Script to automatically switch mode and reserve

[goodoldme]

First off, thanks @jasonacox for creating Powerwall-Dashboard. I am new to most of the stack and its been quite an interesting learning experience so far. I was initially using NetZero app to automate exports based on timing but given NetZero app has gone the subscription way, I started looking at other options. The following script leveragesAPIs and tools that are already part of pypowerwall/Powerwall-Dashboard. I have been running this for over a month now and it's been working really well for me. Thought I'd share it here for others to use. The script is quite rudimentary as I'm still learning my ropes in zsh. I plan to add a bit more error handling to make it a bit more robust. All suggestions/feedback are welcome.

I have set the script to run between 5-6pm (peak) to set the Powerwall to export

/etc/crontab
* 17-18 * * * <user> /<path_to_script>/switch_mode.sh

switch_mode.conf

#Constants
readonly NTFY_URL=https://ntfy.sh/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
readonly NTFY_SOS_URL=https://ntfy.sh/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
readonly PYPOWERWALL=http://localhost:8675
readonly TOKEN=**************
readonly LOGFILE=/tmp/powerwall-mode.log
readonly EXPORT_RESERVE=55
readonly TRIGGER_RESERVE=60
readonly BACKUP_RESERVE=20
readonly DEBUG='false'

switch_mode.sh

#!/bin/zsh

source ./switch_mode.conf

function get_battery_level()
{
  (/usr/bin/curl -s $PYPOWERWALL/json | /usr/bin/jq -r '.soe' | /usr/bin/xargs printf "%.*f\n" "$p")
}

# Constants
readonly CURRENT_MODE=$(/usr/bin/curl -s $PYPOWERWALL/control/mode | /usr/bin/jq -r .mode)
readonly CURRENT_RESERVE=$(/usr/bin/curl -s $PYPOWERWALL/control/reserve | /usr/bin/jq -r .reserve)
readonly BATTERY_LEVEL=$(get_battery_level)
readonly APP_BATTERY_LEVEL=$(echo "($BATTERY_LEVEL/0.95)-(5/0.95)" | /usr/bin/bc)
readonly AUTONOMOUS="autonomous"
readonly SELF_CONSUMPTION="self_consumption"

if [[ ${BATTERY_LEVEL} -eq 0 ]]; then
  /usr/bin/curl -s -H "Tags: powerwall" -H "Title: Homelab" -d "Unable to reach Powerwall" $NTFY_SOS_URL > /dev/null 2>&1
  exit 1
fi

if [[ ${DEBUG} = 'true' ]]; then
  echo "Current mode: ${CURRENT_MODE}"
  echo "Current reserve: ${CURRENT_RESERVE}"
  echo "Powerwall battery level: ${BATTERY_LEVEL}"
  echo "App battery level: ${APP_BATTERY_LEVEL}"
fi

# Function to set the mode
function set_mode()
{
  readonly MODE=${1}

  if [ ${DEBUG} = 'true' ]; then
    echo "Setting mode to: ${MODE}"
  fi

  # For some reason PW3 sets the mode only if its called *twice*
  repeat 2 {
    RESPONSE=$(/usr/bin/curl -s -X POST -d "value=${MODE}&token=${TOKEN}" $PYPOWERWALL/control/mode)
    echo "$(/usr/bin/date): $RESPONSE" >> $LOGFILE
  }

  # Notify
  /usr/bin/curl -s -H "Tags: powerwall" -H "Title: Powerwall" -d "Battery level at ${APP_BATTERY_LEVEL}%. Set mode to ${MODE}" $NTFY_URL > /dev/null 2>&1

}

# Function to set battery reserve
function set_reserve()
{
  readonly RESERVE=${1}

  if [[ ${DEBUG} = 'true' ]]; then
    echo "Setting reserve to: ${RESERVE}"
  fi

  # Set reserve
  RESPONSE=$(/usr/bin/curl -s -X POST -d "value=${RESERVE}&token=${TOKEN}" $PYPOWERWALL/control/reserve)
  echo "$(/usr/bin/date): $RESPONSE" >> $LOGFILE

  # Notify
  /usr/bin/curl -s -H "Tags: powerwall" -H "Title: Powerwall" -d "Battery level at ${APP_BATTERY_LEVEL}%. Set reserve to ${RESERVE}" $NTFY_URL > /dev/null 2>&1
}

# Export - Switch from self-powered to time-based control if APP_BATTERY_LEVEL is greater than or equal to TRIGGER_RESERVE
if [[ $CURRENT_MODE == $SELF_CONSUMPTION && $APP_BATTERY_LEVEL -ge $TRIGGER_RESERVE ]]; then
  if [[ $CURRENT_RESERVE != "${EXPORT_RESERVE}" ]]; then
    set_reserve $EXPORT_RESERVE
  fi

  sleep 10

  set_mode $AUTONOMOUS
fi


# Switch to self-powered if APP_BATTERY_LEVEL is less than EXPORT_RESERVE or if its off-peak
readonly CURRENT_TIME="$(/usr/bin/date +'%k%M')"
readonly OFF_PEAK_CUTOFF=1859

if [[ $CURRENT_MODE == $AUTONOMOUS && $APP_BATTERY_LEVEL -le $EXPORT_RESERVE ]] || [[ $CURRENT_MODE == $AUTONOMOUS && $CURRENT_TIME -ge $OFF_PEAK_CUTOFF ]]; then
  set_mode $SELF_CONSUMPTION

  sleep 10

  if [[ $CURRENT_RESERVE != "${BACKUP_RESERVE}" ]]; then
    set_reserve $BACKUP_RESERVE
  fi
fi

[jasonacox]

Nice job @goodoldme ! Thanks for sharing. With a bit more setup instructions, this may be a good candidate for our tools section. Feel free to submit a PR if you are interested.

