GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

Adokforme
Posts: 625
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:09 pm

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#21

Post by Adokforme »

Yuff wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 3:31 pm The slave battery has just kicked into action, when I had charged the master up, no idea why
To be fair to GivEnergy they have been pretty good at support and I’ve had 15 months of pretty minimal issues.
Hoping to get a set up like 94JDH in the next couple of weeks.
2 inverters with two 9.5 kWh batteries on each inverter.
GivEnergy say it works but can have a few issues with one battery charging another but they have a new product in the pipeline to combat this called EMS.
Hi Yuff, glad to see you are getting sorted. :xx:
It would seem we have taken similar paths, in that I have two 3.3 kW AC inverters and four battery's, 3x 8.2's and a single 9.5 kW. I was pleased with how they performed over the two years but had a problem a month or so ago when an inverter went down. They came out to replace it in a week or so but still not functioning as they should. As you found they have been responsive via phone calls etc without solving the issue and just heard we've a visit booked for Wed of next week. I'm keeping fingers crossed it will all be sorted after that.
I was advised of the EMS unit during first install but understand they are now producing prototypes of these for testing. I've put my name down for one.
Thankfully I've had an Indra V2H unit installed and now running daytime domestic consumption from the Leaf so at least being covered with that.
Also hoping that Octopus now have us on their Outgoing tariff as well as IOG but can't seem to find where daily or monthly export figures might be found!
Yuff
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:18 pm
Location: East Midlands

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#22

Post by Yuff »

Adokforme wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 6:47 pm
Yuff wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 3:31 pm The slave battery has just kicked into action, when I had charged the master up, no idea why
To be fair to GivEnergy they have been pretty good at support and I’ve had 15 months of pretty minimal issues.
Hoping to get a set up like 94JDH in the next couple of weeks.
2 inverters with two 9.5 kWh batteries on each inverter.
GivEnergy say it works but can have a few issues with one battery charging another but they have a new product in the pipeline to combat this called EMS.
Hi Yuff, glad to see you are getting sorted. :xx:
It would seem we have taken similar paths, in that I have two 3.3 kW AC inverters and four battery's, 3x 8.2's and a single 9.5 kW. I was pleased with how they performed over the two years but had a problem a month or so ago when an inverter went down. They came out to replace it in a week or so but still not functioning as they should. As you found they have been responsive via phone calls etc without solving the issue and just heard we've a visit booked for Wed of next week. I'm keeping fingers crossed it will all be sorted after that.
I was advised of the EMS unit during first install but understand they are now producing prototypes of these for testing. I've put my name down for one.
Thankfully I've had an Indra V2H unit installed and now running daytime domestic consumption from the Leaf so at least being covered with that.
Also hoping that Octopus now have us on their Outgoing tariff as well as IOG but can't seem to find where daily or monthly export figures might be found!
Hi Adokforme

Impressive they replaced the faulty inverter within a week, shame it isn’t all working as it should just yet, but I’m sure they’ll get there in the end.
Support has been very good and several emails this week informing me they’ve checked everything and it’s all working as it should.
Will be chasing my installer to get the 2nd inverter and batteries fitted asap. Hopefully by the end of next week.
V2H ….very jealous that’s the game changer for most of us I think.
Export figures should be on the daily figures in the app, in between electric and gas…..


Image
Mitsubishi Ecodan
ASHP 8.5kW x 2
12 x 460w Solar panels
9.5kWh GivEnergy
Batteries x 2
EVs x 4 210 kWh Batteries
Ripple 5.8 kW PV 0.547 kW Whitelaw Brae
Adokforme
Posts: 625
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:09 pm

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#23

Post by Adokforme »

Hi Adokforme

Impressive they replaced the faulty inverter within a week, shame it isn’t all working as it should just yet, but I’m sure they’ll get there in the end.
Support has been very good and several emails this week informing me they’ve checked everything and it’s all working as it should.
Will be chasing my installer to get the 2nd inverter and batteries fitted asap. Hopefully by the end of next week.
V2H ….very jealous that’s the game changer for most of us I think.
Export figures should be on the daily figures in the app, in between electric and gas…..
Thanks Yuff, Had a search on the app but nothing showing as yet. It spurred me to phone Octopus, the guy was very helpful and checked that they had got all the info required to follow thro, it should be implemented in the next few days. He suggested I call back in a week if it hadn't materialised by then.

