the top navigation, or visit app.gridgetter.com/automations.
Smart Automations — the fastest way to get started
Section titled “Smart Automations — the fastest way to get started”Smart Automations asks what you want your battery to do: cut your demand charge, cut your peak-rate cost, keep backup for outages, or just protect the battery. It then builds the automations from your goals and the rate plan it reads from Tesla. Review them, uncheck anything you don’t want, and create them all at once.
Automation types
Section titled “Automation types”Peak Time
Protect your battery during your utility’s high-cost hours. Set a time window and Grid Getter manages your reserve so battery power is available when you need it most.
DemandGuard
Real-time demand charge protection. DemandGuard watches your grid draw every minute and switches to battery power before you exceed your target threshold.
Battery Threshold
Charge your Powerwall from the grid when your battery drops below a level you set. Runs on a schedule you control — great for pre-charging before peak hours or maintaining a minimum overnight reserve.
Pre-Peak Charge
Checks the solar forecast before each peak window and charges from the grid only on the days solar won’t fill your battery in time. Works alongside a Peak Time or DemandGuard automation.
Which type should I use?
Section titled “Which type should I use?”Use Custom Schedule if you want to:
- Switch your Powerwall between self-consumption and autonomous mode on a schedule
- Turn Storm Watch on or off automatically
- Set a specific battery reserve at a fixed time each day
Use Peak Time if you want to:
- Protect your battery during your utility’s time-of-use peak hours
- Automatically set a battery reserve before expensive periods start, and release it afterward
- Prevent Storm Watch from charging your battery unnecessarily during peak hours
Use DemandGuard if you want to:
- Prevent demand charges on utility bills that calculate peak power draw
- Have your system respond in real time to high energy usage
- Protect yourself during demand periods without manual intervention
Use Battery Threshold if you want to:
- Automatically charge your battery from the grid when it drops too low
- Pre-charge before a peak window so you start with a full battery
- Set a minimum overnight reserve without scheduling individual commands
Use Pre-Peak Charge if you want to:
- Start your Peak Time or DemandGuard window with a full battery, even on cloudy days
- Skip grid charging on days your solar would have filled the battery anyway
- Let your rate plan and the forecast decide when to charge, with nothing for you to schedule
Plan requirements
Section titled “Plan requirements”| Automation type | Free plan | Scheduled | Adaptive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom Schedule | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Peak Time | Upgrade required | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| DemandGuard | Upgrade required | Upgrade required | Unlimited |
| Battery Threshold | 1 (basic settings) | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Pre-Peak Charge | Upgrade required | Upgrade required | 1 per site |
The free plan includes one Custom Schedule automation and one Battery Threshold rule with basic settings. Every rule of a type counts toward that limit, whether it’s on or off, so turning one off doesn’t make room for another. Once you’re at the limit, the Add button is disabled and tells you why: “Only one Custom automation is included on the Free plan.”
If you had more rules on a paid plan, you keep them after moving to Free, and one of each type can be on at a time. See Subscription Tiers for details.
Creating an automation
Section titled “Creating an automation”Recommended: Use Smart Automations to generate automations from your energy plan automatically.
Manual: Click + Add Automation, choose an automation type, fill in the settings, and click Create Automation. The new automation appears in your list and is active by default.
See Managing Automations for step-by-step instructions.
Managing automations
Section titled “Managing automations”Enable / disable
Section titled “Enable / disable”Each automation card has a toggle switch. Turn it off to pause the automation without deleting it. The automation’s configuration is preserved and can be re-enabled at any time.
To stop everything for a day or a week without touching each rule, pause your automations from this page or the Live Dashboard instead.
Search and filter
Section titled “Search and filter”Use the search bar to find automations by name. You can also filter to show only active automations, or only automations scheduled to run today. Rules a pause skips today don’t count as scheduled.
Click the settings icon on any automation card to open the edit dialog. All fields are editable except the automation type — if you need to change type, delete the automation and create a new one.
Delete
Section titled “Delete”Open an automation’s edit dialog and click Delete. You’ll be asked to confirm. Deletion is permanent.
When a banner appears above the list
Section titled “When a banner appears above the list”A card above the list has Pause today and Pause until…, the same control as on the Live Dashboard. While a pause is on, it reads “Automations paused through Nov 6” with a Resume button. See Pausing all automations.
If your battery has recently run at its power ceiling and still missed your DemandGuard target, a banner sits above your automations: “Battery at full power on 3 of 19 recent window days.” It isn’t asking you to fix a setting; on those days no target would have changed the result. Review DemandGuard opens that automation so you can see where your target sits against the floor and ceiling. Details are on the DemandGuard page.
How automations are scheduled
Section titled “How automations are scheduled”Automations run based on your account timezone, which you can set in Settings → Profile. Always confirm your timezone is correct before creating time-based automations.
Custom Schedule and Peak Time automations fire at specific clock times. DemandGuard runs continuously during its configured window, checking your energy usage and acting as needed.
Custom Schedule, Peak Time and DemandGuard automations have a Days of Week and Months schedule, so you can limit them to weekdays only, summer months only, and so on. Pre-Peak Charge has no schedule of its own: it runs before each window of your active Peak Time and DemandGuard automations, so it follows their days and months.
When automations overlap
Section titled “When automations overlap”If more than one automation is scheduled to fire at the same time for the same site, Grid Getter uses a priority order:
- Custom Schedule — always takes priority
- DemandGuard — runs if no Custom automation fired
- Peak Time — runs if neither of the above fired
Battery Threshold and Pre-Peak Charge are exempt from this — they run on their own regardless of the others. When an overlap is resolved, you get a push notification for both the automation that ran and the one that was skipped.
Reviewing automation history
Section titled “Reviewing automation history”Every time an automation fires, a log entry is created. See Activity Log to review what your automations have done.