[goodoldme]

Thanks, @jasonacox. Will work on in a next couple of days and submit a PR. Noticed that all scripts are currently in written for bash. Happy to convert mine from zsh to bash if that's what majority of folks use.

[jasonacox]

We tend to stick to bash since it is cross-platform (RPi, MacOS, WinOS, Linux) but zsh is common as well.

[goodoldme]

Hi @jasonacox Been sorting out wi-fi issues the past few days. Unfortunately, set reserve and set mode seems to have stopped working for me since yesterday. I get the following response -

{"error": "'code'"}

However, I noticed in the Tesla app that the reserve is getting set correctly but the mode isnt. Not sure if something has changed in the backend API. Could you advise how best I can troubleshoot this, please?

[jasonacox]

You can set this with the pypowerwall package directly. See https://github.com/jasonacox/pypowerwall?tab=readme-ov-file#powerwall-command-line. Test you can try:

pip install -U pypowerwall

# configure cloud mode - Use email you have registered with Tesla and follow instructions:
python -m pypowerwall setup

# read current settings
python -m pypowerwall get

# see options to set
python -m pypowerwall set 

# set reserve to 65%
python -m pypowerwall set -reserve 65

# set mode
python -m pypowerwall set -mode self_consumption

# read current settings
python -m pypowerwall get

[goodoldme]

You can set this with the pypowerwall package directly. See https://github.com/jasonacox/pypowerwall?tab=readme-ov-file#powerwall-command-line. Test you can try:

pip install -U pypowerwall

# configure cloud mode - Use email you have registered with Tesla and follow instructions:
python -m pypowerwall setup

# read current settings
python -m pypowerwall get

# see options to set
python -m pypowerwall set 

# set reserve to 65%
python -m pypowerwall set -reserve 65

# set mode
python -m pypowerwall set -mode self_consumption

# read current settings
python -m pypowerwall get

Thanks, @jasonacox. I ran the following. Even though pypowerwall says its setting the mode, it isn't getting updated when I checkthe Tesla app

python -m pypowerwall set -mode autonomous
                                         
pyPowerwall [0.12.10] - Set Powerwall Mode and Power Levels using cloud mode.

Setting Powerwall Mode to autonomous

I tried the same by enabling debug in pypowerwall container and found the following error when trying to set the mode using curl -

07/21/2025 11:05:41 PM [pypowerwall.cloud.pypowerwall_cloud] [DEBUG]  -- cloud: Using site XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX for xxxxx@xxxx.com
07/21/2025 11:05:41 PM [pypowerwall.cloud.pypowerwall_cloud] [DEBUG] Tesla cloud mode enabled
07/21/2025 11:05:42 PM [pypowerwall.cloud.pypowerwall_cloud] [DEBUG] Connected to Tesla Cloud - Site XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (My Home) for xxxxx@xxxx.com
07/21/2025 11:05:42 PM [proxy] [INFO] Control Mode Enabled: Cloud Mode (cloud) Connected

07/21/2025 11:07:47 PM [pypowerwall.cloud.pypowerwall_cloud] [DEBUG]  -- cloud: Request for /api/operation
07/21/2025 11:07:48 PM [pypowerwall.cloud.pypowerwall_cloud] [ERROR] Failed to retrieve SITE_CONFIG - ConnectionError(ProtocolError('Connection aborted.', RemoteDisconnected('Remote end closed connection without response')))
07/21/2025 11:07:48 PM [proxy] [ERROR] Unexpected error in set_mode: TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'NoneType' and 'int'
07/21/2025 11:07:48 PM [proxy] [INFO] Control Command: Set Mode to self_consumption
07/21/2025 11:07:48 PM [proxy] [DEBUG] 172.19.0.1 "POST /control/mode HTTP/1.1" 400 -

Am I missing something?

[jasonacox]

No, you are right. It seems that Tesla has changed the API. It is also blocking changes for reserve levels between 81-99% (force it to 80%). It seems this is a recent change. I don't have a solution for you yet. If anyone finds an alternative path or app, let us know.

[goodoldme]

Thanks for checking, @jasonacox. I used to use NetZero app for this earlier. Let me check if NetZero still works. If so, we'll need to figure out what APIs they use.

[billraff]

Others have seen this behavior and have a work around at least for the Tesla Custom Home Assistant integration.

alandtse/tesla#1125

[goodoldme]

Seems this is pending a TeslaPy patch as per jasonacox/pypowerwall#197. Will need to wait for the fix to trickle down to pypowerwall and Powerwall-Dashboard

[jasonacox]

Here is a proxy beta to test with the TeslaPy update pinned: jasonacox/pypowerwall:0.13.3t80-beta6

Edit your powerwall.yml and update the image for pypowerwall then ./compose-bash.sh up -d

Or if you want to use the library / CLI, you can pull from source:

pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall git+https://github.com/jasonacox/pypowerwall.git

If all testing looks good, I'll release this as v0.13.3 and update Powerwall-Dashboard to use the new version.

[jasonacox]

I just released Powerwall-Dashboard v4.8.4 that includes the patched TeslaPy code.

# Upgrade Dashboard to latest pyPowerwall v0.14.0
./upgrade.sh 

# Verify
./verify.sh

[goodoldme]

This has fixed the issue for me. Thanks, @jasonacox

[jasonacox]

Thanks @goodoldme !