Hello, I have a GIV-HY5.0 inverter with a 9.52kWh battery. It has been installed for nearly two years. I have seen quite a few times where the battery has plenty of charge as far as the logs show but the inverter decides not to use it and instead we use power from the grid. Originally this was suggested it could be related to over voltage from the grid and as it took so long for UK Power Networks to sort this out by installing a new transformer on their network that supplies out property we were told to turn our installation off to avoid invalidating the warranty. Once the work had been completed by UK Power Networks last April we turned it all back on. I have been monitoring this from the various logs on the portal and have yet again noticed the issue where power is drawn from the grid and not from the battery though this is normally overnight and for 1 or 2 hours where we don’t use a lot of energy at present. I have got ECO enabled in the settings. However, last night it was the worst I have seen where it spent from about 22:00 though to 3:30 not using the battery (3:30 it the time I have set to charge the battery from the grid as I am on Economy 7 and wish to make use of battery during the higher cost period). Obviously this is not what I wish to happen and I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue or any advice?
Is the battery outside, could it have got too cold to discharge?
Have you tried resetting the system to defaults via the web portal? Just in case some strange settings have got in place.
Another one to watch is don’t configure timed discharge or timed export - eco mode and timed charge is usually enough.
There are issues with timed charge and timed export which can leave the system operating in a strange way. It’s best to use a form of automation when using these modes so that the system can be returned to eco afterwards.
The battery is in a shed. The issue has been going on throughout the summer so temperature does not appear to be the issue. Yes I have reset to defaults several times since April. I don’t set timed discharge or export, only timed charge to use lower cost electricity alongside eco. One of the questions I have is how does eco mode really work? There must be logic in it to decide when to use battery and when to use grid. My view is that it is getting confused as if I spot the issue (which I have sometimes) and restart the inverter it works as I would like. I just don’t want to have to do that all the time. You mention automation which sounds like a good idea but I don’t know how that works.
Have you tried upgrading the software on the inverter?
Eco mode should charge the battery when there is excess solar (e.g. if it spots electric being exported)
It also discharges the battery when it spots an import (outside of planned charge hours of course)
It aims to have the grid import/export at 0 watts.
It can take a few seconds to adjust so there’s always a little bit of import and export as the house load changes.
Could be a loose connection on the wire that connects the CT clamp to the inverter.
Could be the CT clamp is not secure or is getting some interference.
It might be worth getting your installer back to check these things
Thanks for this information. The inverter is on the latest version of software.
I will have a closer look at logs re the 0 watts. As it goes on normally for an hour or more it is not the delay.
Sorry for not knowing the terms, but is the CT clamp the one on the mains input line which I assume monitors the grid flow? Would a loose connection not cause issues throughout the day? I have only ever seen this issue overnight, starting at the earliest around 21:00.
I feel that the eco mode logic has more to it as a reset of the inverter causes it to work correctly, it is almost as if it is storing info or has a minor defect in the code which is cleared but restarting it.