Hi - new user here, system only commissioned yesterday. All seems good, I can see PV generation in the mobile app, battery charging & discharging etc. I’m an Octopus customer intending to move to Octopus Flux, but I don’t have the MCS certificate, so can’t switch tariffs just yet.
My plan is to force charge the battery for a couple of hours overnight (even before I switch to Octopus Flux, since overnight consumption is half the price of daytime use).
My question is this: am I misunderstanding the Inverter settings? If I set a Timed Charge through the web portal (for 02:00 - 04:00 say), then it takes the inverter out of Eco Mode … which then means that I’m permanently drawing from the grid? Is there no way through the web portal to set the inverter to prioritise meeting demand from Solar or Battery (i.e. Eco Mode), but to force charge every night at a specified time?
Thanks in advance - if there is documentation I should be reading, please let me know … there appears not to be much guidance in the app or the web portal itself.
As far as I know, a Timed Charge will charge the battery between the start and end time.
During the day, if there is solar, the solar energy will be used first to charge the battery, followed by the grid.
At night, the charge energy will come solely from the grid.
You can’t charge and discharge the battery at the same time.
So if you wish to charge between 02:00 and 04:00 each night, just set this up. At 04:00, the inverter should revert back to Eco mode.
I used to do this myself until I discovered Predbat, which does everything for me. But as a new user, just get used to the setup at this stage. Get it setup now and see how it works.
Thanks for the reply - that didn’t seem to be my experience last night though … the moment I set the Timed Charge in the portal (to start at 02:00 the following morning) the inverter seemed to immediately exit Eco Mode and start pulling from the grid (rather than meeting load from the circa 70% charge in the battery at the time).
What I expected is what you describe - Eco Mode is the default, and the inverter should revert to Eco Mode once the Timed Charge is over … but that wasn’t what I observed.
Very strange.
After selecting the start and end time, have you pressed the select button?
Also, have you tried this on the app?
Back to the portal. On the far right of ‘Inverter’, you will see a cog for ‘remote access’.
Select and then scroll right down to the bottom of the screen. You then should be able to see the commands sent to the inverter. It may take a while for the bottom screen to populate.
Thanks - I hadn’t tried it on the (Android) app because I couldn’t see any settings related to battery management. I now see that if I go to Menu > Settings > Preferences in the app, there’s an option ‘Show System Modes Button’ that then reveals a button giving access to the inverter settings … bingo. And the UI behaves as expected, i.e. I can enable both Eco Mode and a Timed Charge window. If it works OK this evening, I’ll crack open the Remote Access screen in the web UI and see what the underlying settings were.
So the Timed Charge worked Only oddity is that the battery charged at around half the rate I was expecting - circa 1500W rather than 3000W. I did notice this morning that the charge rate was set to an odd value that I don’t recall configuring (something like 2400W) but the charge rate overnight didn’t even reach that. I’ll double check the settings and watch it again tonight.
On the app, from the top right cog,
Select ‘Timed charge’
Then ‘Battery options’
Check that you have 3000 set for charge and discharge.
These options are also on the portal:
Inverter/Settings/Battery options.
On the portal, check the Power Graph from the portal.
You may need to refresh the page to get the current chart.
You can then see the state of charge (SOC) of your battery over time.
For this you need the ‘Battery percentage’ option seated above the graph.
During your overnight charge, did the charging rate reduce as the battery became more charged?
This is my power chart for today. You can see how my chart rate reduces as more charge gets into the battery.
I have a heat pump and run over Predbat but you can see all the options.
Thanks - I’m honestly not sure how I ended up on this forum, it just came up in a google search … I didn’t realise it wasn’t the main one.
I’m good now, I will just be careful to review all the settings in Remote Control view - I’m sure that the ‘MyInverter’ view in the web portal has a habit of mangling inputs in odd ways.
If your battery is charging then you must draw from the grid overnight as there is no solar gain. You can’t simultaneously charge the battery and draw from the battery. Even if you could defy the laws of physics there would be nothing to gain. If the energy is cheaper it is best to draw from the grid for home consumption while charging your battery for the future.
Only oddity is that the battery charged at around half the rate I was expecting - circa 1500W rather than 3000W. I did notice this morning that the charge rate was set to an odd value that I don’t recall configuring (something like 2400W) but the charge rate overnight didn’t even reach that. I’ll double check the settings and watch it again tonight.