Yes, well pleased with the Indra unit and system although TP, PLC links supplied are a pain, the engineer has requested permission to hard wire to router.
It's strange as TP's for the PV system have worked seamlessly for 18 months or so on the same circuit!
I had applied to go on three other trials previously without success so pleased to get there eventually as that was one of the reasons we chose a Leaf in 2018. I suspect we may be a tad over the top in terms of storage capacity but I do like to be on the safe side if poss and not sure if you can ever have too much!
Good luck with the install date on the second inverter as 36 kWh's of storage will be some asset and I can only imagine it to cover most eventualities.
AE-NMidlands
Posts: 2073
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:10 pm

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#24

Post by AE-NMidlands »

My system is working quite nicely, but the inverter does seem to have a mind of its own, occasionally deciding to do things I definitely haven't told it to do... Like discharging to the grid yesterday morning once the pv started to come in (instead of recharging the battery. I couldn't see why it was doing it and had to reset the inverter to its factory default settings to stop it.
Screenshot 2024-03-04 at 08-41-29 FA2308G264 - General givenergy.cloud.png
Screenshot 2024-03-04 at 08-41-29 FA2308G264 - General givenergy.cloud.png (49.04 KiB) Viewed 2184 times
Now I see that it shows a spike of consumption/import at 0520 last night
Screenshot 2024-03-04 at 08-27-53 FA2308G264 - General givenergy.cloud.png
Screenshot 2024-03-04 at 08-27-53 FA2308G264 - General givenergy.cloud.png (54.83 KiB) Viewed 2184 times
1.3kW is quite a blip, and I can't imagine what it is - is it actually real?
Also still no DNO export approval, no response from Octopus to my questions on why, but I have got onto Flux - but only because I was changing my gas tariff and the chap was happy to do the electricity one there and then. Why have the "Onboarding team" ignored my requests to change it until now? I did point out to them tha tif Octopus want people to help the grid by moving their consumption then they need to put us on a TOU tariff as soon as we get a battery, otherwise we just lose money in round trip losses...
2.0 kW/4.62 MWh pa in Ripples, 4.5 kWp W-facing pv, 9.5 kWh batt
30 solar thermal tubes, 2MWh pa in Stockport, plus Congleton and Kinlochbervie Hydros,
Most travel by bike, walking or bus/train. Veg, fruit - and Bees!
Yuff
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:18 pm
Location: East Midlands

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#25

Post by Yuff »

Sometimes what the inverter says and the actual readings, at octopus, differ.
The octopus app will show what really happened in the half hour slot.
It does seem to take a while to get on to OO :facepalm:
Mitsubishi Ecodan
ASHP 8.5kW x 2
12 x 460w Solar panels
9.5kWh GivEnergy
Batteries x 2
EVs x 4 210 kWh Batteries
Ripple 5.8 kW PV 0.547 kW Whitelaw Brae
AE-NMidlands
Posts: 2073
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:10 pm

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#26

Post by AE-NMidlands »

Yuff wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2024 9:31 am Sometimes what the inverter says and the actual readings, at octopus, differ.
The octopus app will show what really happened in the half hour slot.
It does seem to take a while to get on to OO :facepalm:
I was forgetting that I am seeing what GivEnergy think has happened, rather than what Octopus will be billing. It will be interesting to look at today's meter readings when they become avaialble.
I was concerned to read upthread that someone's export was hung up because whoever applied for it made a mistake... maybe mine is in limbo for the same reason, I'll have to chase it up (again.)
2.0 kW/4.62 MWh pa in Ripples, 4.5 kWp W-facing pv, 9.5 kWh batt
30 solar thermal tubes, 2MWh pa in Stockport, plus Congleton and Kinlochbervie Hydros,
Most travel by bike, walking or bus/train. Veg, fruit - and Bees!
Yuff
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:18 pm
Location: East Midlands

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#27

Post by Yuff »

