AIO 2-6 Batteries timer started (02/01/2024)

Thought I would start a new post as it is now 2024 and GE have stated these will be available “coming soon”?
(Not sure what everyone’s interpretation of coming soon is, mine is months not years)

Connect up to 6 systems in parallel and achieve 80kWh of useable energy storage (coming soon)

My house uses about 15 kWh a day so would like one more AIO. Does not last all day in Winter which is why I got the AIO in the middle of last year and it’s been 6 months. (So not a happy bunny 😡😡)

I'm about to decide on batteries for a new build and will need to purchase soon. I was planning on two AIO batteries and have been monitoring the "coming soon" since the product launched. GE seem to have an odd view of "soon" and I have emailed support a couple of times over the last six months and just get a boilerplate response which doesn't say anything. It's beginning to undermine my confidence that this feature will be delivered and I'm wondering if AIO is the right product for me.

I would also like another AIO, installer left room to slot one in neatly and will be a very simple install. After recent firmware delays I wouldn’t expect parallel installations in 2024. My backup plan is a new EV with Bi directional charging, the development of domestic V2H might actually beat duality of AIO’s.

Givenergy - still a Chinese company?
The concept of 'soon' is a lunar thing - it's normally the second full moon in the year of the Tiger ...

I too was planning on adding a second AIO and purchased it with this misconception. However I was planning on a future addition so I am able to wait.

Daveb01 coming soon = years not months, based on other releases. This gives you plenty of time to decide if you actually need a second AIO, based on a full year's usage. For a reasonable return, you need to aim for cycling the battery fully once a day on average throughout the year.

Jase1703

This is a good point, I should have named the Title timer started Second AIO or Bidirectional EV charger (which will be available first)

I have a SolarEdge 6 kWh PV inverter so have edged my bets.

GE have said 2nd AIO coming soon (means years)
SE have said bidirectional EV coming 2024.

Daveb01 following my recent GE install my folks have decided that maybe Solar is a good plan as they head into retirement.

They have had a quote for a HY-5.0 Gen3 + 9.5kWh batt like me and the AIO, my preference is the AIO but the expansion issue does seem to be a point of contention with our installer.

AIO would be better for them due to the whole house backup + EV but there is no date for expansion yet.

My understanding is the AIO and Gateway were released in July 2023.

It has now been 6 months, Still no news on AIO’s 2-6 availability or price

Come on GivEnergy ?? 🙁

We went PW2, because it actually cost less than an AIO. As such my advice would be don’t assume and investigate/get pricing for options that do what you need now. That isn’t a PW pitch, just a look at your options.

The web site for the product AIO now no longer says "coming soon" but does say "With the option to connect multiple units, you can scale your energy storage capacity as your needs grow.". So, I contacted them to ask it this was available now. It isn't!. No confirmation or willingness to say when it will be available. They did say the feature is in test and would be released.

Is there a beta programme for multiple AIO batteries?

I'll need some solid information on this or I'll end up going SolarEdge to be sure I can go >13.5kW

SolarEdge battery stand 👍😀

As ever do your own maths, but,

All in One, £6k + installation costs. Lets say £6,500 for 13.5kWh capacity

Overnight cheap rate charging = 7.5p
Day-time standard import rate = 30p

Cost benefit of charging the AIO overnight = (30-7.5)*13.5 = £3.06 per day ignoring the 10-20% conversion losses

£6,500 / £3 = 2166 = 5.9 years payback assuming you need that extra 13.6kW every single day

Reality is with losses and summer consumption being lower you're probably looking at more like 10 years+ payback.

Of course there's more to it than money, there's grid independence, green benefits of reducing daytime grid draw, but its not a great set of sums

geoffreycoan

One thing that changes the dynamic you mention is that any capacity can now be pushed back to grid at 15p on IO so that would in effect reduce the burden and brings payback sooner rather than later.

geoffreycoan

The above is a very good point.

