Discussion
Well after lots of messing around we now have our system installed (16 panel system (6.2 KWH) with 10 optimisers, 12.8 KW storage (4 batteries) although currently only 9.6 as one of the batteries immediately developed a fault and was taken away hopefully be replaced soon, Solis 5 KW Inverter.
Anyway I have a couple of questions, my first question is with regards to the Solis cloud app and the generation and consumption figures. Since 1st October the figures can be summarised as follows:-
Date Generation/ Self Use/ To Battery/ Exported............Consumption/ Self Use/ From Battery/ Imported........Notes
1/10 ..... 4.2...............3.2............0...................1..............................5.2.............3.2..................0................2.................no battery
2/10 .....14.0..............11..............0 .................3..............................15..............11......................0................4.................no battery
3/10......11.8..............9.8.............0..................2..............................11.8............9.8....................0................2.................no battery
4/10.......3.1...............1.1..............2..................0...............................3.1..............1.1.....................0................2.................battery/very gloomy
5/10.......5...................3..............2.................0...............................8................3.......................2................3
6/10.....23...............10...............11..................2..............................20...............10.....................9.................1.................very sunny
(apologies for the shocking table layout)
My question is why is my 'consumption' and more specifically 'self use' seemingly related to the solar panel generation? Prior to fitting the panels (the electrics were fitted before the panels) my consumption varied between 4 to 8 KWh per day with an average of 5.7 over 10 days. Since the panels were fitted my consumption has varied between 3.1 on 4/10 (very gloomy) to 20KWh on 6/10 when it was very sunny all day, with the self use varying from 1.1 to 10 on the same days. Is this due to the inverter? Is it that inefficient? I appreciate that it is charging the battery, especially yesterday, but on 2nd and 3rd for example, with the batteries disconnected due to the fault my self use increased dramatically. Or is the app just not very accurate?
My electricity meter reading during the same period went from 22316 to 22404 suggesting usage of 88KWh when the above figure seem to show that I only imported 14 KWh (and exported 8). It did also show credit mode increasing from £60 to £80 however. I haven't yet signed up for the input tariff so just a little concerned that, according to the meter, I seem to be using a lot more electricity than I actually am now that the panels are working.
p.s. apologies if I am missing something or not understanding it correctly, I'm very much a newbie to this!
Anyway I have a couple of questions, my first question is with regards to the Solis cloud app and the generation and consumption figures. Since 1st October the figures can be summarised as follows:-
Date Generation/ Self Use/ To Battery/ Exported............Consumption/ Self Use/ From Battery/ Imported........Notes
1/10 ..... 4.2...............3.2............0...................1..............................5.2.............3.2..................0................2.................no battery
2/10 .....14.0..............11..............0 .................3..............................15..............11......................0................4.................no battery
3/10......11.8..............9.8.............0..................2..............................11.8............9.8....................0................2.................no battery
4/10.......3.1...............1.1..............2..................0...............................3.1..............1.1.....................0................2.................battery/very gloomy
5/10.......5...................3..............2.................0...............................8................3.......................2................3
6/10.....23...............10...............11..................2..............................20...............10.....................9.................1.................very sunny
(apologies for the shocking table layout)
My question is why is my 'consumption' and more specifically 'self use' seemingly related to the solar panel generation? Prior to fitting the panels (the electrics were fitted before the panels) my consumption varied between 4 to 8 KWh per day with an average of 5.7 over 10 days. Since the panels were fitted my consumption has varied between 3.1 on 4/10 (very gloomy) to 20KWh on 6/10 when it was very sunny all day, with the self use varying from 1.1 to 10 on the same days. Is this due to the inverter? Is it that inefficient? I appreciate that it is charging the battery, especially yesterday, but on 2nd and 3rd for example, with the batteries disconnected due to the fault my self use increased dramatically. Or is the app just not very accurate?
My electricity meter reading during the same period went from 22316 to 22404 suggesting usage of 88KWh when the above figure seem to show that I only imported 14 KWh (and exported 8). It did also show credit mode increasing from £60 to £80 however. I haven't yet signed up for the input tariff so just a little concerned that, according to the meter, I seem to be using a lot more electricity than I actually am now that the panels are working.
p.s. apologies if I am missing something or not understanding it correctly, I'm very much a newbie to this!
