Back-Up functionality trial is currently suspended
Updated 18 February 2021
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We’d like to update you that the commercial back-up trial has now been suspended. We really appreciate all the interest we have received about this feature and are keen to source the solution to cover the need for back-up in the future. We’re pleased that our installed trial batteries did provide the back-up power for the planned duration during the tests, which gives us a great motivation to progress working on this as a commercial proposition.
Nevertheless, for now, we’ve decided to suspend the commercial trial in order to focus on working through some learnings we have gathered so far in collaborations with our Moixa Accredited Installers in order to make this more commercially attractive proposition to the majority of our customers.
If you have any questions regarding this or purchasing Moixa Smart Battery, please contact our sales team on enquiries@moixa.com or give them a call on 0161 883 2347.
Previous announcement:
Over the years, we’ve received feedback from customers who would like to be able to use their batteries to support necessary appliances in their home during a blackout. So, we’ve been working hard to find safe ways to update our 4.8kWh, 7.2kWh and 9.6kWh battery systems to enable this additional functionality. We are now happy to invite our customers to our first Back-Up Trial to help solar battery owners keep the lights on during a power cut. The trial is limited to 10 homes, and trialists receive access to dedicated trial pricing.
Last summer, large parts of the UK were hit by a power cut and in some areas of the UK power cuts still happen regularly, which cause unnecessary disruption to daily lives. With Back-Up power from your Moixa Battery System, you could continue to use your essentials through a power outage. The battery won’t be able to keep your home running as usual. However, it will enable you to keep your lights, internet, heating (if you have an electrically powered gas boiler pump) and certain appliances powered during a power cut. You will have to choose a dedicated Back-Up circuit upon installation and you will then be able to select how much energy you would like to reserve in your battery currently through the Moixa Dashboard or App.
To enable Back-Up, your battery will need to be set to 90% depth of discharge (meaning your battery will never discharge below 10% ), so you have more usable capacity in the battery. You will have the ability to change how much of the usable capacity of your battery you would like to set aside as energy to cover your needs during a power outage, which will be on top of the 10% that is saved to maintain the battery performance. We recommend that for the Back-Up circuit you keep your reserved amount at least 15% at all times, leaving you with 75% of usable capacity of the battery for daily use. It is important to note that the more you reserve in your battery, the less solar energy you can store and use each day.
An example breakdown of what you could cover with Back-Up
Please note that these numbers are a general example and may not reflect all households.
For a typical load of 860W, shown below, a 4.8kWh Moixa Smart Battery with 15% energy reserved will run for about 50 minutes. A 7.2kWh Battery System with 15% reserve will run for around 1 hour 15 minutes, and a 9.6kWh Battery System will run for 1 hour 40 minutes.*
- 14 lights: 210W
- 1 Router: 115W
- 1 Laptop Charger: 275W
- 1 Phone Charger: 115W
- 1 55” Smart TV: 145W
Your battery will not discharge below 10%, to maintain battery performance. At Moixa, we recommend you set your reserved storage value for Back-Up to 15% on top of your depth of discharge, as a good compromise, so you can have 75% usable capacity for normal operation.
The Installation of Back-Up
Before installation, we will need to survey your property to understand where we can install the dedicated Back-Up consumer unit, plug sockets (which will be labelled with the maximum load allowed), and a count of your lighting and other desired items you would like to be connected.
During installation, the installer will test that the circuit is working by simulating a power cut, which will mean that you will lose the main circuit for some time, although the Back-Up circuit will continue to function. Moixa will observe the battery behaviour during this time and confirm that your system recovers as expected. We will also monitor your system remotely for power cuts, but we do ask you to report any power cuts, and of course any problems in the unlikely event these should occur.
The Trial
As part of the trial, we will ask you to test your Back-Up circuit is working by simulating a power cut, and checking that the system runs for as long as expected**. To do this, you will need to flip the switch of the main circuit breaker in your primary consumer unit, and run on back-up power until this stops working (your lights will go out), then flip the switch back to on in your main circuit breaker to restore power. We will ask you to record the time the system ran for and notify us that you have run the test, we will then analyse the performance and report back to determine if the trial was a success or not.
Contact our friendly team today
If you have any questions about battery storage, contact our sales team on enquiries@moixa.com or give them a call on 0161 883 2347.
We’d like to hear your feedback
If you have any feedback in regards to additional features you would like to see released for Moixa batteries, email feedback@moixa.com. Our team will review the feedback given directly from our customers to inform future updates, trials and releases.
*Under the same load, a fully charged 4.8kWh Moixa Smart Battery will run for five hours, a 7.2kWh Battery System will run for 7.5 hours, and a 9.6kWh Battery System will run for 10 hours. These numbers are general examples and may not reflect all households.
**Once the trial passes its success criteria, we would also recommend that you test the Back-Up circuit periodically, at least every six months to confirm the Back-Up is working. You do not need to run the batteries until they are empty, just for a short period (15 minutes) to confirm the circuit is working.