FIT Meter false readings

General Everything Else
1

I have added a 9.5 kw battery to my solar system which was installed 9 years ago
The FIT meter is now adding KWH when there is
no solar even overnight
Also the isolation switch for the solar array will not turn off the system
The solar inverter has a lower reading to the FIT meter
Any ideas as to why this is
Thanks

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2

If you have a FIT system and want batteries added you have to have the inverter for the battery downstream of the FIT meter. With an AC battery system like AiO that’s easy as the Solar inverter generates, goes through the FIT meter and the batteries are charged, when they discharge the built in inverter is connected to your distribution board, therefore not affecting the FIT meter.

I suspect you charge the battery which when it discharges somehow uses the same inverter that the solar panels use, ie. upstream of the FIT meter. I would suggest you need a second DC to AC inverter that the battery discharges to that is connected to your consumer unit?

I might be completely wrong as I base this on being an AiO user.

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3

My first installer of GivEnergy batteries was a complete incompetent - he subcontracted the work to electricians that appeared not to have been trained on Givenergy kit, and used his brother who was not even an electrician to supervise their work. This shower installed the wrong meters which could not record generation properly.
I had to get in a completely different GivEnergy electrician in at additional cost to sort it out.

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4

Im having similar problems. I have an old fit system (15 years) and decided to renew the inverter and have a battery.
Advised to go with a hybrid inverter and change the generation meter to a bidirectional net meter and was assured i would track my generation from the panels and still get my fit payments. 6 weeks on and still trying to get sense out of the net meter reading, while ot is increasing it is not tracking what i generate, even the installer is puzzeled.
Anybody out there who has tried to combine a hybrid system with an old fit? I would love to hear of their experiences good or bad

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5

I also used to have just solar panels and unidirectional meter and my generation figures from that meter were much higher than now.
Now I have a hybrid inverter, battery and bidirectional meter and my net generation is much lower than the generation figures from the Givenergy app.
I think that the explanation I got from Copilot does provide reasons for this.

Why Your Recorded Generation Units Dropped

:small_blue_diamond: Before: Unidirectional Generation Meter

  • This meter only measured total solar generation, regardless of whether it was used in the home, exported to the grid, or wasted.
  • It sat between your solar inverter and the consumer unit, logging every kWh your panels produced.
  • So even if you used solar directly or exported it, the meter still counted it all — giving you high generation figures.

:small_blue_diamond: Now: Bidirectional Import/Export Meter

  • This meter does not measure total solar generation.
  • It only tracks:
    • Import: Energy drawn from the grid.
    • Export: Surplus energy sent to the grid.
  • It does not see solar energy used directly in your home or stored in your battery — so your visible generation appears lower, even though your panels are still working.

I hope this helps.
I quickly realised with my system that any energy that I imported from the grid to charge my battery reduced the net-figure (otherwise one would be paid twice for the electricity). Any excess electricity produced by the panels and sent to the grid because the battery was fully charged and the house didn’t need it, did increase the Export figure (and because no Import was happening) and also the Net figure.

6

The other reason for your FIT generation meter reading being lower is battery conversion losses.

Every time your inverter charges or discharges the battery there is some energy lost due to the chemical process and from changing between DC and AC and vice versa. On a round trip this roughly equates to between 10 to 20% of the energy charged into the battery vs energy discharged out of the battery.

The only way to avoid the FIT meter readings dropping is to have an AC FIT inverter as you originally had, and then a separate AC inverter and battery after the FIT meter.