A Florida homeowner was surprised when the lights still flickered during two very brief outages in one week, despite having solar and a battery backup system in a state where summer storms regularly cause short power interruptions.
What happened?
"I have solar with a battery backup set to self-consumption. I live in Florida so summer storms are the norm. Twice now in the last week, there was a very brief grid outage, like an off/on outage. I should be running on battery, off grid," the homeowner wrote in a Reddit post. "Why did the power also flash in the house?"
Commenters said the issue may be that a momentary outage does not always arrive as a straightforward loss of power.
As one person wrote, "An actual grid outage can be messy, not a clean drop," and the Franklin system "does not act like a UPS — it waits until the power is down before switching to battery backup, which can take seconds."
That distinction is why some owners treat a whole-home battery differently from the small backup units used for sensitive electronics.
Commenters also pointed to other behavior they have seen from similar setups.
One owner said their FranklinWH system causes SolarEdge inverters to shut down and reboot before solar generation returns.
An Orlando homeowner wrote that "Occasional electricity flickers get logged in the system/app but typically don't trigger cutover as they are nearly instantaneous. These summer storms with lots of lightning make for dodgy power continuity."
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Why does it matter?
Adding battery storage can protect a home during outages, lower energy costs, and support off-grid use when the grid is unreliable. It can also help homeowners use more of their own solar power at night or during peak-rate hours.
If you're considering a setup, it may be worth exploring EnergySage's free tools to get information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates. EnergySage has teamed up with the electrification brand Qmerit to guarantee you get the best price on home battery storage solutions.
Another option is Pila, which offers excellent battery backup choices. Its plug-and-play batteries are priced at a fraction of what a whole-home backup system would cost, giving renters and homeowners a more accessible way to keep essentials powered.
What can I do?
If you already have home batteries, commenters in the thread suggested asking your installer exactly how the system handles brief outages, transfer times, and inverter restarts. A battery may keep major loads running during a blackout, but sensitive electronics could still reboot if the switchover is not instantaneous.
For devices that cannot tolerate even a split-second interruption, commenters said they use separate small UPS units for equipment such as computers and network gear.
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