AIO 4% Reserve

Ive been on the fence on if to create this post for a while, and Ive not been able to find one like it so here goes.

The AIO appears to be a little different from the other GE solutions from what I can see, in that they state USEABLE power of 13.5 kWh. (Which is due to it being in effect a 16 kWh battery so they can guarantee as such the lower publicised value which is same sales model for other batteries out there so nothing new).

So out the box we get the installers turn up and they don't mention 4% reserve lock and its for sure not in any of the blurb and from day one none of us will get 13.5 kWh ever.

I don't get how they can claim usable when its not its locked to at best 13 kWh due to this 4% reserve which we cannot remove, and whilst it doesn't seem a lot to forgo, over the life of the battery that loss on a daily basis equates to with IO £542 of electricity we should be able to use but cannot and thats on a simple one day full charge scenario others will lose mere if cycling more than once.

Im about to complain to my installer now BMS 8 has been out a while as Im not even getting 13 kWh but Im interested in others thoughts about this hidden battery tax as such and possibly though I doubt it a response from GE on how they feel this is justified.

DreadorUK it's the same for all GE packs the 4% thing.
I've always disagreed that the 4% is part of the user visble side - I know some on here / FB think the opposite, fair enough.
GE did once have a KB article that displayed the 4% sits outside of the usable area, essentially in the "buffer" side, and I've always got my rated usable 6.5 (ancient 80% DOD 8.2) from mine as opposed to 6.2ish it would be otherwise. But equally that article has gone so maybe the theory went with it.

Archived page on this: https://web.archive.org/web/20221002033433/https://kb.givenergy.cloud/article.php?id=10&oid=2

For some reason my 5.3kWh battery always stops at 5%, not 4%,

Yes, my AIO also stops at 5% rather them 4%. Why is that?

Same, mine is set to 4% but stops at 5.

I thought I read somewhere that the AIO should give usable 13.5 after the 4% reserve. And if I’m not wrong it can provide that reserve charge in the event of a grid fail, so maybe that’s what I’m thinking, it is usable to power house in case of grid fail. I get quite regular power cuts hence why I have my reserve set at 10%.

Personally in 50+ days with BMS8 I’m averaging 13kWh discharge from full to my 10% reserve. I currently charge fully overnight and this powers the house until sometime in the evening, but will be reducing this overnight grid charge month by month as solar improves until summer where I don’t expect to charge from the grid at all.

BMS8 was a good step but there are still some known issues - SOC tracking with lower battery temps and also known issue with lower charge rates. These are being worked and I look forward to the next release.

Yeah mine is also 5% but going on whats in settings in my initial moan 🙂

My 9.5kw stops at 6% when it should go to 4%. Been doing it since the last FW upgrade. My guess its for longevity. It did used to drain to 0% when first installed because it would use the reserve power to power itself and then charge up to 4% when it reached zero. I figure it holds the 4% to save itself from needing to recharge/ shutting down.

I don't think the 4% should be visible to the user for the same reason 16kWh isn't visible to the user.
Yes, it stops at 4-5%, but you should still be getting at least 13.5kWh between the range of 5%-100% - at least mine gives me that much when its working properly 🙄

Interesting viewpoint that 4%(5%) is outside usable range, not considered that simply as Ive never had 13.5 from mine since day one - In 4 months only had 13.0 on one day, and thats since BMS 8 and even since then my average is still 12.0

Mines more consistently hitting 13 now on BMS8 (barely hit 11 on BMS7) but that’s still not 13.5 as advertised, given that the battery is 16kwh it really shouldn’t have an issue.