Dynamic control and thermostatically controlled induction hob

The Eco function and the dynamic control is just another disappointment. I have my induction hob boiling some veg and obviously controlling itself. Naturally the power requirement is fluctuating due to the thermostatic control of the hob. ECO selection cannot cope. The power from the array was 220W the need from the house was 274W my battery was feeding 2.16kw to the grid that was taking 2.1kw from the battery. My battery at the time was at 91% and this situation took the system at least 1minute 14 seconds to resolve. It may have taken longer but the time stated it what I have on the screen shot. To my mind this is not dynamic control. I was told by my installer that the indication was only a snap shot and would update every 10 seconds. That's okay but I have proof that it was 1 minute 14 seconds at least. No of the timed controls work either and I have to refresh my system every couple of days as it will not charge the battery just feeds the grid. The whole thing is a joke. Am I just unlucky or has everyone else just given up and accepts that does in the long run save them at least some money?.

I have just accepted that the system does not react instantly and often takes 10, 20, 30 seconds to ramp up and down. However we use an induction hob daily, last week our total consumption was 67 kWh and we only imported less than 500 w from the grid. It’s set to eco mode and I’m very happy with the performance.

Paul_johnson1 There is always going to be a lag on any battery system between the load being applied, the inverter spotting the current draw, switching from charging or idle to discharging and then supplying power from the batteries. And then vice-versa when the load stops. Even the National Grid isn’t instantaneous!

Whilst this all happens in real time, trying to understand the second to second behaviour of the inverter and how impactful the lag is isn’t helped by the GE monitoring that’s only every 5 minutes to the cloud/portal and every 10 seconds to the app when in local mode. We just see a series of snapshots.

I know some YouTubers have commented about the relative speed of the GE inverter response time and how this compares to other inverters (talking about seconds comparison). My experience like Sunlight has been pretty good; unless my batteries run out I’m drawing less than 1kW a day from the grid. I can live with 34p.

But 1 minute 34 doesn’t sound right and having to refresh the system every couple of days also doesn’t sound right.

When you “refresh”, what are you doing, is it clicking on “reset the inverter” or is it “reset to defaults” the inverter configuration/registers? Try the latter if you haven’t been doing so and if you are still having problems contact GE support as there may be a firmware or underlying inverter/BMS issue. As I said, mine doesn’t do that at all.

I'm considering getting an induction hob, and have been looking into them a bit. One thing I discovered that some models implement low power by simply switching full power on and off, whereas others actually control the power level. There's a youtube video demonstrating the effect. Inverters which are slow to respond to changes don't work so well with the former. (Someone also reported that a microwave on defrost setting also did the pulsing thing, which the inverter was very slow to respond to.)

Do you have the latest firmware? I believe it has improved response time of the inverter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCruda_1oIY

DD Yes, this is definitely something to check for us battery owners. My neighbour and I have exactly the same set up but differnent induction hobs. Mine works fine with the usual initial spike in import on first use but no issues from then on. My neighbour's hob causes spikes continuously. A scope on them showed mine uses pwm to control power and his uses simple switching. We have also experienced similar issues when using the immersion to top up hot water and the tank is at top temp. Whilst the frequency is much lower the thermostat regularly switches on and off causing repeated spikes in import. I have added additional automation to curtail this by overriding the switching thresholds.

perhaps we should have a thread of known GE inverter friendly appliances?
My counter top twin induction hob is not too bad at causing spikes at the lower power levels and i rarely want the higher settings.
its called "IsEasy Electric Induction Hob with Plug-in, Built-in & Portable Cooktop, 2 Zones 30cm 3000W"
and costs £100

I have a Neff 5 zone induction hob and I was initially worried about it. But it’s not caused any worrying spikes from the grid.

In a rare turn of events I was cooking last Weds, the sun was out which picked up most of the load.

The Grid hardly saw any demand at all.

The battery saw a small amount of demand:

And the house load peaked at around 2kwh supplied by sun and battery:

I recently put in an Ikea Hogklassik induction hob, and was a bit concerned I'd see spikes like I do with the oven and iron. But yesterday I was cooking on a single burner, and even though I had it on medium (7-8: I could hear noises which I thought indicated it cutting in and out), the load looked pretty constant (600-700W monitored using GivTCP at 10s interval, and also a Glowstick monitoring the grid every minute) - so it looks like the Hogklassik is a friendly load too.

Sunlight Hi, Thanks for your reply. I would be happy too if that were the case for me, unfortunately it seems to take more like 90 seconds. I have tried resetting but still have problems. Eco is the only setting that works for me. I mean I don't have a choice literally the other setting doesn't work. My smart meter shows at 25-35 pence even with a full battery and solar still giving 200w and discharge rate set to 2600KW(Max). Paul

Paul_johnson1 Just a thought but have you checked the wiring on your EM115 meter? Does it have good termination at both ends and using a twisted pair if it has been extended?

Paul_johnson1 Without seeing exactly what you are looking at I am having trouble understanding the issue. For example, my smart meter is currently showing 0.39p but I know that is my cost including standing charge so far today. But then, I hardly ever look at the smart .meter.

What concerned me from you original post was

Paul_johnson1 The power from the array was 220W the need from the house was 274W my battery was feeding 2.16kw to the grid that was taking 2.1kw from the battery.

Perhaps a screen shot of "Energy Graph" from the portal for the period in question may help?

cluelesscris Hi - interest to know the models of inductions hob that you have as we are switching gas to hob and def. do not want the pulsing sort. I'm not sure how you can tell simply by looking at AO.com for example.

4monks An inexpensive one from Cookology. Model CIT901. Brand new off eBay for less than £200. It's been a great purchase.

4monks You may well find that they all pulse, especially at lower heat requirement, it may just depend on how noticeable it is. Ours is a Bosch 4 ring 13 Amp hob and it's not that noticeable or intrusive.