New Foxess Cloud feature

[dforster]

Hi All,

Wasn't sure where to add this (maybe there should be a separate section for the cloud/app stuff).

Has anybody noticed the new functionality within the cloud (via web) ? Think it's only appeared today

Work Model

Options are
1) Self Use
2) Feedin
3) Backup
4) Power Station
5) Peak Shaving

Sounds exciting
Haven't dared to change mode yet

Appreciate some of these options are similar to those accessible via the inverter itself, but great to see them available via remote access.

[Ched]

Interesting, now all we need is a guinea pig and to understand what the different modes actually do.

Do you think Feed In or Power Station could be a force discharge to grid?

[calum]

If they make the documentation available so we can set these work modes remotely via Modbus, that would be even better.

[jimg]

This update seems to have broken the battery configuration popup for me - it errors out and doesn't load my saved settings. Anyone else seeing that?

[dforster]

This update seems to have broken the battery configuration popup for me - it errors out and doesn't load my saved settings. Anyone else seeing that?

Yes, was broken for me too initially, but isn't that the standard new feature journey.

New feature > everything breaks > problems fixed

I believe there are vacancies in their unit testing department

Dave.

[G4RNI]

My battery feature was broken, too but now seems to be ok again.

This is what I've learned thus far:

1 - Self use seems to prioritise my own consumption and battery charging.

2 - Feedin seems to prioritise feed to the grid over battery charging in that any solar I'm not using directly goes to the grid. It seems to happen at peak consumption times eg this morning around 9 am my bats weren't charging and I was exporting.

I imagine that some of the remaining 3 options will set my installation to run as a mini grid backup during excessive grid load. Now call me cynical but how long until this is a mandatory feature for those with battery backup? By that I mean, will the gummint rule that we MUST donate a % of our stored energy to the grid?

[calum]

Really not sure how they'd actually mandate it though? I do hear of plans for a "virtual power station" where people with the right kit can sign up to push power into the grid on demand (and get paid for it).

[G4RNI]

Believe me, gummints all throughout the western world will sell your soul.

I've had a (very) quick perusal of Octopus Flux and IMHO it's a toe in the door of mandatory grid compliance. A bit like the current (no pun) spate of "savings sessions". A trial to see just how we will succumb with a very large carrot dangled.

That said, I'm all for more functionality just so long as that functionality is primarily for the benefit of we, the ones who've invested in solar. Using us as cushions to prevent a badly bruised coccyx when TPTB fall on ther arses simply isn't acceptable.

[os_alfa]

I am also very happy that it will be possible to set such things remotely. If I understood correctly, none of you have instructions on how exactly the different operating modes work?

[aardnebby]

This does look good!

I'm on Octopus Flux, so would love to be able to force-discharge my battery during the peak hours if this new functionality makes that possible...

[G4RNI]

Give it a try! Select the item you want to test, eg Power Staion, tick the box, enter your Foxess password then give the system 10 minutes or so to react/respond. See what's happening and if you're not happy simply tick the original box (probably self use) and go back to where you were.
I'm guessing here but Power Station would seem the logical choice if you want to feed battery charge to the grid unlike Feedin which appears to prioritise export over battery charge, certainly at peak times when I tried it.

EDIT: I tried "Power station" at noon today and received the error "40257 Parameter does not meet expectations". Whatever that means. Gone back to Self Use.

[aardnebby]

I got the same error with power station mode, same with peak shaving. Still, being able to change between Feedin and Self Use remotely is a solid improvement. Backup mode I'm still not sure of, surely the same can be achieved with Battery settings?

[johnbiow]

Has anyone got any updates on this thread? I’m keen to know what Back Up, Power Station and Peak Shaving modes mean and whether we can use them to force discharge to grid at peak to benefit from higher export tariffs at this time (Octopus Flux).

[calum]

Currently, they don't do anything, I would presume (but certainly don't know) that they are there to support features that are under development for future firmware versions. As to the timing of any such future releases, I suspect your crystal ball is as good as mine.

In this thread, Will (who set up this forum and has a good tecnical understanding of these things) said

FoxESS and just about all G99/G98 systems for UK use won't be able to discharge to grid sadly.

Now, given that my system absolutely can feed into the grid when I have excess solar, I'm not sure exactly what he means by this, I've asked him to clarify as you see.

But to answer your original question, I don't believe there is currently a mode on the inverter you can use to do what you're asking.

[SeanK]

Hi
I’m in the UK and new to the system (2 months). The new feature you’re discussing has just appeared and suddenly my daily usage and cost have multiplied by 4 (and battery is down to 8%). We’ve had a couple of days of rainy weather but I’m hoping that isn’t the cause.
I’m ignorant about how the system works, and I can’t find a sensible explanation of what the icons in the “real time data” mean - any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Sean

[calum]

Does the SoC on the website match what is displayed on the front of your inverter?

In theory the SoC shouldn't be able to drop below 10%, but older versions of the firmware for the BMS and battery modules were not great at tracking SoC and you can end up in a situation where the system stops discharging the battery when it sees 10% SoC, but the indicated SoC continues to drop after that even though the battery is not providing any energy.

Given the cloudy weather in the UK over the last two days, depending on your usage, number of panels and size of battery, I can easily imagine a scenario where you've exhausted the battery and are drawing from the grid to bridge the gap between your solar gain and actual usage.

Can you post a screenshot of your dashboard and point out the bits that don't make sense?

Separately, worth looking in the menu system to see what versions of the firmware you have - post back on here. If they're downlevel, you'll want to ask your installer (or Fox UK, if the installer can't / won't help) to update you to the latest, which should improve the stability and performance of your system considerably.

[Jond]

I am just envious you can all see your data all the time. In summer I hardly get any information on my system. It’s always offline. Apparently my optimisers interfere with the system meaning when it’s sunny I get no data at all. Very annoying for making any decisions on what appliances to put on. According to provider there is nothing I can do, as the system can’t be hardwired and only operates via wifi. Anyone else have this problem?

[calum]

Apparently my optimisers interfere with the system meaning when it’s sunny I get no data at all

This smells like BS to me. I've got five Tigos in my system, it works fine. I wonder if your inverter is in a place where the Wifi signal for the dongle is weak or subject to interference, which could explain the poor data availability in your web portal. If you look at the wifi dongle, is the red light on it flashing slowly or quickly?

What model inverter is it? Assuming it has a RS485 port you can almost certainly use free, open source software like Home Assistant to log and analyse the data for your system, as well as control it locally.

Have a look at this for more details.