AE-NMidlands wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2024 10:30 am
Yuff wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2024 9:31 am Sometimes what the inverter says and the actual readings, at octopus, differ.
The octopus app will show what really happened in the half hour slot.
It does seem to take a while to get on to OO :facepalm:
I was forgetting that I am seeing what GivEnergy think has happened, rather than what Octopus will be billing. It will be interesting to look at today's meter readings when they become avaialble.
I was concerned to read upthread that someone's export was hung up because whoever applied for it made a mistake... maybe mine is in limbo for the same reason, I'll have to chase it up (again.)
It might have been me, I chased for weeks and then they had to sort it out manually.
I get spikes on the GivEnergy app all the time but they are there for a split second and it doesn’t make any difference on your bills.
Mitsubishi Ecodan
ASHP 8.5kW x 2
12 x 460w Solar panels
9.5kWh GivEnergy
Batteries x 2
EVs x 4 210 kWh Batteries
Ripple 5.8 kW PV 0.547 kW Whitelaw Brae
AE-NMidlands
Posts: 2073
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:10 pm

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#28

Post by AE-NMidlands »

a month or two further in, and I'm (quite) enjoying juggling Flux import, solar charging of the battery and evening export, but the app./ website controls have (politely) been described as "clunky!"
The most annoying thing is that when you set it to export, the control says "This mode will hold your battery power and discharge it at full power during a period you define" - and it does, not allowing the house to access the power before or afterwards, so that you go straight to grid import. This is only resolved by going into the inverter control and switching off the timed export until you want to do it again a day or maybe two later if it hasn't been very sunny. Sometimes even then you don't seem to be able to stop that import without pushing the "Reset to factory default settings" button! The delay while your attempted reset (via their cloud/website and then back to your inverter) takes effect is very frustrating as you can't see whether you have actually achieved your intention - or whether you have stopped exporting at 6.30pm but are importing at peak rate instead!

They also don't separate the "export down to x% battery" from the "feed my house [afterwards] down to 4% battery!" So currently you have to set the export for "start at 4pm, export at n kW down to x% SOC" but then watch out for it getting there, turn off the export instruction and reset the (separate) battery minimum to allow it to feed the house again. Ditto setting the export power: you can't set the inverter to export at say 2.5 kW without it refusing to allow the house to use more afterwards unless you go back and change it back up to 3.6 kW again!

I am considering another program/website https://www.wonderwatt.com/service-dashboard/ which supposedly gets round this by taking over that constant manual setting and resetting. They major on using Agile Octopus to minimise import costs, but I think that their original product was intended to allow you to set it up in one go to say:

1) Export 3.6 kW from 1600 down to 30% SOC
2) stop at that (even if it is before 1900) then reset the battery minimum back to 4% and feed the house
and then (This is the one bit of Givenergy controls which does work)
3) at 2 am charge from the grid up to (e.g.35)% SOC.

I noticed that the Wonderwatt website says the product is for Growatt too, so maybe that kit has similar issues?
A
2.0 kW/4.62 MWh pa in Ripples, 4.5 kWp W-facing pv, 9.5 kWh batt
30 solar thermal tubes, 2MWh pa in Stockport, plus Congleton and Kinlochbervie Hydros,
Most travel by bike, walking or bus/train. Veg, fruit - and Bees!
Adokforme
Posts: 625
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:09 pm

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#29

Post by Adokforme »

AE-NMidlands wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2024 12:07 pm a month or two further in, and I'm (quite) enjoying juggling Flux import, solar charging of the battery and evening export, but the app./ website controls have (politely) been described as "clunky!"
The most annoying thing is that when you set it to export, the control says "This mode will hold your battery power and discharge it at full power during a period you define" - and it does, not allowing the house to access the power before or afterwards, so that you go straight to grid import. This is only resolved by going into the inverter control and switching off the timed export until you want to do it again a day or maybe two later if it hasn't been very sunny. Sometimes even then you don't seem to be able to stop that import without pushing the "Reset to factory default settings" button! The delay while your attempted reset (via their cloud/website and then back to your inverter) takes effect is very frustrating as you can't see whether you have actually achieved your intention - or whether you have stopped exporting at 6.30pm but are importing at peak rate instead!

They also don't separate the "export down to x% battery" from the "feed my house [afterwards] down to 4% battery!" So currently you have to set the export for "start at 4pm, export at n kW down to x% SOC" but then watch out for it getting there, turn off the export instruction and reset the (separate) battery minimum to allow it to feed the house again. Ditto setting the export power: you can't set the inverter to export at say 2.5 kW without it refusing to allow the house to use more afterwards unless you go back and change it back up to 3.6 kW again!