Also don’t forget a say conservative “£100” extra a year from discharging in the savings sessions, plus (even if you only discharged half on average to) export every day (which seems conservative also), then using your calculations it’d be;

£6500 - (£100 x “~ 4.5 years”) / (£3 + £0.50)

= £6.050 / £3.5 = 1,728 /365 = 4.74 years

Likely you could possibly achieve 75% discharge average over the year. Which brings it down more.

Also, you might be saving 100% of all of the times when your load goes over your maximum battery capacity output and you’re pulling peak grid. Which isn’t much but if it was 0.5 to 1kW a day thats another £25-£50 off.

4.75 years or less (using conservative figures which should cover losses) seems somewhat better.

Of course I’ve just realised the maths is a bit flawed because it’s based on (as you say) charging and “using all of the extra 13.5kW every day”. Which is very user dependent and could be for 9 months+ of the year or less than 3 months of the year.

It’s very difficult to get anywhere near a sensible payback calculation with so many variables, what with the dynamics of import and export rates constantly changing. Just 5 years ago standard import rate was 16p/ kW or less.

I think it’s only really possible to get your own personal payback time when it’s actually happened !

Hope they get the multi-AIO set-up up and running soon though. Personally I’m sitting here with 2x Gen3 5.0 hybrid inverters and 4x 9.5kW batteries patiently waiting for the CEMS to be released. I was going to delay my install until it was released but assumed “soon” actually meant “soon”.

Do we think the CEMS is going to be utilised as the solution to multi AIO installs as well as for individual inverters?

Is that part of the “commercial decision” to have one device (the CEMS) that is capable of controlling all of their products on multiple inverter/ battery installs? It’s for the AIO as well…. ?

I had a similar set of calculations to the above when trying to work out whether I could justify getting another 9.5kW battery. I don’t have an EV so the tariffs available give a much worse overnight cheap rate charging benefit, but I had modelled the premium you’d get from capturing solar generation and then exporting it at the Flux peak peak.

Payback periods then came out in the 5 - 22 year range depending on what set of assumptions you made.

In the example I deliberately didn’t include conversion losses, but at 10-20% that further reduces the £ benefit.
The one thing I hadn’t considered is saving session profits. The AIO with its much better discharge rate than my hybrid inverters definitely capitalises on this, and unlike the import and export rate differentials where you’re making pence on each kW, you’re making decent money with the saving sessions.

From what Hoggy has shared about the CEMS, the approach sounds excellent, and I wouldn’t be surprised if CEMS becomes the solution to multiple AIO’s to stop cross charging, etc, but it does concern me that having a master unit that sits over all the other units (potentially of different types, sizes, generations, etc) means there will be an awful lot of testing required and the ‘coming soon’ will be very delayed.
The previous generation multi-controller user got as far as being shown at a trade show, beta test with 10-20 users, and all that took a long time before it was canned for CEMS.

DreadorUK If we are talking about battery-only installs here, then bear in mind that, AFAIK, Octopus only offer an export tariff if you have generation capablity. And I believe other vendors will only pay for power you've generated yourself, not using arbitrage with a battery. (I think that's part of the SEG terms?)

DD Octopus outgoing terms actually do allow you export payment if you don’t have generation capabilities, and one of the examples on their FAQ page gives the ‘charge up battery at cheap rate, discharge at peak’ example https://octopus.energy/blog/outgoing-faqs/

Which is brilliant. I know that some other SEG providers limit you to only exporting what you generate. Of course how they work out you are breaking the conditions is debatable.

geoffreycoan Oh... I'm sure I read someone with battery-only saying they couldn't get export. Maybe it was the DNO that wouldn't issue an MPAN? Anyway, there was a requirement somewhere for an MCS certificate, and battery-only install didn't come with one. (ISTR that Octopus will accept alternatives to MCS, but you have to pay something..?)

