EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
Programming your battery
Why battery modes matter
Get the most from your home battery
Your solar battery is a smart investment, but it's true value depends on how you program it. Why? Because your battery needs to work with local factors like your utility's billing structure and net metering rules—not against them.
Setting the wrong mode can reduce your potential financial savings and even leave you vulnerable during an outage. That's why understanding these settings is crucial. We've done the research and simplified the complexity for you.
In the next section, we'll clearly break down the three main battery settings, so you can confidently choose the power priority that's the absolute best fit for your home.
Is my battery optimized by Sunrun?
In many cases, Sunrun will manage your battery for you to take the hassle out of choosing the best mode. For these customers, batteries are programmed to minimize your utility bill and maximize your power performance and security during an outage.
If you have, or will have, a Lunar, Franklin, SolarEdge, or LGChem battery, Sunrun will proactively manage your battery for you. If you have a Tesla battery, refer to this webpage to see if your battery is managed by Sunrun. Keep in mind that Sunrun optimized battery settings will expand to more customers soon.
Battery operation types
Time-based
This mode is all about optimizing your battery usage around your utility's billing schedule, for homeowners with Time-of-Use (TOU) rates. We program the battery to know when grid power is cheapest (off-peak) and when it's most expensive (on-peak).
How it works: The battery stores affordable, unused solar energy during the day. Then, when the utility rates spike in the evening, your home runs off the battery instead of expensive grid energy (known as peak shaving). Your battery will learn your usage habits overtime and will adjust to minimize your remaining utility bill. In markets with favorable programs, the battery can also be programmed to sell power back to the grid during the most valuable hours to maximize your utility bill credits.
The reserve: To ensure you are never without power, the battery always maintains a reserve charge, ready to take over immediately if an outage occurs. This is set at install to 20%, but may be modified by you based on your needs and comfort.
Self-powered
If you have low credit net metering and are not on a time-of-use rate plan with your utility, this setting helps you minimize your utility bill while giving you increased self-sufficiency.
How it works: The system is prioritized to use energy first from your solar panels, then from your battery. There are times when your home needs more power than is presently available from your solar and storage, this is when you’ll draw energy from the grid.
The reserve: For continuous backup protection, the system automatically preserves a 20% reserve capacity, ready for any unexpected power loss.
Back-up only
This mode is the right fit for you if you have a favorable net metering program and also want to stay protected for outages.
How it works: Your battery is always set to maintain a 100% reserve charge. Any excess solar power your home doesn't immediately use is quickly exported to the utility grid, maximizing your utility bill credits. This way, your battery remains fully charged and ready to power your home the instant the utility grid goes down.
The reserve: The battery maintains a 100% reserve (or as close as possible), prioritizing resilience.
Storm Detection: A safety layer for every mode
Enable Storm Detection and your battery will automatically detect severe weather alerts and will charge from the grid until it reaches 100%. While the storm detection capability exists for all Sunrun batteries, it has different names depending on your battery manufacturer.
Tesla: "Storm Watch"
Franklin: "Storm Hedge"
Lunar: "Weather Watch"
Solaredge: "Weather Guard"
Discover more about home batteries
Get the benefits of solar + a home battery