FoxESS Community - Owners & Installers Forum

Posted: **Fri Aug 11, 2023 5:14 am**

Secure boot can be turned off on this laptop - there's a switch for that, in the BIOS that can be accessed, so I assume it will work.

I see it is possible to install HAOS direct onto a 64-bit X86 machine: https://www.home-assistant.io/installat ... ic-x86-64/. So I could swap the 128GB SSD into the laptop, and give that a go. I don't know the Balena Etcher app for creating the bootable SD card/USB stick, but I could give it a go too.

However, that, will definitely need an Ethernet connection into the loft. So, maybe I still want to install HA in a VM under an OS that will support the Wi-Fi adapter. It is said that it's possible with Linux, but maybe I need to create a recovery SD/USB first, and install Windows on the new drive. Also, I still have a couple of XP licences somewhere. Could be an issue getting Wi-Fi with that, but might be possible and with a smaller footprint on the drive than Windows 10.

There certainly seem to be plenty of options.

Musing about EPS : I assume the big problems in the normal set of loads are the electric showers, which use more than the 5kW output of the inverter and any combination. But the showers are on their own CUs already, so, maybe, all I need is an additional feed to the main CU and leave them connected as they are. The rest shouldn't come to 5kW, even with it all on, except, perhaps, the oven. And a separate CU for that, maybe with the washing machine and tumble drier, wouldn't be too hard to fit. Assuming the battery is fairly well charged, at 16.6 kWh, it should last quite a while if I can avoid using the dishwasher till the grid is back. The only problem would then be a power-cut late in the evening when the battery is low, maybe as low as 20 percent. In which case, the battery could drain fairly quickly. Does the system shut-down safely when it gets to Min SoC?

Graham

Posted: **Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:07 am**

graham wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 5:14 am The only problem would then be a power-cut late in the evening when the battery is low, maybe as low as 20 percent. In which case, the battery could drain fairly quickly. Does the system shut-down safely when it gets to Min SoC?

Graham

There’s a topic on here dedicated to the various EPS options, some people have installed automatic changeover switches, that connect a dedicated c/u when the power fails, it’s also possible to have the EPS output enabled all the time and have that feed a dedicated c/u much like a UPS.

I’ve kept mine simple, if the power fails I want to decide if I am going to switch over (in case it’s a short outage), I have a manual changeover feeding a c/u with one ring, lights and the gas c.h. and a separate switch that allows me to run on a generator albeit at a maximum 2kw.

One thing to note is the recommendation to fit a ground rod - if your main supply is lost because the feed is severed then depending on your earthing type you will have lost your earth, an earth rod is relatively simple install and ensures you are earthed right at the property - if you have some spare time have a read through the EPS topic.

On the minSoC, you have the normal minsoc (at which point the batteries will cut), and minsoc on grid - they are normally set the same but if you want to keep some reserve in case of power failure then the minsoc on grid is set higher to give you that amount of reserve.

If the inverter is running on grid when minsoc is reached, it stops using the battery and will occasionally cycle the charger on/off to maintain the batteries at that level, if it is running on EPS then it will shutdown and enter standby when it hits minsoc, as soon as grid voltage returns it will come back on line after a couple of minutes (this start up time is configurable).

Posted: **Fri Aug 11, 2023 11:55 am**

Also, I still have a couple of XP licences somewhere.

Don't use XP, it's not at all secure to be connected to the modern internet. Windows 10 is the minimum you should think about if you plan to go this route. Otherwise you're just giving yourself a malware problem on your home network.

You can try creating an Ubuntu Linux desktop live USB stick. Boot your old laptop from that, if it can see and use the WiFi connection then it's very likely that HAOS will be able to as well, although you will have to configure it from the command line.

As with any server, HA expects a hardwired connection, but it is possible to make it work over WiFi; all the usual caveats about the relative reliability and performance or wired Vs wireless network connections very much apply!

Does the laptop have an ethernet port? Even if you're not planning to run a cable up to the loft it would make it easier to connect the laptop for initial configuration.

Bear in mind that HAOS doesn't have an installer as such, you write an image onto the bootable drive with Etcher or similar, and then you just boot from that drive and configure things either via the web or command line. Have a read of https://www.home-assistant.io/installat ... ic-x86-64/ to get an idea of how it would work.

