Hi, I’ve just had a new system installed, 9.5kwh Gen 3, Hybrid 5 and it is constantly charging the battery when it’s only dropped a couple of percent. I’d like it to discharge to a certain %SOC before it starts charging again, but also not be exporting from the battery to grid as a forced discharge.
At the moment I’ve stopped it charging, but then when the house load is over the solar input, it’s pulling it from grid.
If anyone has any ideas it would be appreciated.
Cheers
Whats the motive for your query? Is it based on preserving battery health? Or something else?
Yeah basically. Most of the time we’re going to keep sitting at 90% plus
That would be a feature request - theres no option to provide a battery SOC threthold for solar charging.
The main consideration (which I dont have any expert knowledge of) is whether such shallow discarge / charge senareo actually degrades battery health sufficiently to make such a feature warranted.
I`ll leave the experts to wade in, but Its very possible this is a solution in search of a problem. Given that GivEnergy offers a 10-year unlimited cycle warranty thats a pretty strong indicator that their systems are built to handle frequent cycling, even daily.
The GE system s set up to keep the batteries topped from solar whenever possible, so you can use it when the sun don’t shine.
Doing that can drop your grid usage by up to 70%.
(We charge ours up overnight too during the cheap slot - EV tariff).
It’s the way Eco mode works.
Enjoy the sunshine, as with winter rain you won’t be sitting at 90%
You can do this using home assistant on something like a raspberry pi. However that is a very deep rabbit hole you will go down for very little benefit.
For GivEnergy to off such a warranty, the battery at 100% is probably not 100% charged - the BMS uses 9.5kwh out of 10.5kwh
Personally I don’t think that topping up like that will shorten battery life. So I would not worry, just let it happen.
I know the chemistry is somewhat different but the small Li ion bevices I have that have lasted the longest are ones that I have left on their chargers when not in use. I have heard an interview with a battery development expert who said that the life is maily affected by the total amount of charge put in and taken out. This would be dominated by deep discharge / recharge not really affected by minor topping up.
That’s not how pv & battery systems are designed to work.
Default settings are always that Your solar will supply the house 1st, then yr batteries, then export, depending on generation & loads at any one time.
If your house demands more power than the solar can/is generating, you’ll use some battery, if that’s still not enough, it’ll draw from the grid too.
But you’ll always use solar 1st, then battery, then grid.
What did you think should happen & why?
I’m aware of the default settings, I was just after something a bit different
You could always consider a solar i-Boost for your hot water.
I have one - so the solar powers the house first - then charges the batteries - then pushes to the i-Boost - and after all that is satisfied - exports to the grid.
Solar iBoost+ - One of the UK’s Favourite PV Immersion Controllers