Any reason not to buy FoxESS?

[Redlander]

Until recently I knew practically nothing about solar, but in the past fortnight I've been educating myself, mainly through "Gary Does Solar"

I've had a quote from a reputable installer for a system with:
7 x Aiko NEOSTAR 2S 510Wp (Black ABC) Panels
1 x FoxESS H1 (G2) 5kW Inverter
1 x FoxESS EP11 10.36kWh Battery

For comparison I have requested quotes for systems with (a) Enphase micros-inverterters and (b) A Tesla Powerwall 3, and these have both been considerably more expensive. One reson I was interested in these was the support for Intelligent Octopus Flux, which Fox does not curently have. I am particularly interested in tariffs that allow me to charge my battery when grid power is cheap and discharge it when prices are higher.

So should I hesitate in accepting the proposed FoxESS system? Are there any weaknesses in FoxESS products that I ought to be aware of?
Is it probable that FoxESS will support Intelligenrt Octopus Flux in the future?

[Dave Foster]

I think the short answer to your question is no, there's no reason why you shouldn't consider Fox they are of high quality, feature rich and very reliable.

There is no official link between Octopus and Fox for Flux (yet) - there is one for Agile.

However if you get your installer to install 2 wires to the modbus connector when they install the inverter (some already do as standard), you can install a home assistant (a small micro computer ~ often based on a raspberry pi) and basically using this you can automate most things.

There is an integration (program) that connects to the Octopus API to get your real time account information and there is an integration to get data and send data to the Fox inverter - you can collect all the data, have energy dashboards, turn things on and off depending on solar or battery events - sky's the limit.

For example I use Octopus Intelligent GO and when I plug my car in the tariff goes to cheap rate and I can decide what I want to do, charge the home batteries - hold their charge and let the grid power the house whilst it's cheap etc..

If you have Octopus Flux you can automate when you want to charge, and discharge your batteries so that you save the solar for the high tariff export in the evening.

[jimmy6363]

Hi all, I’m in a similar situation to the OP but current comparing a Fox system to Sigenergy. Leaning towards Fox and I can’t immediately see how the Sig is around £1000 for much the same.

Reviews I’ve looked at for Fox generally say the hardware is good but app isn’t great (but these reviews are pretty old now). Is this still the case with the 2.0 app?

I then got to this community and went down the Home Assistant/linking the Mod Bus(??) rabbit hole. Hoping to avoid this as its additional cost and probably beyond my technical ability.

Appreciate with the 1.0 app the Home Assistant added a lot of functionality, but do you still need it with 2.0? From what I’ve seen on YouTube, the 2.0 app does real time readings and has enough controls for the normal person. Is this fair or have I missed something?

I’m looking at a K series inverter with an EP11 battery.

[Dave Foster]

The K series is an excellent single phase inverter, and the EP11 whilst being at the cost effective end of the Fox range is a very good battery pack.

The V2 app is much better now and whilst there are occasional issues with the Fox cloud whilst they can be frustrating they are no more than any other provider and Fox have invested a great deal in their infrastructure.

I would recommend that at the least you get the modbus RS485 connections made during the install and then the difficult bit of modbus is done, ideally go the whole hog and install the adapter and home assistant. Once you have had real time access and control of the inverter it’s hard to accept anything else.

[BertusKruger]

I think the short answer to your question is no, there's no reason why you shouldn't consider Fox they are of high quality, feature rich and very reliable.

There is no official link between Octopus and Fox for Flux (yet) - there is one for Agile.

However if you get your installer to install 2 wires to the modbus connector when they install the inverter (some already do as standard), you can install a home assistant (a small micro computer ~ often based on a raspberry pi) and basically using this you can automate most things.

There is an integration (program) that connects to the Octopus API to get your real time account information and there is an integration to get data and send data to the Fox inverter - you can collect all the data, have energy dashboards, turn things on and off depending on solar or battery events - sky's the limit.

For example I use Octopus Intelligent GO and when I plug my car in the tariff goes to cheap rate and I can decide what I want to do, charge the home batteries - hold their charge and let the grid power the house whilst it's cheap etc..

If you have Octopus Flux you can automate when you want to charge, and discharge your batteries so that you save the solar for the high tariff export in the evening.

Do you have more details on setting up Home Assistant to work with the 485 messages?

[WyndStryke]

Do you have more details on setting up Home Assistant to work with the 485 messages?

* This is my system, installed in January, including the RS485/MODBUS adaptor, home assistant, and the plug:
* This is the interface software ('integration') which you install into home assistant https://github.com/nathanmarlor/foxess_modbus
* This is the adaptor itself: https://github.com/nathanmarlor/foxess_ ... TH-%28B%29
* This is the optimisation software which can run the inverter using the adaptor https://github.com/springfall2008/batpred (of course this'd work with other types of inverter too)

I got the Fox setup primarily because of the cost, but I'm pretty impressed at the quality now I have it.

[BertusKruger]

Looking good!!!

thanks for the links...