GivEnergy All-in-One and AC-Coupled Working Together

[@UK-Cycling]

Great video. Thanks. Best regards Martin

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thanks!

[@markpearce9951]

Blows my little mind when you do this stuff in videos. I’m able to get my head round the solar, inverter and battery but when you go into HA my mind goes! Need to do a lot of work to clue myself up.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Start small and build up to it - it's quite daunting I know that. Home Assistant in itself is quite a learning curve, let alone with GivTCP added on.

[@michals1108]

nice stuff! I'm also getting givenergy set, AIO , inverter and ev charger point next month in december along with heat pump (which i actually didnt planned at first but 7500 grant helped me to decide) , I'm only worry about battery capacity because heat pump will pull more energy that I planned. At the moment the only solution to add more battieries is buying another AIO which is expensive! Hopefully givenergy will add some new battery in the near future which can be added to existing AIO

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Good luck with that mega install! The GivEnergy AIO is unlikely to ever have expansion batteries, just additional AIO units connected in parallel. The EMS to manage that exists inside the gateway, it's just not turned on yet. GivEnergy told me a few weeks ago that this is one of their biggest priorities, but yes, it is still expensive to have multiple all-in-ones.

[@PaulLandregan]

Nice Video.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thank you! Couldn’t have made it without your help though, thanks!

[@gslongdistance]

I just watched this video again and thank you again! I was wondering over this: With the AC3 being load (house) side of the Gateway, what would happen if Home Assistant fails while you have the AC3 exporting more than what the house load consumes at that time? That would make the load reverse flow into the Gateway. I assume the Gateway's CT clamp is not bidirectional, so it would not detect that the house is feeding into the Gateway rather than pulling. Hope I make sense!

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yeah if Home Assistant failed this all goes belly-up! I've actually changed my approach now and instead of balancing I just set the AC3 to import off-peak and export at 350W continuously (my average baseload) using timed export outside of that. Works well, suits me but might not suit everyone. The AIO then just charges off-peak and runs in Eco mode the rest of the time.

[@gslongdistance]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech that makes sense… what does the AIO do if your base load actually drops below the AC3s set export of 350w? I suspect the excess may be pushed to the grid but the CTs would not register as the electricity flows in reverse on the house load CT then?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

The CTs all measure everything perfectly, there's no problem there. If the AC3 is outputting more than the baseload then it goes into the AIO if there's room, or it gets exported. Same scenario when I'm generating solar and the AIO is full, it just goes straight out to the grid. Seems a bit of a waste but it's only for a few hours a day in the summer and overall I'm not losing anything. If there was a bit gap between off-peak and export then it wouldn't be worthwhile, but for most people off peak is either a smaller cost or equal to export

[@gslongdistance]

Interesting video. I would never have thought that an AC inverter with battery should be placed load side of the AIO Gateway, but you explained it well. A simple question that probably is far less technical: I am thinking of adding a 2nd solar PV array and string inverter for a west facing roof (seperate to the existing PV array and Solax string inverter that already is using both its MPPT inputs). Would the 2nd string inverter's AC output simply be wired in parallel to the first inverter to the PV AC input on to the Gateway?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

The short answer is yes, you would join the two solar inverters on an external CU, and then connect that CU to the PV MCB in the gateway provided the PV power doesn't exceed the rating of the MCB. But... this is based on what I've been told, you should consult a qualified electrician!

[@gslongdistance]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech Thats very useful! Thank you. Of course the qualified Sparky will have to do it.

[@McOw123]

Here’s a thought from someone who does not have your smarts…can a mere mortal instead have used the 9.5 battery as DC-coupled (via the hybrid inverter), and leave the AIO as the sole AC-coupled battery? Not as optimal a setup as yours, I admit, but you still get the advantages of the combined battery power?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yes but you would still need to balance them using something like my automation in Home Assistant.

[@mjb504]

I'm struggling to get the AIO to respond in the way expected by the scripts. Do you have 0S EPS enabled, I'm wondering if it's this. The AIO won't stop providing power to the house for the Hybrid (rather than AC3) to pick up the load, so even if discharge is off/0Watts on AIO, it still powers..

