Timed Export and Battery Reserve linked?

We have noticed something strange when configuring the battery:
In the “Timed Export” tab in battery settings you can set “Discharge Limit” which is the limit we want to dump to the grid.
In the “Battery Options” tab there’s a setting called “Battery Reserve” which I assume is the lowest point we want to let the battery discharge to to extend the longevity of the battery?
If we adjust either of these settings then the other one will change as if they are linked so we are unable to have different values for each.
We are on the plus tariff so want to charge between 02:00-05:00 and dump power between 16:00-19:00.
I’d like to limit the amount we give the grid to say 25% to avoid running out of power before the cheap rate at 02:00 however I want to be able to use the entire battery to power the house rather than use grid power so I’d like to let the battery drop down a lot lower, say 5-10%.
Have I missed something here?
Thanks in advance.
FYI we have only had the GivEnergy kit a few months so we are still getting used to the system and may have missed something!

I think this is a limitation (i.e. poor coding/user interface) in the app. In the portal you will see that there are separate limits for ‘discharge to’ and ‘battery reserve’

Be aware that if you do a forced discharge and the battery reaches the limit you set before the end of the time period then it will stop discharging and any further house load will be met by drawing from the grid - probably not what you wanted in peak time.

So be careful what limit you set for discharging, or start the discharge as late as possible to ensure you don’t reach the limit too early.

montybigglesworth Hi, I'm having exactly the same issue, and I came here to look to see if anyone had a solution. There should be no reason that these two settings are linked, in my opinion!

I'm gonna keep searching for a solution, and would love to hear if you find one before I do.

Ange I'm gonna keep searching for a solution, and would love to hear if you find one before I do.

The solution is as I explained above, use the portal to set the discharge limit and battery reserve, don’t use the app

Hi Geoffrey, thanks for your response. Im still on here reading previous threads and see that you certainly have a lot of knowledge of how these things work!

I'm possibly missing something really obvious. To clarify - I have been changing the settings in the portal (not the app) and like @montybigglesworth I set a Timed Export for 16.00 - 19.00 with a discharge to 25% (allowing me enough storage to run the home through the evening and overnight). I set the Battery Options to an operating range of reserve 4% - usable 96%

ECO mode did stay on - but what it did was automatically match the Operating range back up to 25% (from 4%) - so it meant I had power sitting in the battery and my later consumption all came from the grid.

Ange

geoffreycoan The solution is as I explained above, use the portal to set the discharge limit and battery reserve, don’t use the app

Or to be more specific - the remote-control part of the portal - I think the friendly settings page does much the same as the app. (But perhaps I've mis-remembered.)

Ange @montybigglesworth my apologies, I am completely wrong.

I just tested it on my own inverter and then went and looked at the controls available in Home Assistant, and there is no ‘discharge to % limit’ register, only ‘discharge start time’ and ‘discharge end time’.

So without this register on the inverter the only way the portal and the app can implement ‘discharge to %’ is to set the battery reserve, and as you’ve highlighted this doesn’t get changed back to 4% after the scheduled discharge.
To be honest I can see why it doesn’t because the approach is that you set charge or discharge times in the app/portal and those apply every day, and so when you set the discharge to (reserve) limit, then that applies automatically every day thereafter.

I have gen 1 inverters so it might be different on newer models, but I doubt it. In which case there isn’t any fix for this the way it works today in the app/portal. The only way to circumvent it in the app/portal is to do a timed discharge and set the times of the discharge such that it gets the battery to about the right level by the end time. Assuming your solar is good enough to fill the battery every day, this could work in the summer at least.

Or alternatively you need to look at a different way of managing your battery automation. Home Assistant (and Predbat) is quite popular, but a simple way without having to buy any hardware is to use wonderwatt which will schedule the discharge for you remotely. Its also free at the moment as well

Thanks for the responses - I have now changed the settings in the Remote Control part of the Portal instead of the Inverter settings tab of the portal - I will monitor it tomorrow and see if it behaves as I hope it does.

Ange It has been mentioned elsewhere, but just in case you haven't seen it: if the battery does reach the lower limit during the discharge period, it will stop discharging, rather than going back to eco mode, which means you will then be importing from the grid. Which may be the last thing you want during the peak rate - might be better to run out of battery in the evening than to stop using it during the peak period. (It will return to eco mode at the end of the timed period, ie 7pm.)

Ange Why not just export from 4 - 6pm. See what that leaves you to see you through the night till solar starts, or your cheap rate starts. Then adjust the timings up or down till you finish with the % you want. It will need adjusting when the days get shorter, say every week or two. Currently I have a gen1 with the new firmware and a 9.5kw battery and at the moment export on Flux between 4 - 6.15pm. There's still a little solar then which adds another 2% back in the battery. That leaves me around 30% to see me through the night till solar kicks in charging at 5.25 am when there's about 10% left in the battery.
Maybe worth a try if you can't get your percentage limit working right.

Ange This didn't work at all, changing the settings via the remote control, had to revert to using the setting tab.

Ange Oh dear... what went wrong? Did it stop too soon, or keep going beyond the value you set?

DD It didn't export at all!

Ange just to check: there should have 4 registers to configure - the start/stop times, the limit, and 'enable DC discharge' to true.
Or configure the export from the settings/ app, and use remote control for just the discharge limit.

DD Thanks - I hadn't switched the 'enable DC discharge' - I've done that and it now works.
But it is strange that in the Settings tab it is still matching the Timed Export Discharge to 4% which is what I have on the battery options. Yet now having changed it in the remote control it is actually discharging to 25% at the timed export (which is what I wanted) and 4% at other times.

Thanks for your help - I have still raised it as an issue with GE - as ideally you should be able to change this in the settings tab.

Ange I agree it's annoying/misleading, but I think the problem is that older inverters don't have the per-discharge-slot limit, only the master reserve. And it would be awkward to have the app/portal do different things depending on the invertern model, though they have now started doing that, with withdrawal of timed-discharge for older inverters, and possibly tying timed-export and eco flags toghether on the UI - not sure if they do that unconditionally, or based on inverter model, but either way I avoid it and use remote-control if I need to.

Hello late to this one, I have just raised a ticket about this. As others have said I see no reason for the settings to be linked.