Posted: **Mon Feb 26, 2024 12:12 pm**

As being fairly new to this, I am finding some terminalogy confusing, and there are disaprities between the Foxx ESS FaQs, and this particular forum comments. Soif I explain what I think to be true, please correct me if I am wrong:

On the app (version 2) quick settings there are two parameters of interest showing (I think tere was just one until recently), which are defined as follows:
System Min SOC:
The battery will stop discharging in off grid mode when this soc is reached, it should be set lower than the battery reserve soc
Battery Reserve Capacity:
The battery will stop discharging in grid-connected mode when this soc is reached

So my understanding is of this is that:
Grid - refers to the National grid, and not the term sometimes used for the solar array
If when there is not a power cut,and the load is such that the battery discharges.The battery will be used until the 'Syetem Min SOC' is reached (I have seen it go 2% below this recently)
If when 'System Min SOC' is reached, if there were to be a power cut, then the Inverter would allow the battery to discharge further until the 'Battery Reserve Capacity' is reached
The difference between the two settings is for situations where a user has an 'Emergency Power Supply (EPS)'
I assume, if you do not have an EPS supply set up, then there is no point in having any difference between the two parameters (as the system would be expected to protect the battery from the situation of a power cut, and the lowest SOC allowed is reached)

From the Foxx ESS FaQs, the following is staed:
20. Which SoC should be set ?
Answer: We recommend setting a minimum SOC of 10 %. We recommend setting a minimum SoC (on grid) of 15% (in any case, the gap between these two values should be 5%

36. What is the best way to set the SoC ( State of Charge ) for the batteries ?
Answer: We recommend setting the minimum SoC to 10 % and the minimum SoC (grid- connected) to 15 %. You can set the maximum SoC to 100 %.

From further above in this forum subject content is stated the following:
On the minSoC, you have the normal minsoc (at which point the batteries will cut), and minsoc on grid - they are normally set the same but if you want to keep some reserve in case of power failure then the minsoc on grid is set higher to give you that amount of reserve.

Hence I am a little confused, is FaQ answer not written with enough explanation?

When my system was installed, the settings were 20% for both SoC minimums
The electrician said he did not advise setting below, but i think that was from previous times before recent firmware updates

I do not have a emegency power supply setup, so I don't need any charge saved for that...
Does that mean I can set both SoCs for 10% to gain the maximum benefit from my battery system without impacting battery health (unlike it states in the official FAQs)?
Should I perhaps set the SoC's a little higher in the winter months when 100% charge is not being reached, to help prolong battery life?

Would someone who actually knows what the current situation is (with the latest firmware updates)

Many thanks
Malcolm

Posted: **Mon Feb 26, 2024 5:05 pm**

Malcolm_(User) wrote: ↑Mon Feb 26, 2024 12:12 pm As being fairly new to this, I am finding some terminalogy confusing, and there are disaprities between the Foxx ESS FaQs, and this particular forum comments. Soif I explain what I think to be true, please correct me if I am wrong:

On the app (version 2) quick settings there are two parameters of interest showing (I think tere was just one until recently), which are defined as follows:
System Min SOC:
The battery will stop discharging in off grid mode when this soc is reached, it should be set lower than the battery reserve soc
Battery Reserve Capacity:
The battery will stop discharging in grid-connected mode when this soc is reached

So my understanding is of this is that:
Grid - refers to the National grid, and not the term sometimes used for the solar array -
YES CORRECT
If when there is not a power cut,and the load is such that the battery discharges.The battery will be used until the 'Syetem Min SOC' is reached (I have seen it go 2% below this recently)
If when 'System Min SOC' is reached, if there were to be a power cut, then the Inverter would allow the battery to discharge further until the 'Battery Reserve Capacity' is reached -
YES CORRECT, System MinSoc used to be known as MinSoC On Grid, and Battery Reserve Capacity was simply called minSoC which is the lowest the battery pack can go to - the name change I think is unhelpful.
The difference between the two settings is for situations where a user has an 'Emergency Power Supply (EPS)'
I assume, if you do not have an EPS supply set up, then there is no point in having any difference between the two parameters (as the system would be expected to protect the battery from the situation of a power cut, and the lowest SOC allowed is reached) -
YES CORRECT, Set them the same
From the Foxx ESS FaQs, the following is staed:
20. Which SoC should be set ?
Answer: We recommend setting a minimum SOC of 10 %. We recommend setting a minimum SoC (on grid) of 15% (in any case, the gap between these two values should be 5%

36. What is the best way to set the SoC ( State of Charge ) for the batteries ?
Answer: We recommend setting the minimum SoC to 10 % and the minimum SoC (grid- connected) to 15 %. You can set the maximum SoC to 100 %.

From further above in this forum subject content is stated the following:
On the minSoC, you have the normal minsoc (at which point the batteries will cut), and minsoc on grid - they are normally set the same but if you want to keep some reserve in case of power failure then the minsoc on grid is set higher to give you that amount of reserve.

Hence I am a little confused, is FaQ answer not written with enough explanation?

