I guess you can’t win them all, drawing at peak rate this evening, the house has been pretty much drawing from the battery all day, and ran out a couple of hours ago after being fully charged this am
Oh well… a sunny day all day tomorrow is forecasted so I guess you win some and lose some
was thinking something similar - but then remembered that it is a Bank Holiday weekend, in May, in the UK - so guess I'd already said to the other-half that we were lucky to generate 2.3kW all day and should be thankful the panels weren't covered in snow 🫤
I had similar issues. My system was installed nearly a year ago & during the winter months my 9.5kWh battery was running out by mid afternoon or earlier. We are home most days so running on battery for as long as possible during peak rate periods was a priority for me. Our situation not helped by the fact that my wife is a heavy power user!! The washing m/c & dishwasher never seem to stop & I had to change the condenser tumble dryer for a HP model to reduce power consumption. Battery still ran out by 2-3pm (we have gas CH as well).
After much consideration I decided to add an extra 9.5kWh battery & 5 extra panels on a NW roof earlier this year to boost storage & afternoon generation (10 existing panels on ESE roof). It's working well & now the batteries easily last through to 8-9pm to the point where I can now consider getting paid to export any excess battery capacity available & I can also consider saving sessions which was not possible before. Still trying to work out & research how to solve the issue of My Gen 2 3.6kW Hybrid Inverter Eco mode turning off after a Timed Export - seems to be a big problem for many users.
Not a cheap solution but I'd rather spend our hard earned on the house than give it to a utility or the tax man.
TimHutchings I'm on Octopus Intelligent Go with a Zappi & Kona 64kW EV which have recently been "approved" by Octopus.
TimHutchings Interesting. I have a Gen 2 3.6 & thought I had tried it on both Timed Export & Timed Discharge (what's the difference?).
It turned off the Eco mode on both occasions. I may have to try both options again to be sure.
CGoode This link may or may not help 😂
https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/4284-confused-about-export/118
Midlands_Solar Of topic question, but what is the red bulb icon showing (I'm guessing smart lights?). I have Hive bulbs - is it possible to get those added into the app display?
Midlands_Solar correct, its only givenergy smart plugs that appear in the app. Any other manufacturer plugs you have to use their monitoring app.
This is the only real advantage of the GE smart plugs
Someone has managed to fathom out the serial/Check code parts enough to just add non GE ones to the portal it seems:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375409664014
I can't see how a 13A plug and socket can be rated 16A. It makes no sense in the UK. Any plug put it in should have at most a 13A fuse.
nophead If its manufactured to be sold in Europe it’ll often be rated to 16A even though the UK standard is 13A. The proper GivEnergy smart plugs were reported as being rated to 16A but an internal component was actually only rated to 8A and melted under higher load - see other forum article.
The MyLocalBytes smart plugs are visually the same as the GivEnergy ones but do work with higher loads
The EU version would be very different physically though, not really the same product. UK sockets have a minimum size around the pins. EU sockets don't because they go into a hole. If you put a UK compliant travel adapter into an EU socket in a multiple outlet then you can't use the sockets next to it.