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?
Any reason not to buy FoxESS?
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Dave Foster
- Posts: 1744
- Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2022 7:21 pm
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.
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.