When my system was installed, the settings were 20% for both SoC minimums
The electrician said he did not advise setting below, but i think that was from previous times before recent firmware updates

I do not have a emegency power supply setup, so I don't need any charge saved for that...
Does that mean I can set both SoCs for 10% to gain the maximum benefit from my battery system without impacting battery health (unlike it states in the official FAQs)?
Should I perhaps set the SoC's a little higher in the winter months when 100% charge is not being reached, to help prolong battery life?

Foxess are trying to cover so many different use cases, countries and climates with their explanations, the simplest is if you do not have EPS for power failure then they should be set the same and should both be set to 10%. Any higher than this and you are not getting the best from the batteries.
The only time I would recommend it being set higher is if the batteries are likely to be exposed to prolonged extreme low temperatures (less than 0C) - at which point I would recommend the minSoC to be set to 20% . If the temperature drops below 0C then the batteries will not be allowed to charge but as they still have some internal resistance they will gradually lose charge, this saves them from dropping too low and damaging them.

Would someone who actually knows what the current situation is (with the latest firmware updates)
- sorry not sure I understand the question correctly, if you can tell me which inverter and which batteries you have I can look up the latest firmware versions for you.

Many thanks
Malcolm

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:11 pm**

Dave

Many thanks for your informative reply
Apologies for my delayed response. I thought I had managed to set to get an email if there was activity on this thread... but obviously failed miserably

You have answered my main questions...
My battery system is located outside the garage, but as I live in Cornwall, the times the temperature drops below 0 degs is few and far between. However I take on your comment about if the battery temperature

My comment on firmware was because you had mentioned somewhere that the latest firmware allows you safely to reduce the SoC minimus to 10% (aside from the temp issue)
my system uses an H1-6.0-E Inverter which is showing as:
Versions: Master 1.60, Slave 1.02, ARM 1.63
The battery system is: ECS2900-2
Version showing 1.011

It was only installed and I believe updated 18/1/2024. So i would guess the system firmware is up to date

The above info is from the Version 2 Foxess app

As an aside, I have started to download the logs from the app, but find some of the data somewhat odd.. for instance PV1, and Pv2 power seemingly similar, despite one facing East and one facing West! , and the AmpINV temp being about 31 (I assume C degs, not F). When I have properly had a look, I might post a different thread to see if anybody else sees the same odd things

Anyhow
Many thanks for your continued support
Malcolm

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:55 pm**

Malcolm_(User) wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:11 pm
My comment on firmware was because you had mentioned somewhere that the latest firmware allows you safely to reduce the SoC minimus to 10% (aside from the temp issue)
my system uses an H1-6.0-E Inverter which is showing as:
Versions: Master 1.60, Slave 1.02, ARM 1.63
The battery system is: ECS2900-2
Version showing 1.011

It was only installed and I believe updated 18/1/2024. So i would guess the system firmware is up to date

The above info is from the Version 2 Foxess app

As an aside, I have started to download the logs from the app, but find some of the data somewhat odd.. for instance PV1, and Pv2 power seemingly similar, despite one facing East and one facing West! , and the AmpINV temp being about 31 (I assume C degs, not F). When I have properly had a look, I might post a different thread to see if anybody else sees the same odd things

Anyhow
Many thanks for your continued support
Malcolm

Sadly the email notification isn't working so you have to check back in from time to time.

On your firmware you are close to the latest, but there has been one major feature released that you won't be able to use unless you upgrade - and that is the scheduler, this lets you automate tasks like, set your work mode to self use in the morning (to charge your batteries), and switch to feed-in first later on - but the most important feature it provides is force discharge. This is really useful when/if there are 'saver sessions' where you get paid to not use power and very good rates for export.
You will need to be on Manager (ARM) 1.70 for that - but there is another minor update coming soon that fixes some issues, so it might be worth waiting a month and then asking your installer (or email Foxess support) to upgrade you to the latest.

When it's cloudy the sun gets diffused so often a east & west facing array will look the same - when it's really sunny you will see a big difference as the day progresses.

Yes please post any other questions you have, i'm sure there will be lots, nothing is quite what it seems - but yes it is 31C and Amb Temp is actually the inner temperature of your inverter near the CPU and so will always be a lot higher. There is another inverter temp which relates to the cooling fins, that will increase if you charge your batteries or it's a sunny day and you have a lot of solar generation.

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:45 pm**

Do you happen to know what versions are needed on the KH series for the forced discharge @Dave Foster ?

