Battery charging and discharging explained

Example 1

Power coming from the grid - battery available

You might wonder why your system is pulling power from the grid when your battery is available and has power? The inverter, which is the box that manages your solar system, has a special sensor called a CT meter. It monitors the electricity flowing in and out of your home. When demand rises in your home (for example, an appliance switches on) your system will automatically pull power from the grid. Your inverter then uses the readings from the CT meter to discharge the battery as appropriate. It gradually discharges the battery to meet that demand, until the flow of power from the grid settles to nothing, meaning no noticeable power in or out.

Your inverter is also quicker than your app. So you will see a delay between whatever action the inverter takes, and when it registers on your app for you to see.

Common (approximate) refresh times include:

• Solis cloud - 5 minute refresh
• iSolarCloud 30-60 seconds (almost instant)
• EcoFlow 30-60 seconds (almost instant)

This time lag is perfectly normal and does not mean there's a fault with your system.

Example 2

Power going to the grid - battery not fully charged

You might wonder why your system is sending power to the grid, when your battery is not fully charged? In this example, an appliance may have finished its cycle or been turned off in your home. The inverter, for a short time continues sending power as it was before the appliance was turned off. Once it confirms the demand for power has changed, it then adjusts accordingly, slows down the power going to the grid, and if your battery has room to take charge, it will begin to store the extra power there.

As your battery reaches full, it slows down the rate at which it charges. From 0% to 90% a battery can take power in quickly, at around 5kW. From 90% to 95% that drops to roughly 1.2kW to 3kW, and for the last 5% it slows right down to between 400 and 600 watts. A watt measures how fast power is flowing, and 1kW is 1,000 watts. This slow finish is deliberate. It protects the battery and is part of the normal, healthy working of your solar system.

How to refresh your solar app

How can you make sure your system is as up-to-date as possible? When you refresh your app, it communicates with the data stored in the cloud and pulls it fresh onto your device.

iSolarCloud - How to refresh the app

Sungrow inverters and batteries use this app. To get the latest data, just pull down from the top of the screen. This gesture will sync your app with the data available in the cloud. The app will refresh automatically if the clock symbol near the top right hand corner of the screen is coloured green or blue. Alternatively if the clock symbol is grey in colour, this means automatic refresh is unavailable and you will need to refresh manually by tapping the refresh button. Remember, if you're only seeing old or frozen data, this is not reflective of the current operating of your system.

Solis / EcoFlow - How to refresh the app

For Solis and EcoFlow inverters, refreshing your app to pull the latest data from the cloud simply involves pulling/swiping down from the top of your mobile screen.