FAQ does seem to be inconsistent:

What do I need to do to join Outgoing?
You’ll need a supported smart meter we can read remotely, and you'll need certified solar panels at home.

but then later, as you say,

Do I need to have solar, or could I take advantage if I have home batteries and/or V2G?
Outgoing Octopus is best for homes with significant renewable generation, but you don’t HAVE to be generating energy to benefit.

Though I suppose the latter could be interpreted as saying you could benefit even after the sun has gone down. i.e. it doesn't say you don't need solar panels, it just says the power doesn't need to be coming from the solar panels. (Specifically, "HAVE to be generating" vs "have to be ABLE to generate".)

EtA: on the Octopus forum, there's a thread about it. Seems that Octopus charge an admin fee of £250 for non-MCS systems (which, I guess, might be a battery-only system). Apparently there was a recent tweet from Octopus saying "at the moment we are not set up for battery-alone export. All our export tariffs require you to have solar at the property".

But then again, the table near the end of
https://octopus.energy/octopus-smart-tariffs/
suggests that "battery storage" is eligible for agile + outgoing Octopus.

Of course, things may change since battery-only installs are now VAT-free, so may become more popular. Though a bit chicken-and-egg, if good export rates are to figure in the payback calculations...

DD

They don't know what to do about it though, so whilst they offer battery only export they seem to be struggling to find a**e and elbow on how to implement it.

Im currently trying to get them to do it for my setup and I feel its going to go the way of them either pulling battery only whilst they go and revisit it, or working it out when they finally realise all they can get off me is G99 with that a MPAN Number

DreadorUK I tried going down the same road, mostly so I could be part of the DFS sessions. After several round-trips, including me sending them screenshots of their own website where they offer export to battery-only setups, all they could do is offer to add me to a list of possible beta trialists for the non-MCS process. The much conflicting info on their website is very frustrating.

Just get the cheapest solar panel you can find and put it on the shed roof, then you have solar 😀👍

Daveb01 I already have one on the shed - I fitted it though so not sure I want to go through MCS accreditation

🙂

It’s now nearly April 2024

Anyone on the Beta, heard anything about parallel AIO’s?

Looks like we are still on “coming soon”

Glad you've brought this thread back up. Sat here waiting also. Purchased an AIO as it was advertised as "coming soon", and need more capacity than one unit will provide.

Did you guys see Paul L’s recent YouTube video?

https://youtu.be/6ZrdVKFX4gI

Transcript - https://givenergy.co.uk/givenergy-firmware-head-of-testing-systems-security-paul-landregan-answers-your-questions/

Yep me too, I’m waiting with baited breath. I know the AIO was a new product last year but I’m starting to get a little miffed about how long it’s taking and the lack of updates from GE.
If I knew that it was going to take this long I would have def bought 2 Powerwalls in stead to be brutally honest. But I wanted to support a British company…… 🙄

Please get this done GE.

Braddersmd

I am in the same position, I went with SolareEdge Inverter 6kWh and should have got the SolarEdge batteries, hot water and whole house backup, especially now SolarEdge have the new Bidirectional EV charger (July 2024).

But I went with the GE AIO as thought that was a better option at the time as needed 2 x AIO (coming soon), plus GE were bringing out a new EV charger.

No stupid comments please as I have already shouted all of them at myself 🙁😡🤷🏼‍♂️

Daveb01 We are all in the same boat then so no stupid comments from me😉
I do feel mislead about this functionality of the AIO. GE we’re trying to get in on the Powerwalls action but it’s clear now the product was not sufficiently developed. People I know who are considering home batteries and the AIO are asking my opinion and I’m giving them an honest answer.
1 unit is fine but if you want to run heat pumps etc it’s simply not enough and I might have chosen differently with the benefit of hindsight.

I’d gladly test the Beta software, how can I get in touch with GE to volunteer, Any ideas?

JamesFisher22 I’d gladly test the Beta software, how can I get in touch with GE to volunteer, Any ideas?

