Alpha ESS

[Mark11]

Hi.  Does anyone else have an Alpha ESS battery?

I've had a 9 month battle with my battery not obeying settings (ie importing and exporting outside designated times).

Latest: on Sat 29Aug26 I "caught it" importing 12.8kWh before 0800 with ~75% in my 40kWh capacity battery! I had to switch to 'self consumption' to stop it importing.  

Alpha delete any support jobs I have raised.  My installer has not been able to help. 

Any advice or help would be great as I'm at my wits end. 

[NeilC]

@Mark11 

Can't really help you, having a ALPHA ESS 26.6 kWh system installed on Thursday.

I have downloaded the app and been watching You Tube Videos in the meantime.

I would say by 08:00 that your system was generating some power so it switched you over to start using the grid and you were actually using the grid to charge your battery.

Something more for me to watch out for... thanks

[Lester]

Try a google search on this . . . Alpha ESS battery not obeying settings importing and exporting outside designated times

Some AI answers and relative pages came up, might be a conflict in settings as follows.

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1. Fix Conflicting Modes (The Most Common Cause)

The Alpha ESS app separates standard battery usage from grid-export schedules. If these conflict, the battery will ignore your designated times:

• Discharge Time vs. Feed-in: In the AlphaESS Cloud or mobile app, the Discharging Setting strictly routes battery power to your home load (household appliances), not the grid.

• Enable Grid Feed-In: If you want the battery to export directly to the grid (e.g., to cash in on high Feed-in Tariffs), you must actively toggle Feed-in Control or "Grid Feed-in" to ON. 

• Turn Off Empty Schedules: If you are not using a specific window, clear it entirely. Leaving active time slots set to "00:00 - 00:00" or leaving default discharge schedules on can lock the battery into an idle state or cause it to charge from the grid unnecessarily. 

2. Adjust State of Charge (SOC) Thresholds

Your State of Charge limits will override your scheduled times if they are met early: 

• For Charging: Check your Charging stops at SOC limit. If it is set too low (e.g., 80%), the battery will stop importing power as soon as it hits that number, even if your scheduled time slot is still active.

• For Discharging: Check your Discharging cut-off SOC. If you set this threshold too high (like 50%), the battery will stop powering your home or exporting to the grid the moment it drops to 50%, ignoring the remainder of your time window. Lower this to 10%–20% to allow full-window operation. 

3. Check for Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Control

Are you signed up for a VPP or a smart-tariff provider (such as Amber Electric or GloBird)? 

• Third-Party Overrides: Providers use automation platforms to automatically force-charge or force-export your system based on wholesale market prices. 

• The Fix: If a VPP is managing your battery, it will actively overwrite your local Alpha ESS app settings. You must either adjust your preferences inside your energy provider's app or opt out of their smart-automation feature to reclaim manual time-based control. 

cont . . .

[Lester]

cont . . .

4. Verify Server Time Sync and App Lag

Alpha ESS systems sometimes experience communication delays between local hardware and the cloud server: [1, 2]

• Sync Errors: If your inverter loses Wi-Fi connection or the Alpha ESS server experiences a brief outage, the internal clock may mismatch your real-world timezone, pushing operations outside your windows. [1, 2]

• Web Portal Trick: Many users note the mobile app can be buggy when saving schedules. Log out of the app, open a desktop browser, log into the Alpha ESS Web Portal, and re-input your time settings slowly, ensuring you hit Submit after each change.

5. Account for Minor Trickle Draw (Normal Behavior)

If you see tiny, continuous imports or exports (e.g., under 100–300 watts) outside your scheduled times, this is typically standard behavior rather than a settings malfunction:

• Grid Handshaking: The system constantly runs minor checks to verify it is grid-connected.

• Appliance Surges: When high-draw household appliances (like a fridge compressor or kettle) cycle on, the battery takes a few seconds to ramp up its output. The grid temporarily bridges this millisecond gap, resulting in small recorded "leakage" imports.

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You might also try same search  in youtube and check a few of those, might give you some things to try.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Alpha+ESS+battery+not+obeying+settings+importing+and+ex...

[Mark11]

Thanks.  I appreciate your googling.  But I've been through all those loops.  In fact the Alpha AI agent is quite helpful and suggested ways to correct, none of which worked. It could do everything except raise a work order for the programmers on the Alpha end to investigate and fix!   Handshake etc are all valid "excuses" for minor breaches, but these are massive (12kWh!!), consistent and unexplained.  I think it's time for Office of Business and Consumer Affairs as this is actually not fit for purpose and has cost me quite a bit of money ...and mental anguish!

[Lester]

No problems, sounds like you have looked at all options you can try.

Hopefully Alpha techs can work it out.

4 weeks today and my Sigenergy battery goes in, hopefully it will be smooth and the AI, TOU, self consumption modes will be reliable for what I want.

You expect the system to do what they say it will, and if there are issues you expect the battery maker or battery installer to help out.

Good luck.