Smart Power Mode Overview

Smart Power Mode has two functions.

  • Keeping your home’s instantaneous power use (measured in watts) below a preset limit.
  • When paired with compatible batteries, Smart Power Mode disables circuits within the home as the battery's state of charge decreases, allowing the battery to energize the remaining loads for a longer duration.


Currently, Smart Power Mode is only available when operating off-grid. But it will also be available on-grid in the future.


Smart Power Mode Power Management

When a grid outage occurs and Smart Power Mode activates, circuits will be managed according to their categorization:

  • Essential Circuits

    • Kept on throughout the outage and powered by the batteries

  • Optional Circuits

    • Powered by the batteries throughout the outage as long as Power Limit is not exceeded

  • Undesired Circuits

    • Immediately shed upon a grid outage and not re-enabled until five minutes after the return of the grid


Essential, Optional, and Undesired Circuits


How should I choose which circuits to classify as Essential/Optional/Undesired and how should I prioritize them?


Essential Circuits will not be shed by Smart Power Mode, so be sure that the total power consumed by these circuits will stay below the Power Limit. These circuits don't have a sense of priority within the section–they are all treated as equivalently essential.


Optional Circuits are more dynamic. The circuits at the top of that section have higher priority than those below. A best practice is to place loads that will automatically resume, such as thermostatic loads (HVAC, water heater, etc.) or EVs, at the bottom of the list since they will be interrupted more often, and are good at recovering. On-demand circuits that do not operate automatically (dryer, oven, etc.) should be placed towards the top of the list, since interrupting these appliances often will reset whatever cycle they were attempting or have other side effects. When idle, these circuits will use minimal power and allow the lower-priority loads to cycle on and off. When active, the higher-priority loads will operate. If not enough power remains within the Power Limit, this will force the lower-priority Optional Circuits to be temporarily disabled if necessary. Note that even the highest priority Optional Circuit is still considered available for interruption if the Power Limit is exceeded (likely by Essential Circuits) after Lumin disables all other Optional Circuits. Battery-integrated systems allow Optional Circuits to be customized to shed at a specific battery state of charge percentage during a grid outage.


Undesired Circuits are circuits you explicitly want to shed for the duration of the outage (unless overridden). Disabled circuits are not automatically resumed until five minutes after the grid outage is over.


How long will Optional Circuits remain disabled?

Any disabled Optional Circuit will remain so until there is enough available power to cover the predicted max power of that circuit. Note that there is a minimum disable time of five minutes to avoid rapid cycling of appliances.


How do I override control of a circuit?

Any disabled Optional or Undesired Circuit can be manually re-enabled via the app by either the Home screen or Smart Power Mode Configuration screen. However, if the Power Limit is exceeded again, the circuits will be re-disabled in ascending order. If you want one Optional Circuit to take precedence over other Optional Circuits, you can reorder the circuit to be higher on the list.


Customizing Battery State of Charge Settings

To edit the battery state of charge percentage at which an Optional Circuit sheds:

1. Go to Smart Controls > Smart Power Mode.The Smart Power Mode screen of the Lumin mobile app. It displays Power, State Of Charge, Circuit Priority, and other related information.
2. Select the Optional Circuit you wish to edit.The Smart Power Mode screen of the Lumin mobile app. A box surrounds a circuit in the Optional category.
3. Adjust the slider to the desired percentage.
4. IMPORTANT: Select Save to the right of the slider.

The Optional Circuit will update to the new percentage. It will shed at this percentage as the state of charge decreases, and it will be re-enabled at this percentage as the state of charge increases.		The Smart Power Mode screen of the Lumin mobile app. A slider icon is underneath the selected Optional Circuit. A Cancel option is to the left of the slider and a Save option is to the right of the slider.



Smart Power Mode Power Limit and "Monitor These" Circuits


What is the Smart Power Mode Power Limit? 

The Power Limit can be set by the installer or the owner of the system by expanding Mode Settings. If power on the "Monitor These" Circuit(s) exceeds the Power Limits, Smart Power Mode will disable Optional Circuits in ascending order. Typically, the Power Limit should be set at or slightly less than the maximum continuous power output capacity of either the inverter or the battery, whichever is less (typically the battery-based inverter). Please note that in some systems, such as the Tesla Powerwall and the Sonnen Core, the battery and the battery-based inverter are packaged together in a single enclosure that system owners likely think of simply as their “battery”. In these cases, there will be only one continuous power output rating provided by the manufacturer. 

In addition to continuous output capacity, all leading inverters also have a surge output capacity so that a total load greater than the continuous output capacity can be powered for a short time as motors and compressors start. To accommodate this, Smart Power Mode will allow the "Monitor These" Circuit(s) to draw as much as 125% of the Power Limit for two seconds. The amount of surge allowance and the duration in seconds will be adjustable in future updates to Smart Power Mode.


