Forced overnight charging not happening!

[london2000]

Hi Everyone!

After a brief adventure with Octopus Intelligent Flux (only to discover that my EVO 10 5-H is not yet compatible with Intelligent tariffs so the device could not be registered) I have returned to the non-Intelligent Flux.

I thought everything was set up to force charge the battery overnight, only to find this didn't happen (currently on 9%). The settings I'm using are shown in the attached screenshot. These are exactly as they were before I ventured into Intelligent Flux territory and the same settings are displayed on the FoxCloud web portal.

Can anyone please suggest why the force charging didn't happen?

Thanks!

[Dave Foster]

Sadly the app has been very erratic at the moment and it may have added something that stops your charge, start by deleting your schedule in the app and then log into the V2 website https://www.foxesscloud.com/v2/login

When you have logged in you can click the purple box 'Quick Settings' on the top right hand side and Scheduler is in the list towards the bottom.

It would be worth you setting up a test charge time during the day for (say 5 minutes) and see if that works - if it doesn’t we need to investigate some other settings that may have been changed,

At the time of writing, the only app that is working reliably for all people at the moment is Energy Stats by Al Priest (available on iOS and Android).

[london2000]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply. I'm still in my first month of having a solar system but I soon found the app to be very flakey.

I already have Al Priest's Energy Stats app installed, but I've not been successful in using that to change the schedule. Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

If I go Settings -> Inverter -> Manage schedules I get the error message shown in the screenshot below. I get an identical message if I go Settings -> Inverter -> Work mode.

But I now see that if I go Settings -> Battery -> Charge schedule then that gives me the option to "Enable charge from grid". Should I be using that, although that only gives me the option of charging the battery and not discharging it during peak times? (Charge from grid, of course, is an option that's been removed from the FoxCloud2.0 app but which still exists on the V2 website.)

I will follow your advice to delete the mode schedule from the app and to play around with settings on the V2 website and the Energy Stats app to force some test charges this morning.

Thanks very much for your advice!

[Dave Foster]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply. I'm still in my first month of having a solar system but I soon found the app to be very flakey.

I already have Al Priest's Energy Stats app installed, but I've not been successful in using that to change the schedule. Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

If I go Settings -> Inverter -> Manage schedules I get the error message shown in the screenshot below. I get an identical message if I go Settings -> Inverter -> Work mode.

But I now see that if I go Settings -> Battery -> Charge schedule then that gives me the option to "Enable charge from grid". Should I be using that, although that only gives me the option of charging the battery and not discharging it during peak times? (Charge from grid, of course, is an option that's been removed from the FoxCloud2.0 app but which still exists on the V2 website.)

I will follow your advice to delete the mode schedule from the app and to play around with settings on the V2 website and the Energy Stats app to force some test charges this morning.

Thanks very much for your advice!

Energy stats error message.png

Ok on ES I have seen that before (on an EVO) and the problem went away (on it's own) a few weeks after install as if the OpenApi hadn't been updated correctly.

For now probably it is best to use the V2 website and the scheduler in quick settings to do what you want and do some test charges from there to see if it works, if not we can look at the import settings which may be stopping it working.

[london2000]

Hi Dave,

I've been playing around with the system a lot this morning but unfortunately been getting nowhere and I've not managed to force charge the battery.

Not even the V2 website is behaving itself! On the website, under "Mode Scheduler", all it says is "Remaining Time Slots, Self-Use, Min. SOC 10%, Max. SOC 100%". This is in blue text so presumably active and mirroring the FC2 app which is also set to self-use.

When I try to enable "Grid Charging Time" on the V2 website one of two things happens (seemingly randomly!). Either it proves impossible to enter and save times (it instantly reverts to 00:00 - 00:00 when clicking on Confirm) or, occasionally, it retains the times for a few minutes but then loses them.

It's as if something, somewhere, is acting behind the scenes to override what I do.

I find the ES app works accurately in terms of showing the energy flow, but any attempt to change charging times results in 44098 or 40257 error messages.

Would generating another API key help and then starting afresh with ES?

I'm intrigued, by the way, by your suggestion that the import settings might need a tweak but I'm clueless what to look for!

It's worth me saying that my firmware is up-to-date. Because of the problems I was having registering the device for the Intelligent Flux tariff I confirmed on this forum and with Fox that I'm running the latest versions, which is what the FC2 app also says.

Thanks for your help!

[Dave Foster]

The error and times being reset is because you can’t use the 2 charge periods and scheduler at the same time - you have to make sure scheduler is disabled to set and use the grid charging times (likewise for Energy Stats).

In the Energy Stats app if you click ‘Settings’ , ‘Inverter’, ’Manage Schedules’ and make sure the Enable Scheduler switch is off you should then be able to change the Charging Schedule without errors.

You can only check the inverter import limits at the inverter panel itself, on there if you go to Settings (password=0,0,0,0), on-grid, Export Control,
can you post back what you find in the ImportLimitPwr (it is power in watts) and ImportLimitCur (it is current Amps) settings

[london2000]

I thought the scheduler was disabled if Work Mode was set to Self-use. In FC2, when I look at mode schedule all I see is what's in the screenshot below. There's nothing to click on to disable it further.

With ES, going 'Settings’ , ‘Inverter’, ’Manage Schedules’ leads straight to a 41200 error code (explaining 'Fox OpenAPI servers returned error code 41200, Query data failed').

