How SolDial works with the Tesla app
Two apps, one battery. Here is exactly who decides what — and why they don’t fight when you set things up the way this page describes.
Tesla drives the watts.
SolDial decides the rules of the road.
Tesla’s firmware and modes handle the second-by-second flow of energy. SolDial’s automations decide which Tesla behavior is in charge at each time of day, how much battery is off-limits, which directions energy may flow — and everything Tesla can’t see at all: your cars, third-party EV chargers, tomorrow’s weather, and your rate plan’s finer points.
What Tesla itself does, mode by mode
Everything starts with which operating mode the Powerwall is in. This is the single most important thing to understand:
Backup-Only
Tesla on its own
Nothing, except wait for an outage. No optimization of any kind.
SolDial rules on top
Everything. Any intelligence comes from your rules.
Self-Powered
Tesla on its own
A simple reflex: store excess solar, power the home when solar falls short. No price awareness, no forecasting.
SolDial rules on top
Shape the reflex — reserve floors protect capacity, export and grid-charging settings bound its directions. Fully predictable.
Time-Based Control
Tesla on its own
A real optimizer. Uses the rate plan set in the Tesla app, its own solar and usage forecasts, and on export-rate plans its own sell-at-peak logic, to charge and discharge on a schedule it constantly re-plans.
SolDial rules on top
Set the envelope it works inside: when it runs, the reserve floor it must respect, whether exporting or grid charging is allowed.
“But both apps have my rate plan…”
They do — and they use it for completely different jobs. Tesla’s copy powers Tesla’s optimizer: in Time-Based Control, it is what tells the battery when electricity is expensive enough to discharge. SolDial’s copy powers everything SolDial does: when your time-based rules should fire, what your savings actually were, price-based triggers, briefings. The two copies never talk to each other, and neither app overwrites the other’s. That means one job is yours: keep both copies current, especially when your utility changes seasonal windows. If they disagree, Tesla optimizes against one reality while SolDial schedules against another.
A real day: TOU plan, Time-Based Control, and SolDial rules together
A typical SolDial setup on a 4–9 PM peak plan, and what each side actually does:
12:05 AM
A SolDial rule sets the mode to Time-Based Control and exports to solar-only. Translation: “Tesla, your optimizer is the engine today, and only solar leaves the house.”
8:00 AM · sunny forecast
A rule raises the backup reserve to 100%. Tesla keeps charging the battery from solar but cannot discharge it — the reserve is a floor Tesla always respects. The battery banks up for the evening.
3:55 PM
A rule drops the reserve to 10%. The whole pack is now available, and Tesla’s optimizer decides, second by second, how hard to discharge through the 4–9 PM peak based on what your home is drawing and what solar is still producing. SolDial does not micro-manage this — that is Tesla’s job, and it is good at it.
9:05 PM
A rule restores a 30% reserve as the overnight floor.
Notice what the rules did: they moved the floor and picked the engine at chosen moments. They never counter-managed the dispatch. That is the whole trick — and it is why this setup cannot fight itself.
What a fight actually looks like (so you can avoid it)
Conflicts come from rules that contradict the running optimizer instead of bounding it. The classic mistake: pinning the reserve at 100% through the evening peak on a TOU plan — the battery sits full and idle while you buy peak-priced grid power. SolDial’s Autopilot has guardrails against exactly this, and the rule builder will warn you about export settings your plan can’t support.
One more thing to know: if you change a setting by hand in the Tesla app, a scheduled SolDial rule will re-apply its own value the next time it fires. Scheduled rules are a schedule — pause the rule if you want a manual day.
When Tesla overrides everyone
Three things outrank both apps: Storm Watch (charges to full ahead of severe weather and holds until the event clears), utility VPP events (your program dispatches the battery), and outages (backup takes over instantly). During these, commands from any app can be ignored by the hardware until Tesla releases control — SolDial detects these states and is increasingly built to stand down and say so in your automation history rather than pretend its settings applied. Your rules resume when the event ends.
What SolDial deliberately does not do
SolDial does not re-implement Tesla-native features — Storm Watch and Charge on Solar stay Tesla’s, and SolDial links you to them instead of imitating them. It does not micro-dispatch against Time-Based Control. And it cannot touch settings Tesla doesn’t expose to any third-party app, such as the VPP event reserve inside the Tesla app — that setting governs Tesla’s own behavior during a dispatch, and it is yours to set there.
Quick answers
Do I need my rate plan in both apps?
Yes. Tesla’s copy runs its optimizer; SolDial’s runs your rules and savings math. Keep both current.
Does SolDial replace Time-Based Control?
No. On TOU and export-rate plans, TBC is usually the right engine — SolDial conducts it. On flat plans, Self-Powered plus SolDial rules is typically all you need.
Will SolDial and the Tesla app fight?
Not when rules set posture at moments — mode, floors, directions — which is how SolDial’s builder and Autopilot are designed to work. The failure pattern is counter-managing the optimizer, and the guardrails steer you away from it.
Not sure what setup fits your plan?
Turn on Energy Autopilot, or ask the rule builder in plain English — both know your rate plan and these principles.