Battery charge level indication disagreement

8 comments started 2023-12-27 last 2023-12-28
GivEnergy ProductsBattery
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#1 Gus

Hi all,
I'm a new solar/battery user of about 2-3 months standing.
I'm noticing that there are several places on the app I can look to see the level of charge in my battery. I can also look at the indicator on the battery itself.
Whilst all these numbers seemed to agree and to seem logical based on how I use my system for the first 2 months I've recently began to notice that I'm getting large disparities for the battery % charged figure depending on where I look. Eg, tonight at about 11pm I would expect the battery to be low (say 10%) and the battery's inbuilt indicator roughly agrees, however the app is showing 60% in one place and about 10% in another. Anyone else experience this? Why is it happening and how do I get the numbers back in sync?

Thanks
Gus

#2 nophead

Not sure which two areas you mean but I just looked at the battery page on mine. The "Latest Data" is correct but the "More Information" has different numbers that can't be right.

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#3 Gus

Thanks nophead, yep, that's 2 places where the numbers don't agree. Also there is the homepage showing where energy is flowing from and to. That has an indication of level of battery charge as well. I'm just not able to know where my battery level is at or to trust the different numbers I'm seeing. I charge my battery from 2-5am due to low tariff and discharge (use) energy from 5am through the whole day and expect (typically from previous observation) the battery to be at my set reserve level at some time in the evening depending on my coffee intake (kettle boilings etc) during the day. Last night, (11pm) rather than 7-10% the battery level on the app was up at 60% for no good reason. It had been lower earlier in the evening but seemed to bump up to 60% with zero charging having been done ???

nophead

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#4 DD

Interesting... I hadn't stumbled onto this part of the app before. For me, the two are within 2% - 75% and 77% after an overnight charge to 85%
Speculating wildly, perhaps for those with multiple batteries, the more-details shows individual battery states, and the other view a composite view? But it's odd that with only one battery, the composite view should differ from what the BMS reports. Unless the inverter is also applying an energy in Vs energy out adjustment?

On bringing them into line: does battery ever get to 100% ? If you only charge for 3 hours from close to empty, perhaps not. That might be one thing to try. (Would be nice to see some sun ...)

#5 nophead

Other than the "more information page" I think all my battery figures agree and they agree with web the portal and the Inverter app which I like because it gives a prediction of what the battery will be in the future.

I wonder if the more information page shows the actual percentage rather than the usable percentage because it doesn't go up to 100% or down to 5%. But it doesn't even agree on voltage or temperature, so perhaps it is somebody else's battery!

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#6 Gus

DD Thanks DD, yeah a bit of sun would be great. I'm in Wales UK so Sun is in short supply in December, Jan, Feb etc, etc.
I've got a single 9.5Kw battery and it gets from 7 - 90% over night, it gets a small boost in charge if the clouds break during the late morning or early afternoon at this time of year but I can't figure the apparent magical uplift in % during a dark evening. I'm sure its just an indication error. I will try going to 100% tonight by extending the charging window to see if that re-syncs the readings.

#7 hoggy

The deep dive into batteries on the app is the true battery Voltage, SOC and temp (of the BMS board, not the cells) therefore it won't agree with the scaled/usable values the portal and app use elsewhere. It should run between 15% and 95% in this view. Which is 4-100% everywhere else in GE world.
It is very possible much possible (if you inverter is secondhand / refurb) that you see the previous owners battery in this view however, so you can't rule that out if it looks way different to your portal (I.e if you battery is fully charged & the deep dive view says its empty)
I have one that does this.

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#8 Gus

nophead . I checked the battery serial number on the app so I know its the right battery, plus no-one else close by has a solar system. I suppose that doesn't mean they don't have a battery system. I didn't know I could get an app for the inverter. I'll have a look for that. Thanks for the hint.