Edited by Enut on Friday 7th October 13:39
Sorry all, this is the best I can do from the Solis site, the first graph shows the generation and the second one the consumption, each day shown separately on the graphs (smallest bar on the right is today, not included in my figures).
Generation
Consumption
Clearly shows the 'self use' much bigger when the sun is shining (not including the energy to battery obviously).
Generation
Consumption
Clearly shows the 'self use' much bigger when the sun is shining (not including the energy to battery obviously).
Edited by Enut on Friday 7th October 14:53
Edited by Enut on Friday 7th October 15:13
We have a Solis 16kw inverter and after it being installed I realised it'd be useful to log the data to decide when to get almost free car charging (April to Sept), rather than it going back to the grid (no battery, not economical in a commercial setting yet with only base use in the evenings).
I can't get the wifi stick to register with the app and my IT firm confirm it's a pile of crap for a number of reasons. However reading up on it, many users confirm the app and the numbers coming out of it can be completely wrong. I have managed to directly link to the data logger itself and so can see some basic data. It shows the total kwh generated correctly, but is always out of daily production by a factor of 10...
TL;DR It might be crap.
I can't get the wifi stick to register with the app and my IT firm confirm it's a pile of crap for a number of reasons. However reading up on it, many users confirm the app and the numbers coming out of it can be completely wrong. I have managed to directly link to the data logger itself and so can see some basic data. It shows the total kwh generated correctly, but is always out of daily production by a factor of 10...
TL;DR It might be crap.
Enut said:
Sorry all, this is the best I can do from the Solis site, the first graph shows the generation and the second one the consumption, each day shown separately on the graphs (smallest bar on the right is today, not included in my figures).
Generation
Consumption
Clearly shows the 'self use' much bigger when the sun is shining (not including the energy to battery obviously).
It's no a coincidence that 'self use' is the same in both your consumption and generation graphs, it's the same thing.Generation
Consumption
Clearly shows the 'self use' much bigger when the sun is shining (not including the energy to battery obviously).
Edited by Enut on Friday 7th October 14:53
Edited by Enut on Friday 7th October 15:13
Total Generation = (self use) + (export) + (to battery)
Total Consumption = (self Use) + (import) + (from battery)
Self use is not the amount of electricity you use, it's the amount of your own, home made, electricity you use, straight from the panel.
OutInTheShed said:
Enut said:
Sorry all, this is the best I can do from the Solis site, the first graph shows the generation and the second one the consumption, each day shown separately on the graphs (smallest bar on the right is today, not included in my figures).
Generation
Consumption
Clearly shows the 'self use' much bigger when the sun is shining (not including the energy to battery obviously).
It's no a coincidence that 'self use' is the same in both your consumption and generation graphs, it's the same thing.Generation
Consumption
Clearly shows the 'self use' much bigger when the sun is shining (not including the energy to battery obviously).
Edited by Enut on Friday 7th October 14:53
Edited by Enut on Friday 7th October 15:13
Total Generation = (self use) + (export) + (to battery)
Total Consumption = (self Use) + (import) + (from battery)
Self use is not the amount of electricity you use, it's the amount of your own, home made, electricity you use, straight from the panel.
Enut said:
Yes, I understand what self use is. My question is why does this seem to increase proportionally with panel generation? Before the panels were fitted my total usage was a MAXIMUM of 8KWh per day and normally between 5-7, yet on 6th October, the sunniest day so far post panel instal my self use was 10 KWh, with 11 going to the battery and 2 back to the grid, why was my self use so much more that day? (I didn't use any more in the house as far as I'm aware)
Looks like 2 things going on here:1) the app and stuff is rubbish, as Max Fromage says, it does not look trustworthy
2) the increased actual import is a concern. Assuming the installers have not fiddled with that, then somehow you are using more electricity.
I would monitor that closely.
Do you have any indication of the state of charge of the batteries?
The 'missing' energy is more than the capacity of the batteries.
8kWh per day is quite light use, bit lower than my own average, for just lights, fridges, oven, IT, dishwasher, washing machine, occasional tumble drier.
A washing day can easily be 2x higher than average in our house.
