Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about SolDial — setup, security, rates, automation, and pricing. Still stuck? Reach out.
General
What is SolDial?
SolDial is an app for Tesla energy owners that shows your whole system — solar, Powerwall(s), the grid, and your cars — in one live view, and uses AI to optimize it for your specific utility plan. It monitors, and it acts.
How is it different from other Tesla/Powerwall apps?
Most apps stop at monitoring. SolDial does that cleanly — then goes further: it reads your real utility rate plan (including weekday/weekend and seasonal time-of-use, and full California NEM 3.0) and an AI Autopilot builds and maintains a tailored automation set that actually runs your system.
Is SolDial affiliated with Tesla?
No. SolDial is an independent app and is not affiliated with, authorized by, or endorsed by Tesla, Inc. It connects through Tesla's official Fleet API.
Getting started
What do I need to use it?
A Tesla energy system (solar and/or Powerwall) and/or a Tesla vehicle, plus the SolDial app for iPhone or Android. You sign in with your Tesla account — no extra hardware required. Pairing your Powerwall locally is optional but unlocks faster, outage-proof data.
How do I connect my Tesla?
Tap "Sign in with Tesla." You log in on Tesla's own page and approve the permissions there. See Connecting your Tesla account.
Do I have to pair my Powerwall?
No — cloud data works without it. Pairing (a passwordless flip of the switch on your Powerwall) adds sub-minute updates, per-pack vitals, per-string solar, and data that keeps working during internet outages. Local pairing is part of SolDial Pro. See Pairing your Powerwall.
Security & privacy
Where does the weather and location data come from?
Forecasts come from Open-Meteo, with the US National Weather Service as a live-observation source and backup in the US and MET Norway as the backup elsewhere (weather data licensed CC-BY 4.0 by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute). Postal-code locations use US Census data in the US and GeoNames postal data (CC-BY 4.0) in the UK, Australia, and Canada. Solar production estimates use NREL's PVWatts model.
Is my Tesla login secure? Do you see my password?
You never type a Tesla password into SolDial. Sign-in uses Tesla's official OAuth — you authenticate on Tesla's site and SolDial only receives a scoped token. We never see or store your password. See Privacy & security.
What can the app access?
Only the permissions you approve on Tesla's consent screen — your energy site and vehicle data, plus the command scopes needed to act on your behalf. Tokens are stored encrypted and used only to call Tesla's official API.
Do you sell my data or show ads?
No and no. SolDial is ad-free and we do not sell or share your data. You can export everything we hold and delete your account anytime. See Data export & deletion.
Monitoring & data
How often does data update?
With a paired Powerwall, sub-minute from your local Gateway. Without pairing, it uses Tesla's cloud at its standard cadence.
Does it work when my internet is down?
Yes, if your Powerwall is paired — the local connection keeps reporting over your home network even when your ISP and the cloud are unavailable.
How far back does my history go?
SolDial backfills several years of your Tesla energy history when you connect, and lets you zoom from multi-year trends down to per-minute detail. See History & analytics.
Rates & savings
How do I set up my rate plan?
Enter your zip and pick your plan from a dropdown — SolDial pulls from 50,000+ plans in the OpenEI URDB and loads your time-of-use windows. See Setting up your rate plan.
Does it support NEM 3.0 / California?
Yes — full NEM 3.0 with California's time- and season-varying avoided-cost export values for PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E, locked to your PTO-year vintage. See Net metering.
Does it support hourly / real-time pricing?
Yes — SolDial supports real-time hourly plans like ComEd Hourly Pricing (Illinois) and Ameren Power Smart Pricing (Illinois), with price-triggered automations for cheap-hour charging and expensive-hour holds. See Hourly & real-time pricing.
Does it handle EV charging credits?
Yes — add programs like EVsmart and SolDial factors the off-peak credit into your savings and schedules charging into the credit window (weekday vs. weekend aware). See EV charging credits.
Automation
What is Energy Autopilot?
An AI that builds and maintains a complete automation set tailored to your rate plan, net metering, hardware, and driving — and re-tunes it over time. See Energy Autopilot.
Will it change my Tesla settings without asking?
Only within permissions you grant. You tell SolDial whether you're allowed to export and to charge from the grid; it never touches those unless you've said yes. See Export & grid-charging permissions.
Can I build my own automations?
Yes — a full trigger/action engine, and you can create rules just by describing them in plain English. See Building your own automations.
Pricing & platform
How much does it cost?
There's a free monitoring tier. SolDial Pro unlocks the AI (Autopilot & Suggestions), local Powerwall pairing & control, vehicle control, full history, watch apps, and widgets — with a 7-day free trial on both the monthly and annual plans. Current pricing is on the home page and in the app. See SolDial Pro.
iOS only? What about Android?
SolDial runs on both iPhone (Apple App Store) and Android (Google Play).
Does SolDial have watch apps and widgets?
Yes — full watch apps for both Apple Watch and Wear OS (live power-flow dial, tiles, and complications), plus home-screen widgets on iPhone and Android. Both come with Pro. See SolDial on your watch and Widgets.
How do I cancel? What happens to my account?
Cancel in the store you subscribed through — on iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions; on Android: Play Store → profile → Payments & subscriptions. Pro keeps working until the end of your trial or billing period, you won't be charged again, and your data, history, and free features stay. See SolDial Pro.
How do I get SolDial?
Download it from the Apple App Store or Google Play, sign in with Tesla, and your dial is live in about a minute. Start free — Pro has a 7-day free trial.