GivEnergy Gen 2 Inverter Not Charging on Octopus Cosy Tariff Slots (API Issue)

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction here. For the past two weeks, my GivEnergy Gen 2 5kW Hybrid Inverter and 9.5kWh battery setup has stopped charging during the Octopus Cosy tariff cheap slots.

Up until two weeks ago, the automation via the Octopus API worked flawlessly, but right now, absolutely nothing happens when the cheap charge slots hit. The battery just ignores them and refuses to pull charge from the grid.

What I’ve tried so far to fix it:

API Reset: I have completely deleted and regenerated my Octopus API key and re-linked the integration.

System Reboot: I’ve done a full shutdown and reboot of the GivEnergy inverter, battery, and gateway equipment.

Unfortunately, neither of these steps has made a difference. When the scheduled Cosy slots arrive, the system remains idle instead of initiating a charge.

Has anyone else experienced issues with the GivEnergy <-> Octopus API integration recently? Is there a known issue with a recent firmware update, or is this likely a glitch on the Octopus automation side (I've checked and they said no)? Any advice on what settings I should check next in the GivEnergy portal (or portal overrides) would be massively appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

D. AFAIK the gen2 has 10 charge/discharge timer slots, so you ought to be able to use a static configuration without needing the API.

It's surely the GE API, rather than an Octopus one? Do you have a premium GE subscription?

Either the change is not being sent via the API, or it is arriving but the inverter is failing to act on it. That's the first thing to determine.

(Gateway equipment? I thought that was an AIO thing?)

Hi, mine has 1 charge slot and 2 discharge slots hence why I'm having to rely on the API generated from my octopus side. And yes I pay for the premium subscription since they introduced it and signed up without delay.

D. Okay. Is it your own script that's using the API, or is the scheduling running somewhere in the cloud? You mentioned Octopus API - was that the Octopus R&D thing ?

But as I said, first thing to check is whether the API request is actually making it to the inverter. Eg what does the activity log on the remote control page show on the GE portal ?

Hi it doesn't appear as though it's making it though to the inverter the command. Today at 13:00 start of the first cheap charging slots it states AC charge enabled, written successfully, previous - false, value sent false and response false - via API inverter settings - smart scheduler. Ps I'm not to techy with this only now being forced to look in places that I've never liked before. Thanks for your help tho!

Putting in timed slots does not need any API, as you have put the times directly into your system.
Using GivEnergy smart scheduler will need an API as GivEnergy need to get tariff details from your Octo account.
I think there are lots of posts about the smart scheduler having "issues"

My suggestion would be to:-
Use the GivEnergy portal
Delete any API tokens so that the smart tariff is "killed"
Add your own timed charge and discharge slots
Check inverter and battery settings are what you want. sometimes it is a good idea to change them to something else, hit save and then set them back to what you want and hit save again. This makes sure.
Let it run for 24 hours and see what happens. look at the logs and make sure all commands got through

Do you have the phone app working? Can you force a charge and discharge to confirm everything is working

SteveCook Hi, yes—the forced charge does work using the new smart scheduler, though I'm honestly not a big fan of it. I'm currently using forced charge to handle things manually.
The main issue is that my inverter only gives me one charge slot and two discharge slots, but I'd actually need three charge slots to make the non-API method work. Using the API used to be the easiest approach since it was pretty much a "set it and forget it" solution. Unfortunately, it's no longer working for my manual overnight charging, which I rely on to ensure the battery is fully topped up by the morning during my cheaper off-peak window.

I have much less slots on my Gen1 Hy5.0.
I tried Octo R&D scheduler where you can setup as many slots as you want, but I found comms between it, GivEnergy and my inverter somewhat flakey. There is also a known issue with Eco not being reset after some commands.
I set up HomeAssistant and configured as many automation slots as I wanted, with an auto Eco reset after each.
I then added Predbat and it does everything automatically and works brilliantly with whatever Octo tariffs I have .

You could try Wonderwatt or predbat.com (both online) if you dont fancy setting up HA, though I think you will still need premium Givenergy account for the API comms

D. Using the API used to be the easiest approach since it was pretty much a "set it and forget it" solution.

The API is just a mechanism to allow a remote agent to control your inverter, so it doesn't itself do anything. There must have been some agent using it to set your inverter. That might have been the smart scheduling mechanism on the portal.

using the new smart scheduler, though I'm honestly not a big fan of it.

Was it the old tariff support you were using ?

No it's the octopus cosi, same tariff as I've been on for a while now, but since 10 days ago not have a single issue with charging ect...

D. Sorry, I meant the old GE tariff support on their portal.

D. I have no idea if this works, but worth a try... The app has a battery schedule bar at the bottom, where each slot can be buy/sell/use etc. if you turn on the slider at the top to enable cloud, will it let you configure 3 charge slots? Maybe it will configure a schedule on the cloud that will be implemented via the API, without having to have smart scheduling.

Thanks, very helpful. LootBar has good deals. (1782441793)

SteveCook You could try Wonderwatt or predbat.com (both online) if you dont fancy setting up HA, though I think you will still need premium Givenergy account for the API comms

Or Axle offer a "free" full battery management service. (Zero cost, and they will pay your premium subscription, but they will also take over battery during grid events, paying £1/kWh.)

Octopus are also moving into this space - trialling their Charge Pack for IOG, and will support Cosy "soon".

Using the schedule charge (1/2 hour incremental) and turning off smart scheduling it will only allow me to set one charge session. If I do more then the 1 charge slot it comes up with an error so basically It won't allow me to set multiple charge slots. If it worked this way then it wouldn't have been an issue i would have just run with it.

D. I knew it wouldn't work locally. Just wondered if it would work differently when on cloud mode.

DD tried that too, tried every way possible. I've got my installers liaising with pred support the new givenergy support service. Let's see what comes of it. I'll post update on here if it's able to help others considering its helpful in the first instance 😂

D. I'm not sure they'll be able to help since there doesn't seem to be a problem with your system. You just need a reliable external agent to configure your timers dynamically. The GE "smart" scheduler doesn't seem to be much good at the moment (from what I've heard).

(I'm trying to decide whether I should offer to do it until you can find a better option. Unfortunately this forum doesn't offer a private messaging facility.)

DD thank you..I'm just going to have to wait to see what materialises and just do manual charging. It's annoying because I'm paying for a premium service which includes me being able to use API but I'm not able to even use that. I guess it's just a waiting game now. See what happens and take it as it comes. I'm sure many different issues will continue to arise and it's quite obvious that most of it will be software related.

D. being able to use API but I'm not able to even use that.

As I said, the API is just a mechanism to allow a remote agent to control your inverter. Its the agent that's currently missing from your setup.