Events
Two things happen to a Powerwall that nobody outside Tesla can predict. Your utility’s virtual power plant (VPP) program can discharge it to the grid, and the battery can run a calibration cycle and sit at an odd charge level for an hour. Tesla doesn’t say when either one will happen, or what it looks like in your data. We don’t know either.
Events let you record when one happened, and each event shows as a band on the Power Flow Graph, so the strange hour has a label on it. Logging one also gives us a confirmed example to study.
To get there: open Smart Controls in the top navigation and choose Events, or visit app.gridgetter.com/automations/events. You can also log one from the Live Dashboard. Events are available on every plan, including Free.
Why we’re asking
Section titled “Why we’re asking”What we know is thin. Recalibrations happen from time to time, and the reported charge level jumps or holds steady when they do. VPP events push power out to the grid on the utility’s schedule. Beyond that, we can’t pick a VPP export out from ordinary solar export in the data, and we have no way to say when a recalibration is due.
So we’re collecting examples. Each logged event marks a stretch of real telemetry as “this was a VPP event” or “this was a recalibration,” and with enough of them across many homes we can start looking for what they have in common. What makes a log useful:
- Times as close as you can get them. For a VPP event, copy the window from the Tesla app; for a recalibration, a rough guess is fine.
- A note about what you saw: the charge level Tesla showed, a message in the Tesla app, anything that seemed off.
- Logged soon after, while you still remember the details.
Grid Getter doesn’t detect these events automatically yet, and logging one doesn’t change how your automations run. If we find a pattern we can rely on, we’ll say so here.
What you can log
Section titled “What you can log”| Kind | When to use it | Times |
|---|---|---|
| VPP event | Your battery joined a grid event through your utility’s VPP program (for SRP customers this is set up in the Tesla app). | Exact — Tesla tells you the window. You can leave the end open while the event is still running. |
| Recalibration | The battery ran a calibration cycle and the charge level reported by Tesla jumped or sat at an unusual value. | Estimated — “around 9:30 to 10:30” is fine. |
Logging an event
Section titled “Logging an event”You can start from three places, and they all open the same sheet:
- Events page: click Add event. The last hour is filled in.
- Live Dashboard header: click Log event. Same defaults.
- Power Flow Graph: drag to zoom into the period, then click Log event for this range. The start and end come from the zoom, so a range that crosses midnight already has its end date set. The button only appears while the chart is zoomed.
The first time you open the Live Dashboard after Events becomes available, a short notice points you to the Log event button, with a shortcut to the Events page. It shows once, in the web app and in the iOS and Android apps.
Then:
- Open the sheet from one of the entry points above.
- Choose VPP event or Recalibration. Save stays off until you pick one.
- Set the Date, Start and End. If the event ran past midnight, click Ends on a different day and pick the end date. The end time must be after the start.
- For a VPP event that is still running, tick Still in progress (no end time yet) — the End field disappears and you can add the end later.
- Add a Note if you like (what you saw, what Tesla said), then Save.
For a recalibration, the time fields read Started around and Ended around and are drawn with a dashed border as a reminder that estimates are expected. On the chart, a recalibration band has dashed edges too.
Every save, edit and delete shows a toast with an Undo button for six seconds.
The Events list
Section titled “The Events list”A short Why log events? card sits at the top of the page with the same explanation as above, and the Log Event sheet carries a one-line reminder that logging doesn’t change your automations.
Events are listed newest first with their type, date, time, whether the times are exact or estimated, and your note. Recalibration times are shown with a leading ~.
- An open VPP event shows a green In progress tag, and its action reads Add end time instead of Edit.
- Once you have three or more events, filter chips appear: All, VPP events, Recalibrations.
- At ten or more, a range picker (Last 30 days, Last 90 days, All time) and a footer count appear.
Click Edit on any row to change its kind, times or note, or to delete it. You can also click an event’s label on the Power Flow Graph to open the same editor.
With one or two events the list carries a reminder that they appear as bands on the Power Flow Graph, with a link back to the Live Dashboard.
On the chart
Section titled “On the chart”Every event overlapping the visible range of the Power Flow Graph is drawn as a band behind the lines, with a label at the top:
- VPP event — purple, solid edges. “VPP event · 1:30 PM–2:30 PM”, or ”· in progress” while it is still open, in which case the band runs to the right edge of the chart.
- Recalibration — blue, dashed edges. “Recalibration · about 9:30 AM–10:30 AM”.
Bands never block the chart: drag across one to zoom as usual. Only the label is clickable. Details in Energy Charts.
Timezones
Section titled “Timezones”Times are entered and displayed in the timezone on your profile (Settings → Profile). They are stored as exact instants, so an event you log at 6 PM in Phoenix is the same moment everywhere.
Deleting your account
Section titled “Deleting your account”Logged events are site data and are removed with everything else when you delete your account. See Data & Privacy.