I am considering another program/website https://www.wonderwatt.com/service-dashboard/ which supposedly gets round this by taking over that constant manual setting and resetting. They major on using Agile Octopus to minimise import costs, but I think that their original product was intended to allow you to set it up in one go to say:

1) Export 3.6 kW from 1600 down to 30% SOC
2) stop at that (even if it is before 1900) then reset the battery minimum back to 4% and feed the house
and then (This is the one bit of Givenergy controls which does work)
3) at 2 am charge from the grid up to (e.g.35)% SOC.

I noticed that the Wonderwatt website says the product is for Growatt too, so maybe that kit has similar issues?
A
It's been a while since any of us has posted on here so hoping the past issues experienced by all have been resolved, ie connection to Octopus Outgoing along with apparent Givenegy concerns?
Since that time I've had an EMS installed which oversees the two Giv AC Inverters, keeping the batteries balanced and removing the previous spikes often seen on graphs. So good news on that front.
Due to their different schedules menus, Givenergy and V2H, then with the former being flexible in their timings for each whereas Indra's V2H has a selection of fixed timed schedules it took me a while to find a selection which would work successfully without the two systems swapping energy. I've since also been advised of a modification to placement of CT's involving an additional Henley block to resolve the energy swapping matter to be completed in the next week or two.
Subsequent to all this I hadn't been content with the amount of daytime energy that was not being captured so leading to much heavier consumption, approx three times that prior to EMS fitment. Making checks against the time it took for system to recognise when 3kW kettle was activated there were times when it didn't appear to be recognised or only two thirds of consumption had been taken over by the batteries.
Ensuring this wasn't being interfered with by V2H I made it inactive until the matter was resolved. I emailed Giv with my findings, they responded the next day advising that I'd apparently changed one of the settings back in May which they had now corrected!
All seemed fine the following day until 9pm when IHD began showing increasing consumption figures culminating in me putting kettle on for late cuppa with circa 900 W's escaping to consumption meter until boiling occurred. Checked on Status of battery's and with them being at circa 25% SOC reduced setting from 20% down to 10% as there was still an hour and half to go before charging would take over.
Advised Giv of above the following morning before going out, upon returning home late afternoon a reply had arrived to say that a default setting of 30% SOH had been left in place after commissioning, so me altering settings lower than 30% were not having the desired effect. Apparently my units preceeded the time when commissioning automatically reset the default figure down to 4%.
All appeared to be working fine with no unexpected consumption showing on IHD the following day. Checking on Octopus half hour figures for this period, the total for day time rate consumption, 05.30 to 23.30 came to a much improved, reduced that is 0.59 kWh's.
To check further, then consumption for the following day amounted to 0.45 kWh's so looks like our heavier daytime consumption episode may finally be resolved.
Can't wait now for Henley block mod to be carried out hopefully resulting in far less interaction/monitoring by self.
With these darker days and increasing daytime consumption I've reduced the Export hours slot down to one third of that set for summer months suspecting that most of you had already cottoned on to the need for this some weeks ago!
AE-NMidlands
Posts: 2073
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:10 pm

Re: GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

#30

Post by AE-NMidlands »

I have noticed a new bit on "My Inverter" settings, a Winter Battery Conditioning option:
Winter Battery Conditioning mode will cause your Inverter to charge / discharge batteries for 10 minutes when their temperature reaches 2°C in order to warm up and prevent cell damage. WARNING: enabling this setting will result in energy usage and therefore a costed charge, potentially during peak rate periods. This setting will supersede any existing charge & discharge slots that have been configured in your Inverter settings.
I'm glad mine isn't in an unheated loft (but it is in an unheated porch!) Now I have to think about the temperatures in there and whether to enable it... I guess our daytime useage of power will warm it up for the evening peak anyway.
I wonder where the discharge goes?
2.0 kW/4.62 MWh pa in Ripples, 4.5 kWp W-facing pv, 9.5 kWh batt
30 solar thermal tubes, 2MWh pa in Stockport, plus Congleton and Kinlochbervie Hydros,
Most travel by bike, walking or bus/train. Veg, fruit - and Bees!
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