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I do have the fast EPS option enabled yes. There are so many ways the system could be wired up and I don’t have any experience with the hybrid so it might be best if you asked the question in the GivTCP Facebook group

[@turingtrading5301]

Hi, just checking configuration on my AIO installation as do not agree with import/export and home consumption values in givenergy and think the issue is location of the CT clamps. I note the gateway has three connections for CT clamps CT load. CT AC and CT PV. On your installation do you know how many CT clamps you have and where they are located?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

The gateway came with three CT clamps pre-installed: (1) on the solar PV breaker; (2) on the grid in; (3) on the load out to the home. I haven't moved these, they should be left where they are.

[@turingtrading5301]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech Thanks for feedback. These are connected to the 3 CT connections under the meter connections in the Gateway. My gateway has load connected but not PV CT or AC CT so guess this is my issue with data collection.

[@paulmackinder7045]

Hello, Just been watching your video re running your all in one with another inverter/battery. Very impressed. I have two all in ones mounted in our utility room. One of the aio units was faulty and am awaiting a replacement. Just wondering if your system might work for my two aio ? ATB Paul

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yes and no… the blueprint would need tweaking because it calculates the house load based on subtracting the AC3’s output, whereas with two AIOs they are in parallel and therefore you just need one of them to report it. Also, you would have to adjust the power values where it specifies 3000W to actually match 6000W, and rework some of the logic that is designed to prevent balancing and pausing the AIO if the home demand is more than the 3kW the AC3 can manage. Lots of tweaks needed but in theory the majority of the logic would work.

[@Dreador.]

So I had an idea of something like this but a different approach - I have a AIO and prior to that a Anker 4kwh power station - My thought was would it be viable to instead of doing it like, instead present the DC output of Anker to AIO as solar input and use automation to begin feeding in when AIO < 60%?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

There is no DC input on the AIO or gateway

[@geoffreycoan]

Interesting. I wonder if this automation with a bit of extension would work for other GivEnergy “plant” system combinations such as multiple AC3’s or multiple Hybrids? It’s probably not for me as I’m running predbat to manage my battery activities now with Octopus Agile in the winter and having two things trying to control the charge & discharge settings isn’t going to work. But interesting nevertheless. One comment, you set the givtcp polling rate to 10 seconds. This may be too high; I’ve heard that some people get data missing in the portal as their inverters are spending all the time talking to givtcp. I have mine set to 30 seconds to avoid this issue

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It could be adapted, a lot of work though for someone! And yes, polling rate is 10 seconds so as it can react as quickly as possible. I don't use the portal data at all personally, just Home Assistant. Also, the data in the portal is inaccurate in this configuration anyway.

[@shaunwhiteley3544]

What limit do you have on your DNO? If been told that AC batteries and solar are classed as generators, so they are added together for the DNO.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

5kW for export so there is a grid limit on the inverters. Annoying for the upcoming saving sessions which will pay for export cuz I'd love to be able to dump at 9kW, but I might break something upstream.

[@GlennPierce]

Hi. Do you know if GivEnergy hydrid inverters are tied to GivEnergy branded batteries ? I notice they have a communication cable but i can't find info on any protocols in use here.I don't have experience with hydrid systems or batteries so maybe they are all tied ? Anyone know ?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I’ve heard that someone on a forum got a third party battery working but you can’t see any battery data at all. So I’d say no, you stick with GivEnergy batteries or go for a more open inverter like a Victron

[@HoneyLodge1]

Hello, I have a question..... we have a solar array linked to givenergy 9.5 & 8.2 kw batteries, ac coupled with a manual override eps and octopus ev tariff. If we have a power cut (happens often) is it possible to charge one battery from solar whilst running partial load from the other and then switching over once the charging one is full etc? We are aware of max load to run and min power to leave in discharging batteries and the normal issue with grid feedback in power outages but if we are isolated completely from the grid with the manual eps switch this would not happen would it.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Not with regular AC-coupled batteries, no. Something like the GivEnergy AIO with the gateway would be able to keep your solar inverter running and allow the batteries to charge, but a normal EPS doesn't allow that. Hybrids can charge from solar during a power cut too.

[@HoneyLodge1]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech how do you mean hybrid?

[@HoneyLodge1]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech Can you advise of a way we can get around not being able to use the solar power?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

You mentioned you had AC coupled inverters. Hybrid inverters run both solar and batteries at the same time, one inverter for both, so they can charge the batteries direct from their own panels because it’s all internal.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

There is no way around that during a power cut unless you have a gateway to isolate you from the grid, or a hybrid inverter that has the panels and batteries connected directly.