Newbie - Automations with Octopus Agile Flex

Hi All,

I've had a look at other discussions but I can't find anything that quite covers my situation.

My system was installed 13th July I wanted to see how things were going before I took the plunge on a tariff. Due to poor weather and high usage it became necessary for me to pick a tariff to avoid basically paying the same as I would without a battery for my imported electricity

I'm on a FIT and current data indicates that I'm still (just) better off keeping my FIT than moving to an export tariff

So yesterday switched from my old flexible tariff to agile flex and set up the automation to Solar & Battery as generally even on pretty cloudy days I've been able to charge the battery by about 40-60% so I ideally want to minimise the import and prioritise generation but still ensure we have enough to see us through peak and into the next day based on the forecast

I set it all up yesterday and all seemed fine as there was a charge at what was the cheapest night period

However out of curiosity I looked at the inverter settings this morning and they had changed to a timed grid charge 01:30 - 4:00 and timed discharge 16:00 - 19:00. Unfortunately I changed the settings back as I didn't want more import due to the battery being on a timed discharge so I can't share the image of the app settings - but this is how they are now

Should I expect the inverter settings to change based on the automation?

After a timed discharge or timed export the reset to Eco does not work on Gen1 hybrids.
It is a known issue.
You may have to go to Home Assistant.

Timed charge and back to Eco works though, but there is only a single timed slot.

SteveCook thanks for your reply
As a newbie I'm not sure what you have just said
My system is a Giv-AC3.0 + Giv-Bat9.5 if that is any help

AGLAISTER I can't talk about the Octopus automation you have as I don't have that tariff but @SteveCook's comment relates to how gen 1 hybrids (and AC-Connected like yours) behaves when used for timed discharge. The gen 2 and 3 hybrids, when set to timed discharge, behave as if in ECO mode until the timed period starts. Once the timed period starts, the inverter discharges at the maximum rate it can, supplied from PV and battery, up to the G99 limit unless the battery discharge rate is less than the G99 limit. When the period ends, the inverter reverts to ECO mode. The gen 1 (and AC-connected) does much the same, just doesn't operate in ECO mode outside the timed discharge period, making it a pretty useless mode.

If you don't want to export during the 16:00-19:00 peak (and if you are still on FIT, there's no advantage), then don't use the Octopus automation. Just enable ECO and set a timed charge for the Octopus Off-peak period. If the Octopus Off-peak period is not fixed, then someone here will be able to advise on how best to charge off-peak when you need it without exporting when you don't want to.

Tim
Thanks Tim I think I'm making sense of this a bit more.
As I understand the issue is the Gen1s really operate in either or mode (either timed or automation) not a hybrid version where the operate in automation until the timed segment?
Or have I still missed the point?

AGLAISTER You're right except that it works seamlessly with timed charge. I expect they'll fix the timed discharge anomaly at some point for Gen 1, but ECO + timed charge works exactly as you would hope with ECO automatically taking over outside the timed charge period. You might have to tweak the charge rate down to enable the battery to take the whole timed charge period to reach your desired Charge to %. Ours works fine with a target Charge to % but we set the charge rate quite low anyway so that the inverter isn't working too hard. All this of course to prevent the battery discharging while the EV is charging, hence the EV and Givenergy inverter timed charge periods need to match.

The difference between timed discharge and timed export for gen2/3 is that timed discharge reverts to ECO outside the timed period whereas timed export leaves the inverter and battery idle and the house supplied from grid.

AGLAISTER am i wrong in understanding that we don't really need a "timed discharge" setting as the ECO mode takes care of charge / discharge. All we need is to set the timed import and timed export.

DeepS

deepanshus Depends on what you want. If you have a gen 3 HY5 and minimising grid import/export is what you want, then enabling ECO and disabling all other timed settings will do. If you want to charge off-peak during the winter, you will want to add a timed charge slot during your off-peak period; ECO is automatically enabled outside the timed charge period. If you are on a tariff where you can get paid higher rates for exporting during certain periods but you want to minimise grid import/export otherwise, then timed discharge would work for you; ECO being enabled outside the timed periods. If you don't care about minimising grid import/export but you just want to maximise your income from export during a high-price window, then timed export will work for you; ECO being disabled. Whichever mode you have set, the inverter should divert surplus PV to battery if it has capacity.