Constant grid power consumption

Post DSP and HMI firmware. I had this problem with DSP version 25. It was constantly pulling power no matter what.

Do you see your meter moving by the corresponding amount @irishchris ? (or if on smart meter, can you download usage data from supplier)

I'm also on a Solis 6kw 5G hybrid, with 3A0029. And 5kwh battery.

Heres how mine looks:

Reading the data from Bord Gais, given in 30 min intervals, I'm importing an average of 30w through the day and night, totalling some 0.75 kwh imported per 24 day. These are on days/nights where generation exceeded use, battery carried through the night with some to spare (no charging) , and usage didn't peak over what inverter/battery could supply. Daytime fluctuates up and down, but still seems to average about the same.

I notice on the Daily Production thread that someone is getting through 7 days with only 1 daytime unit... This wouldn't happen for me, even if house was idle and generating 35kwh a day...

I'd set the Eddi Export Margin to 50W and the Response Delay to 2s a couple of weeks back, when originally started looking at this (but haven't done much looking since). Its still like that now. (and don't have a Zappi)

Looking at yesterday and today, see the MyEnergi stats, and then below see the bord gais meter readings for some of the same period

Chris, is yours similar levels?

I'm not sure its Eddi related as its all night, while Eddi is "waiting", and the margin is set. But, to be fully sure I'll disconnect the Harvi CT clamp and turn off the Eddi MCB from 6pm this evening, and see the meter readings tomorrow morning...

I'll chuck a theory into the proverbial hat, that it's the battery balancing.

Might be an interesting experiment to disconnect the battery for an hour or two and see if it goes away. (I assume you have an isolator for the battery?) If it does go away, well there's your culprit, and if it doesn't well you ruled out another variable.

Mine is twice as bad as yours a night @irishchris 😱

@reklamos , for mine I've nothing connected into Backup; I haven't even connected a cable into the backup plug on the inverter yet. But have not disabled the backup output in the inverter.

Other thing I'm wondering about is the position of the meter CT clamp. It is clamping the CU input, but its a tight space and has other cables kinda touching it. Maybe skewing ever so slightly? And its extended from the attic vis Cat5/6, where a twisted pair is used for each clamp terminal (e.g. 2 oranges for one side, 2 blues for another) To avoid interference over the run, maybe be better with one from each pair per side?

The harvi is clamped before the meter (between meter and main fuse)

Anyway, harvi/eddi disconnect test tonight, and perhaps some others the next night.

I've checked my bordgais measurements. I see it fluctuating in region 0.005 to 0.007 during night time and this is perfetly normal since usage is never static and inverter is constantly trying to balance out. 0.007kWh is just 7W. If you look at inverter you can see that grid value keeps going up and down even during day time when there is plenty of sun and battery is charged. I would be woried if the usage was getting closer to 0.1kWh

Yea, same here @irishchris , its closer to 1kwh per day for me (depending on my usage), and its constant 30w at night when house load is low/pretty constant. Am more interested to understand than concern about the cost. I appreciate that when appliances are coming on and off the inverter is playing catchup, and there will be import (and slight excessive export) at times of load change. But its the constant 30w export that doesn't add up.

FYI, I've made 3 changes today, so can check on those in the morning with new BG download:

1. Disabled backup in inverter settings
2. Remove harvi clamp and turn off Eddi MCB (will do that in an hour)
3. Pushed the meter CT clamp to the side a little. It was up against another live cable, so maybe some interference (not basing this one on anything other than guess/hope)

Failing these, the only other test I can think of is to move the meter CT clamp

Pretty sure that won't make a difference I have mine turned off for a while and it still shows activity daily:

I just checked and that day, the 24th, the battery lasted until 2am (which is very rare), exactly when it was 0 for.

I mentioned it previously, but have you considered isolating the battery from the inverter for a night? (Just to rule it out)

My thoughts are that the BMS is doing some kind of balancing in these periods. It would seem "odd" to be fair, but the whole thing seems odd if you ask me.

If I removed the battery, then it would be importing full load for for the full night (whereas its importing 30w continuously now) Or do you mean just disconnect for a while to see if the battery "resets itself"?

Correct - just trying to rule out some variables. You could even disconnect it for 1-2 hrs, or some period of time which you could clearly see if it's making (or not making) a difference. If you isolate the battery out of the equation and you see that the power drain goes away, then you've at narrowed down the field and you can discount CT clamps a fault etc and you know it's "something" to do with the battery. If the drain doesn't go away, then you know it's not the BMS doing some balancing etc

Is it likely? Dunno. But it's cheap/easy to do, so I'd give it a lash :-)

Thanks. Will try this one of the nights

I've had a fair bit of issues with this and posted in the troubleshooting thread. I also have a Solis 6kW.

What I was finding is that it was importing constantly once the generation stopped and would also export. Solis made some "attempts" to sort it but it was basically putting on another firmware and hoping for the best. I spoke to one senior guy there and he had a custom firmware and was able to adjust the import/export bias. Mine is now running on about 50W import apparently but still it jumps around a few hundred watts import and export. Ultimately there's only so much they can do and it's never going to be perfect.

From what I've seen this is happening when the load is below 200W which mine mostly is late in the evening and during the night then it's all over the place. I'm not really sure what else can be done to sort it out.

See this example below, look at the early morning midnight to around 7am. Also 9pm to midnight.

Definitely not seeing 45.

So the day meter read 8 units at the start of August and currently reads 33.

The shelly reported 14kwh day used for September and 13kwh for August which is almost correct.

If I start to see 45kwh per month I won't be happy.

Quite annoyed they updated the FW without checking with me, it seems like that's their default move if anyone complains about anything, all he had to do is push an update to the charge/discharge rates

Not yet, I need to test it with the car but it's full at the moment.

What's your base load out of interest?

I ask as I've been looking at mine recently and noticed that once the demand from the battery drops below 4A then it goes a bit wild with importing & exporting.

I notice similarities with mine overnight. It's almost like there's a high pass filter where readings below a certain value are ignored. Like yours power is provided from the battery only when its above that threshold, or if there's generation with excess (battery full, or charge level ramped down).

I'm trying to gather more data on it at the moment actually. What I did was to set the inverter to pull from the grid last night from 12 to 6am to gather the actual base load (or as close to). Then tonight I'll let it run as "normal" and in a day or two I'll get the smart meter data and see the actual import. As you say, myenergi is closer than Solis but the meter is the gospel at the end of the day.

So yesterday my installer changed the meter (the one sitting in the consumer unit), and voila. In the screengrab below you can see the difference before and after is ridiculous.

Now I can eventually drain my 4.8kWh Dyness completely:)