You can try tagging Paul here (@ TheDragon_Giv) or - probably better, as he is more active/visible there) on the beta forum - https://community-beta.givenergy.cloud

I seem to recall him saying (on the video??) that he has around a dozen people already waiting to be beta volunteers/victims

Another month has passed and still NO news on a second AIO (coming soon)

Just seen Tim & Kat’s video on new GE manufacturing facility and upgrade scheme (coming soon). The upgrade scheme will be good for those in a Gen1 inverter etc.

Looks like they are busy with the commercial side of the business at the moment 🙁

https://infinite-solar.co.uk/givenergy-all-in-one-13.5kwh-battery-and-inverter

£4733 ex Vat but no cable pack

It’s now May and still no news on a 2nd AIO.

I installed my system on the 17th August, I hope we do not get to that date as it would be a year COME on GE 😡😡

I have volunteered to be a beta tester, why can GE not let us have one say at half price, I can then pay my installer and they will have more people to see if it works.

I worry that when it is finally released it doesn't work as intended not unlike the multiple SOC/charging issues people have encountered with the successive AIO firmware updates.

I'll say it again, If I knew it was going to take this long I'd have bought 2 Power Walls in stead. Feeling dissapointed and a bit mugged over by GE about this now. Why is it taking so long? Does anyone at GE care?? They should as this is a flagship product that STILL doesn't have the functions that are advertised and they will be losing sales and tarnishing their reputation.

Given the 1st dual AIO is only just going in to test last week I guess it's nearer but still not exactly oven ready.

I can then pay my installer and they will have more people to see if it works.

Sure the thoughts in the right place but really shouldn't need customers to foot the bill for product promises thay have already (and continue) to be made.

I had a last minute change of heart as PW2 was cheaper and added a second once the VAT changes came in.

I know many people will say NMC or other things, but they have a built in coolant system which will prevent them freezing in winter too.
So far I’m happy with the choice.

kram What’s the PW2 like in terms of open API’s and controllability, e.g. for time of day tariffs like Octopus Go or complex tariffs like Agile?

You see videos with racks of PW2’s in large installations so they’ve clearly got the multi-device setup working properly, but I heard that they were a bit of a closed eco system so interested in how locally controllable they are?

Nothing against the people that are doing GivEnergy’s dev, they’re working very hard but software is complex, especially real time stuff, and my outsiders guess is that GivEnergy underestimated the complexity of inverter and battery firmware given the number of iterations, length of development and testing there’s been, and even after all that there’s been plenty of post-release issues that live customers have found.
Growing the skills isn’t something that happens overnight.

Another month has passed?
Christmas is “coming soon”

I had My AIO installed on August 17th 2023, will GE get to a year.

Probably.... :-(

oh and just an FYI, joining the the two threads https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/3625-multiple-aio-unit-integration-release

https://givenergy.co.uk/givenergy-firmware-head-of-testing-systems-security-paul-landregan-answers-your-questions/ from March 13th Paul L does also say "Coming Soon" - whilst I appreciate that it is incredibly difficult to say exactly when in the future something which is undergoing testing will be ready, maybe the original use of "Coming Soon" was a bit premature. "In Development" would have been a better term, then, as early adopters of this technology, we could have assessed our stance on that fact. It is the "Coming Soon" that suggests circa 3-6 months in my mind, and in development would put it in the 1 Year+ mark, and it would appear we will be pretty much bang on the latter.

On the GE app (just updated), if you hit the battery, then "More information" then you will see that the battery (as well as giving you more correct info than previously) is now marked "Primary"

Things are moving in the right direction.

Concur, all I would say is that has been there a while, I had my AIO swapped for a completely unrelated reason, and I ended up with two in the app for a short period and there are other GivEnergy battery setups that can have more than one battery in a given deployment, so I do not believe this to be AIO specific

geoffreycoan

Sorry for the very slow reply I rarely get time to look these days. Closed eco system, yes.. but there is a local and cloud api.

There is good integration into HA, and you can:
pause - set reserve to current charge level
Force charge- set reserve high
Strongly suggest discharge to grid by telling it you have high export prices.

