Why does battery charge level jump to 100% suddenly?
There are two different answers to this question, depending on exactly how your battery is behaving. Firstly, if this is more of an isolated incident then it is likely that the way the State Of Charge (SOC) is derived from the raw data from core electrical processes means that the unit knows exactly “where it is” when it is completely empty and when it is completely full. We have an ‘absolute reading of fullness’ – this is 100% and we can be confident that when the unit hits 100% SOC it is indeed full. However, when the unit is charging up from 20% SOC we sometimes have a less accurate picture of the charging cycle, since 20% is not actually an empty battery (see Q ‘Why does my battery never go below 20%?’) The calculations of the % are derived by multiple sub-calculations, raw data and various assumptions which must be made, which cannot always produce accurate results. But if this is observed repeatedly and consistently over a period of several charge cycles, our technical team would investigate this as a calibration issue, where the calibration set by the manufacturer may have an error in it. This can be easily fixed by remote tweaking in the calibration settings.
Why would my battery charge from the grid?
There may be a few occasions where your battery is seen charging from the mains: If your battery has discharged too low under it’s lowest safety limit, it will conduct a short recharge from the grid to return the battery back to a safe level, If you battery is unable to complete a full charge and discharge cycle over any 30 day period, the battery will automatically conduct a full charge to 100%, this is to ensure the health and longevity of the battery modules. If you have a Time of Use tariff plan your battery may already be set to charge when electricity is at its cheapest.
Why would PV generation go to the grid before my battery is full?
Your battery has a maximum charge rate of 400W, if your household is already being fully covered by PV and the battery is charging at full rate, any surplus generation would be diverted to the grid.
Due to the reaction time of the inverter, if there is a sudden increase in your solar generation, the battery may take between 30 and 60 seconds to start storing this power, some surplus solar may be lost to the grid in that time.
Can I change when my battery charges and discharges?
Your battery can be set to utilise your energy tariff by charging up at set times from the grid. You can find out more about changing the Operation mode and setting your own schedule on our Optimisation page here.
If you would like your battery to work alongside another solar diverting device by only operating as set hours each day, or would like the battery to remain idle at set hours for better compatibility with other devices, such as an EV charger, just contact the support team who can help you set this up.