How do I set the cloud portal so that the battery is in normal eco mode during the day grid tarrif period but will not discharge during my low cost electricity period only please. I have tried timed discharge along with eco but this seems to have the effect that the battery won't charge during the day. It goes down to 4% and stays there.
Basically I have a plug in hybrid and I want the hybrid to charge at night from the grid saving my battery to supply the house for the dull winter days with getting up to 100% from solar is slower or even not possible. If I have the system on ECO the car takes the battery to zero so that there is none left for the house first thing in the morning for kettle and toaster.
Zakalwe Thank you, I hadn't thought of it like the instructions in the link.
P
#4PaulGreen34
hi Zakalwe- I have the same problem that charging the car on the 0.30-04.30 slot drains lots of the battery from the previous day's solar; I looked at the link you refer to but don't get how this would make sense if I don't want to charge the house battery as well as the car battery in the cheap rate slot but only the car battery. I did try setting a discharge time for the battery from 04.40 - 00.20 but also had eco activated ( I think) and it still discharged from the house battery into the car battery at the 0.30-04.30 time.( I had planned to stop the discharge time when I got up and go back to eco mode but obviously missed something in the change back and it continued to discharge 😅 )
Z
#5Zakalwe
Eco mode tries to minimise grid import and export. It will power the house using PV where possible. If there is excess PV generation then it will charge the battery. If there is not enough or no PV generation then it will use the battery to minimise import.
Timed Discharge forces the battery to discharge at full rate to wherever is possible- into any house load or into the grid. It's used when you want to maximise grid export (for instance when on Agile Export and you are getting a high price for exported power).
Timed Charge charges the battery at full rate from whatever source is available up to the SoC set in the Settings.
You can set the Timed Charge to whatever SoC you wish. If you set a Timed Charge for the same times as your off-peak and car charging times then the system will then charge or discharge the battery to whatever SoC you have set.
Think of it this way- Timed Charge allows you to exit the Timed Charge period at whatever SoC level you desire. Forget about what happens before that, just set the Timed Charge and SoC and the battery will be at that level when the Timed Charge period ends (obviously within the constraints of the system- you cannot expect it to charge a flat battery to 100% in say 30 minutes).
If you have Eco mode set, then it will resume that once a Timed Charge or Timed Discharge period has ended.
So, say you are on Octopus Go with a cheap period of 00:30 to 04:30. During this time you also want to charge your EV to take advantage of cheap rates. You also want your battery to exit that period at 75% so you can power the house in the morning and top it off with PV generation during the afternoon. Set the inverter into ECO mode to minimise grid import and export. Then set a Timed Charge from 00:30 to 04:30 and a SoC of 75%. At 00:30 the EV will start charging. If the battery is over 75% then the inverter will discharge it into the house load and EV until it hits 75%. If the battery is under 75% then the inverter will charge the EV AND the battery until the battery hits 75%. In both cases the inverter will maintain the battery at 75% until 04:30.
At 04:30 the car will stop charging. The Timed Charge period will also end and the inverter will revert to ECO mode and start to power the house load from the battery. It will continue to do that until PV generation can satisfy the house load. Any excess will then go into the battery.
At 00:30 the cycle repeats.
Does this help?
P
#6PaulGreen34
Thanks Zakalwe - I think that makes sense and will try it next time I charge the car; it's a pity GivEnergy are not a little clearer in the users information about how their different settings work.
Z
#7Zakalwe
Make sure that any changes are actually saved. When you save them in the portal it should pop up a green box telling you that the changes have been saved. Sometimes I have to hit Save a couple of times as it often pops up a red box saying that the changes haven't been saved. It can be very hit and miss for some reason.
T
#8TX200
Zakalwe is it showing the red error because it’s busy answering an API call from the cloud, from an open app on home mode, or GivTCP etc? I rarely get the red error, but also don’t use GivTCP.
T
#9Tim
Zakalwe Timed Charge charges the battery at full rate
If you set (Inverter-Settings-Battery Options) your Charge Power to less than 100%, does it still charge at 100%, or at the value set in Battery Options?
G
#10geoffmurphy
I've just come back ionto this discussion. I've been using timed charge for a few days now and it works even though it is counter intuitive. Here is what I have ended up with for charging my car overnight without draining the battery
I set Eco Mode and Timed Charge to 50% between 1:30AM and 6:00AM
The system then maintains battery charge and / or brings it up to 50% all the way through charging the car, then after 6 it resumes normal eco mode. In these days with less sunshine it makes sure that I have 50% power in the batteries for the morning and assuming that it is not heavily overcast I usually have 100% by the end of the afternoon
is it showing the red error because it’s busy answering an API call from the cloud, from an open app on home mode, or GivTCP etc? I rarely get the red error, but also don’t use GivTCP.
Ahh...good shout. I have Home Assistant and GivTCP running in the background so that is probably what's going on.
If you set (Inverter-Settings-Battery Options) your Charge Power to less than 100%, does it still charge at 100%, or at the value set in Battery Options?
I haven't played round with that, but I would expect it to charge at the rate that you set.
geoffmurphy I've been using timed charge for a few days now and it works even though it is counter intuitive. Here is what I have ended up with for charging my car overnight without draining the battery
I set Eco Mode and Timed Charge to 50% between 1:30AM and 6:00AM
The system then maintains battery charge and / or brings it up to 50% all the way through charging the car, then after 6 it resumes normal eco mode.
Indeed.
The way that I look at Timed Charge is that you set the SoC percentage at the level that you want to exit the Timed Charge period at. The system will then discharge/charge/maintain the battery to that level.
A
#14AlanV
Sorry if this has been asked & answered before but how would I set a "battery hold" period so I could have excess solar going to export for a defined time? For example I'd want the battery to get to 75% so I can then have excess going to grid in the day (if I get a high export price for example).
