New installation and confusion

[Mandy H]

Hello
We recently had several solar panels, a battery and inverter installed and for a couple of months we know it was hooked up badly (the clamps on the cables were in the wrong place). We rectified that but now I still don't think the system is working as it should. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but does this look "right"?

This image is of a fairly average day

https://photos.app.goo.gl/n2MkCxEcode6Pfrs9

We are charging the battery overnight and that charge gets used immediately early in the morning.

These are the foxess app images for Feb.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/D53dPVLYT3rHxmYk6
and

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YHisdTkondKbKWcC8

many thanks
Mandy
Sorry the BBS image URL thing isn't working for me.

[Will]

When you look at the real time data flow graph do you see the battery providing any power?

[Mandy H]

Sorry I wasn't up early enough to catch it (if the battery were to be doing that), certainly at the moment it is not providing any and is sitting at 11% BRC (as set). Even on a good day with sun (it is winter), the battery is never appears to be charged. It always seems that the household usage goes up in tandam with the PV value. So if there is lots of PV, household usage goes up rather than battery charge going up instead.

Further information is that we appear to be using a lot more kWh per day (on average) than we were last year when we did not have the installation.

Last year
Dec 43.25
Jan 39.91
Feb 31.24

This year
Dec 44.20 (we know everything wasn't set up right)
Jan 57.18 (we had set heating to +1 degree, but then set it back to original)
Feb 49.88 -- we had similar household use behaviour to last year so this is the one that has me very concerned, and obviously I think these issues (if there are any) are related.

Many thanks for responding and looking at this with me.

[Dave Foster]

It sounds like something is wrong, your house load shouldn’t increase with PV generation - as if the CT clamp is not connected, in the right place or is disabled.

Can you post an image of this screen please preferably when the sun is up (either from the V2 app or the website)

[Mandy H]

Will do.... it's england... it is naturally, raining right now

[Mandy H]

Good afternoon.

It's been a sunny day (but with a grid power outage for three hours this morning), it has been back on for about two hours now. I was unable to tell if the solar panels charged the battery (as perhaps they should have done) during the outage.

Here is a diagram from the website which I think is demonstrating the problem

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NWiCK3SEn4Typ7UH8

Other photo of app home page

https://photos.app.goo.gl/h1AguGjqvNbUTw336

Many thanks
Mandy

[Dave Foster]

The CT clamp is definetly not working correctly (if you really don't have a 7kW load in the house at the time you took it), it would be either located in the wrong place or is facing the wrong way - it's difficult to be sure, usually if you see PV causing the battery to discharge and increasing the load it is the wrong way round.

The best option is to get your installer back and have them check and correct the system - you could take photos of your meter cupboard and post them here and we can guide you but you would need to be able to identify the cables coming in and out and be willing to move / change the CT clamps position.

[Mandy H]

Very happy to move things around.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/75yTN9vqU3oAa1rE7
I've put a bunch of photos into this album.

Thank you again so much

[Dave Foster]

Right it's a 3 phase system, which makes things a little more complicated as we need to know if all phases are fitted incorrectly or just one.

FWIW all the arrows on the CT clamps are facing the wrong way, but it might have had the wires crossed at the meter so it all needs to be checked.

Can you go to the Foxesscloud website, go the the inverter details page and at the bottom of the page is a blank graph that allows you to select items - can you choose LoadsRPower, LoadsSPower, LoadsTPower and click search and post that graph please.

[Mandy H]

Apologies for the delay, I was out and couldn't access this board on my phone.

I have uploaded that graph you requested to the album, direct link here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/t4KaHvLXnjJ7PTvn9

I'm so sorry I left out the 3 phase information!

[Dave Foster]

No problem, those traces are even more confusing - could you please repeat the graph but for MeterRPower, MeterSPower and MeterTPower

Sorry just need to ask some more questions -

What model and size is the inverter i.e. H3 10kw, H3 Pro 15kw etc.. ?

What capacity of batteries do you have ?

Is your load during the day really as high as that graph is showing i.e. typically 1kw-2kw, with sizeable spikes up to 7.02kw on one phase, 4.53kw on another ? Your daily stats suggest your house load is 38kW and you are grid import is 32kW per day - is that what you expect or are they too high ?

[Mandy H]

Hi, goodness please don't apologise!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/13NBz48LXurKwn8k7 is for MeterRPower, MeterSPower and MeterTPower graph.

As I mentioned in an earlier message before, it is a lot more than the same time last year and I forced our behaviour back to the same because I knew something was wrong and if our behaviour was different (i.e. higher temp in house) then I wouldn't be able to prove it.

House temp is same, showering same, appliance use is same. So straight answer, the load is way higher than I would expect. The reason I became suspicious was because on a day I know the heat pump (14 KW) didn't come on - because I was alone, I had a stove wood fire on all day, but the load was still really high and nothing else was on, no appliances, just a couple of fridges ticking along, still the app was showing something like 9kW load. I know the heat pump comes on occasionally to keep water at temp and the inversion heater too, but it doesn't use that much.

Feb 2024 31.24 average kWh used per day
Feb 2025 49.88 average kWh used per day

Inverter is h3 5.0 - E
Battery is EP5 model.... capacity 5180wh

thank you again....

[Mandy H]

Hi, goodness please don't apologise!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/13NBz48LXurKwn8k7 is for MeterRPower, MeterSPower and MeterTPower graph.

As I mentioned in an earlier message before, it is a lot more than the same time last year and I forced our behaviour back to the same because I knew something was wrong and if our behaviour was different (i.e. higher temp in house) then I wouldn't be able to prove it.

