My Negative Support Experience

Overall, my support experience with GivEnergy, for this significant issue, has been pretty poor. As with Next-Gen Power. I'm writing this here as a courtesy to the wider community of customers.

I first reported erratic battery behaviour on Nov 3rd where the reported capacity was ping-ponging up and down and up and down. GivEnergy responded the following morning with some action plans, including updating the firmware as it was a few versions old and forcing some discharges and recharges. That didn't seem to help the issue.

On Nov 5th more firmware updates were pushed (what looked to be beta versions as they weren't listed on the KB) and more discharge and recharge tests were done, but the behaviour remained the same. I brought up the possibility of a hardware issue but this was dismissed and I was told it doesn't look to be a hardware issue. I had my doubts, but I'm not the expert.

The weekend passed, and after I requested an update I was told R&D were looking into things and while the battery was reporting 100% full, it was still pulling in 1.4+ kWh of charge.
A few more days passed with little to no tangible updates from GivEnergy and and at the 7 day mark I again brought up the subject of a hardware issue and replacement.
Nov 11 I was told that my installers (Next-Gen Power) have been informed and will scheduler an installer to come and check for lose connections between the battery and inverter. (Again, I'm not confident that is the problem. I've visually inspected the connections and they've never been touched since installation).

It's now Nov 29th and there has been no more updates from GivEnergy, despite the fact I have replied to the tread regarding other symptoms and issues, like the fact the Battery is only charging and discharging at most 2.6kWh, while being a 5.2 kWh battery. I can only guess someone has put some kind of limit on the battery in the background but I haven't been told of such action.
Next-Gen Power have been equally as slow at responding. On Nov 19th I called their office and was told someone will call the following Monday/Tuesday. That call never happened. I called back Nov 25th and was told someone will get back to me. Still no word. I call back AGAIN today, Nov 29th, and told the same thing.

I'm supposed to have a second (8.2 kWh) GivEnergy Battery installed by Next-Gen Power, but will be reconsidering that order.

Hi

Can I ask which inverter you have? you mentioned a max charge and discharge of 2.6kw but that is inverter dependant and only the AC3 can charge/discharge at 3kw.

Sadly I had issues with my new install which ended up with a hardware replacement, but to get that I had to have EON come back and check things with GivEnergy and the process did take 6 weeks. But for me GivEnergy spoke to EON direct, then waiting for a engineer to be available etc. But first port of call would be Next-Gen as you purchased the system from them, then they should be escalating to givenergy. GivEnergy have been able to tweak and make changes on my system without dealing with EON, but for anything that might need an engineer you will need to contact your installers to come and look at it before GivEnergy will go down the hardware replacement route. Also hardware shortages are also an issue, like everything at the moment there are shortages.

I am not trying to defend them, the lack of updates is bad. But when a time/date was a agreed they did get back to me. But I can relate to your issue, 3 - 6 weeks is a long time for a system that costs thousands. But givenergy did sort me out.

Can I ask which inverter you have? Also which firmwares are you now on?

THALL I should clarify, I wasn't talking about the max charge rate. I'm saying the battery, from 0%, only takes in 2.6kWh of charge total to bring it to "100%". Or from 100%, discharges a total of 2.6kWh.
I have the Giv-HY-5.0 (v1) inverter.

Inverter Firmware Version
D0.449-A0.449
Battery Firmware Version
3001

I raised this with NextGen Power the same week to let them know I had raised an issue with GivEnergy. I have been updating both parties regularly. But it hasn't be reciprocated.

feidhlim Oh I see! So sounds like half the cells are not working.

I am on that battery firmware with my replacement battery. Has been working great since they swapped it. The only issue I have had since was a forced reserve of 8% instead of 4%.

I would keep chasing NextGen, until they have been to see it and done some testing with GivEnergy support I do not expect givenergy to come out themselves. They will, but not until NextGen have done some testing with them.

I did leave some negative comments about givenergy in the public domain, but since it was fixed I have since removed those comments. 6 weeks did feel like an age after spending thousands but they did get it fixed and now everything is great!

Hi Feidhlim, sorry for the issues you have had - our findings have come back as a potential installation error after this was looked over with senior engineers.

In this regard we have been working in the background with them, advising them where we believe this issue is.

Sorry for the lack of responses you've had from them, we've just got off the phone with them and they should be contacting you now.

Adam-Reynolds Thanks Adam. My initial frustration was with the lack of updates from GE as the days went on. I had no idea if someone was doing anything or troubleshooting, or if the battery was acting erratic on its own. For example, the battery would start charging from the grid for hours beyond reporting 100% but I didn't know if this was being forced by an engineer at GE or what. All I asked was that I was kept up to date what the status was but it felt I always had to try and chase an update.
I'm not annoyed by the issue, or that it's not resolved at this time. My annoyance is with the communication, and I have relayed the same to my installers for their part.