Can’t stop battery discharging to grid

My new GivEnergy battery+inverter went online yesterday, so I charged it up last night on cheap electricity, and monitored it and everything looked good, with the battery discharging to meet the needs of the house. At 10:27 today though it just started discharging at 100% to the grid, despite the solar panels generating excess power. I’ve made sure that scheduled discharge and export is disabled, I have the eco setting enabled. The only way to stop it is to stop the inverter discharging which negates the point of the battery.
I restarted the inverter and still the same thing happens.
Please help … what could be the issue.

Has your system completed its calibration cycle (which is a full discharge and charge)?

Not that I am aware of. So this is a normal one off and I should let it discharge fully and then recharge it again tonight?

AlanG Sadly calibrations are not a one off. Historically every new battery firmware triggers a calibration. But for this one yes the first commissioning calibration. Once done you should be fine.

At risk of sounding like someone who is tight with money (which I am!) there should be an option to run this commissioning calibration at scheduled time e.g. import calibration with Octopus Go overnight and output with charging the EV! Particularly if this might happen with every new firmware update. I could have bought a beer with the saving 😀

AlanG
everyone wishes we could schedule the calibrations though compared to the massive savings going forward it is a small price to pay.

i have the same issue. I setup scheduled charge on OctopusGo overrnight rates. If i do that the battery discharges to the grid! Why is it doing that. I want it to charge using cheap rate and discharge during the day, but i cant do that if the scheduled charge is active! Am i missing something or this by design?

raj
we were discussing a scheduled calibration not a scheduled charge.
in your case the settings have probably got confused so reset them to default and then set the timed charge again. check that "eco" is on.

just spoke to tech support....it looks like the system is recalibrating itself, so will deplete the battery first and then fully charge from grid. will see how it looks tomorrow

Installer had just fitteg a G100 limiter to the solar. Then he checked the Givenergy Modbus wiring. Newly installed second inverter and 9.5bat - had been running for over a week with minor reporting issues. Then he reconnected the Modbus cable to the second inverter - but to the CT port.
Both inverters then started to discharge - 5.6kW. Dashed out side to connect the car and removed 'avoid drain' on the Zappi.
Both inverters/batts powered down. Finally found the 'CT' cockup. Modbus Master (first inverter) may have a cooked RS485 driver - will see next week.

My 2 batteries also appear to have fully discharged. They did this while I was working away from home. Now I have a red status on both, both won't restart successfully. Inverter also doesn't appear to be accepting PV. Something is not ok. Connected maybe? Ticket raised but it's Saturday, shame as the sun has been out all day.

If you have a very recently commissioned system, let it go through the battery calibration routine without changing any settings. Then let it settle for at least 48hrs before starting to customise the settings on the app or portal. I think it needs a couple of days just to settle down. Certainly our system did and it was installed and went live on 11th Jan. Now working flawlessly but for a couple of days it did all sorts of strange things. I think you just have to be patient in the beginning and not bother about random export to grid or house not being supplied by the battery. You have to work out the settings to suit your own energy needs and whether you have economy 7 supply, etc.

RBilton Whare are they? Are they too cold?

cluelesscris In my garage, it's not crazy cold in there.
Inverter isn't generating. DC is definitely present from both strings though as I measured it this morning as both at about 217V. Is that normal?
When I had a poke around, checked wiring etc, I found a loose wire on the EPS isolator. I had a manual changeover system fitted last summer and it actually tested ok at the time, but this badly terminated neutral was clearly a problem as GivEnergy support have said they can see something wrong on the EPS via whatever remote diagnostic system they have access to.
So then it comes down to responsibility, who's to blame, who pays in other words.
I'm a engineering service manager myself so I know the game.
As ever though, customers just need fast diagnosis and a fix, especially as this system was a hefty investment to make my household more resilient to the energy crisis.
Hope I'm not hijacking this thread, I'll cease and repost if required.

Ive had a givenergy system installed this morning.
Its discharging to the grid from the battery but im not on a smart meter yet, its a standard digital meter.
I applied to switch to octopus energy weeks an weeks ago but it hasnt kicked in yet, will my meter go backwards?
Am i about to get stung as it calibrates?

Probably not, and probably.

Marren2016 Depends how old it is and which model. Way back in 2011, when I had my solar panels installed my meter recorded both import and export as import. The easiest way to check is to monitor it over a frw hours taking regular readings. It will soon become apparent what is happening to your meter readings. Above all make sure your generation meter is working correctly and you are keeping a record of what the inverter says is happening. You may need it as evidence to get a refund from your supplier until they replace the meter.

RBilton both strings though as I measured it this morning as both at about 217V. Is that normal?

huge dose of "this is just my system, and it still isn't working right, so take with a pinch of salt"

When generating from PV, my inverter holds the string at around 210V to 220V all day long, and the PV power reading varies throughout the day according to production. But always at a voltage in that range.

I did have an extended period where the Voltage was in that range, but the power was consistently reading at 5W. It would continue like for for hours, right at peak sunlight even. This coincided with the Inverter showing as "Idle" in the web portal (i.e. with a yellow indicator). When the Inverter would decide to wake up, sure enough the power figure would return to normal.

The Inverter was going idle virtually all the time, day and night, when I first had it installed. It prevented the overnight charging, too. I believe GE Support have tweaked a firmware setting remotely but they were rather vague about that... It still makes me nervous.

Riscy Thanks, I honestly don’t know what range the voltage should be within though, I haven’t gone that deep.
My inverter is constantly showing as idle.
For months I have had a timed charge set up. I’ve been worried about power cuts here in Northumberland so have tried to ensure I always have a reasonable amount of back up power, even if it cost me more in bills.
Whatever happened has totally defeated the whole point, I only have electricity so my family are now vulnerable to outages.

Riscy
An engineer from GivEnergy came on Tuesday 14th Feb and sorted it, I was very impressed with service and technical expertise.
Thanks also to EcoPartners, the original supplier/ installer who got this all moving quickly.
I’m back where I need to be, lots of generation and storage.
😀

RBilton Excellent!

I'd love to know what the GivEnergy engineer did... If you find out then do pass it on.

I'm on first-name terms with EcoPartners. Agreed they're very responsive. They've struggled hugely with my installation but I don't think it's their fault. (other than forgetting to install the LoRa antenna, but then came back within 24hrs of me noticing and letting them know)

Riscy Tested then replaced the inverter. It had definitely failed.