Hybrid inverter not keeping gird consumption at 0

I have a GIV-3HY-11 inverter. When installed we had solar panels with micro inverters. So we had a Meter2 installed so the inverter could charge from the solar panels. This worked flawlessly. However, the situation was not optimal as we had a double power conversion en when the power was out the solar panels were out as well.

Today we installed new solar panels and connected them to the input terminals of the GivEnergy inverter. We have good power on strings 1 and 2. We also still have 6 panels connected to Meter2 (old setup). Those panels are too far away from the inverter and the other solar panels to add them to string 1 or 2. The power generated was used to charge the battery. However all the power was used to charge the battery. Grid was used for all appliances.

I tried disabling the old panels, restart the inverter, but local appliances kept using the grid. The inverter doesn't have an eco setting in the cloud portal en when I try to enable Eco mode in the app, the setting doesn't stick. When I turn off the solar panels, the battery starts providing power to the house but when I turn the panels on again, the battery is using all solar power to charge, leaving nothing for the house.

This setting controls where solar power go

See if your is configured to battery first?

bRhFDKtjRMK9 Thanks, I can't seem to find that setting in the portal. I see the register in the app, but there it is numerical. Current value is 0

(All other parameters are schedules)

In my case (AIO + GW) it's in the inverter section:

You don't have that option in inverter section, so I don't know what else can you do.

bRhFDKtjRMK9 Do you have a payed account in the portal? I seem to remember I had more settings there.

RG No, mine is free, but I configured this setting early on when I bought the system. I don't remember if this setting was exposed or not, as I contacted GE support at the time to change several settings (some were hidden).
Maybe someone else can pitch in, please write more details about your system for people to relate to.

bRhFDKtjRMK9 I have an extra symptom; as soon as the battery is full power of the solar panels is cut off. Looks like the panels are only feeding the battery and as long as there is solar power, the battery isn't discharging. At night the battery starts discharging.

1) Solar panels (22 in 2 strings) feeds the inverter
2) The inverter feeds the appliances in the house and possibly the grid
3) 6 panels are connected to a second inverter (non-GivEnergy) which is connected to Meter2

In the old setup the GivEnergy inverter was connected to the battery only and balanced power via Meter2 (which saw the solar panels). This worked well.

The GivEnergy inverter is an 11kW 3-Phase 3rd gen inverter

In the app (I left out the scheduling registers):
27 - Eco mode shows as off (turning it on does nothing)
50 - Inverter Max output active power percent: 100%
59 - Enable DC discharge shows as off
96 - AC Charge enable is off
104 - Enable battery self heating is off (battery is inside)
110 - Battery reserve limit: 0%
111 - Battery charge power: 92%
112 - Battery discharge power: 85%
114 - Battery cutoff limit: 0%
116 - AC Charge upper limit: 0%
166 - Real-time control: off
172 - Enable manual battery heater: off
199 - Enable inverter parallel mode: off
311 - Export power priority: 0 (if I set it to 1 it changes itself back to 0)
313 - Inverter Charge Power percentage: 0%
314 - Inverter discharge power percentage: 0%
317 - Enable EPS: off
318 - Pause battery: off
331 - Force off grid: off
479 - DC Wind CVT Voltage: 0
540 - Enable smart load: off
541 - Smart load control SOC: 0%
542 - Enable general load: 0
543 - General load control soc : 0%
544 - 548: Generator settings
552 - Smart load export power: 0
553 - Smart load delay time: 0
1005: Real time control: on
1078: Battery reserve: 5%
1108: Discharge power rate: 85%
1109: Discharge down to: 1109
1110: Charge power rate: 92%
1111: Charge up to: 100%
1112: Enable AC charge: off
1122: Enable force discharge: off
1123: Enable force chargeL off
2040: Enable plant EMS control: off
5014: Enable Calculated load: 0

RG I have an extra symptom; as soon as the battery is full power of the solar panels is cut off. Looks like the panels are only feeding the battery and as long as there is solar power, the battery isn't discharging. At night the battery starts discharging.

To clarify...

1. with both sets of panels operating, the inverter is sending not only all the new dc-coupled solar panels to the battery, but also sending all the original ac-coupled solar to the battery?
2. with just the old ac-coupled solar enabled, it all works as before, with the battery charging and discharging to keep the grid balanced
3. with just the dc-coupled solar enabled, same as 1 - all the power goes to the battery, and AC generation appears disabled until the sun goes down.

what happens in case 1 when the battery is full : presumably the power from the ac-coupled solar must go to house / grid ? The inverter can't do anything to divert it.

In case , is there a crossover period at low solar, or is it only when the solar falls below the mppt minimum for generation that the AC generation kicks in ?

DD depends on the load.

The ac connected panels are used to power the house and if there is an excess to charge the battery.

Looks like the new inverter connected panels are only used to charge the battery. When the battery is full, the panels are disabled, even if there is more request from the house. Or an opportunity to send that power to the grid.

