Hi everyone,
We have recently had solar panels and batteries installed. We've just switched to Octopus Flux and want to set the system so it will charge with cheap energy early in the morning. I've had a look at Will's video clips (thank you!!), but on my software, the Force Charge option is not displayed when I click on the Battery Storage management. It only shows the Enable Charge from Grid options for Time period 1 and Time period 2, as well as the SoC Setting. I have set the times I want to start and stop charging from the grid, is that sufficient, do you think?
I was also wondering whether it would make sense to charge the batteries for about an hour before electricity gets really expensive in the late afternoon, but would that mean that it would charge the batteries from the grid even if the sun shines and they could be charged from the solar panels?
Thank you!
Force charge option missing
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Dave Foster
- Posts: 1305
- Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2022 7:21 pm
Hi, you don't say which inverter this (H1 G2?) is or which app (or website) you are using as that will affect the answer - can you confirm those please.
The original charge periods 1&2 are more than sufficient to charge your batteries on the low tariff rate - the scheduler (force charge/discharge) is more advanced and allows you to set schedules like 1 hour charge, switch work mode to feed-in first, switch to force disccharge the batteries, back to work mode Self-Use etc...
The only thing to say about the old charge periods is that you set a time and enable the charge from gird switch, but if you turn off the charge from grid switch you have not 'disabled' them - what that does is tells the inverter to *not allow discharge* of the batteries between that time period.
So think of the charge time period as the time you want something to happen, if charge from gird is on it will charge during those time, if the switch is off it will not allow discharge during those times. If you don't need a charge period then to disable them set the times to 00:00-00:00 with the switch off.
Last thing to mention is the older charge periods allow wrap around midnight whereas the scheduler does not - so with the old charge period you could set charge period 1 to 23:30-05:30. (with the scheduler you would have to set one schedule for 23:30-23:59, and a second schedule for 00:00-05:30).
If there is plenty of sun I would let the solar charge your batteries and not charge them in the afternoon - if you run out of battery the house will draw power from the grid in the evening anyway at the higher tariff and it avoids the losses involved when charging the batteries and then discharging them again (typically around 5-10%).
The original charge periods 1&2 are more than sufficient to charge your batteries on the low tariff rate - the scheduler (force charge/discharge) is more advanced and allows you to set schedules like 1 hour charge, switch work mode to feed-in first, switch to force disccharge the batteries, back to work mode Self-Use etc...
The only thing to say about the old charge periods is that you set a time and enable the charge from gird switch, but if you turn off the charge from grid switch you have not 'disabled' them - what that does is tells the inverter to *not allow discharge* of the batteries between that time period.
So think of the charge time period as the time you want something to happen, if charge from gird is on it will charge during those time, if the switch is off it will not allow discharge during those times. If you don't need a charge period then to disable them set the times to 00:00-00:00 with the switch off.
Last thing to mention is the older charge periods allow wrap around midnight whereas the scheduler does not - so with the old charge period you could set charge period 1 to 23:30-05:30. (with the scheduler you would have to set one schedule for 23:30-23:59, and a second schedule for 00:00-05:30).
If there is plenty of sun I would let the solar charge your batteries and not charge them in the afternoon - if you run out of battery the house will draw power from the grid in the evening anyway at the higher tariff and it avoids the losses involved when charging the batteries and then discharging them again (typically around 5-10%).
Thank you very much, Dave, that all makes sense to me.
We've got a H1 Hybrid inverter, and I use foxesscloud online to monitor and manage the system.
It seems to have worked as I hoped, it charged from the grid fully during the cheap early morning tariff period, and didn't charge in the afternoon because the battery was fully charged after a sunny morning. I'll keep an eye on the afternoon period, and have a think.
Thanks again
We've got a H1 Hybrid inverter, and I use foxesscloud online to monitor and manage the system.
It seems to have worked as I hoped, it charged from the grid fully during the cheap early morning tariff period, and didn't charge in the afternoon because the battery was fully charged after a sunny morning. I'll keep an eye on the afternoon period, and have a think.
Thanks again
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Dave Foster
- Posts: 1305
- Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2022 7:21 pm
No problem,
For what you are doing I would stick with the old charge periods, but if you want to find the schedules, on the foxesscloud web go to this screen and click the icon circled red.
If it comes up with this page you are fully up to date and can set schedules
If it doesn't it means that your firmware is slightly out of date (it's quite a new feature), and you can get that updated by a request to your installer or Fox service.
I've linked Tony's page as he's done an excellent description of what the scheduler can do https://github.com/TonyM1958/HA-FoxESS- ... #schedules and there is a lot of other information there as well you might find useful.
Just to add you can't run the old charge periods and schedules together at the same time, you have to use one or the other.
For what you are doing I would stick with the old charge periods, but if you want to find the schedules, on the foxesscloud web go to this screen and click the icon circled red.
If it comes up with this page you are fully up to date and can set schedules
If it doesn't it means that your firmware is slightly out of date (it's quite a new feature), and you can get that updated by a request to your installer or Fox service.
I've linked Tony's page as he's done an excellent description of what the scheduler can do https://github.com/TonyM1958/HA-FoxESS- ... #schedules and there is a lot of other information there as well you might find useful.
Just to add you can't run the old charge periods and schedules together at the same time, you have to use one or the other.
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