tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
Possibly ask them to give you control of your system - I don't know. Bug them day and night is all I can say.
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SolarEdge (SE) tech support sucks, beware. (long thread)
- Thread starter Yachtsman
- Start date
Join the club. My installer didn’t even leave my system in max self consumption. It took another 3 months to get tech support to help out.
SE are possibly the only manufacturer that doesn’t allow the end user to set their own profiles, at present anyway.
Myself and others have been told by SE support that a new app is on its way (early 2023, now passed) which will allow self setting, to what extent there’s no hint.
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
Salt River Project is the energy supplier. Can you describe what "octopus go" is? I'm not sure what you mean by "tariff name".
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
I'm also thinking that in 10 yrs time, the solar edge battery will be obsolete, so I'm not that concerned about the warranty. I'd like my EV to be able to serve as a battery for the solar as I'm at home 5 days out of 7. I've heard that Tesla solar support is just as bad. The industry is growing too fast for service to keep up.
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
I think this is a better battery profile
Midnight to 5 am (low rates) "PV Only"
5 am to 9 am (high rates) "Discharge to minimize import"
9 am to 5 pm (medium rates) "Charge from PV"
5 pm to 9 pm (high rates) "Discharge to minimize import"
9 pm to midnight (low rates) PV Only
Maximizing self consumption sees the battery charging off the grid just so it can spend it later, where as I'd prefer it to charge off solar.
I only get 2.8 cents per kWh independent of when I give it back.
high rates are ~10.5 cents medium rates are 8.5 cents. Low rates are 6.5 cents (USD cents)
Octopus is the power supplier in UK. It has multiple tarifs/rates available, tailored to different usage patterns and one of their tarif is called "Octopus Go" which is tailored for EV users (there is another other is Intelligent Octopus).
in general Octopus tarif /rate is like this:
Peak rate - Between 4:30 to 0:30 - for 18 hrs period, your whole household power price is (at the moment) 0.4 GBP per kwh.
Off-peak rate - between 0:30 to 4:30 - for the 4 hour period, your whole household power price is 0.1 GBP per kwh
so you charge your car and batteries (if needed) during off-peak rate and you live off your batteries/Solar for the rest of time when power is 4 time more expensive
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
Thanks - that helps a lot. I'm also on an EV power plan. I didn't mention it, but there are super low rates from 11 pm to 5 am every day. I try to charge my car from the excess solar during the day. That way it costs me 0.028 USD per kWh vs the super low rate of 0.065 USD. The electric hot water heater is on a timer, so I have that turn on for an hour between 4 am and 5 am to make sure the hot water tank is full of hot water to start the day. Beginning in June, the water from the cold tap is warm enough that we don't use much hot water here in Phoenix Az. That lasts until about October. I'm really curious how the summer months will play out. I've only had my system since Jan 1. This has been the cloudiest and coolest Jan Feb Mar since moving here in 1988.
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
This profile just started today and it appears to be working. In the evening, I was getting decent solar production until 6:30 or so, and then the battery kicked in to provide the energy needed without pulling from the grid. There are some crossover points where an oven heating element will briefly turn on and the battery responds a little late so I draw a little from the grid. But overall this profile seems to be working for me.
By 9 am, my solar is producing 3 kW and the battery will begin to charge off solar. The battery gets first priority on solar and draws about 1 kW. So as long as I don't use 2 kW in the house, I won't draw from the grid. For the winter months when the sun comes up later, I may have to add a section where the battery does nothing from 9 am to 11 am, and only at 11 am begins to draw from the solar array.
Of course neither the installer nor SE had any such recommendations, so you have to figure it out for yourself.
petit_bateau
Active Member
See my various comments re SolarEdge in this thread, the link should take you to my latest comment which is relevant to you
Powerwall versus Givenergy batteries
Thank you!
Very interesting to hear that you have the ability to select 2 different modes of use in the app.
My issue is the installer has been very poor - I’ve got 2 solaredge batteries and 2 invertors. However they didn’t install a data link between the invertors so one of the batteries is a dead lump of metal that’s not commissioned yet. If the installer can’t get that sorted, I don’t have faith in them pushing back to SE for me to get access the app
petit_bateau
Active Member
Where in Devon are you. My installer is near Bridport.Thank you!
Very interesting to hear that you have the ability to select 2 different modes of use in the app.
My issue is the installer has been very poor - I’ve got 2 solaredge batteries and 2 invertors. However they didn’t install a data link between the invertors so one of the batteries is a dead lump of metal that’s not commissioned yet. If the installer can’t get that sorted, I don’t have faith in them pushing back to SE for me to get access the app
Just south of Dartmoor.
Installer is Sungift Solar. They were previously good to deal with but in the last 12 months seem to be struggling with a high workload and high turnover of staff. The person quoting the job made a number of technical errors resulting in time and materials not being adequately allocated to the job. The company is so squeezed with work they then haven’t got spare capacity to come back and complete the work in a timely fashion. I suspect this is an industry wide issue at the moment.
petit_bateau
Active Member
I think the same SolarEdge tech rep covers your area and mine.
If you private message me with your name, address, email, and phone number (and succinct problem description) I could then pass it on to the SolarEdge rep. He in turn could then figure out how to give the most appropriate support into Sungift so that you get resolved.
How does that sound ?
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
When the installers are put on hold for 2 hours and have to twiddle their thumbs until someone answers, you know it's bad.
The last time my installer was out and was going to have to call solar edge, I suggested to him to call them now to get in the queue so that the wait wouldn't be too bad when he really needed them. He said, Oh, good idea!
The last time my installer was out and was going to have to call solar edge, I suggested to him to call them now to get in the queue so that the wait wouldn't be too bad when he really needed them. He said, Oh, good idea!
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
I avoid using "maximize self consumption" as I don't know exactly what it does. I had it once before the battery crapped out and it was doing strange things like importing from the grid only then to export it again.
I only use these settings:
PV only (pretend there is no battery there)
Charge from PV (do this when you have some excess PV as it will take 100% of your solar and charge the battery, while importing from the grid any home usage you need)
Discharge to minimize import (use during the periods were the rates are high)
The battery will soak up to 5 kW when charging and then decrease when it gets to 98, 99, or 100% to finish the job.
If you have 50% battery left when you begin to charge, it'll take about an hour to 90 mins to fill back up if you have 3 kW to 5 kW getting pumped into the battery. I wish I could set the max limit, but don't see a setting for that.
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