I’m generating solar power which is going FOC to the grid (don’t yet have a smart tariff - no MCS) even though my battery is not 100%. Battery charges very slowly but 1-2kw goes to the grid. Happening each day. Inverter is set to Eco. Tariff is Flexible Octopus.
Why is my battery not taking the power not used by my home?
See screenshot.
So… lots of stuff here…
-
How big is your solar array
-
What size is your inverter
-
What size are you batteries
-
How full are you batteries
For example I have 7KW Solar panels and my inverter can only push 3.6KW to the batteries ( 2 x 9.5KW ).
And what I see if that once I get above 93-4% that is drops off from 3.6KW to the point that at 98% it only diverts 500w or so, and this is by design with ANY type of battery - if it’s empty then there is lots of space to fire all the power into… as it gets fuller it has lots spots so has to calculate where to put the energy, this takes time so it reduces that amount of power as it get fuller.
So you systems might be working as expected – unless you have figures showing it used to run better.
Also - make sure you have ECO mode enabled, and you don’t have anything doing a scheduled export.
Thanks for your reply:
- Solar array - 10x Longi 430W panels - 4.3 kWp
- Inverter - GivEnergy 5kW Gen 3 Hybrid - Max DC input per string 7.5kWp Max charge/Discharge 3300W/3600W
- Battery - GivEnegy 9.5 kWh - Max charge/Discharge 80A/80A
The battery was about 70% charged.
The ECO mode is definitely engaged and there is no scheduling set as I don’t yet have a SEG tariff available.
I’ve attached another image from yesterday where you see the same situation. There is no charging from about 12:30 until 16:00 apart from a blip at around 14:30
You can see that 2.4kw was exported instead of going to the battery.
Strange
what are your software and battery versions ?
And are you looking at the APP - confirm all your settings on the website as well.
it looks like you might be limiting your batteries to only 2.3KW…
Check you battery options :
My Reserve is 4%
Charging Power 3600KW
Discharge Power 3600KW
Hi there
Thanks again for trying to help me understand what is going on.
Software versions:
Inverter firmware - D0.309-A0.309
Battery 3015
My battery options are exactly the same as yours.
I’ve added the same timeframe as the previous screenshot but from the GivEnergy dashboard
It shows that power was sent to the battery consistently at 291W all afternoon, so the battery was charging but very slowly.
From the website - do a “Restart the Inverter”…
Sometime the classic turn it off and on again fixes stuff - it’s just strange that you have a flat spot for such a long period of time at only a few hundred watts.
this is mine…
OK - I’ll try the old classic way … I have the same again today, at the same time, also with 291W
Very strange.
Final 2 suggestions…
- Do a full reset from the website ( will change all the setting back to default - wifi settings remain )
- Contact the helpdesk via email - the guys are normally awesome and can look at the actual backend settings that might be creating this issue.
Actually… how HOT is your inverter getting ?
I have fitted additional fans on mine so it doesn’t overheat
Datasheet - Hybrid Gen 3 5.0 [Sept 2023] (givenergy.co.uk)
My inverter temp got this high :
Hi there
Temperature never goes over 30C (internal) and 27C (external). However, since doing a full reset of the inverter all has been back to normal so I don’t know what was wrong, but it’s all good now.
On a more positive note I’ve now received my MCS cert and DNO letter so I’ve been able to sign up to Octopus Flux although only for the import part - the export needs some actions behind the scene from them so - small steps.
Thanks very much for all you ideas to sort my problem.
Excellent news… ( the old turn off and on worked ) Let me know how long your Flux takes to setup… I am still waiting for my existing FITS to be changed and it’s been over 3 months so far… I am hope it will be sorted in the next week or so ( I have lost soooo much export )
And now that your batteries are now working again I bet your temps will also start to rise !! ( and that temp seems like the battery temp as the inverter normaly run in top 30s just at tickover )
It took a full 8 weeks to get my documentation - I think they had the MCS certificate earlier but they were waiting for the DNO letter.
I changed my tariff and it took Octopus about 2 minutes before I got an email telling me it had been done, but for Import only: I quote “Just to confirm, you’ve now switched to Octopus Flux Import and your new rates are now live. As a reminder, it may take up to six weeks before we can switch you to Octopus Flux Export. We’ve still got a few things to do behind the scenes we’ll let you know when this is complete or if we need additional information from you”.
It should all be ready around Winter time !!
I’ll let you know.