aaronsta

ECONOMICAL MODE SETTINGS GoodWe Solar Go App A while ago a posted information on the Economical Mode Settings as it is quite hard to understand what it means. I thought to post an update as my old post was quite confusing itself. Economical mode is quite useful when you have a battery and also time-of-use charges or meter power charges which vary at certain times (i.e higher at peak times). Some things to note: In the Economical Mode settings of the GoodWe Solar Go App you can set up to 4 different time schedules for solar (PV) system, and you can also select certain days of the week. These schedules cannot overlap past midnight. There are two choices (battery) Charge or Discharge, as well as a Rated Power option, which corresponds to rated power of your inverter (i.e 10% of a 5,000W system = 500W). Charge and 0% is not selectable. While if nothing is selected for a chosen time it defaults to operating the same as Discharge and 0% rated power. Solar panels = PV Here's the info: GRID: Select Charge with 1% to supply all load with Grid Power. Battery does not discharge. PV charges battery first, reduces load second, then exports to grid third. Useful for off-peak when time-of-use tariffs are lower. SOLAR PV (and BATTERY): No need to select anything to supply all load with PV. PV excess charges battery first, and exports to grid second. Battery discharges to cover load shortfall to the set State of Charge (SOC). Grid covers shortfall if battery empty. Useful for during the day and peak times. SOLAR PV (and GRID): Select Discharge with 1% to supply all load with PV. PV excess is exported to grid (does not charge battery). Battery discharges at 1% of the rated power (i.e 50W for a 5000W inverter) to cover the load first, and export to the grid second to the minimum State of Charge. Grid covers the remainder of the shortfall or if the battery is empty. Useful for holding the battery charge (as best as possible given the limitations of the app). Useful for off-peak times falling during daylight hours, where preference is given to using Grid power to cover a shortfall, rather than the battery. GRID (+ GRID BATTERY RECHARGE): Select Charge with 2% or greater Rated Power to supply all load with Grid Power. Battery is charged from the Grid up to the set rated power (i.e 10% = 500W for a 5,000W inverter). PV charges battery first, reduces load second, then exports to grid third. Useful for if there is a very low off-peak tariff (note that there wear and tear and other costs may be incurred by using your battery, and often it is better to simply use Grid power directly if required rather than using it to charge the battery), for a few hours in advance of a very high peak tariff (to ensure a battery is topped up on rainy days) or other reasons (such as unstable power). SOLAR PV (+ BATTERY EXPORT TO GRID): Select Discharge with 2% or greater to supply all load with PV. PV excess is exported to grid (does not charge battery). Battery discharges at the set rated power (i.e 20% = 1,000W for a 5000W inverter) to cover the load first, and export to the grid second to the minimum State of Charge. Grid covers the remainder of the shortfall or if the battery is empty. Not recommended as there are costs involved with using your battery, including wear and tear on the battery life, unless there are very high energy export rebates, or in other special situations.

After some playing around, here is how the PV Master app works with "Economical Mode" under "Basic Setting" in the "Settings" menu, there is a distinct lack of documentation so I thought it may be handy. If there are any corrections please advise. My big problem with the app is that there is no way to prevent the battery from discharging or charging under Economical Mode (as first priority) and have PV and Meter (only) supply Load. As far as I know, there is no option to prevent the battery from discharging or charging as a first priority for example (1) PV => LOAD and (2) METER => LOAD, and to have the PV supply the Load (house). The app needs to be corrected to address this, the charge discharge menu is really non-intuitive and flawed. Rather a priority system should be used for the three power source INPUTS (meter, battery, and PV) and the three power OUTPUTS (load, battery, and meter) with an associated time schedule and power limits. This is a system seen elsewhere, unlike the methods Good We have adopted I have no idea why Good We resorted to such a complicated and clunky system. Example: For me after taking into account the total lifecycle of the battery and the initial purchase cost, the battery costs about 21.6c AUD per kWh to use, using the battery is not free, not for me, and not for you. Before 7am I can use off-peak power for around 15c per kWh. Solar is free (0c per kWh). In this off-peak time I would rather have the battery neither charge or discharge, and have the PV reduce my load with the remainder from the Meter (grid) at 15c per kWh during off-peak. There is plenty of time for the battery to charge during the day from solar. If I charge the battery during off peak this means a cost of 21.6c + 15c per kWh i.e. 36.6c per kWh, this makes no sense when the grid price can be less than that at some times. In the end I am using Charge and 1% Rated Power meaning I am buying all of my power at 15c per kWh before 7am, with the PV charging the battery before that time. This is not optimal in the slightest as there are a few hours between sunrise and 7am where I am paying for the power I use, instead of getting it free from the solar panels. Note we have little to no export incentive where I live. ECONOMICAL MODE SETTINGS A] Charge and 1% Rated Power (special) METER => LOAD ~~Meter (grid) supplies 100% of Load (house) (PV => BATTERY) ~~100% of PV generation (PV solar panels), if any, charges Battery, excess (subject to limits or if battery is full) is exported to Meter (grid) if there is any. B] Discharge and 0% Rated Power (special) (1) PV => LOAD ~~100% of PV generation (PV solar panels) supplies Load (house), excess is exported to Meter (grid) if there is any. (2) BATTERY => LOAD ~~If PV generation cannot cover Load (house), Battery supplies remaining shortfall. At night time this means the battery covers the entire load. (3) METER not used ~~Meter (grid) not used, unless battery State of Charge SOC is too low, then the grid covers the shortfall. C] Charge and 2% or greater Rated Power METER => LOAD ~~Meter (grid) supplies 100% of Load (house) METER => BATTERY ~~The Meter (grid) charges the battery up to the Rated Power. If your inverter is a 5kW inverter (5,000 Watts) and 10% rated power is selected, then the battery will be charged at 500 Watts. If the Load (house) is 900 Watts, this means a total of 1,400 Watts instantaneous power will be drawn from the grid (if no PV generation). (PV => BATTERY) ~~100% of PV generation (PV solar panels), if any, charges Battery, excess (subject to limits or if battery is full) reduces the load (if the PV cells are supplying 250 Watts, and the rated power is 10%, 500 Watts will be fed into the battery from the grid, for a total of 750 Watts). D] Discharge and 1% or greater Rated Power (1) PV => LOAD ~~100% of PV generation (PV solar panels) supplies Load (house), excess is exported to Meter (grid) if there is any. (2) BATTERY => LOAD ~~If PV generation cannot cover Load (house), Battery supplies remaining shortfall only up to the rated power. If your inverter is a 5kW inverter (5,000 Watts) and 10% rated power is selected, then the battery (itself) will only cover an instantaneous load of up to 500 Watts roughly, the remainder will be covered by the Meter (grid). No power will be fed into the battery. (3) METER => LOAD ~~The meter will cover any shortfall, not first covered by the PV cells, or the battery up to the rated load. (if the PV cells are supplying 250 Watts, the Battery is supplying 500 Watts at 10% rated power, and the Load is 900 Watts, then the remaining 150 Watts will be taken from the Meter (grid). E] (Nothing selected) Operates the same as Discharge and 0% Rated Power F] (Charge and 0% Rated Power) Not selectable