Torus Modes

Torus Modes help your home automatically adapt to local weather conditions and the electrical grid status. You can also customize how your Torus Station uses power to meet your home energy needs with advanced Torus Modes settings.

Off-Grid

Power outage? No worries, your Torus Station has your back! If the grid goes down your Torus Station will switch into Off-Grid Mode and run your home with battery and renewable power (Off-Grid is still in testing and only available on Torus Station’s with an Off-Grid box installed).

Going Off-Grid: There are 3 things to watch carefully when you’re in Off-Grid mode so that your Torus micro-grid stays on.

1. At night, limit your peak watts to less than 5,000 watts (per battery bank).

2. Midday (sunny), limit your peak watts to less than 8,000 watts (per inverter).

3. Carefully manage your battery. The battery screen in the Torus app shows how full your battery is and how long it will last at your current usage rate. Yes, you can use up to 5,000 watts at night, but at that rate each battery bank will only last 2 hours. Avoid the big power appliances and you can watch all the movies you want, no problem.

Storm Watch

When a severe weather event occurs near your home, Torus Station will automatically fill your home battery and keep it full until the weather event passes, just in case there’s an electrical grid outage.

Schedule

Switch from Self Consume to Battery Priority from 11am-2pm to charge your battery asap. We recommend enabling this setting when there’s not enough solar to charge your batteries, which can typically happen during the winter season.

Inverter Modes

Manually control your inverter modes if you want to take control of your Torus Station. You can switch between Self Consume and Battery Priority. Self Consume is your inverter’s “smart default“ because it prioritizes using the solar and battery power that you’ve produced before pulling from the grid. On the other hand Battery Priority charges your home battery as quickly as possible using all available solar and pulling from the grid if necessary.

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FAQs

What do I during a power outage?

Night

While in Off-Grid mode, you’ll need to manage your power usage and your battery charge more closely to keep the lights on. At night, your Torus battery is your single source of power and it can deliver up to 5,000 watts per battery bank. If you have 2 inverters and 2 batteries you can do up to 10,000 watts. If your house tries to use more watts, your power will go out. But if it does, don’t worry; we can help you get the lights back on quickly. See Restarting my Inverter.

As a general rule,

1. Turn off all your big energy consumers (see also How Much Power?)

   1. EV Charger (up to 12,000 watts)

   2. Clothes dryer (~7,000 watts)

   3. Hot tub (~6,000 watts),

   4. Air Conditioner (~5,000 watts),

   5. etc

2. Make sure that your home stays under 5,000 watts (per battery bank).

3. Open your battery screen in the Torus app and watch the battery duration change as you turn things on and off. Try to minimize electricity usage to extend the duration of your battery.

Day

When the sun is shining, each inverter can deliver up to 8,000 watts through a combination of solar and battery. The inverter can do 8,000 watts from solar or up to 5,000 from battery with another 3,000 from solar. Follow the night-time instructions above and manage your power usage so that your battery fills up before nighttime. For example, if your 10kWh battery is charging at a constant 2,500 watts, it will take it about 4 hours to fill (4 x 2,500 = 10,000).

How much power do my appliances use?

Each type of appliance varies by model and efficiency, but general wattage estimates are given in the chart below.

Your energy usage is additive. You may be able to use the dishwasher (2,000 watts) and a hair dryer (2,000 watts) at the same time, but when you go to use the microwave (1,800 watts) you’ll exceed the capacity of your system and your power will go out. Also remember that when everything is turned off, most homes are still using 200-2000 watts. Watch your usage screen in the Torus app to see how close you are to your max limit.

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When I’m in Off-Grid mode does the app behave differently?

Yes, there are number of changes that occur in the Torus Station app to help you have a successful Off-Grid session.

1. Push Notification: When the electrical grid goes down you’ll see an Off-Grid notification telling you how much estimated battery power you have left at your current usage rate.

2. Today Off-Grid Banner: At the top of the Today screen and on the Torus Modes settings screen you’ll see a persistent Off-grid banner.

3. Automate Pause: EV charging and pre-cooling will be paused to preserve power for your battery and home use.

4. Production Usage Match: If you are net-metered, the biggest change you’ll notice is that you can’t send excess power to the grid. When your battery is full, your inverter(s) will match your energy usage and you won’t be able to see how many watts your solar system could produce.

What happens when grid power is restored?

Your home will automatically reconnect to the grid and the Torus Station app will send you a push notification to let you know.

Restarting my Inverter: The grid is down and now my house power just went out. What do I do now?

No worries, your home probably tried to use more watts than your battery or inverter could supply. Simply open your Torus app to see if your battery charge is above 15% OR if the sun shining enough to produce more than your home’s base load (around 1,000 watts)?

No, my battery charge is 15% or lower and I don’t have enough solar to cover my base load

Your battery ran out, you’ll have to wait until your solar panels are producing more than your home’s base load (~1000 watts) to power back on.

Yes, my battery charge is 15% or above and I do have enough solar to cover my base load

1. Turn off or unplug any big loads at your house (EV charger, AC, Dryer, Hot tub, Stove, etc).

2. Go out to your inverter. On the left side, rotate the PV power switch up (counter-clockwise) to “Off”.

   

3. Wait for 30-60 seconds until the inverter screen turns off.

4. Turn the PV power switch clockwise to “On”.

   

5. Wait 30-60 seconds until the inverter turns on and starts supplying solar and/or battery power to your home.

What other tips and tricks can I try to have a successful Off-Grid session?

• Don’t push the wattage limits. As you’ve likely seen in the app, large changes in electricity usage (and solar production) can happen in just a few seconds. If you go over the limit, your power will go out.

• Consider plugging the CNS and wifi router into an UPS (uninterruptible power supply). An UPS will ensure that even if the Torus power does go out, you will be able to see what’s happening in the app and Torus operators will be alerted to the problem and be able to help troubleshoot remotely.