And stupid though it sounds, I can see no obvious way of opening the EVO 10 5-H inverter/battery box to access anything inside to get readings. However, force charging was working overnight until I moved to the Intelligent Flux tariff for a few days and then moved back to Flux again - the inverter could not be registered with Octopus so I can't see any way that Octopus might have made changes to import settings.

Very puzzling how things that worked, now don't work!

[Dave Foster]

Ok leave ES alone for now, i've just tried the V2 website and the latest iteration of the V2 website is enabling scheduler and won't let you disable (which is why you get the error messages) so go back to the original V1 website https://www.foxesscloud.com/login - are you familiar with the older web site ?

On the left hand menu Click on Device, Inverter and click the small blue icon under Operation on the right hand side, that will take you to the 'Inverter Details' page - Just under 'Energy Flow' you will see the Workmode and a small blue icon like a square box with a pen in it, click that and it will take you to the Scheduler page.

You'll see that it is 'Enabled', Disable it - and then delete the 00:00-23:59 item you see in there by clicking on the minus sign at the right hand side.

At this point the scheduler has been disabled, I suspect the Grid Charging times will work ok in Energy Stats or if you go back to the V2 website you will be able to add a Grid Charging time period under Quick Settings (but don't add a schedule).

[london2000]

Hi Dave,

I went to the original VI website, as you said. The schedule was already set on Disabled but I deleted it anyway.

I then went back to the V2 site but I was still unable to enter any times for Grid Charging Times. They disappeared as soon as I entered them, so presumably there is still something else overriding whatever I put in.

In fact, I've just logged back into the V1 website and the 00:00 - 23:59 item has reappeared! But is still showing as Disabled.

Would generating a new API key for the ES app help make that app work?

I very much appreciate your patience helping me sort this mess out!

[Dave Foster]

Hmmm, it would seem that Fox are creating schedules in their cloud whether you need them or not, I suspect to correct a lot of the problems that have been caused by the new app.

A new API key won't help for Energy Stats, it's being overridden by the Fox cloud so we'll have to work with that and get it working there.

If you go back to the V2 website and create a short Force Charge schedule to happen now, and set as many parameters as it will allow you to so that minsoc is 10%, FCSoC is 100%, FCPwr is 5000, MaxSoC is 100%.

Make sure it is enabled and submit it, does the system charge ?

[london2000]

I've just tried - I can enter all the details except for the start and end times. They instantly disappear when I click anywhere else in the dialogue box.

[Dave Foster]

I've just tried - I can enter all the details except for the start and end times. They instantly disappear when I click anywhere else in the dialogue box.

What happens if you use the V2 app for it, does it still clear the times ?

[london2000]

I've given that a go. I can enter the times into the V2 app but the charging doesn't kick in.

This is actually where I was at the start of this thread. Times were set in V2 for an overnight forced-charge for it never happened.

[evilbunny]

They instantly disappear when I click anywhere else in the dialogue box.

I noticed in the v2 site if I don't click ok on the time pop-ups, rather than clicking on something else, the times can go wonky...

[Dave Foster]

They instantly disappear when I click anywhere else in the dialogue box.

I noticed in the v2 site if I don't click ok on the time pop-ups, rather than clicking on something else, the times can go wonky...

yeh I was wondering whether it’s some strange behaviour if you don’t click OK in the dialogue or similar, but I can’t recreate it - very strange ??

[Dave Foster]

I've given that a go. I can enter the times into the V2 app but the charging doesn't kick in.

This is actually where I was at the start of this thread. Times were set in V2 for an overnight forced-charge for it never happened.

If you look in the V2 app in Quick Settings, what do you see for Export Limit and Import Limit ?

[london2000]

Import and export limits are both 13,000 W.

And it turns out I'd not been clicking OK in the time dialogue box in the V2 website - Sorry about that!

Clicking OK does store the times, but charging is still not activated. Also, the forced charge setting I entered into the FC2 app about 20 minutes ago appears in the mode schedule of the V2 website, but it never started the charging.

[Dave Foster]

Import and export limits are both 13,000 W.

And it turns out I'd not been clicking OK in the time dialogue box in the V2 website - Sorry about that!

Clicking OK does store the times, but charging is still not activated. Also, the forced charge setting I entered into the FC2 app about 20 minutes ago appears in the mode schedule of the V2 website, but it never started the charging.

Clutching at straws now, on the V2 app, does it show the schedule with Grid Charge Enabled ?

[london2000]

Do you mean the V2 website? If so, Grid Charging Time is not enabled.

On the V2 app, with Forced Charge the tests we've tried this afternoon, Charging from Grid is shown as enabled (as per a screenshot at the very top of this thread).

[Dave Foster]

Do you mean the V2 website? If so, Grid Charging Time is not enabled.

On the V2 app, with Forced Charge the tests we've tried this afternoon, Charging from Grid is shown as enabled (as per a screenshot at the very top of this thread).

Ok, yes it was the app I meant - Just as a final test, if you disable your scheduler and set your system minsoc to 100% you should see the battery start to charge albeit slowly - does that work ?.

If that doesn’t charge I suspect there is either an import current limit restriction causing this or it’s been forced into standby but those needs installer access to change - so probably wise at this point to open a service ticket and get Fox to check over your settings for lack of charge power.

[london2000]

Strangely, the app's not allowing me to increase System Min SOC from 10%. Even trying 11% resulted in a "44098 write failed" error message. That could be part of the problem?

I think you're right that I need to open a service ticket with Fox! I'll do that now and I might get a reply on Monday.

Thank you so much for all your help, Dave! Even though success has not yet been achieved, it's not for the want of your ideas and suggestions!

Best wishes, Roger