I'd suggest reading your actual meter frequently.
Maybe some other Solis customers can shed more light.
It's shedding heat we're worried about though.
Does the app give instantaneous power or current readings? e.g. can it tell you what power is flowing where right now?
Does Solis have something like this:
ETA - maybe not .......
"The good news is that the Solis inverter is an excellent bit of kit. The frustrating thing is that almost all of your interaction with it will be through the Solis Home app - which is a work of such incompetence and absurdity that it will make your blood boil. Trying to connect your system to the app is in itself worthy of the Nobel Prize for Tolerance. You will end up in a never-ending loop of passwords and log-ins and rejections and don't think the user manual will help you - the Chinese/English is woeful. Luckily my installer had the phone number of a very helpful guy at Solis who talked me through it - but even then, it was painful. Once connected, the app functions ok. It is slow to update and the UI is pretty bad, but it does work. However because there is no external power or backup battery inside the Solis inverter, once your panels go to sleep, so does the wi-fi connection to the logger - so you can't update any settings on the app unless your panels are producing power! This seems like such an easy thing to fix with a backup battery in the inverter? The graphs the app provides are almost pointless as they are so small that they can't be read in any meaningful way, the power output will vary between the summary tab and the device tab - why? The times of sunrise/sunset may well be correct in China, but not in the UK. I could go on..... Ultimately I just want an app that is connected 24 hours a day to my inverter and tells me the power output when I check it. I don't need graphs and all the other features that don't really work anyway. If there was an alternative app, I'd use that!"
ETA - maybe not .......
"The good news is that the Solis inverter is an excellent bit of kit. The frustrating thing is that almost all of your interaction with it will be through the Solis Home app - which is a work of such incompetence and absurdity that it will make your blood boil. Trying to connect your system to the app is in itself worthy of the Nobel Prize for Tolerance. You will end up in a never-ending loop of passwords and log-ins and rejections and don't think the user manual will help you - the Chinese/English is woeful. Luckily my installer had the phone number of a very helpful guy at Solis who talked me through it - but even then, it was painful. Once connected, the app functions ok. It is slow to update and the UI is pretty bad, but it does work. However because there is no external power or backup battery inside the Solis inverter, once your panels go to sleep, so does the wi-fi connection to the logger - so you can't update any settings on the app unless your panels are producing power! This seems like such an easy thing to fix with a backup battery in the inverter? The graphs the app provides are almost pointless as they are so small that they can't be read in any meaningful way, the power output will vary between the summary tab and the device tab - why? The times of sunrise/sunset may well be correct in China, but not in the UK. I could go on..... Ultimately I just want an app that is connected 24 hours a day to my inverter and tells me the power output when I check it. I don't need graphs and all the other features that don't really work anyway. If there was an alternative app, I'd use that!"
Edited by dmsims on Saturday 8th October 11:33
OutInTheShed said:
Enut said:
Yes, I understand what self use is. My question is why does this seem to increase proportionally with panel generation? Before the panels were fitted my total usage was a MAXIMUM of 8KWh per day and normally between 5-7, yet on 6th October, the sunniest day so far post panel instal my self use was 10 KWh, with 11 going to the battery and 2 back to the grid, why was my self use so much more that day? (I didn't use any more in the house as far as I'm aware)
Looks like 2 things going on here:1) the app and stuff is rubbish, as Max Fromage says, it does not look trustworthy
2) the increased actual import is a concern. Assuming the installers have not fiddled with that, then somehow you are using more electricity.
I would monitor that closely.
Do you have any indication of the state of charge of the batteries?
The 'missing' energy is more than the capacity of the batteries.
8kWh per day is quite light use, bit lower than my own average, for just lights, fridges, oven, IT, dishwasher, washing machine, occasional tumble drier.
A washing day can easily be 2x higher than average in our house.
I'd suggest reading your actual meter frequently.
Maybe some other Solis customers can shed more light.
It's shedding heat we're worried about though.
Does the app give instantaneous power or current readings? e.g. can it tell you what power is flowing where right now?
dmsims said:
Can't read that 
which is why I quoted the figures in my reply
The current situation is shown in the top right hand corner.
