I have a Gen1 inverter with 16 kWh os storage and solar panels.
When exporting today with a full battery and the sun still producing significant power, it seemed that the export figure should have been higher than it was. Can the system cope with full battery export and excess solar on top of that?
sixfoot2 Depends on the rating. Inverters are typically rated for 3.6kW or 5kW AC output. Full battery discharge on gen-1 is 2.6kW, I think ? So you'd have room for 1kW or 2.4kW solar on top of that.
I have a gen1 3.6. It was 2.6 minus any overhead. Givenergy recently updated the firmware and the export has increased to 2.88kw from the battery.
Marren2016 I too have been upgraded to a new gen 1 hybrid firmware and have seen improved discharge rates. I asked GE about it and their reply tonight was that it has “the ability to output more than the inverter battery demand as it equates for conversion loss before capping the battery”
geoffreycoan that’s what they told me too
SimonClarke Is yours still working? In another thread you suggested GE were going to have to replace it again?
Vestas still up in the air! I’ll post when I’ve got something
Marren2016 Interesting, I've not seen any firmware for the Gen1's?
TimI seems to be something they suggest or maybe you ask for. Don’t think it’s for all gen 1
SimonClarke Its only for G1 inverters built after week ten 2022.
TimI Its installed on request by GivEnergy, not generally available on the portal yet.
And as Vestas its only for the later Gen 1’s
See https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/4371-gen-1-hybrid-new-fast-response-firmware/
They gave me a beta firmware after having some minor issues with what I believe is buggy software.
Vestas Its only for G1 inverters built after week ten 2022.
Dratt. That rules us out. Week two 2022...
I'm doing an export and its maxing out at 2.6kW, I haven't had any firmware updates so why is it back to 2.6kW?
Marren2016 it might be that your battery is cold and that's limiting your discharge rate?
geoffreycoan what would be the ideal temperature for the battery?
Marren2016 the battery CELLS should ideally be between 20 and 40 degrees. Below 20 degrees, and depending on what BMS firmware you are on, the battery starts reducing its discharge and charge rates. The actual slowdown depends on BMS version, but it starts at 20 degrees C and reduces further at 10 degrees.
Note this is the battery cell temperature, not the battery motherboard temperature. You can’t get this information from the givenergy portal or app, you need either RubikCube’s Android app or GivTCP.
But if your battery is outside or in a cold location this could well be the cause of the reduced throughput.
Thrme room would have been about 10c last night. So makes sense what you're saying
Marren2016 If you can, when charging your battery overnight, do so at a slow charging rate, that keeps the battery cells warmer for a longer period of time than just max charge then idle for hours. Some external PIR insulation is another idea, build a simple box around the battery for the winter.
geoffreycoan it's in a partly insulated garage with the heating set to 10c so it never drops below 9c. Reducing the charge rate is a bit too much to think about. At full 2600wcr it takes a little over 4 hours from 6%-100% however that is a good idea I will consider going forward. IIRC the cells are typically around 12c-16c when idling the house baseline.
Interesting chat about battery temperatures. All my three batteries are on the external part of bungalow at the rear of the house. For about 2-3 months of the year I have them covered with the plasticky foam that the batteries were delivered with ..I made a few cuts here and there for the cables and they do the job nicely. I use the Portal and the Android Inverter Monitor to see the battery temperatures and so far all good. I remove them when temperatures rise regularly above 10-12 oC
I was prompted by one contributor in this forum who has mentioned over-heating of inverters and who fitted a set of four fans under his inverter...so..as it happens yesterday I fitted a cheap (Chinese obviously) set of two 100 square cm (4"x4") square fans powered by a 25cmx17.5cm solar panel (no switching) under my G3 HY inverter. The inverter (also outside) and couple of batteries are partly covered by a Rain hood - so far so good. It is cheap and cheerful but will do for a couple of months in the hotter months. I'll see how it goes