I have accumulated some free electricity hours with Octopus and tried to use a couple of them today without success. I could find no way on the Fox app to make them use imported electricity. My battery was at 100% already and the solar was generating 2kwh+ but I obviously did not want the appliances to use the solar generated or the battery power. Can anyone advise on what the setting should be in the app?
There’s not much you can do, the system will always power house load from solar or battery in self use - if you have home assistant you’ve got some finer control but still the inverter will always use solar to cover house load first.
The best option is to make sure that your batteries are not full (say at 50%), make sure you do not charge them too high the night before and then set the workmode to ‘Feedin’ first in the morning so that any spare solar doesn’t charge them in the day, set a force charge during the ‘free hour’ that way your batteries will be charged and any house loads will be taken from grid.
You will still consume the solar for the house load / battery charge but everything above will be taken from grid.
The best option is to make sure that your batteries are not full (say at 50%), make sure you do not charge them too high the night before and then set the workmode to ‘Feedin’ first in the morning so that any spare solar doesn’t charge them in the day, set a force charge during the ‘free hour’ that way your batteries will be charged and any house loads will be taken from grid.
You will still consume the solar for the house load / battery charge but everything above will be taken from grid.
You might want to take a look at this video from Will https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhohbmt0U_w some of the menu choices might look a little different compared to when it was created due to App and Firmware revisions.
As Dave has said, you need to set your system into 'Feed-in' work mode to not charge up your battery.
Then you should set a 'Force Discharge' up, for 1-x hrs long before your free power. How long to setup discharge for depends on your export rate/amount of PV/battery capacity. You can have it stop when the battery SoC reaches 20% if you are unsure.
So if you selected 11:00am as your free session, you might have to create a discharge schedule at 9:00am to 10:59
If you see this marked red choice here, make sure that it is set to 'Feed-in' and not 'Self-use' as the latter would begin charging again.
As Dave has said, you need to set your system into 'Feed-in' work mode to not charge up your battery.
Then you should set a 'Force Discharge' up, for 1-x hrs long before your free power. How long to setup discharge for depends on your export rate/amount of PV/battery capacity. You can have it stop when the battery SoC reaches 20% if you are unsure.
So if you selected 11:00am as your free session, you might have to create a discharge schedule at 9:00am to 10:59
If you see this marked red choice here, make sure that it is set to 'Feed-in' and not 'Self-use' as the latter would begin charging again.
Thanks for the comments. It sounds like free import can only be used reliably to charge an undercharged battery. If the sun is shining during the free electricity period appliances will still be powered by solar so no point in changing behaviour to try and take advantage of the free offer.
You have to 'push' to make your house load above your PV generation. So that as you say, needs an empty/near empty battery.
You also need to line things up to do at the same time as the free power, to increase your house load... Oven/washing machine/tumbler/dishwasher/immersion heater etc.
You also need to line things up to do at the same time as the free power, to increase your house load... Oven/washing machine/tumbler/dishwasher/immersion heater etc.
Yes I had appliances lined up but battery was near full and sun was shining so all that happened was appliances used PV and nothing taken from the grid. I tried all settings but no option to pause PV or battery use which surprised me.
You didn't have enough power hungry devices lined up for that hour, and having a full battery was a mistake you will sort for next weekend.
You can also turn off the PV input via isolators if you want to stop PV input, as long as you remember to turn back on again. Check around the side/bottom of your inverter (and check manual) to locate the PV isolator, you might also have a chunky rotary switch on your wall marked 'PV Isolator' if installers done a nice job.
You can also turn off the PV input via isolators if you want to stop PV input, as long as you remember to turn back on again. Check around the side/bottom of your inverter (and check manual) to locate the PV isolator, you might also have a chunky rotary switch on your wall marked 'PV Isolator' if installers done a nice job.
PV isolator sounds the sort of thing needed although a shame it’s a manual switch and not an options through the app. Will take a look. Thanks
There is a toggle switch on the App to turn off PV during charge/discharge... but from my own testing, it doesn't seem to work. Cannot beat a physical switch for 100% success!
I hope you have some spare hours to try again this coming Sunday, best of luck to you.
As far as I can tell my system does not have an isolator between the panels and the invertor. There is a big yellow/red isolator but presume that shuts if the whole connection to the house so not sure what would happen re import if that was done. See pic - the cable(s) on the right are the ones coming from the panels.
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Look directly above you red/yellow switch, on the inverter itself there seems to be your DC isolator (black)