When severe weather is in the forecast, a few quick steps will help your home ride out an outage smoothly.
1. Turn on your battery’s storm mode
Tesla Powerwall (PW3)
Enable Storm Watch so the Powerwall charges to full in anticipation of a grid outage and holds that charge until the weather alert ends.
FranklinWH
Turn on Storm Hedge so the system automatically enters Emergency Backup and fills your FranklinWH aPower batteries when the National Weather Service issues a local alert; it returns to normal when the alert ends.
Where do I turn on Storm Watch / Storm Hedge?
In the app—
- Tesla: Storm Watch under Energy → Settings.
- FranklinWH: Settings → Storm Hedge.
2. Bump up your backup reserve
For smaller, isolated storms, temporarily increase your Backup Reserve in the app so more battery capacity is held back for an outage. (Works on both Tesla and FranklinWH.)
What does Backup Reserve do?
It holds a percentage of your battery for outages; increasing it before a storm gives you more emergency runtime.
3. Check your backed-up devices
Make sure anything you want powered (Wi-Fi/router, fridge, medical devices, a few lights, phone chargers) is plugged into the circuits your installer configured for backup (often called “backed-up circuits”).
4. If the power goes out, stretch your battery
Use energy conservatively so your batteries last longer—nudge thermostats a few degrees, pause EV charging, and skip big loads like ovens and clothes dryers until grid power returns.
Note: In these storm modes, systems prioritize charging the battery to full ahead of the storm and keep it reserved through the event.
Need a hand?
Can’t find the setting in your app? Our team can point you right to Storm Watch / Storm Hedge and the Backup Reserve control for your system. Just give us a call!
