I’ve just joined this group in the hope someone has experience and can help me with an issue that my system has developed.
Short version is that my connection to the cloud has been down since Sunday and, whilst I can see my details ‘locally’ using the home function on the app, I can’t make any changes. I’m currently ‘stuck’ with daily charge/discharge slots that were in use on Sunday (free electricity from Octopus!) and I can’t clear them from the system!
Longer Version: I (think) I have a Gen 1 inverter (Giv-AC3.0) with an external wifi dongle. When the issue first started on Sunday I had local monitoring but no connection to the cloud (‘away’), and could not change my set charge and export slots. I reset my wifi dongle which did nothing, then attempted a dongle firmware update using the GivInstaller app… which resulted in my dongle being bricked! All attempts to reset/connect to my dongle failed, with it not being visible to connect to.
I bought a new dongle which arrived today: I am now back to where I was on Sunday: I can see my system locally using the ‘home’ selection suggesting my inverter and the dongle are correctly talking with my home broadband. But my inverter still appears ‘offline’ on the cloud, and I am unable to change my charge/export settings locally. From time to time the dongle flashes slowly - suggesting it’s looking for the cloud server? - and I lose local visibility for a while, before it ‘locks’ back solid and I get it back.
At least if I could reset these settings I would have a ‘dumb’ battery that would charge/discharge on eco, but as of now I’m worse-than-useless in that I’m force-charger at high costs at set times of the day and then discharging at a loss! I presume there’s no way to ‘force’ the inverter to reset/forget its charge/discharge settings manually? I’ve tried full power-downs and re-starts and that hasn’t done it suggesting that the settings are saved internally? And no ‘workaround’ to change the settings ‘locally’ without cloud access?
If anyone out there is able to advise I’d be extremely grateful. I’ve emailed GivEnergy support but given the administration issue I don’t know if it will get to the (still working?) software team or be stuck in limbo…
You are not alone, my system went down Sunday 12 April. I am wondering if this is not a coincidence. I have ordered a new dongle as the old dongle remained unresponsive to my many attempts to access it. I shut my system is shut down as I am unable to change a programmed charge spot.
That sort of makes me feel better that there’s at least someone else in the same boat, although if it IS more widespread I’d have thought there’d be more chatter on here? At least my charge/discharge time slots are during the day so I’m able to manually switch off the battery then when I’m at home to lessen the impact, but that’s obviously not a long-term option…
I recently had a similar problem but changing the dongle sorted it!
I have also downloaded the ‘Monitor for Givenergy Inverter’ app (Android play store). It’s a neat system that connects locally to your inverter and for a one off £10 payment allows changes to settings. It also has a neat scheduler. Maybe this will do the trick?
Thanks for the suggestion - sounds a bit like the feature we’re promised as part of our new ‘free tier’ updates? I’m on IOS rather than Android but I’ll definitely take a look…
I’m wondering whether an inverter firmware update might help - I’ve discovered I’m a version behind - but at this stage I’m loathe to try something that could risk making things worse!
This app will let you change your charge and discharge slot. Inverter App - App Store
If you have a Gen1 and want to have more than one slot then you could use an Android emulator and run the Monitor for Givenergy Inverter app.
Thank you so much NormC - the inverter app was straightforward and seems to have done the trick!
I’ll look into your other suggestion as the ability to run multiple slots is very useful for me on Octopus Agile. And if the issue with GivEnergy Cloud doesn’t resolve itself then I guess I’m no worse off than I’d be if/when they restrict access to it behind a paywall…
Paul572916 - I hope your new dongle helps! For clarity, whilst my mine, coupled with the recommended inverter app, has allowed me to connect and cancel my charge/discharge slots, I’m STILL not connecting to the GE cloud so there’s still something wrong. Every so often (10-15 mins?) the dongle starts ‘hunting’ for the cloud connection and I lose local monitoring whilst it does so - an inconvenience I can live with though.
FIXED! I’d seen on another thread here that if you install a new dongle you can edit the MSN file on it to match your old dongle’s serial number so the cloud thinks nothing’s changed and you don’t need to invoke GE’s tech support. I thought I’d done that but apparently I hadn’t saved it correctly - a re-save and all is back to how it was