You can read loads of data from the batteries and gateways too.

Bit of a fudge I admit, but two very simple automations mean it works with intelligent octopus go (and other intelligent options too).

Vanilla time based control is easy, set and forget. As it’s AC coupled you control discharge on a zappi.

Perfect no, but 27kWh at 10kW discharge for about 75%) of a GE AIO per battery on the quotes we got, is good . The second was cheaper as no gateway.

I lose granular control but I can be made to work well enough. What I gained was simplicity (happy wife) things just working in a power cut without us noticing and a large installer base.

Some people will want that control, but most want to fit, forget and be able to ogle a bit. HA does that enough for us.

Agile can be done and I saw someone say they had predbat working, however if that’s your goal I admit it’s a lot harder with the PW.

We had few small outages and one hour long one and nothing has even noticed.

Essentially, make you choices and priorities, pay your money. You’ll only be unhappy if you didn’t do your priorities or look at what can be done and that goes for any system.

kram Thanks for the feedback, especially the insights into controllability. I know Tesla are a much bigger company than GivEnergy but frustrating how they seemingly have cracked many of wrinkles that we have with our GivEnergy system. Been going longer I suppose. And as you say, you pays your money you takes your choice

Not a problem, if you have any other questions just ask 👍

Contacted GE with:

Hi, any news on a Second AIO please. I had my system installed in August 2023 with a promise that a second AIO would be “coming soon”. It says this on the fact sheets still, however still no news from my installer.

If the answer is still coming soon what is holding the process up? Firmware? Software? You can have 2 x 9.5 GE batteries for example, so what’s really the issue with the AIO?

Answer:
This is still being done in lab tests. Sadly no updates as of yet.

My AIO was installed in November. With the ongoing delays it feels as though there might be significant issues getting more than one AIO to play nicely together, hopefully they don't cobble together a kludge which would cause issues further down the line.
What would be an improvement are regular updates on what's being worked on, what the issues are and what is being done to resolve the said issues, oh, and comprehensive FAQ's and guides for the various setups / systems that are deployed, after all, we are the people who have purchased the Givenergy kit but it feels as though they have the attitude that they're doing us a favour if they deign to respond to a query in the forums.

Each PW2, like the AIO is a standalone battery and inverter. They play nicely by using a comms cable and the gateway to talk and charge/discharge.

This should work fairly easily for GE between multiple AIO, multiple AC inverters or potentially even multiple hybrid units. Obviously with the latter you might need a gateway of sorts.

Perhaps there are reasons it’s taking longer, maybe it’s much harder to get consistent SoC out of LFP batteries. Maybe there is an oversight that needs new software are they need to test it, maybe there is something else.

I’d say never buy something based on coming soon features if they really matter to you. Any manufacturer can change their mind or hit issues. If you want to stack, solar edge, Tesla, MyEnergi, pylontech and many others will do this to differing degrees.

It will probably come to AIO, I can’t personally see a reason why not, but I’m not GE so this is me guessing with zero inside knowledge.

kram I think its more that the Gateway 'as is' doesn't really do a lot currently. All the data that you get in the portal and all the commands sent to/from are all aimed directly to the AIO. The gateway reports little if any info of the AiO attached to it.

So what I believe the issue is, is that electrically it's probably pretty easy to get going (albeit i doubt you will be getting six, i think the idea now is you discard the fitted parallel connection point and simply keep fitting extra RCBOs for every new AIO in the gateway - you only have finite space for this, less so if you have an EV charger taking up space. )
The hard part is getting the gateway to act as the conductor, so it takes all the attached AiO info, makes some sort of sense of it, and then feeds that back to the portal.
Likewise commands, it'll need to take the one command and resend out to X AIO's attached.
Depending on how deep this goes it may also (like the long rumoured CEMS unit) need split out 'demand', PV, Excess, values from the current metering in the gateway to ensure the loads are shared equally across them and also keep SOC broadly in line with each other.