I'm on:
Master 1.16
Slave 1.01
Manager 1.11

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:53 pm**

Dave

Thanks again for some really useful info

Where online can I check for appropriate firmware updates and what they provide. I have looked at the main website, but can't see anywhere obvious it would be
The app 2 I don't think shows potential firmware updates
Like you say, it will be worth waiting, but rather than poking and hoping or guessing when an appropriate upgrade occurs, it would be useful to be able to see if a particular upgrade would be worthwhile

I see there are some forum entries... in fact I have just seen your note as follows: "unfortunately they don’t currently provide release notes, although they have agreed to do that in future"

That would be so useful

Many thanks for the log info as well... I will get my head around the parameters and add a post when I think I know what I am asking

Cheers
Malcolm

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:03 pm**

leonb wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:45 pm Do you happen to know what versions are needed on the KH series for the forced discharge @Dave Foster ?

I'm on:
Master 1.16
Slave 1.01
Manager 1.11

Yes it's Master 1.27 and Manager 1.19

it provides force discharge and works fine, there have been some issues with home assistant users over modbus *but*, i'm told there is a new release coming this March which corrects this.

Posted: **Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:06 pm**

Malcolm_(User) wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:53 pm I see there are some forum entries... in fact I have just seen your note as follows: "unfortunately they don’t currently provide release notes, although they have agreed to do that in future"

That would be so useful

Many thanks for the log info as well... I will get my head around the parameters and add a post when I think I know what I am asking

Cheers
Malcolm

FoxESS don't provide release notes, but we have been lobbying them hard to do that - which they have agreed to, but as yet no date has been given.

Probably the easiest thing to do is put a post up with your inverter type and batteries and someone can look up the latest - they are often minor releases so I tend to follow the advice 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', but as you say knowing some new features has been released is important.

Posted: **Fri Apr 05, 2024 12:48 pm**

Do you know if the firmware has been updated since Dave?

I have an Elfin ready to plug in and would be good to not have to upgrade the firmware twice to be able to get the forced discharge working via modbus.

Thanks.

Dave Foster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:03 pm
leonb wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:45 pm Do you happen to know what versions are needed on the KH series for the forced discharge @Dave Foster ?

I'm on:
Master 1.16
Slave 1.01
Manager 1.11
Yes it's Master 1.27 and Manager 1.19

it provides force discharge and works fine, there have been some issues with home assistant users over modbus *but*, i'm told there is a new release coming this March which corrects this.

Posted: **Fri Apr 05, 2024 1:04 pm**

leonb wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 12:48 pm Do you know if the firmware has been updated since Dave?

I have an Elfin ready to plug in and would be good to not have to upgrade the firmware twice to be able to get the forced discharge working via modbus.

Thanks.

Dave Foster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:03 pm Yes it's Master 1.27 and Manager 1.19

it provides force discharge and works fine, there have been some issues with home assistant users over modbus *but*, i'm told there is a new release coming this March which corrects this.

There have been a few releases since, (and I get the feeling there may be a few more over the next month or two), the latest release is -

Master 1.29 and Manager 1.21

The current modbus doesn't get access to the cloud version of the schedules but it does introduce 2 work modes 'Force Discharge' and 'Force Charge', and from recent work I have been doing to help another user, it is much more reliable than the cloud version.

Posted: **Wed May 08, 2024 7:38 am**

Dave Foster wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 1:04 pm
leonb wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 12:48 pm Do you know if the firmware has been updated since Dave?

I have an Elfin ready to plug in and would be good to not have to upgrade the firmware twice to be able to get the forced discharge working via modbus.

Thanks.

Dave Foster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:03 pm Yes it's Master 1.27 and Manager 1.19

it provides force discharge and works fine, there have been some issues with home assistant users over modbus *but*, i'm told there is a new release coming this March which corrects this.

There have been a few releases since, (and I get the feeling there may be a few more over the next month or two), the latest release is -

Master 1.29 and Manager 1.21

The current modbus doesn't get access to the cloud version of the schedules but it does introduce 2 work modes 'Force Discharge' and 'Force Charge', and from recent work I have been doing to help another user, it is much more reliable than the cloud version.

Can you tell me with Modbus addresses i need to work with to do the trick with 'Force Discharge' and 'Force Charge'.
I have a Inverter model Kuara 8.0-3-H
Master 1.95 and Manager 1.77

Posted: **Wed May 08, 2024 8:49 am**

EM_FoxESS wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2024 7:38 am
Can you tell me with Modbus addresses i need to work with to do the trick with 'Force Discharge' and 'Force Charge'.
I have a Inverter model Kuara 8.0-3-H
Master 1.95 and Manager 1.77

Have a read of this thread, it should help you with this https://github.com/nathanmarlor/foxess ... ssions/513

FoxESS Community - Owners & Installers Forum

About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries

Re: About charging and discharging batteries