Unable to discharge when I want

[garysmith38]

Hi, I am setting up a schedule so that I charge between 2-5am and discharge at 4-7pm, however discharging starts at 5am, see schedule below. We use Octopus Flux and we have a 5kw inverter.

Time 14:00-16:59
Force Charge.
Min Soc - 10%; Max Soc - 100%; FCSoc - 10%; FC PWR - 5000w.

Time 16:00-19:59
Force Discharge
Min Soc - 10%; Max Soc - 100%; FDSoc - 30%; FD PWR - 5000w

I also have self use schedules set up for the time either side of the above.

Min Soc - 10%; Max Soc - 100%; FDSoc - 10%; FDPwr - 0.0w

No matter how I adjust the settings it don’t work!

Any help will be appreciated.

Gary

[Dave Foster]

I think i'm reading this wrong, you said you charge between 2am and 5am but your schedule is set to charge from 2pm to 5pm ?

You've also got an overlap on your charge and discharge, the charge ends at 16:59(:59) but the discharge is starting at 16:00 ?

Can you screenshot the schedule page and post it here

[garysmith38]

Typo, it would read 02:00 - 05:00. Copy and paste don’t work here.

[garysmith38]

Actually 04:59

[Dave Foster]

You can add an image direct from your phone/tablet/desktop by clicking on the 'Attachments' tab below a post, then add files and choose where it comes from.

It would really help to see the graph you get at the bottom of the page when you swipe left on the app.

The most obvious thing I can see wrong with the Force Charge is that FCSoC should be set to 100% (same as MaxSoC)

[garysmith38]

[garysmith38]

Any further thoughts?

[Dave Foster]

The Force Charge needs FCSoC setting to 100%, it won’t charge at 10% it is acting just as MaxSoC does.

On your self use times, the inverter will always revert to Self Use when a schedule has ended, the only time you would need to set it is if you had changed minsoc as that is left as per the previous schedule when it ends.

In this case you haven’t changed minsoc so you don’t need any of those self use schedules, best to delete them.

[garysmith38]

Thanks. Can you confirm that I have both charge and discharge settings correct now.

Thanks

Gary

[Dave Foster]

Yes both are set correctly, the only comment to make is the schedules end on the 59th second of the time, so you would be more precise ending at 18:59 and 04:59 but it’s only a minute.

So just to confirm what each is doing,

The Force Discharge will discharge the battery, starting at 16:00 and ending at 19:00(:59), and will cut off should the battery soc drop to 30% - discharging at a rate of 5000 watts.

The Force Charge will charge the battery, starting at 02:00 and ending at 05:00(:59), charging to 100% - at a maximum rate of 5000 watts.

You don’t mention your inverter model and there have been a couple of issues on the KH series with firmware 1.52 in that the force discharging would not return to self use when it hits FDSoC, 1.55 firmware fixes this.

[garysmith38]

Thanks, The Inverter info attached.

[garysmith38]

Did not work, started to discharge at 5am this morning! Any other ideas?

[nrb501]

When you say "started to discharge at 5am:" do you mean it started to discharge at full rate (5KW) or just enough to cover the load?

Several other questions come to mind:

• 1. Is this a new installation
  2. Has the system been working correctly previously
  3. Have you had the firmware updated since installation (possibly not as the f/w versions are not the latest)
  4. If a new install, has the CT clamp been installed correctly (arrow on CT should point to the grid supply)

As Dave states, posting the graph would be a great help.

[garysmith38]

Please see graph

[garysmith38]

Inverter graph below, previous was the battery.

[garysmith38]

What should the latest firmware be for my inverter H1-5.0-E-G2

Thanks

[MaterialBarracuda48]

What should the latest firmware be for my inverter H1-5.0-E-G2

Thanks

You can check here
viewtopic.php?t=1927

H1 G2

[Dave Foster]

Inverter graph below, previous was the battery.

IMG_9715.png

The inverter will be set in Self Use mode at 5am and so the batteries will meet any house load which is its normal operation.

What exactly are you trying to achieve?, normally it would be to run the house off battery and dump any excess to the grid at the higher flux rate.

If you don’t want to use the battery at all, use grid power at the standard rate and then dump the battery at the high export tariff, that may not be possible (depending on your firmware).
If that is what you are trying to do you would need to set the workmode to ‘Backup’ at 5am until 15:59 (again this depends if your firmware supports it)

[garysmith38]

I am trying to use the battery that has been charged to 100% at the cheap rate during the 4-7pm period when it is at the higher rate from the grid.

[nrb501]

The later H1(G2) firmwares do present this as an option, I can’t remember if yours does though. If not then get your installer or Fox support to upgrade you first.
If it does then set a schedule 05:00-15:59 with mode as “Backup"
For the 16:00-18:59 slot use “Force Discharge” if you have an export tariff in place, else set 16:00-23:59 as “Self Use”

[garysmith38]

I have had Fox update the firmware on the Inverter, so fingers crossed all works ok overnight. Thanks for your help and will let you know the outcome tomorrow

[garysmith38]

Well, it still not worked!! I am stumped. Screenshots attached of setup.

[nrb501]

The inverter is now in "self use" mode which means it will be discharging and supplying the house load (up to the inverter power rating) which is what it is supposed to do.
If you want to stop this from happening you need to add a schedule with the mode set to "Backup" from 05:00-15:49

[garysmith38]

Thank you. What should the other settings be e. Min/max soc, max ac power

[nrb501]

I'd start with:
Min SoC on grid 10%
Max SoC 95% (The battery will self discharge slightly so setting this below 100% should stop the inverter attempting to charge the battery back up to 100% using standard rate electricity)
FDSoC 100%
FDPwr 0W

The last two should have no effect anyway.