topic Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense in Solar, Batteries & Electrification

Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 04:12:27 GMT

I have a VPP battery installed.

The following is an example of a reasonably regular occurrence:-

Solar power being produced:- 2758 watts

Battery state of charge:- 60%

House use - one TV, one computer, fridge

Power draw from grid:- 740 watts

Is there a reason for this grid draw?

Has anyone else noticed the same thing?

I wasn't going to report on this until the 11.6 (larger) battery is installed, but it is happening more & I am interested as to why. Maybe a software logarithim needs changing.

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

NathanB — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 04:03:05 GMT

Hey @Dave

If you could send a private message with some account details, we'll arrange for someone from the solar team to have a look at it for you. Thanks!

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

shueardm1 — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 06:55:17 GMT

I also notice grid draw at times when there is no need fo rit because battery has plenty of charge, I have also noticed a few times the battery seems to be DEAD and doing nothing. It has been a concern of mine but in the morning things were always back to normal.

However I am going to keep a good eye on usage during night times since the whole purpose of the battery is to not draw from the grid at night

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 03:30:11 GMT

Maybe there will be a difference when the 11.6 battery is installed.

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Bud — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 05:58:01 GMT

Dave, Have AGL fixed this issue to your satisfaction? Before I sign up, I would like to know if bugs are being adequately dealt with.

Bud

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 06:46:10 GMT

Hi Bud,

AGL have requested the serial number of my battery setup, which I have sent them today. Now that they have this I hope for a positive outcome.

The issue still exists and I noticed it happen again today when the battery was 45% charged and solar in was 2280 watts.

Overnight when the battery has good charge and no solar is being produced, I draw about 400 watts from the Grid. This is much better than it used to be and I was made aware that Sunverge was making changes at the time.

Overall I consider these as minor low cost issues as overall I am happy with my VPP. The 7.7 kWhr battery isn't big enough even for our small power use, so I am looking forward to the bigger battery being installed, although I don't know when this will happen yet. I was advised on 28th June that I would receive advices about this "very shortly", but I have yet to hear anything.

When my overnight grid draw was higher than now, I was promised recompence for the power cost I was incurring. When I asked for this to be done, I was refused any recompence. I still have the emails where I was advised this.

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Bryce — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 02:21:15 GMT

Hi Dave

Like yourself I have been concerned about amounts being drawn from the grid when I hadn't thought it necessary. I have been taking daily (initially hourly, when I was able to download these figures from the AGL web site) readings and have never been able to totally reconcile my usage and import figures. Unfortunately I have a rather high overnight draw due to an aquarium and other things and so the difference is not so great as to make a song and dance about it (although potentially could make a couple of extra years pay-back).

I do note however, that after your first complaint a while ago my battery began charging to (a little) greater than 90% and discharging to lower than the 22% it had been operating at.

I too am hoping the the larger battery will make a bit of a difference.

Keep up the good work.

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 01:09:16 GMT

Thanks Bryce,

This is what I use to monitor my grid monitor:- https://www.wattsclever.com.au/products/wireless-energy-monitor

How do you monitor yours?

Re Battery charging - mine now charges to 94% approx & discharges to 18%

Cheers,

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Bryce — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 23:19:35 GMT

Hi Dave

Clever piece of kit.

I've just been downloading the data from the Solar Command web site, converting that into hourly usage and comparing that to the hourly draw figures available on the AGL app. More detailed data had been available on the My AGL IQ site but disappeared when they changed to a new format (they are currntly in the process of setting up another new website so fingers crossed the data becomes available again).

It doesn't provide me with real time data but does enable a pretty detailed comparison between usage/production and draw from grid.

Cheers

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 02:45:16 GMT

Thanks Bryce,

With the measuring monitors I have, I don't think I need to pay for solar command. The only reading I have that can be about half an hour behind is the battery state of charge.

Interesting readings 11am approx today:-

Battery charge 62%

Solar being produced 2498 watts

Grid draw 110 watts.

No household appliances on at all including fridge not cycling.

I haven't heard anything from AGL yet.

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Bryce — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 02:55:20 GMT

G'day Dave

Interesting readings indeed.

By the way, you don't have to pay for Solar Command - it's just their web site where all your readings are displayed - usage, production, battery charge etc. You're probably already using it. It just so happens that you can download the detailed data and import them into a spreadsheet. From there you can perform a more detailed analysis.

