Battery

Just had panels , hybrid 5 inverter and 9.5 battery installed. Are there any you tube videos or manuals to instruct how to set it up? Currently the battery is mainly charging from the grid during the day at peak cost - ( cloudy day so only 750w/hr solar).

We have the app.

My queries -

1. Get the battery to only charge from solar or off peak grid rates?
2. Does the invertor have a timer built in? Is there a virtual control system for it ie another app etc?
3. How do I get the battery to discharge supply to the house and never to the grid?

We don't have a DNO from the network yet, and have not managed to get in touch with Octopus to set up a solar account.Any advice.

Thanks

Andy

What electricity tariff are you on?

If you are on a fixed rate, I would just put it into Eco mode and leave it for now. If you are on a time of use tariff (e.g. Economy 7) then I would put it into Eco, with a timed charge overnight (start with a target of 80%, perhaps, to give you some capacity to charge from solar during the day).

Once you have built up your knowledge and experience with your particular system, you can start to tinker with the settings to better optimise your setup.

I would recommend using the Portal inverter settings, rather than the App, as the App is reportedly less reliable.

Caidoz If you need to talk to Octopus ring first thing in the morning when they open (9.00am). Octopus have some good SEG rates but only if you also import your electricity from them. If you are on a good fixed rate with your current supplier it might be worth sticking with them for now and just getting the basic SEG rate (I think it's 4.1p) when you get your DNO and then swapping to getting your electric from them later on the Octopus Agile tariff. If you want to switch to a time of use tariff and have an electric vehicle I think Octopus Go is favoured although you can only get the basic SEG export tariff with that. Or you can try Economy 7 (but they take ages to set it up and you have to phone up to chase them). Octopus ECO 7 is apparently more expensive than some competitors, but you have to balance that against the better export tariff. The reason for a time of use tariff is that in the winter when there is little sun you can charge your battery overnight at cheap rate and use it during the day when leccy is expensive, but if you are a high user and deplete your battery early in the day then you need to take into account the higher cost for peak rate hours.

Caidoz Oops typing and thinking don't match up!
"and then swapping to getting your electric from them later and swapping export to the Octopus Agile tariff."

Not confident here to use an agile tariff for in or out. The octopus outgoing gives 15p per unit. Nothing to think about. Even better as my current eco7 tariff is 12.7p per unit in.

ToothyChris

Thanks - how do I put it in ECO mode?

I think Karen gave a detailed reply in the other thread that you posted on.

https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/1509-how-do-i-stop-export-to-grid/8