Smart charging a disaster

Since signing up for a smart battery scheduler our standard rate usage has risen to 56% and off peak to 44% with Octopus intelligent go tariff. Our system was running with well over 90% off peak. Our batteries are not charging at night, are at about 20% in the morning. They fill up in the day with solar, just as well we have some sun at the moment!. No matter how often I enter the tariff into the system, we always seem to be on a ‘use’ schedule, never a buy or sell. When I turn off the smart scheduler one does not seem to be able to set a regular schedule for topping up the batteries at low tariffs, use from battery during high tariff. In other words, this all is a disaster and when I though I was buying into something that would make my life easier, I have indeed bought into something that does not help at all and I have lost all control of our system.

And then to sign into this forum I had to sign up as a new user as all my password for the app was not recognised.

Pejay Alas, their portal/app single sign on doesn’t apply to this community forum. I’m not a smart schedule user but I believe there are others on here with similar problems. If you are paying for the premium service then suggest you email their support team.

Pejay When I turn off the smart scheduler one does not seem to be able to set a regular schedule for topping up the batteries at low tariffs, use from battery during high tariff.

You should be able to - what's going wrong ?

DD

I watched a you tube video re this scheduling conflict and it appears if one turn off connecting via cloud server, one can set a schedule. Trying it out and will see what happens overnight.
So much for an intelligent schedule if one has to do one’s own settings. No point in being apart of premium?

From what I can gather of the smart charging feature, it wouldn't work for my use case. I schedule a Python script each night which gets the solar forecast for tomorrow, and looks at my recent average energy draw from the battery during the day.

Based on the solar gain, expected battery usage and battery capacity it can calculate an optimal amount to charge the batteries overnight so that the expected battery level during the day never goes over 100% (feeding back to the grid) or below 5%. During the sunny months we hardly draw anything from the grid but during the winter (with an ASHP) the battery is going to run out during the day even if charged to 100%. The algorithm copes automatically with this seasonality.

I would love it if the app could incorporate a similar algorithm - it sounds like that's what some of you above are looking for to. I'd be happy to share info if the app developers contact me.

Which app and which developer?
Have you thought about predbat either the cloud version (subscription) or HomeAssistant version (free) running on a pi?
Does it all automatically for me based on past history of my energy use, panel prediction, battery size and my tariffs . Re calculates every 10 minutes.
Even automatically accounts for Axle events

SteveCook
I was referring to the GivEnergy iOS app (v4.0.9) and those developers. It has a smart charging mode that seems to be designed for agile tariffs and intraday arbitrage. I'm just looking for optimal overnight charging.

Also, included a few lines from my Python script's log file which shows the charge level each day for the beginning of September...

20260901 21:15:01Z config:BatCap(19kWh) MinSoc(35%)
20260901 21:15:05Z usage d-1: 18.5 kWh, 3d: 16.5 kWh
20260901 21:15:05Z f/c gen: 5.6kWh, SoC target: 78%
20260902 21:15:01Z ------ ge_soc_simple.py v1.8a
20260902 21:15:01Z config:BatCap(19kWh) MinSoc(35%)
20260902 21:15:05Z usage d-1: 16.5 kWh, 3d: 17.0 kWh
20260902 21:15:05Z f/c gen: 8.8kWh, SoC target: 71%
20260903 21:15:01Z ------ ge_soc_simple.py v1.8a
20260903 21:15:01Z config:BatCap(19kWh) MinSoc(35%)
20260903 21:15:05Z usage d-1: 16.3 kWh, 3d: 17.1 kWh
20260903 21:15:05Z f/c gen: 5.9kWh, SoC target: 79%
20260904 21:15:01Z ------ ge_soc_simple.py v1.8a
20260904 21:15:01Z config:BatCap(19kWh) MinSoc(35%)
20260904 21:15:06Z usage d-1: 16.8 kWh, 3d: 16.5 kWh
20260904 21:15:06Z f/c gen: 15.1kWh, SoC target: 53%
20260905 21:15:01Z ------ ge_soc_simple.py v1.8a
20260905 21:15:01Z config:BatCap(19kWh) MinSoc(35%)
20260905 21:15:06Z usage d-1: 15.8 kWh, 3d: 16.3 kWh
20260905 21:15:06Z f/c gen: 13.7kWh, SoC target: 56%
20260906 21:15:01Z ------ ge_soc_simple.py v1.8a
20260906 21:15:01Z config:BatCap(19kWh) MinSoc(35%)
20260906 21:15:05Z usage d-1: 20.2 kWh, 3d: 17.6 kWh
20260906 21:15:05Z f/c gen: 8.8kWh, SoC target: 73%

Hi. Not sure anyone on GivEnergy reads any of these posts. Even if they read these, I doubt they would do much, they are in administration. (if anyone is even there)

https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/6803-giv-energy-in-administration/157

SteveCook
Yes, I'm a subscriber to the app. A new company "GivEnergy Technology Ltd" was formed to take over the app with 3 developers. In the App Help (from the burger menu: help then known issues) it has a link to this forum so I presume they monitor it.

grahamhobson
Graham. I do not know the "ins and out" but I would not hold my breath.
I got myself a 2nd hand pi, installed HA and predbat and it is great and I do not have to rely on anyone else

grahamhobson A new company "GivEnergy Technology Ltd"

No such company exists.

grahamhobson if your are a GE premium subscriber then suggest to email their premium support email. There is very little evidence of the remaining GE staff on this forum.

Vestas
My mistake: “GivEnergy Software Limited” according to the Apple App Store

Maxwell Thanks. I have emailed premium support.

grahamhobson Good Luck with getting a reply.