Hi, I am new here. I have just had 8 panels plus GIV- HY5.0-G3-PE & Give-Bat 9.5 installed. The system was commissioned on 30th April, and I am still trying to understand how the entire system works. I am also waiting for my MCS certificate and DNO information. Currently I am on Octopus Fixed Tariff. The tariff will change once I receive the MCS code. However, this should not alter the fact that as a standalone system I should be able to configure the inverter to charge the battery when the house load is minimal, and the excess generation should go to charge the battery. In practice the inverter throttles down the power to match the house electricity load. Both the inverter and the battery are on the latest firmware and Eco mode is switched on. In fact, it is fair to say the inverter & battery configurations have default settings.
I am not quite clear, are you saying that the batteries are NOT charging ?
You seem to be saying that the inverter is stepping down to provide power only to your house.
My first suggestion would be to logon to the web portal and in the top left click the 3 dots and restart the inverter.
And what percentage are you batteries at ( are they discharging etc… )
After that is there any pattern to the power ? ie: are you generating 5KW and only 2KW going to the battery and you are exporting 1KW.
Hi, Thank you for replying to my comments. I guess what I was trying to explain is my understanding of Eco mode was that the inverter would supply the house and any excess electrons would automatically charge the battery. This does not seem to be the case at the moment. If I manually schedule a charge event, I can get the system to charge the battery. on the date that the system was commissioned the battery charge was at 18% and since then I have charged it to 100% by scheduling a manual charge event. I would have expected this to happen automatically without any interaction from me.
It would be really great if there was a detailed programming document outlining what all the inverter settings mean and how they function. I will re-start the inverter as suggested.
Your 100% correct - the ECO mode does just that, any excess power should go into the battery and it will then use the batteries over the mains supply.
It normally just works.
if after you do a restart it’s still not working, you can try going into the “Mobile” app and clicking the COG in the top right hand corner and “reset to defaults”
if that a doesn’t work you next step might just be to contact the helpdesk ( email is normally quick ) and they work their magic ( or worse case get you engineer back in so they troubleshoot with Givenergy as this is a new install something might have been missed / not checked )
Thank you. I will let the forum know how it gets resolved.
Hey,
It’s not really a solution but I had similar behaviour when my system was only partly provisioned. My gateway commissioned but the AIO didn’t complete. In essence the AIO just slowly drained and didn’t function really doing much else unless forced.
Does it actually shows a commission date on your inverter page on the web version of your givenergy portal.
Edit. Added a screenshot what to look for.
Thanks
Bob
Hi Bob, Thank you for sharing the screenshot. The system appears to have been commissioned successfully at the backend on 30th April. I wonder if the physical hardware has been correctly installed. I have raised a case with the GiveEnergy support team.
if you have questions about your install you should go back to your installer to resolve them in the first instance. Any hands on things will need to be done by them
Hello Geoffrey, Thanks for your comment. The reason I think the hardware is incomplete or not correctly installed , is the fact that I can only see one CT measuring the current the house is taking, but I cannot see one at the inverter end to see how much solar is coming into the inverter. To measure solar I am not sure whether the GE inverter has a CT integrated within or not. I have posed that question to the GE support team. If the CT is not integrated within, then it is definitely the case that the system was not completely installed & I have to chase the installers.
Regards, Jami
From your description it sounds like you have a hybrid inverter so the solar panels are connected directly to the inverter.
These inverters only have 1 CT clamp on the grid supply to measure import/export and enable Eco mode to work. Solar generation is measured internally
Hi Geoffrey,
RE: GIV- HY5.0-G3-PE & Give-Bat 9.5
Thanks, I guess the question remains, how do I stop the solar generation from stepping down to match the home consumption? Ideally the excess solar generation should charge the battery and not simply to mirror the house consumption?
Regards, Jami
Eco mode should charge your battery with excess solar by default. If its not then it sounds like something is configured wrong in the inverter.
Hi Geoffrey, I had a response from Givenergy support and they also confirmed that the system only needs one CT at the house live cable. They suspect that the CT is not communicating with the inverter correctly. I also called the installers support team, they also confirmed the CT is not communicating correctly, leading the panels to mirror the house baseline energy requirement and not push the excess power to the battery.
Regards, Jami
The installers replaced the CT today and the system is now working as intended. Thank you for your help and contribution.