Aussie Susan
Advanced Member level 5
I have a solar panel and battery system at home where the batteries store 10kW.
The way it is set up, the inverter will discharge the batteries (at night etc.) down to 40% and will then start drawing from the grid.
During summer (especially when we can get usable charge to 1900 or a bit after) this 40% is almost never a problem and we live on the panels and battery nearly all the time.
However we are now approaching winter in my part of the world and sometimes (very cloudy and/or rainy days) we don't get a fill 100% charge during the day. Also the panels stop charging around 1600 (or earlier), just before we start using the heavy power using items (induction stove top, microwave oven and occasionally the wall oven). Recently we have reached the 40% limit by 1900 or 2000, just when our power usage drops right off. (The house idles at about 200-300W during the night.)
I can monitor the system (a GoodWe inverter) using my Home Assistant system which also give me a little control of the operating parameters.
It might be my thrifty background, but I really like not drawing from the grid when I don't have to.
Finally my question: one of the parameters that I can alter is the 'battery discharge limit' that is set to 60% (hence the 40% remaining when it switches to the grid). What impact would this have on the battery life if I were to set that to 70% or 80% to get a bit more out of the power that has been generated during the day? (I'm thinking of doing this during the winter months and then returning to the 60% for the rest of the year.)
Susan
The way it is set up, the inverter will discharge the batteries (at night etc.) down to 40% and will then start drawing from the grid.
During summer (especially when we can get usable charge to 1900 or a bit after) this 40% is almost never a problem and we live on the panels and battery nearly all the time.
However we are now approaching winter in my part of the world and sometimes (very cloudy and/or rainy days) we don't get a fill 100% charge during the day. Also the panels stop charging around 1600 (or earlier), just before we start using the heavy power using items (induction stove top, microwave oven and occasionally the wall oven). Recently we have reached the 40% limit by 1900 or 2000, just when our power usage drops right off. (The house idles at about 200-300W during the night.)
I can monitor the system (a GoodWe inverter) using my Home Assistant system which also give me a little control of the operating parameters.
It might be my thrifty background, but I really like not drawing from the grid when I don't have to.
Finally my question: one of the parameters that I can alter is the 'battery discharge limit' that is set to 60% (hence the 40% remaining when it switches to the grid). What impact would this have on the battery life if I were to set that to 70% or 80% to get a bit more out of the power that has been generated during the day? (I'm thinking of doing this during the winter months and then returning to the 60% for the rest of the year.)
Susan