Hi there, I'm in the UK and considering moving on to the Octopus Agile tariff which would in theory allow us to use cheap electricity during off peak periods. The plan (in my head anyway!) Is that it would seem like a good idea to fully charge the solar battery that we have (LV5200) during the night when it's cheap, to use the electricity during the day as unless it's May- August the battery rarely fully charges during the day.
Question is what 240v charger should we buy? Neither of us have a clue about the challenges of doing this, but on the other hand we have a setup like this on our 'micro' camper van so am sure it would work on a house setup?
Many thanks!
Re: Mains charger for my LV5200?
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2023 1:50 pm
by calum
it would seem like a good idea to fully charge the solar battery that we have (LV5200) during the night when it's cheap, to use the electricity during the day
This is absolutely the right idea, however I don't think you need new hardware. Presumably you already have a hybrid inverter that handles the charging of the batteries from the panels, and also converts the solar and battery DC to AC for your house. This is the device that would take mains power and do the same thing in reverse, ie convert AC into DC for the purpose of charging your batteries.
Re: Mains charger for my LV5200?
Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2023 10:08 am
by philipr1955
If you have a Solis Inverter here is a YouTube clip that shows you how to set up a timed charge overnight when the price might be cheaper depending on your Tariff.
I am on an EDF Go Electric Tariff that is currently 8p per kWh between midnight and 5AM. So depending on the size of your battery you want to aim to get the battery to be just under fully charged over the whole 5 hour cheap period. With a Solis inverter as soon as the battery is fully charged it will start to use the battery in preference to the grid so if you charge at a fast rate and fully charge in say 2 hours you will then deplete the battery for 3 hours when you could be using the electricity at the cheap rate. I have my 5kWh Fox ESS LV5200 battery set to charge between midnight and 5AM at 12.5Amps (circa 700 watts per hour) depending on the temperature and start level of the battery charge it then gets to 85-100% charge in the cheap period and gets me through the morning till the panels start working. I will review this rate and reduce it further when we get to April and the solar panels produce more.