Lux ac battery controller

Mr_Adam

here you go, thank you. Please ignore the HUGE spike at about 15.30 - that was me messing around with a CT clamp to see if it would help. it didn't!

devondumpling1961

Definitely something funny going on.  It seems to chop and change between charging the battery and feeding into the grid.

I generally don't believe any figures from the luxpower server unless I've had them verifed by other means.  Do you have a smart meter, in particular one that will show if you're exporting (most do)?  If so, see if that agrees with the export figures from the inverter.

In terms of fixing it, I strongly suspect a clamp issue.

In the app (but not the web page) there is a setting to turn off feeding into the grid.  I've never used this - has anyone else?  It might provide a temporary solution.

newbuilder

By turning this off your solar panels get throttled after the batteries are full so don’t be surprised that it is gloriously sunny and the panels are only inputting a measly amount 

Mr_Adam

This is my clamp setup. I know the distribution circle things aren't good. 6 different electricians have been involved in this and none have mentioned it to me, but I posted this image on a Facebook group and everyone jumped on it. So I know they're wrong. more interested in whether my CT clamps are right.

I am looking into getting a separate consumer unit for EV charger as currently when the solar charges the EV, the batteries kick in to charge it as well and I obviously want to avoid that

Empzurg

Just had my solar set up for just a few days now but was curious why I have moments like this, when I appear to be importing from the grid but solar is sending charge to the battery, instead of using the battery.

Also can any one explain why over night when the battery still has plenty of charge to I see grid use (although very small)?

newbuilder

Is this a snapshot in time, what has just happened? Has the kettle just been boiled ? batteries takes 30 sec to react

Empzurg

newbuilder said:

Is this a snapshot in time, what has just happened? Has the kettle just been boiled ? batteries takes 30 sec to react

That could be the answer in the instance as I think the washing maching had just started, so I guess this will always be the case when there is a change in the load.

Would that also explain the overnight blips when it draws from the grid?

newbuilder

Yes could be… way to look at it is the batteries cannot predict so the grid uses it catch up. The same happens briefly the other way too. When the kettle stops the electricity has to be dumped somewhere whilst the batteries react so it goes back to the grid or to a hot water diverter

ianatkin

In my experience the batteries can react very quickly to changes in power output but slowly to having to change direction. 

So if it's dark and the batteries are already discharging, they might only take a fraction of a second to increase their output if you put the kettle on. If it's bright and the batteries are charging and you then put the kettle on, it can take 30 seconds for the batteries to start discharging to cover the difference between the solar and the kettle's requirement. 

Hope that makes some sense!

EVandPV

ianatkin said:

In my experience the batteries can react very quickly to changes in power output but slowly to having to change direction. 

So if it's dark and the batteries are already discharging, they might only take a fraction of a second to increase their output if you put the kettle on. If it's bright and the batteries are charging and you then put the kettle on, it can take 30 seconds for the batteries to start discharging to cover the difference between the solar and the kettle's requirement. 

Hope that makes some sense!

Yeah that's pretty much how ours works.
I think this is the case with most inverters, the delay is intended to prevent the relays switching too rapidly and burning out.