Oh and then there's the portal to sort...(as you'll have a fleet mismatch - some will work as is now, single all in one, some will have multi AIO so likely interface differently with the gateway)

I think perhaps coming soon was a little too early - although equally I get why it was mentioned as without saying it when you compare features to a PW its a big cross against expandability in a comparison.

I just had notification of the Tesla Powerwall 3. 13.5kWh, 11.5kWh continuous power output and integrated hybrid inverter. Scalabe to 40.5kWh. Be interesting to see if this prompts Givenergy to focus more on the AIO developments.

Tenkaykev

Doubt it to be honest.
One thing to node is the PW3 has a hybrid inverter with up to 6 MPPT and 11.5lW output.

The addition batteries will be DC connected, so 1 head plus 2 expansions will be 40.5kWh at 11.5kW.

Less expandable than PW2, but simpler from a paperwork point of view and probably cheaper to expand.

It will be interesting to see if Tesla enable stacking of 3 PW3, each expanded to cater for 1 per phase or high draw scenarios.

The PW2 will still be sold, so unless the AIO starts expanding to 3 units at a lower price point than PW2, PW3 or indeed the others out there it’s not something I think will greatly change tgeir target market.

hoggy i didn’t realise the AIO Gateway was as dumb as you suggest. If that’s the case yea it explains the headaches.

I’m also waiting patiently for parallel AIO, I even had my current unit positioned with space for a mate to stand neatly alongside!

However, I’ll soon have a 100kwh battery delivered on 4 wheels with bi directional charging capabilities. I know, I know the hardware to allow this is either non existent or expensive and my zappi2 doesn’t allow it atm. But gaining access to my EV battery might prove cheaper and easier than installing another ge AIO @ 13,5kwh.

Jase1703

Coming soon 😀 (seems to be the new saying)

https://corporate.solaredge.com/en/this-is-solaredge/news-and-media/local-announcements/new-bi-directional-dc-coupled-electric-vehicle-charger

Daveb01 thanks for the link, I have slightly more confidence of my new EV arriving in September than I do a parallel AIO, but watch this space.

I don't think I am breaking the Beta NDA if I say that anyone interested in hearing what is currently happening on multiple AIOs might want to ask to join the beta program over on the other forum.

It’s all good, but I can’t tell you 😂
Appreciate you’re under NDA, so that isn’t at you.

It really wouldn’t hurt the company the give a public statement providing a hint as to current state (testing identified minor/major issues and being resolved) and estimate of when.

Multi AIO released for Beta Test:
https://givenergy.co.uk/product-update-were-opening-the-beta-on-parallel-all-in-one-units/

hoggy

So no discount on the new AIO as its beta? Or has anyone -honed there installer to see?

I am not sure I am liking this at the moment. My installer has just said (he has done a few parallel batteries, they get wired to the first battery the same as the comms. So why does this seem to go to the Gateway? If this is true where will the 3rd to 6th battery get wired into? (There is not enough space in the Gateway).

He has also said:-
They have not used the correct grommet for the cable.
They have down graded the RCBO for the current AIO.
There is no wiring diagram available to comment on at the moment. He guests it is because he has to phone them up.

My Gateway

Daveb01 because there is no parallel connection on the AIOs (other than data) so they all have to go to the gateway. There's no DC connection like a normal battery. You add an extra AIO and you get an extra 6kW inverter attached to it whether you need it or not.
Basically it's done how I said a week ago a few comments up

The original linked RCD & MCB combos being switched out aren't really a downgrade, they perform the same function but take up 2 ways less space than the original ones. One presumes that to keep adding AIOs you carry out the same for the PV inverter "slot" to gain a triple AIO Gateway capability. Beta program stops at 3 it seems so that is either "it" or you start adding them where the EV slot is or something...

Might just bring out a bigger gateway box for those who want up to six AIOs? If there's demand for such large systems?

