Newbie to Solar Panels and Batteries. I have a question can you help please ?

[Alan Ginger]

i have only just had my solar panels and batteries installed
I was looking at my app for the system and I notice that my panels were charging ( which is good ) my battery was at 20% capacity - however I was return power to the grid and I was getting power sent to the house as well
Why would I be returning power to the grid rather than saving it to my battery?
Many thanks.

 

[Andy1733]

Which app are you using to get the figures. Some apps are not very good and have a bit of a lag in updating figures. How much energy are you talking about going back to the grid?

 

[Alan Ginger]

Which app are you using to get the figures. Some apps are not very good and have a bit of a lag in updating figures. How much energy are you talking about going back to the grid?

Hi Andy: The app I am using is the Solarman App. The power going back to the grid is lowest 30W highest 1.4KW.

 

[binky]

Hi Andy: The app I am using is the Solarman App. The power going back to the grid is lowest 30W highest 1.4KW.

20% is usually where the battery starts to charge at higher rates, as it's new, the bettery may well have been delivered 'flat' so can take days to get upto 20% and higher charge rates. At lower states of charge you can't just shove all the leccy in, plus it's a new system so will take a day or two to settle down, and weather isn't brilliant for solar anyway, or at least not where I live.

 

[Alan Ginger]

20% is usually where the battery starts to charge at higher rates, as it's new, the bettery may well have been delivered 'flat' so can take days to get upto 20% and higher charge rates. At lower states of charge you can't just shove all the leccy in, plus it's a new system so will take a day or two to settle down, and weather isn't brilliant for solar anyway, or at least not where I live.

Many thanks Binky: The battery was flat when I got it according to the app.

 

[Andy1733]

As Binky says. (Forum expert imo ) let them settle for a few weeks and winter sun is not the best for acurate readings.
Not aware of the solarman app though a quick Google doesn't give it rave reviews. Common comments are laggy and glitchy. There's prob a 3rd party app that works better and I'm sure someone will be along to inform you .

 

[Alan Ginger]

As Binky says. (Forum expert imo ) let them settle for a few weeks and winter sun is not the best for acurate readings.
Not aware of the solarman app though a quick Google doesn't give it rave reviews. Common comments are laggy and glitchy. There's prob a 3rd party app that works better and I'm sure someone will be along to inform you .

Many thanks for taking time to reply. I will look into 3rd party apps

 

[binky]

Many thanks Binky: The battery was flat when I got it according to the app.

in my limted experinece of batteries, it can take 3 days to charge upto 20% and get going properly. It would be worth reading the user manual to see if there's an option for 'boost charging' which can be useful mid winter when the days are dark and short.