I think the meter2 connection, which shows the power from the ac panels is in the way and that I must disconnect it. But I think there are also installer options which I need to change.

RG Ah, ok. So to simplify the summary, it appears that AC generation is inhibited when there is dc-coupled solar available.

1. With or without the DC-coupled solar, the inverter will consume just enough ac-coupled solar to balance import/export (ie leave enough to cover consumption, without exporting), until the battery is full.
2. Without DC-coupled solar, the battery can discharge to supplement the ac-coupled solar if consumption exceeds ac-coupled solar generation
3. But if there is any DC-coupled solar, the inverter will send it all to battery, and will not discharge the battery.

Sorry, nothing springs to mind...

I contacted the reseller here, but he has gone into administration as well. Luckily the installer was reachable. I dropped a case there.

RG It's not immediately obvious that meter 2 is a problem, since the inverter seems to be using it correctly to decide how much of the AC to consume.

DD I don't know anything about 3-phase : is your old ac-coupled solar on all 3 phases, or just one. Are different appliances within your house on different phases, or is everything on the same phase ?

I wondered if the inverter didn't want to generate AC becauses phases weren't in balance, or something. But I can't really make that fit the different scenarios.

All the old panels are on one phase. I think I have to make the inverter forget about meter 2 (which is measuring on 3 phases, but 2 are always at 0) as it uses that one to balance te power. That is one of the settings I can’t change myself.

bRhFDKtjRMK9 I didnt think that setting actually works, or is it specific to a particular inverter? Has no effect on my AIO for sure.

I found the commissioning manual. During commissioning the meters are registered by (rs485) ID. Does anyone know how to de-register meter2? Or can i just disconnect the meter and reboot the inverter?

Local control is fine, but we didn’t get access to all the parameters of the inverter.

Quick update. Finally found an installer with access to the commissioning portal.

He first commissioned with solar panels and 2 mid meters (one for measuring power usage, one for measuring panel power generation of the wold panels). I told him not to do that as Hybrid and AC coupled modes don't go together. The net effect of this was zero. (on both counts ;-) )

He just commissioned again, leading to very weird behavior. I also disconnected the MID meter for AC coupled. The load of the house was partly covered en the inverter took 20W from the solar panels. When I disabled the solar panels the inverter went into full-blown export mode. I think it is calibrating now? I will leave the panels off until the battery is fully discharged.

The battery was indeed calibrating. When the calibration run finished the battery was at 100% doing nothing. Also the solar panels are doing nothing.

No schedules active, no pause mode enabled.

Progress! I forced a firmware reinstall via the GivEnergy portal. I turned on downgrade to the previous version and it started working (knock on wood).

Lets see if it holds a complete day, then see if I can force export power again and then an upgrade.

Does anyone know if there are specialized versions for AC connected and Hybrid modes? I tried downgrading because I was out of options, not because I thought it would do anything. Highly curious after the root cause.

@RG not sure what register 314 is but it is set to 0. Had that always been that or should it be set to something more meaningful. I can’t find that register listed in the ones the ge app shows. Although I do have a single phase hybrid.

Maxwell 314 has always been set to 0 and it still is (now that it is working) Thanks for the suggestion though.

I recognise the behaviour.
I have a GIV-3HY-10

On firmware 9 all is working as expected and on firmware 11 it behaves weird and unpredictable.
Still looking for a solution too. In the meantime I will stay on fw09

CrazyHarold Thanks for the feedback. I will keep it on version 9 then for the coming time. I have also sent a contact request to predsupport to find a root cause. Better invest now while support is still available, so I can troubleshoot myself later.

I had a good call with an engineer from Predsupport.

He confirmed that everything was in order and that the latest version is probably bugged.

As an extra he connected my second MID meter again to the inverter so I can also monitor my old solar panels with the inverter.

Hi,
Thanks for this information. I also recognise this strange behavior
(3HY 8.0 with firmware DA0.011-DD0.011-A0.011, AC connected and DC connected solar panels).
How can i rollback to version 9 to try that again?

Go to https://givenergy.cloud and login (no payed subscription required).

Go to “my inverter” —> “Software”

Turn on the “Previous (Rollback 1)” toggle. Wait till the next update of the inverter (around 10 mins; you can force it by rebooting the inverter).

The you will get the option to downgrade the inverter via the portal. Confirm and wait while all firmwares (inverter, bms, …) are downgraded. Inverter will beep during downgrade. This is normal.

RG
Thanks, but I dont see the "Previous" toggle

In that case I

SteveCook in that case I’m not able to help you. You could also look under your account settings. I have the toggle there as well, but I suspect that in your case this won’t make a difference.

I think downgrading is still possible, but it involves manual flashing of the usb sticks connected to the inverter. Not something I would try lightly. Your best option is to contact the people from Predsupport.

RG
Thanks for reply. My inverter is fine, I was just intrigued as to why I dont have the option as you do.