I have recently installed a 6.8kwh solar array split east/west and feeding two GivEnergy batteries a 9.5kWh and a 2.6kWh via a GivEnergy 5kWh invertor.
So far it seems to work well but I was surprised to notice that on the dashboard it shows my battery discharge rate is limited to 3.6kWh.
Can someone tell me if this is correct? I had assumed that given I have a 5kWh inverter I should be able to achieve a higher discharge rate. Certainly, the battery specs show a higher discharge potential. Am I missing something?
Would appreciate any help explaining this apparent discrepancy. in max power output.
Purclewan.
#2hoggy
Afraid not, that's the max battery charge and discharge rate for your inverter. It'll only do 5kW if supported by some sun and even then it won't charge the battery any more than 3.6kW (which is more like 3.4 with losses)
Gen 1 - 2.6kW limit
Gen 2 & 3 - 3.6kW limit
Not really sure why it's not kept up with competitors in the jump from G2 to G3 and atleast upped it again.
Weirdly their new budget brand Polar can outdo the premium Giv kit at 6kW rates (albeit with the use of a fan) so possibly a heat thing.
I don't imagine they've gone to the effort of completely new internals for those so will likely be loosely based on a Gen 3.
M
#3MichaelHambly
Many thanks for the update.
Seems no matter how much you do your homework before settling on a system, you will always be caught out by something. My winter usage can be quite high (Heat Pump) and I had hoped for better discharge from the batteries to help reduce my winter bills. Just glad I decided in the end not to add a further 9.5kWh battery.
C
#4CW
MichaelHambly That was one of the reasons I went with an AIO (ac-coupled) as it can support 6kW continuous. I just don't understand why a 5kW inverter cannot support battery charge/discharge at that rate
G
#5geoffreycoan
CW I guess its just that the hybrid’ haven’t been updated for a while.
AC 3kW battery charge/discharge limit was I think the first product
Gen 1 2.6kW battery limit came out 2020, but was still selling early 2022
Gen 2 3.6kW battery limit, launched end 2021 but supply delays from China meant it wasn’t really available until late 2022
Gen 3 3.6kW battery limit, launched late 2022
AIO 6kW limit, launched 2023
Polar ESS 6kW limit, launched 2024
@MichaelHambly one option for your high discharge rate maybe to add a second inverter and put batteries on that. I have two Gen 1 hybrid’s and I thus can get double the discharge rate.
Having said that, battery storage is expensive and a heat pump in winter can easily chew through a lot of kW. I was on Octopus Agile last winter and reduced down to just a single 5.2kW (4.2kW usable) battery. Surprisingly this was actually not too bad, 4kW and 2.6kW discharge rate was just about enough to get me through the peak rate period.
geoffreycoan Close enough (the hybrid was actually first if we are splitting hairs) - it used to kick around with a few other names on it until Givenergy appeared as a company. AC3 was next (which is the Hybrid with the PV guts removed, which ironically made the whole design go full circle, given the Hybrid was a string inverter with the battery charger parts added on to it!) https://givenergy.co.uk/our-story/