Cheers

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 05:06:15 GMT

More strange readings today at 12.20pm:-

Solar being produced 3630 watts

Battery state of charge 64%

No heavy use items being used

Draw from grid 1360 watts

No advices from AGL yet

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Rob — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 12:38:06 GMT

Hi Dave,

I too have been thinking of getting that WattsClever device. My understanding is I would need two of them if I wanted to monitor both import *and* export to the grid. (my meter has 2 LEDs)

I was a little surprised I would even need these though as I would have thought the VPP would be clever enough to provide this information. It turns out it could be. Schneider Electric (the manufacturer that Sunverge use) already has a device that would give you realtime eneryflow. Its called the Conext ComBox. Its not cheap but it does provide just about eveything you would want to track. Grid, battery, load draw in actual realtime. There is an Android app for it too.

https://solar.schneider-electric.com/product/conext-combox/

Now, whether AGL would allow for it to be installed, or install it for you if you did buy one is another matter alltogether.

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Bryce — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 23:00:08 GMT

Hi Rob

Have you been able to reconcile your usage and draw data? Or are you experiencing some issues as well.

It would be good to have a few more postings on this board to see whether or not we are just isolated examples.

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 01:51:25 GMT

Howdy Rob,

I will be interested if you are able to advise of any similar anomalies that I have outlined.

Re Watts Clever monitor:- Whilst my smart meter has two leds, only one of them can activate the monitor. The relevant led pulses to red when importing from the grid is happening. This is what the watts clever reads. My smart meter doesn't have an led that activates when power is being exported.

The only thing I can't monitor successfully is power exported to the grid. I use this monitor, but unfortunately it doesn't distinguish between power from or going to the grid:-

https://reductionrevolution.com.au/products/efergy-elite-classic-wireless-energy-monitor?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn9eG2aqo1QIVVwUqCh1U8QDREAQYASABEgII-_D_BwE

Of course I could go outside & view the smart meter to observe if power is being exported but that would be onerous.

The Efergy monitor tells me when the battery is full as the reading suddenly jumps up close to the level of solar production. If I could buy a simple monitor that showed the power direction (in or out), I would buy it immediately.

The other monitor I have came as an extra with my SMA Inverter. It tells me what my panels are producing.

My 3 monitors all sit together inside the house and make it very easy to see exactly what is happening.

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

szern — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 06:45:28 GMT

You could try something like Solar Analytics. It comes with a 6 CT (Current Transformer) version.

I'm using this now to monitor my consumption (incoming 3-phase power) and generation (inverter). This will use 4 CTs (if you only have 1 inverter). You can then use another clamp on the battery (since it's AC coupled).

Waiting for my VPP battery (will be a long wait since I haven't even gotten the inspection yet).

Hope this helps...

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 01:46:02 GMT

Thanks Szern. On the dashboard page from the website it appears the solar analytics monitor only provides "net electricity bought and sold". The only info I would like to see inside the house is when and how much power is being exported to the grid. My existing monitors tell me everything else I need to know.

Cheers,

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Rob — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 01:38:50 GMT

@Dave @Bryce

I only have AGL IQ to assess my draw from the grid which is why the WattsClever device interests me. When I'm generating more solar than the house load, I do not see any large draw from the grid. Import from the grid seems to correlate *pretty* closely to whether solar has the load covered or not.

For how long does the realtime monitor show it spiking for? Because IQ on the web is in 1 hour increments I'm not likely to see a spike if it is brief.
I can download the data from IQ in CSV format (30 min increments) but I'll have to brush up on my Excel skills to get that into something discernible!

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 06:42:47 GMT

Today (Sunday at 1pm) the following happened:-

Solar being produced:- 3337 watts

Battery fully charged at 94%

900 watts being drawn from grid

No household items being used.

I observed this for a few minutes before leaving the monitors.

Dave

Re: Grid draw doesn't make sense

Dave — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 03:52:21 GMT

Today (Monday at 12 noon), I observed the following for 20 minutes, at which time grid draw was still happening at the end of that time.

Now & then grid draw dropped below 800 watts but was mostly showing a draw between 890 watts and 1540 watts.

A snapshot during this 20 minutes showed:-

Solar being produced:- 3721 watts

Battery state of charge:- 74%

Draw from grid:- 1,040 watts.

I have yet to hear anything about this from AGL.

Dave