Hi all, i have just taken back control of the battery for winter and looking at the inverter settings is there any reason i shouldnt charge and discharge my battery at the full rate and if so any suggestions what i should set it as
If you are charging from solar then you probably won't get anything approaching full rate, although I came surprisingly close in the sun on Monday.
In the more likely scenario you are charging from the grid, it depends entirely on your battery and inverter capacities and how long any off-peak period(s) are.
If you are on economy seven for example and have hours to charge your batteries, then a lower rate that should still comfortably fully charge them might be kinder on the inverter and the batteries. Less wasted as heat also means more efficient charging and lower overall usage. Lower charge rate also gives a bit more headroom for other loads if you have a heat pump and had multiple electric cars for example. That said, to get permission to install a heat pump, batteries and multiple chargers your DNO would have to had been satisfied that this was safe, so this is more a beneficial side effect than a vital safety measure.
If your batteries need to charge at full rate to be completely charged within your cheap period then do that. It is what they are designed to do.
Chips78 I’d suggest you charge at the lowest rate you can do to do the charging in the cheap period.
The reason for this is if you charge at full rate, finish charging at say 3am and then don’t start meaningfully discharging your batteries until say 7am breakfast then you batteries will have gone cold in the 4 hour gap. If the batteries get too cold then they can reduce charge and discharge rates and actually stop completely at really really low temperatures. So doing a slower lower rate charge keeps your battery warm and avoids this issue. Plus it’s kinder to the battery.
But otherwise, use them as they are designed