TX200

I am not very happy really as I was sold an AIO with a Gateway, and have the option to expand this (coming soon). There was no indication that the Gateway was not suitable for this and would need replacing. plus extra RCBO’s for each AIO, where there are no slots available.

The SolarEdge batteries parallel into each other. And it looks like the new PW3 does the same?

Daveb01

SE and PW3 are DC based, with SE all being DC to the solar inverter and PW3 being a primary battery with AC inverter and solar inputs and batteries 2+3 being DC.

Whilst I agree the situation is poor, the closest comparison of the above brands would be PW2

Spoke to my installer again and feel better. He said they seem to have indicated they are going to swap the RCD & MCB to an RCBO. He now thinks they will swap this out as per the yellow on exiting Gateways.

Daft question, but didn’t GE change the gateway for an issue? @hoggy seemes to know more, but if they did is it worth your installer having a replacement gateway conversation with GE?

kram depends entirely on how they (Giv) wish to handle the Neutral Earth relay saga.
Old gateways (where the AIO has the relays, not the gateway) will be interesting, and it'll need to be carefully setup such that ONLY 1 of the AIO pulls this relay in. Multiple N-E bondings cause some fun parallel paths to contend with.
Newer gateways where the relay is in the gateway should be fine (providing the software doesn't then try and enable the AIO relay aswell....which is entirely possible with the portal being as it is / appears to have a mind of its own at times...)

hoggy Is there an easy way to see if you've got an old or newer version of the gateway and/or AIO?

ma9mwah Gateway before serial 2346 I'm lead to believe are classed as the early ones.
The above potential issues are just my thoughts and may bear no fruit - this has hopefully been considered already (or if not is now floating around heads)
End of the day I'm not their mum, it's their problem to work out.

hoggy

Oh dear mine is 2316, however I have had no issues with the Gateway so far. I test for a power cut once a quarter, and it’s never failed (touch wood)

Could there also be an issue with old AIO and a new AIO as well? If there was a relay think going on.

Daveb01 you wouldn't specifically notice the NE relay not working (that's why it hid in the shadows for a while) - only way to tell is to measure between Neutral and Earth when running off grid. Any voltage higher than about 30V is normally not a good sign of it being enabled and working.

I don't think the AIO has changed at all since the first one (well meaningfully anyway) it's just the gateway that seems to have gone through revisions so I'm fairly sure they'll be fine no matter how old they are.

Daveb01
I wish mine worked.... performed a test about five weeks after installation back in February, but it never ever switches over.... EPS is a complete failure in my setup. AIO just faults and cycles around every 30s or so. The AIO has already been swapped but to no effect. Next stop - six weeks after - waiting for a replacement gateway and GivEnergy engineer to swap gateway

KristianS Next stop - six weeks after - waiting for a replacement gateway and GivEnergy engineer to swap gateway

I have also been waiting six weeks for a Gateway replacement.

Last update - it’s “with Management, I will chase this up for you”! Doesn’t sound good.

PianSom
Exactly the same message to me.... so what is going on??

KristianS When my inverter failed I too had to get “management approval” for the warranty replacement.

Seems its a step in their process, but I think that took from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon though for me.

KristianS
Just checked, and I was told my replacement was approved back on May 20. After that (May 31) I was told that they would be sending one of their engineers. Subsequently (10 June) I was told that they would be sending a third party engineer. The "I will chase" message was then a week ago. Since then - radio silence.

It would be easy to start speculating about what might be going on, but I have no idea.

PianSom
16th May,

The next step is we will be replacing the GW. We have ordered one, Once we have confirmation we will be getting you booked in.

7th June

I can understand this can be very frustrating, Management is currently in discussion with another company and using one of there engineers as they specialize in Gateways. Once i have firm confirmation from management, i will be in touch with you.

24th June

This is on our to-do list and as soon as I receive an update for this i will be in touch to confirm.

And here we are a week later and no further on.....

Interesting. Your installer now has a get out of jail free card forevermore and can just blame the 3rd party gateway swap guys! (Depending on how recommission is done they may even inherit the whole install)

hoggy
My installer: "I'm glad they've taken ownership of the problem with the N-E link."

