Stop battery discharging using mode scheduler

[Bob&I]

Hello
Can anyone help with the best way to use the mode scheduler to stop the battery discharging? I’ve been doing this with ‘charge from grid disabled’ under the old ‘force time charge’ but want to start doing this with the scheduler without having to charge the battery. Any help much appreciated.

Our set up:
Fox ESS H1-5.0 inverter
Fox ESS ECS4800-H3 (13.98 kWh total) battery
4.25 kW PV array
8kW Air source heat pump

[Dave Foster]

If the H1 supports 'backup' mode you can change the work mode to that and it will do exactly as the 'charge from grid disabled does'

If you don't have the backup work mode, your options would be to set the minsoc on grid (battery reserve) just higher than it currently is at - if you set it much higher it will slow charge up to that and then pause.

Alternatively set a force discharge but set the discharge power to 100 watts, the inverter will hold battery charge and discharge and you will be running on grid only.

[Bob&I]

Thanks Dave. I've just tried it and looks like the inverter does support back up mode as discharge reduced in line with the schedule but I'll have to keep an eye on it to be sure.

Before posting I was pondering whether using force charge mode with max SOC at 10% (so same as min) would stop it charging and discharging but would it still charge to 100%?

I'm just starting out with mode scheduler as you'll have guessed.


Our set up:
Fox ESS H1-5.0 inverter
Fox ESS ECS4800-H3 (13.98 kWh total) battery
4.25 kW PV array
8kW Air source heat pump

[Dave Foster]

Before posting I was pondering whether using force charge mode with max SOC at 10% (so same as min) would stop it charging and discharging but would it still charge to 100%?

I'm just starting out with mode scheduler as you'll have guessed.
source heat pump

Haha you are doing very well if your only just starting out, it does some very strange things sometimes.

Interestingly setting a Force charge with maxsoc I don't think will work as i'm pretty sure that when you do that and it exceeds MaxSoC it just stops controlling the active power of inverter and so will start to discharge the batteries - it gets even more complicated when you have solar power in the mix as it disables solar generation when it exceeds MaxSoC (a very undesired effect).

[Bob&I]

Thanks again Dave. Does that mean that if I force charge the battery up to 100% over, say, a 3 hour period using the Mode Scheduler, and it reaches 100% within the first 2 hours, it will then discharge during the remaining hour of the period? If so that’s very different to what I’m used to with the old ‘force time charge’ system.

BTW my app version seems to be V2.1.41, is this up to date?


Our set up:
Fox ESS H1-5.0 inverter
Fox ESS ECS4800-H3 (13.98 kWh total) battery
4.25 kW PV array
8kW Air source heat pump

[Dave Foster]

Thanks again Dave. Does that mean that if I force charge the battery up to 100% over, say, a 3 hour period using the Mode Scheduler, and it reaches 100% within the first 2 hours, it will then discharge during the remaining hour of the period? If so that’s very different to what I’m used to with the old ‘force time charge’ system.

BTW my app version seems to be V2.1.41, is this up to date?


Our set up:
Fox ESS H1-5.0 inverter
Fox ESS ECS4800-H3 (13.98 kWh total) battery
4.25 kW PV array
8kW Air source heat pump

Sorry I think i'm confusing you with my answer it wasn't well written, this is the more complete answer (on current firmware levels) -

This is the mostly likely use case, i.e. charging at night from grid using force charge (no solar generation) when it reaches maxSoC the inverter will stop charging the batteries and return to idle and all house load will be covered from the grid, there will be a small drain on the batteries but only the amount required to keep the inverter/BMS/Batteries running ~ typically 40-50 watts.

This is the least likely use case , i.e. charging during the day using force charge (there is solar generation) when the inverter reaches maxSoC the inverter will stop charging the batteries and return to idle, but it will also cut solar generation and the house load will be covered from the grid, there will be a small drain on the batteries but only the amount required to keep the inverter/BMS/Batteries running ~ typically 40-50 watts. (This latter case is regarded as a bug and has been raised with Fox but as yet I have not been told it is fixed).

So you should be fine charging as you have been using the scheduler and force charge at night during low tariff.

Your app is one version out latest is V2.1.42 (but it changes regularly )

[darrenpage4@btinternet.com]

Hi i’m newish to the forum and i can’t work out how to make a new post but this is similar to my problem.
i watched a youtube video on how to set up forced discharge and forced charged, i set it up as directed but i get an error saying make sure times don’t overlap

i can’t even work out how to post a picture on here copy paste doesn’t work on my phone

[Dave Foster]

Hi i’m newish to the forum and i can’t work out how to make a new post but this is similar to my problem.
i watched a youtube video on how to set up forced discharge and forced charged, i set it up as directed but i get an error saying make sure times don’t overlap

i can’t even work out how to post a picture on here copy paste doesn’t work on my phone

You have to use the ‘Attachments’ tab and click ‘Add files’ it will give you the option to load a file or photo from your camera / albums.

It’s sometimes easier to describe what you are trying to achieve as there are often different ways to achieve it, some simpler than others - but just to confirm you are meaning using the scheduler function to set force discharge / charge times.

The times you enter there start as HH:MM:00 and end as HH:MM:59 so for example you wanted to set 2 periods force charge at 00:30 to 01:30 and then force discharge to start at 01:30 and run to 2:30, you would need set

Force Charge
00:30 start (which will start at 00:30:00)
01:29 end (which will end at 01:29:59)

Force Discharge
01:30 start (which will start at 01:30:00)
02:29 end (which will end at 02:29:59)

I.e. If your end time of the period is the same as the start of the next period they will overlap.

[darrenpage4@btinternet.com]

thank you for your quick reply this is a screenshot

[Dave Foster]

thank you for your quick reply this is a screenshot IMG_4067.png

I can tell you what it’s doing, but you’ll have to say if that’s what you intended to do

First time slot from 05:00:00 to 07:00:59

Force Charge, minsoc 10% (not used for force charge but has to be set), maxsoc 40%, FDSoc 10%, FDPwr 0 (both have to be set but have no action on force charge).

So in this period the batteries will be charged to a maximum of 40% SoC and all house load will come from the grid

Second time slot from 00:02:00 to 06:00:59, minsoc 10%, maxsoc 10%, fdSoc 10%, FDPwr 0

If the first time slot wasn’t set this would neither charge or discharge the battery and all house power would be drawn from the grid. But it cannot be set as the time 06:00 is overlapping with the first time slot it would have to end at 04:59 to be set.

Third time slot from 22:00:00 to 23:59:59

Force Discharge, minsoc 10%, maxsoc 99%, FDSoc 10%, FDPwr 6000w

This will discharge the batteries to grid until they reach FDSoC (10%) at the inverters full power - the maxsoc setting is not used in this mode but has to be set.

[darrenpage4@btinternet.com]

Hi, the first time slot was turned off as in the picture, but the battery did not charge at all, i take this is because it was set to end at 06:00?
also is there a way of deleting the first setting as in the picture?

[Dave Foster]

The only slot that would charge the battery is the first one, and it wouldn’t turn on because you can’t have an overlap with another time slot (it has an overlap with the second).

To delete a slot, swipe it left and choose delete

[darrenpage4@btinternet.com]

Thank you Dave for this information