Yield is 3.717 (yellow)
Export to battery 1.029 (blue)
Battery discharging at 0.207 (purple) (battery 99% charged)
Consumption 2.895 (orange)
Edited by Enut on Saturday 8th October 16:51
Enut said:
It's bright sun out there at the moment (4pm so past it's peak), this is a screen shot from the app....it shows current yield 3.717 kW, Battery discharging at 0.207kW, exporting to grid 1.029 kW and, worryingly, consumption currently 2.895 kW, there is nothing on other than standard computers, pond pumps (about 300W), etc, nothing that is using nearly 3kW! Any ideas?
Get the installers back and tell them to make it work?Personally, I'd be poking around with a clamp ammeter to see what current was going where.
Can you get any other info from it, other than via the app?
Are there any lights on the battery unit showing charge or discharge for instance?
The question is, is all the data on the app total fiction, or do you really have lots of power going astray.?
If the app is displaying the same info the system is using for control, it seems a serious problem.
OutInTheShed said:
Enut said:
It's bright sun out there at the moment (4pm so past it's peak), this is a screen shot from the app....it shows current yield 3.717 kW, Battery discharging at 0.207kW, exporting to grid 1.029 kW and, worryingly, consumption currently 2.895 kW, there is nothing on other than standard computers, pond pumps (about 300W), etc, nothing that is using nearly 3kW! Any ideas?
Get the installers back and tell them to make it work?Personally, I'd be poking around with a clamp ammeter to see what current was going where.
Can you get any other info from it, other than via the app?
Are there any lights on the battery unit showing charge or discharge for instance?
The question is, is all the data on the app total fiction, or do you really have lots of power going astray.?
If the app is displaying the same info the system is using for control, it seems a serious problem.
At 5.15 the figures are now....
current yield 1.37 kW, Battery charging at 0.556kW, exporting to grid 0.046 kW and consumption now only 0.776 kW
Just been into the loft and the inverter is quite hot, it that normal?
On the plus side I haven't paid for it yet!
Sorry slight change of topic. We have purchased a house which has solar panels. Missives still to be concluded so expect some input from the solicitor. Does anyone have any advise on anything we can or should do?
It's a 70s building and the owner had them installed quite sometime ago. I expect she owns them out right so no outstanding payments /contract. Apart from that we aren't clued up on them. Hoping it's a positive to have them but any help or advice would be much appreciated.
It's a 70s building and the owner had them installed quite sometime ago. I expect she owns them out right so no outstanding payments /contract. Apart from that we aren't clued up on them. Hoping it's a positive to have them but any help or advice would be much appreciated.
BREMBOV6 said:
Sorry slight change of topic. We have purchased a house which has solar panels. Missives still to be concluded so expect some input from the solicitor. Does anyone have any advise on anything we can or should do?
It's a 70s building and the owner had them installed quite sometime ago. I expect she owns them out right so no outstanding payments /contract. Apart from that we aren't clued up on them. Hoping it's a positive to have them but any help or advice would be much appreciated.
find out whether they are getting FIT payments and whether these are being transferred to you?It's a 70s building and the owner had them installed quite sometime ago. I expect she owns them out right so no outstanding payments /contract. Apart from that we aren't clued up on them. Hoping it's a positive to have them but any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Enut said:
They are meant to be bringing another battery back to replace the faulty one, so hopefully will get them to check then.
At 5.15 the figures are now....
current yield 1.37 kW, Battery charging at 0.556kW, exporting to grid 0.046 kW and consumption now only 0.776 kW
Just been into the loft and the inverter is quite hot, it that normal?
On the plus side I haven't paid for it yet!
'Quite hot' means different things to different people at different times, but the system is running at about 1/4 capacity, it should be barely warm.At 5.15 the figures are now....
current yield 1.37 kW, Battery charging at 0.556kW, exporting to grid 0.046 kW and consumption now only 0.776 kW
Just been into the loft and the inverter is quite hot, it that normal?
On the plus side I haven't paid for it yet!
OutInTheShed said:
'Quite hot' means different things to different people at different times, but the system is running at about 1/4 capacity, it should be barely warm.
How about an actual temp from OP?They do run "hot" which is why some people bin them (and Solis would be near the bottom of my list!)
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