I bet he is. Actually, I wonder if he still wants to install a second AIO for me 🙂

My installer came round last week to fit a GE EVC, whilst here we discussed a second AIO.

He said he checked the GE installer website and there is no information on how to wire a second or third AIO into the Giv-Gateway yet. (as of Friday 28th June)

However as he did the EVC he said it would be the same RCBO 32A for each AIO.
As the existing AIO are RCD & MCB, these would have to be removed for a RCBO.

For 2 x AIO we would need 2 x RCBO (1)
For 3 x AIO we would need 4 x RCBO (2)
Each RCBO cost £27

Completely remove this

Put in 2 x RCBO like these

If you want a third AIO you need to also remove this.

Then put in 2 x RCBO

What’s not clear is if GE will supply a Kit to replace the existing switches (as we have paid for them) but we think the client will have to pay for RCBO and (either store the old switches or bin them)

Extra:- while he was here he rang his supplier and agreed a price for an AIO 6000w version £4600. I was impressed so asked him to get it now, bolt it to the wall and we can sort out the connection to the Gateway and install cost later.

Daveb01
Looks like unfortunate timing!

https://givenergy.co.uk/free-ev-charger-offer/

PianSom

Thanks for the heads up, my supplier saw this also this morning, so phoned him, cancelled the AIO from Friday and re-ordered it again from today 😀

hoggy
Potentially - and if he was not of good character I would expect nothing less. However, he has stated many times that finds this situation with my gateway all very frustrating as this hasn't happened on any of his previous installs and has chased GivEnergy many times on my behalf, so I am hoping that he is true to his word on this subject...... :-)

Think you guys are right, GE released the AIO parallel. Ow while still in beta because of PW3 and just been sent this by Anker

https://www.anker.com/anker-solix/x1-energy-storage-system-hes-1

https://youtube.com/shorts/X2KdNIvPAm4?si=El20SB7Xuq0IZaRW

Not going to lie but that Anker Solix looks pretty slick (atleast aesthetically)

hoggy

It also has the highest rating for outdoor near the sea (they tested it with salt water)

Daveb01 It also has the highest rating for outdoor near the sea (they tested it with salt water)

For people who are at risk of coastal flooding?

It does look a sleek unit. Massive power capacity and says it can deliver 100% Power from -4°F_131°F

Battery porn?

geoffreycoan You wouldn't believe how fast things corrode in areas near the sea 🙂

Salt spray is bad news for metal and seals on static installations. Lots of maintenance required.

hoggy

Ohh that’s nice and they are a respected consumer brand, whose products usually work well.

Microinverters too by the look of it.

Nice units, obviously designed for interior installation.

However given the building regs for E&W are changing such that installing batteries inside the house is going to be virtually impossible it might be a product in the wrong market?

Edit - aesthetically I mean.

FWIW, my AIO spent half a day sitting in 25cm deep flood water back in January, nothing tripped and everything kept running. If I parallel though I will be having both raised off the ground by 50cm JIC.

Daveb01
I saw this on the 12th May and thought.... Wow! Very cool
https://youtu.be/bzdFk2ET4-w?si=vo7yYbBs_ZcWx9Bf
:-)

Just ordered my second AIO from my installer. Getting the free EV charger too.

geoffreycoan
Bring it on! I'm only a few miles west and a mile or so inland of the Sandbanks peninsula in Poole, my modest 1950's mid terrace might become a desirable coastal dwelling 😉

Tenkaykev For about 10 years or so then.... 😃

Think we can now close this thread?

AIO 2-3 Batteries Timer closed

AIO 4-6 Batteries Timer still open

If someone wanted to start a new thread, I personally will only get 2 x AIO.

I dont think you can close them on here.
4-6AIO you'd be blowing through the gateways plated current limits, (3 is pushing it when you add PV in) so will be interesting to see where that goes.