Charge and Discharge setting for free electric

Periodically Octopus offer 1 hour of free electric whereby anything above normal use is free.
I'd like to take advantage of this by setting the GivEnergy battery to 100 % charge from the grid which is straightforward.

What is less obvious is how do I prevent the battery from charging, from solar, in the hours leading up to the free hour?
As always the house wins so any power requirements comes from either solar or the battery.

For the sake of argument the free hour is 14:00 - 15:00 so set the battery to 100% charge during this hour! Simples

What setting do I use to perform either of the following? What are the pro and cons of each?
From 06:00 stop the battery from charging above ₅₀% during this period the house still draws it's needs from solar and the excess is exported.
Or
Let the battery charge as normal and do a force discharge to ₅₀% between 13:00 - 14:00

Hopping this isn't a numpty question any setting will be via the web page portal
Thanks

SolarNewbee What is less obvious is how do I prevent the battery from charging, from solar, in the hours leading up to the free hour?

If your inverter model supports it, simplest is to use the timed-pause feature to pause charging. Just the timer window to end before the free hour.
One caveat is that if you have a hybrid inverter and solar exceeds the AC generation limit, it will clip rather than put excess solar into the battery.

An alternative is to turn off eco mode - on a hybrid, that will turn solar into AC up to the limit, then put any excess into the battery. But the downside is that that if consumption exceeds solar, it won't discharge battery to cover the difference. I actually use a combination: turn eco off when solar > 4kW, or use pause charge when solar drops.

Note that the pause feature is available only through the remote control page on the app.

SolarNewbee

I’m on IOG and fixed rate export. Might vary if you’re on different tariffs… (it may also not be the very very most efficient way for me but it’s probably close enough and works fairly simply).

I just use the quick play buttons in the app.

I discharge to the grid for 1:30 or so (- button) before the start of the free electricity hour. Then charge the batteries and car from grid (and from solar unfortunately) for the free hour (+ button and activate car charging). Then put it back to ECO (▶️ button and stop the car). Unfortunately the car isn’t at home today !

One thing to note is, when the batteries are above 90% of so, they start to charge a lot slower, so you get less free electricity. So ideally you want to discharge them and charge them back up to about 90% for maximum free electricity. Then I let the solar recharge them to 100% for the rest of the day. Then dump it all again (as. Usual) between 7pm-11:30pm.

Thanx for the tips
Today I set battery to charge at 0% from 9 am so the house run from solar
then 100% for the free hour

I can't get the app to work on my phone, It's old, so I use the web portal

Haven't really got my head round what Eco mode dose nor the difference between Timed Discharge & Timed Export these appear to timed only to full 100% inverter rate, rather then a percentage of the battery power

Don't have an EV

SolarNewbee Haven't really got my head round what Eco mode dose nor the difference between Timed Discharge & Timed Export these appear to timed only to full 100% inverter rate, rather then a percentage of the battery power

Eco mode is what your inverter should be in all the time, it fills your battery from solar and lets the battery discharge to meet house load. Think of it as your basic setting.

Timed Export is where you force the battery to discharge for a period of time. House load will be met from the battery discharge/solar and any excess will be exported. Useful to empty the battery if you have a free period or a cheap rate charging period. But obviously only really useful if you receive export payments.

Timed Discharge is more complex and behaviour varies for different inverter types. It can be useful for some people but can equally be safely ignored.

Pete UK I’m on IOG.
(+ button and activate car charging).

Might want to check the terms... they want you to use smart scheduling as usual, so that they choose when car charges. You will get a free hour at time of their choosing. They request you don't boost the charge - not sure if they are saying they won't honour free power if you do

DD My understanding (I’m not on IOG or IOF) is that you get the free hour AND you get the boost but at a time of Octopus’s choosing. You would think (hope) any car charging in that period would be free, but agree, do check the conditions as it has changed several times

geoffreycoan boost
Boost is a term they use when you press the "charge now" button on the app - it does as it's told, but because it's not scheduled, you have to pay the full price.

How does free electricity work with Intelligent Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus Flux?
×
During the session, FILL YOUR BOOTS: all the electricity you use above your normal household consumption will be free – excluding any power from your Intelligent device.

You can also get an hour's free charging for your Intelligent device. Here's how:

Plug in: make sure your car or battery is plugged in throughout the session, then let your Intelligent schedule do its thing (no boost charging!)
Your device might not charge during the session, but as long as you’ve plugged in, you’ll bag an hours’ free charging credit!
Don't boost charge or interfere with the smart schedule in our app. Our schedule will charge you at the best times to help the grid, so we want you to stick with that! Any non-scheduled device charging will be charged as normal.

DD

Yeah, sorry, I meant plug the car in to charge when I said “charge the car.” I’m not boost charging it, just smart charging it all the time. My bad.

Car may or may not charge during that hour of free electricity! But you get an hours charging credit on IOG if it’s plugged in.

I’m not sure what will happen if the car isn’t plugged in. I guess I’ll find out on my bill. I presume it’s just free house electricity over your normal grid usage (which is zero for me at that time.)