House temp is same, showering same, appliance use is same. So straight answer, the load is way higher than I would expect. The reason I became suspicious was because on a day I know the heat pump (14 KW) didn't come on - because I was alone, I had a stove wood fire on all day, but the load was still really high and nothing else was on, no appliances, just a couple of fridges ticking along, still the app was showing something like 9kW load. I know the heat pump comes on occasionally to keep water at temp and the inversion heater too, but it doesn't use that much, that often. And as I looked it occured to me that there was some kind of mathematical pattern between the PV, load and grid import that was reflecting the load demand. (Sorry anyone reading this must think I'm mad!)

Feb 2024 31.24 average kWh used per day
Feb 2025 49.88 average kWh used per day

Inverter is h3 5.0 - E
Battery is EP5 model.... capacity 5180wh

thank you again....

[Dave Foster]

Thanks, just going back to your opening comment - you said it wasn't working well because the clamps were in the wrong place - do you remember where they were attached ?

The CT clamps are connected to the load cable and they should be connected to the grid (incoming) cable - see my attached (click on it to enlarge).

The only thing i've not been able to work out correctly is whether the CT clamp is orientated correctly, the arrow normally points towards the grid (whereas yours is pointing towards the load) - but if the wires have been crossed at the meter it would be correct. Without being there to check cable orientation or check what the meter itself is reporting i'm not entirely sure.

But the one thing that I am sure about is the location is wrong - can you please move each clamp (carefully) from where it is to the cable where I have shown on this image - for now keep the orientation the same i.e. arrow pointing towards the load. Once it has moved to the correct place you will be able to tell very quickly, should the house load be reporting as negative it is the wrong way round - in which case turn each one through 180 degrees so the arrow points in the opposite direction.

The CT clamps have a small clip on the side that when released allows its hinge to open and be removed - move it to the new location and clip it shut again.

[Mandy H]

Thank you. We have moved the clips and as you said, saw an immediate difference. We will go out for an hour and look again when back (so as not to obsess:))

I took a pre screenshot and post screenshot and will load these to the album .

Thank you is too little to say...

[Mandy H]

And just to share our joy.....

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4T8qkN8p7sWMR4m16

Battery charging, trickle from grid (as expected), reasonable load as desired.

@Dave Foster... you are my hero.

Thank you so much.

[Dave Foster]

That's great, looking so much better - you're very welcome

Leave it running over night so there is some history and then tomorrow any time after lunch (no hurry just need to see night / day transition and a few hours of solar).

If you could then post me a couple of the graphs for the 3 Loads(R/S/T) and MeterPower(R/S/T) - be nice to double check that every phase is doing what we expect.

[Mandy H]

will do

[Mandy H]

I have uploaded the graphs you requested (as well as the standard one for today).

They all show the 3/3/2025 date in top right.

I've also added a screenshot of from foxess app, I'm not sure I understand the load v. battery on that graph. The battery is at 99% but it appears the load is using power from the grid not the battery. This is all happening in the middle of the night when we are on the night rate.

Many thanks
Mandy
PS another lovely sunny day here.

[Dave Foster]

That's looking fine, it appears you have set a charge period during the low tariff hours and that is charging your battery up and then holding it fully charged until the period ends - the battery won't discharge when it is in a charge period. That is probably wise as the big consumption items like the heat pump would soon flatten them again and it's best to use the cheaper tariff for them.

In the V2 app if you click 'Device' at the bottom, then 'Battery' at the top it will show you the charge period you have set - it looks to be 00:30 to 07:00 ish.

It would be helpful if you could screen shot and include that page for me just to confirm - now the solar generation is increasing you might want to leave the charge period set but change the 'Enable charge from grid' setting to off(disabled) - that way it will hold the batteries state of charge during the low tariff hours and not let it be discharge, and it will leave more space in the battery to soak up solar charge during the day (unless your low tariff rate is lower than the rate get paid for export?)

[Mandy H]

Getting paid for export is a whole other issue I am not near solving... (not a technical problem).

Yes, that's exactly how it is currently set - 00.30-7.30 for charging from grid. What you say makes total sense, thank you.

We disabled the mode scheduler because it was getting in the way of trying to understand what was happening...

On that subject, the labeling on the mode scheduler screen is so misleading, so can I please just check that when it says "disable" it actually means "disabled" because appears to me to be the case, but I'd love confirmation. It also appears that it is impossible to make the manual scheduler screen info below the times go grey instead of blue.

I've done another uploading of various screenshots (not necessarily in the right order). https://photos.app.goo.gl/75yTN9vqU3oAa1rE7

many thanks (again)

[Dave Foster]

Mode Scheduler 'Disable' does mean Mode Scheduler is Disabled (not the best use of language)

It looks like you know you can't use mode scheduler and charge periods at the same time, when you set schedules it will reset them to zero and you have to set a force charge schedule instead - in all honesty if you are fine with the charge periods stay with them, they are so much easier to set.

Ha, yes your right about the text below the manual scheduler i'd never noticed that - it does indeed always stay blue

As you are not getting paid for export it would probably be better not fully charging your batteries, and let the solar do it during the day.

On the charge period you have set for 00:30 to 07:30, turn off the 'Enable charge from grid' switch, the charge period will still run and it won't charge, but neither will it discharge so anything left in the battery will be preserved until 07:30.

Alternatively you could put a 'small charge' in by setting the first charge period from 00:30 to 01:00 with 'Enable charge from grid' on, then set the second charge period from 01:00 to 07:30 with 'Enable charge from grid' turned off.

That would give you a quick 30 minute charge, and hold that state of charge until 07:30 so you start the day off with a bit of charge.

[Mandy H]

Oh, brilliant, we'll can play around with that a bit. thank you.