ShinePhone Flummoxed!

[NLH]

Hi - I am a retired software developer. We have just had a growatt system installed via our councils 'solar together' initiative. We're generally happy with it but even though I'm a retired techy - I'm struggling to figure out how to configure our system to do what we want it to do.
Basically we want to use as little grid electricity as possible, keep the battery charged when the sun is shining, use the battery in the evening and recharge the next day when the sun is shining and export any excess to the grid. We've signed up to Octopus Fixed Export tariff, but it's the ShinePhone configuration to get the optimum performance that's the problem.

 

[binky]

Hi - I am a retired software developer. We have just had a growatt system installed via our councils 'solar together' initiative. We're generally happy with it but even though I'm a retired techy - I'm struggling to figure out how to configure our system to do what we want it to do.
Basically we want to use as little grid electricity as possible, keep the battery charged when the sun is shining, use the battery in the evening and recharge the next day when the sun is shining and export any excess to the grid. We've signed up to Octopus Fixed Export tariff, but it's the ShinePhone configuration to get the optimum performance that's the problem.

Chinese software, not the best . Fortunately there are some people on here with the same gear, hopefully they will be along soon .

 

[David_1224]

Hi
Sounds like we have an identical system as I'm also a Solar Together recipient in Cheshire.
May want to exchange experiences at some point...
There are other contributors on here who have similar kit and will probably wade in however the first thing to note is that the shine phone app is not the best thing to use for getting at the settings as it only gives a limited set that you can adjust.
The Web interface with the shine server is a far better route.
https://server.growatt.com/login
Use your phone app user / password details to access.
If you want to change the settings you will need to enter a password.
That being said however on the face of it it sounds like the default settings are all you need to achieve your goal.
Unless I'm misunderstanding how the Octopus Export Tarif works that is.
With the system set to a load first priority, which should be the default, it will do exactly what you describe.
Charge with excess from the PV when the sun shines and discharge at night when it's gone away.
Any excess from the PV, once you hit 100% on the battery, gets exported back to the grid.
Am I missing something?

 

[Radiotowers]

Hi - I am a retired software developer. We have just had a growatt system installed via our councils 'solar together' initiative. We're generally happy with it but even though I'm a retired techy - I'm struggling to figure out how to configure our system to do what we want it to do.
Basically we want to use as little grid electricity as possible, keep the battery charged when the sun is shining, use the battery in the evening and recharge the next day when the sun is shining and export any excess to the grid. We've signed up to Octopus Fixed Export tariff, but it's the ShinePhone configuration to get the optimum performance that's the problem.

Hi ,
you can configure the shinephone app to charge the battery overnight and then if the suns shining next day it will top up the battery till full then export to the mains.
With Octopus it will depend on your import tariff , at present I am on the Octopus Agile tariff and generally overnight its been anything from negative ( they pay you) to around 18p.
Most nights its below around 12p so I charge to full, during the day its more expensive so at least on a cloudy day I have 6 kW or so to use.
The Go tariff for example is 7p or so every night so guaranteed to be cheaper..
check out the tariffs and take your pick.
On saving sessions day you can configure the battery to discharge in to the mains, recently paying £1.75 a unit, even works out you make money if you charge just before.
As mentioned by David 1224 the webpage has more options than the app,
however occasionally it does not work and can be a pain.
You will notice the shinephone only updates every 5 minutes but the display on the inverter is real time.
If you need specifics in programming the app you can be talked through it, in fact search this forum it probably already been explained

 

[NLH]

Thank you everyone for the input. I have been using the both the phone & web app. I had a fiddle with everything again yesterday & it seems to be okay so far. Sods law that it's cloudy at the moment. I had configured to the system to charge the battery overnight as we have a lower tariff. We've only just joined the the Octopus export scheme and we regularly take part in their saving sessions. We are Outgoing Octopus 12M fixed & Loyal Octopus 12M fixed. So I suppose I'll just have to see what it looks like on a sunny day. Thank you for the suggestion of using the battery through the saving sessions - I will give that a go.

 

[droyls]

The Growatt web app is the best / easiest to use if you need to change your inverter settings but you need to enter a password on the Settings panel (at the bottom) which uses the format growatt20240313 (for today) where the date changes with each new day.
The default settings are to charge from the sun and discharge based on your load but you can change this as or if needed.
I do as others have said and charge the batteries overnight at the cheaper rates for Octopus Agile and then export any excess during the day at Outgoing Octopus 15pkWh which can give a few pence credit on better days.
I have stopped using the ShinePhone app as found it too flakey plus kept needing to change the account password too often, though the latter may be related to using HomeAssistant to monitor usage!
You should change your Growatt account password if you haven't already done so as the installers tend to use the same one for everyone!!!