Octopus -Missing Export data for 13th May!

[Stinsy]

Slight hijack, as I'm looking for an Octopus export thread.

Stupid question warning - For normal Octopus export at 15p, are there time constraints? For some reason I simply assumed you'd have to export between 5.30am and 11.30pm, but I can't find anything to confirm or not.

My 'weird' issue, is that to charge the BEV's on cheap rate, I also have to charge my home batts (even if they are nearly full), to prevent the leccy coming from them. I have charge and discharge options, but I don't have 'don't charge' or 'don't discharge' options.

Now it's sunny from the early hours, I can't discharge enough from the batts after 5.30am (if they are full), to prevent generation clipping. Clipping happens when the batts are full, and generation exceeds 3.68kW which is my DNO limit on the inverter. At this point in time, generation is reaching 2.5kW by 7.30am, and around that 3.68kW figure by about 8.30am. So I can't empty enough out of the batts in time, and they fill fast when generating 5kW to 6kW, even with 3.68kW export.

If that doesn't make sense, imagine my generation going from zero at 5.30am to 3.68kW at 8.30am. So I can only discharge for 3hrs, but it's not at 3.68kW for all of it, only at the start, and dropping to zero discharge by 8.30am when all of the 3.68kW is coming from PV, not the batts.

Talk about 'first world problems'.

My LuxPower inverter has a "charge priority" setting that doesn't discharge the batteries.

I charge the car only when I'm exporting, which is 18hrs a day this time of year!

[MrPablo]

Does your inverter use a CT clamp? Could you relocate it so that it can't see the load from the car charger?

[Mart]

Thanks for the ideas.

Solaredge doesn't give me too many tricks, but I'll re-read the functions in case I've missed one.

What I have noticed, and has also caught me out if I don't keep it discharging all day on a sunny day, is that it seems to be capping export, as well as AC production. Basically, I've noticed that it will output 3.68kW quite happily, till the west system starts to rise in power around midday. And then it seems to limit output so that it doesn't exceed 3.68kW leaving the house.

That may also seem silly, but if the battery is nearly full, whilst the ESE + SSW is still generating 4kW+, it's slightly frustrating to see it ramp down output because the WNW system is now pushing out 1-1.5kW. Probably a good time to charge up a small powerstation or HW tank in the future, to prevent clipping.

Just to be clear, if I seem like an ungrateful prat, the system is simply working better than I expected, and the ESE/SSW is generating a higher peak, and for far longer than I'd expected. This is all good/great news, I'm just pondering ways to get sprinkles on top of the cheery that's already on top of the cream.

[Mart]

Oh, and even more fun, the battery if not full in the later afternoon, will then steal any AC side excess from the WNW system. That too sounds great, but as I don't need it, and I'm on FiT's, then the battery losses actually result in a net loss after going two ways through the bi-directional TGM. I'd rather it was exported and earning me 15p's.

That means, ideally, that I want the batts as full as possible, before night-time BEV charging, so they don't take too much from the grid.

Just give me 5mins to overthink this.

[Moxi]

Mart cant you just turn the charge rate down to 0.1Amp or some such and let the battery charge at that rate while the car charges and the house runs on the cheap rate ?

Thats all I do with the Octopus vanilla and my Solis inverter when I want the car to charge (that said recently in the good weather the car was charged up full most days just using the type 1 charger!

Moxi

[Mart]

Hi Moxi and thanks. But no, I don't have any access like that to the inverter, just the basic management tools on the app to set charge and discharge times. I'm thinking of e-mailing Solaredge and asking if they'll trust customers with some extra tools/functions (assuming they exist). What I'd really like is to be able to set 'don't charge' and 'don't discharge' times. I assume those aren't particularly complex functions to add to their app?

[Mart]

My 'weird' issue, is that to charge the BEV's on cheap rate, I also have to charge my home batts (even if they are nearly full), to prevent the leccy coming from them. I have charge and discharge options, but I don't have 'don't charge' or 'don't discharge' options.

Well colour me purple and call me Shirley!

Last night I noticed something new on the Solaredge app. On the manual control option for batteries, as well as being able to add discharge cycles, and charge cycles, you can now add 'pause' cycles. These do exactly what I was looking for, as the battery won't discharge, or charge during the periods set.

I know this option is new, but I'm not sure how long I've had it, possibly before I asked about export payment times on here (Doh!). Google seems to suggest mentions in late 2024, and possibly it being added sometime after Apr this year.

Wish I'd known / noticed it sooner. That'll do nicely.