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Working Modes/Battery Backup clarification

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Posts: 7
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(@fizziocrat)
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Joined: 3 months ago

I am looking for some clarification on Working Modes as I received some contradictory information from SS this morning.  It looks to me like, at present, the Battery Backup working mode is mutually exclusive with the rest of the working modes.  That is, you cannot program a FlexBOSS21 to prioritize grid power over battery power for a specified period of time.  When you enable the Battery Backup working mode, it overrides the other scheduling you have done, and the time fields for Battery Backup cannot be edited (so it is locked in at the full 24 hour period).

One of the techs from Signature Solar thought he could modify the time period field for Battery Backup, but as long as Battery Backup working mode was enabled it kept that setting for 24 hours and ignored the other programmed working modes.  The other tech I spoke to said it is a known issue.

My ideal scenario with the system in question (GB, FB21, PP WM, no solar) is to program grid priority for most of the day, A/C charge in the run up to peak hours, and then peak shaving through the most expensive period, rinse and repeat.  So far it doesn't look like that is an option, unless there's something that I am missing.

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EG4 Eric
Posts: 381
(@eg4eric)
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Joined: 7 months ago

Have you tried setting up the Force Discharge and still having Battery Backup Enabled?

This should force the batteries to discharge at a certain time or SOC. As long as the batteries can cover the load, it shouldn't have to use grid. 

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(@fizziocrat)
Joined: 3 months ago

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Posts: 7

@eric So this would be using Force Discharge instead of Peak Shaving?

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EG4 Eric
(@eg4eric)
Joined: 7 months ago

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Posts: 381

@fizziocrat Yes, you should be able to set a time for when you want to discharge the battery which would avoid using the grid, unless the load demand is too much for battery alone.

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EG4 Eric
Posts: 381
(@eg4eric)
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Joined: 7 months ago

Also, make sure that none of your charging parameters conflict with your discharging parameters.

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BobAndRoslyn
Posts: 61
(@bobandroslyn)
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Joined: 8 months ago

@fizziocrat and @eric, Very interested in this topic.  I have a very simiar setup and it's difficult to find the right settings to balance out the desire for Peak Shaving and Outage protection.  It'd be great to create and save preset configurations and then enable / disable them from the main page similar to the "Start Quick Charge" button. 

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BobAndRoslyn
Posts: 61
(@bobandroslyn)
Trusted Member
Joined: 8 months ago

@fizziocrat Following up.  Have you found any settings that work for you?  For my 18kPV ESS I'm currently running with only AC Charge enabled and it is esentially behaving as you describe with some limitations.  I'll send you a print out of my settings if you'd like (with some redactions), for comparison sake.

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BobAndRoslyn
(@bobandroslyn)
Joined: 8 months ago

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Posts: 61

Our Charge Settings screenshot below. 

The good: It generally is behaving as desired, running on battery during the day, charging at night.  

The bad: I have to fiddle with the Start AC Charge SOC% at the end of the day to ensure it tops off after midnight, but before our 6am start to the peak rate schedule.  If we don't discharge down to that start percent we could start the day close to the threshold and then the AC Charge would kick in w/in the increased rate time.  We always want to top off at 4am.  Not sure how to force that.  Looking to @eric (EG4) for guidance and maybe some software tweaks to help us out.

Here's a link to our utility rate plan that we're trying to config to. https://www.consumersenergy.com/residential/account-and-billing/rates/electric-rates-and-programs/rate-plan-options/nighttime-savers

image

 

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