Smart Power Mode Power Limit Example
The Smart Power Mode screen of the Lumin Smart app. It shows information and options on Essential, Optional, Undesired and uncontrollable circuits. 
By setting the off-grid Smart Power Mode Power Limits to match inverter or battery maximum discharge limits, a larger number of circuits can be available off-grid without risk of tripping the inverter or damaging the battery. When the Power Limit is reached, Optional Circuits will be shed in ascending order (bottom of list to top) until power demand is once again safely below the limit. When power demand is safely below the Power Limits, Optional Circuits will be re-enabled in descending order (top to bottom) as long as each circuit’s predicted needs can be met by the available power supply. Five minutes after the grid is restored, Smart Power Mode will return all circuits to their original pre-outage state. 


What are "Monitor These" Circuits? 
"Monitor These" Circuits are the circuits Lumin monitors and compares to the Power Limits. For most installations, the "Monitor These" Circuit(s) should be the circuit(s) that delivers battery power to the load center/electrical panel that Lumin controls. Smart Power Mode will sum up measurements from any circuit(s) designated as a "Monitor These" Circuit and compare that instantaneous total power reading to the Power Limits. Note that in some cases where the "Monitor These" Circuit set contains both PV and battery output, this limit will be extra conservative from a battery/inverter protection perspective, as some of the measured power could be coming from solar and not straining the battery inverter's output capacity.


Do I have to choose "Monitor These" Circuits and Power Limits?
Yes. To ensure that your Lumin Smart Panel functions well, we require that a Power Limit and at least one "Monitor These" Circuit are selected during the setup process. This allows Lumin to manage the connected load and ensure it does not exceed the Power Limit.


Smart Power Mode and CT Configuration

How should CTs be configured for proper Smart Power Mode operation? 
Lumin CT configuration depends on the type of energy storage system and several other factors. The following are several basic configurations that will work properly with Smart Power Mode:

Two diagrams displaying two different types of Lumin CT configurations. On the left is a Main CT-Only Configuration, which includes: an LSP, an electrical panel, Main CTs, an MID/ATS, a battery, a PV and an M. On the right is a Main + Aux CT Configuration, which includes: an LSP, an electrical panel, a MID/ATS, Main CTs, Aux CTs, a battery, a PV and an M.

  • Main CT-Only Configuration
    • Designate Main CTs as the "Monitor These" Circuit(s) in Smart Power Mode.
  • Main + Aux CT Configuration
    • Designate the Aux CT circuit as the "Monitor These" Circuit(s) in Smart Power Mode.
      • Note that this circuit may have been renamed to something like "Solar + Battery".


If your installation does not resemble the drawings above, please see the following article for more information:


Further advice on proper CT placement and special configurations is available by contacting Lumin support at 888-421-0616 or support@luminsmart.com.


How does Smart Power Mode work if there is more than one Lumin Smart Panel at my location?

Smart Power Mode runs independently on each Lumin Smart Panel and can only interact with the circuits (both Monitor and Control) measured by that Lumin Smart Panel. When more than one Lumin Smart Panel is installed at a location, all Lumin Smart Panels will be triggered by the same off-grid event detected by a single Grid Detection Circuit (GDC) branching off to each Lumin Smart Panel. Within the Lumin app, there will be one Smart Power Mode per Lumin Smart Panel installed at the location, and each Smart Power Mode instance will only control one Lumin Smart Panel.  


Note that each Lumin Smart Panel that runs Smart Power Mode requires a dedicated "Monitor These" Circuit, or set of "Monitor These" Circuits. This may mean that CTs from multiple Lumin Smart Panels are clamped on the same wires.

Diagram of a multiple-LSP CT configuration (PV and battery not separately monitored). It includes: two LSPs, an electric panel, two sets of Main CTs, an MID/ATS, a PV, a battery, a GDC, and an M.

In a multiple-LSP CT configuration (PV and battery not separately monitored):

  • If Optional Circuits are desired within Smart Power Mode, each Lumin Smart Panel should have its own set of Main CTs. Main CTs should be set as a "Monitor These" Circuit. If both Lumin Smart Panels control the same electrical panel, the CTs from both Lumin Smart Panels will be on the same feeders.
  • To reduce installation complexity, a single GDC connection can be made to wiring that will not be powered in a grid outage. This single GDC can be spliced into multiple branches to provide grid sense to multiple Lumin Smart Panels.



For special conditions with multiple Lumin Smart Panels, refer to:



Smart Power Mode Energy Management

Lumin's energy management feature prolongs the runtime of your home's battery in a grid outage by shedding Optional Circuits as your battery discharges past 50% and re-enabling those circuits as the state of charge increases beyond 50%. Adjustable setpoints other than 50% will be available soon.


This feature requires information about the battery's state of charge, which is accessed via an API request to the storage system. Not all battery manufacturers publish an API that is accessible to third-party platforms, so this feature is restricted to those systems that do. See the list below for storage brands that currently offer this feature:

  • SolarEdge
  • Enphase
  • Tesla


A battery integration will need to be configured for your location before this functionality can be used. There are two ways to add a battery integration:

  • Option 1: Go to Menu > Location Settings > Battery Integrations.
  • Option 2: Go to Smart Controls > Smart Power Mode > Add Battery.


For more information on battery integrations, see:


If you have additional questions about Smart Power Mode, please contact support@luminsmart.com or call us at 888-421-0616.


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