Hi Ian. Great vid...I can see the pain in your face. It'd horrible when our new toys don't do what they should!! Full disclosure I am an EV Charger installer. I fitted a Zappi for a client just over a year ago. He had a 2kW PV array at the time of Zappi install with no storage capacity. All worked well and the Zappi has been using the excess solar to charge the car.....then he got a battery install and it all went a bit sour. His installer ripped out his PV inverter and installed a Fox Ess H1 hybrid (arguably because of the losses in conversion with AC coupled, but possibly because he got himself a free solar inverter!!) anyhoo..obviously the zappi now empties the battery as soon as you fire it up. I have been to the house, added an export margin to the zappi, renamed the CT clamp and set the Zappi to "do not drain battery" mode...none of which work as its the Foxx Ess system that sees the Zappi as a "general house load" and as soon as the Zappi fires up to charge, the H1 fires up to feed it power from the batteries...After a bit of head scratching the only solution (apart from physically turning the battery off) seems to be to "hide" the zappi from the inverter. I did a bit of poking around and found that this has been done and that it's a pretty common problem. Not sure if it's what you're looking for, in terms of solution but it should certainly stop your battery from feeding your Zappi, whilst still allowing the zappi to take energy from teh PV array (as long as the battery is already full) I think theonly way to have full integration between all the elements of yor set up may have been to have had a Libbi battery as you can prioritise exactly what feeds what and when etc...anyhoo, heres a link with a few schematics in it...hope it's of some use / interest to you... myenergi.info/viewtopic.php?p=32919#p32919
There seems to be a requirement for a lot of user intervention with all this. No way “Joe Public” is gonna be able to babysit these systems to this extent.
Configure the zappi to export 50w to the grid. It will stop draining the battery. Go to othersettings, advanced, password 0000,supplygrid...,Export Margin at least 50w. I think you need the Eddi because you can set priorities between the zappi and eddi
Yep, I can attest that. Every time the car comes on, the battery starts to give a bit more to meet the load, the zappi sees that and offers to the car, keeps doing til it hits the max inverter output. It’s cos the fox system is very fast reacting 👍🏻. Your iBoost probably has a sensitive export sense, with no export margin. If you prefer the charge to go into the car first set the export margin on the zappi to 50w and 100w on the iBoost. Other way round to prefer the iBoost, should stop discharging the Fox.
Get yourself the myenergi EDDI! Works beautifully with the Zappi! There is also an option for the ZAPPI not to pull from the battery! Grid CT, Battery CT mandatory. Solar CT optional.
@@fje1948 the odd thing is - just like the iboost+ draining battery issue ~5% of the time, its the same with this - it doesnt simply do it each and every time indicating its a CT clamp issue....it cant be if it works fine often but odlly sometimes not.
I have no problem with my Solar iBoost,.worked for 7 years. I had have to change the batteries once. I highly recommned one and much cheaper that the myevergy products.
I had an I boost and always had problems locking up and had it changed twice , in the end I went down the Eddi route with extra c clamp, as someone else said configure the zappi for a slight export amount, don’t forget to add a rubber insulation to the bottom of the garage door , as for the solar not picking up the trash , get a solicitor to write a letter , especially regarding illegal dumping of toxic waste , with x days to collect , if not collected. Report to council, and have rubbish professionally collected and invoice them as instructed in solicitors letter . If they fail to communicate or pay it’s an easy win in small claims
It’s on the inverter press the enter button under history then it’s there pv and change and discharge and consumed and feed in . I had to take photo between sunset and midnight every day for 20 months! Until got modbus home assistant and with home assistant you get 2-5 seconds old if not 3-5 mins with fox ! It worth it and you can use WiFi to the inverter . Also you can put the foil behind the battery and Underneath the batteries and helps by 2-3 c
You need to have the green margine to 100% if you want the Eco++ mode to only charge from solar. If your FoxESS system is a hybrid you also need to increase the export margin on the Zappi to stop it discharging your battery. I have a FoxESS H1 hybrid with a Zappi and have export merging set to 100Wats the default is 50, this can only be set from the Zappi (not in the app).
Hi Ian, I prefer to keep things as simple as possible. I have 2 pv strings to two separate inverters and a Fox ESS high voltage battery inverter. Both solar inverters are AC coupled and so is the battery inverter so the three elements are independent. Both pv inverters feed into separate MCBs in the consumer unit but the 2 line conductors pass through one CT clamp. The battery inverter controls the system on the “self use” work mode. For better control accuracy I use a meter on the grid tails instead of a CT clamp there to control the charge/discharge of my battery bank. You are presumably on an EV tariff and get cheap hours in the night so I would suggest selling the iBoost and just heating your hot water on the cheap rate with a timer (eg Timeguard at £30 to £40). Doing this we have all the hot water we need for the day (210 litre well insulated tank) for about 20 pence per day.
You need an additional ct clamp on the battery, then configure the Zappi to exclude battery power. The Zappi starts charging the car with eco++ with greater than 1.4kw solar.
So funny that the end user has to become the installer (well...not funny as in ha ha, but you know what I mean) BUT - the Zappi DOES work...just not in the case I showed. Something happens every now and then where it drains the battery - but its not always.
your iboost will overheat as it doesn't have the recommended air gap around it for cooling, this could be the cause of it stopping. I got my iboost for 453.00 euro including delivery and fitted myself very easy to fit. never had any problems with it. I did have to increase the wattage to 300w before activating as it was coming on when usage would putting back to the grid on ramp down.
Get the efergy elite classic, has a small battery powered CT clamp, pop that on the output of your inverter, it wirelessly sends a ping every few seconds, to a hub that you get with it, you also get a meter so you can see in real time like a smart meter what's coming off the panels, it will also show you by the day what's been produced, if you connect the hub to the internet you can check it on your phone via the app, this is how I have been checking mine for 10 years, they still sell the kit on Amazon, totally wireless and very reliable.
Just finished watching feel your pain I would be be ripping first 4 solar to pieces until they sort your issues hope you get sorted because having a solar and battery system in your house is a wonderful thing
Someone once described I.T. in the 1990's as being 'As User-Friendly as a Cornered Rat', - and it sounds like your home Renewables 'I.T.' is in a similar situation ! Good Luck !
The myenergy zappi can also do solar and battery monitoring. You need CT clamps on the solar output and the battery output. If your cable runs are going to be too long with it then a havi can make them wireless CT clamps. Give us a shout if you want a hand.
My SunSynk battery charges fine from 7 degrees in my loft. It got to 90% today (trickle charging above 90%) but no warmer than 16 degrees C. Seems perverse that Fox inverter and battery don’t “just work” together. I generated 9.8kw solar today. I’m stunned how much Solar I’m generating so early in the year. Around 10kw each day this week, taking me effectively off-grid. But I’m not going to say it’s easy to administer. The software seems designed for electricians. Watching you reminds me I need to call my installer to fix 2 defective Tigos. Apparently today the Tigos reclaimed 380wh off a 6KW east west array. Unsure it’s worth it.
Only 5 mins in, but I feel like you'd save a mazzive headache by swapping the iBoost for the myenergi hot water diverter. Too many brains trying to use the excess (and don't talk to each other) is bound to cause problems.
Fresh batteries in the Iboost controller/ct clamp sender. installed mine and then it had the 'red light'. New AA battery (rather than the crap in the box) and seems to be working happier. Also got to a water heating 'hot' i.e maxed out on the immersion tank too, the other day.
So amongst all this complication you have a couple more reference points on energy usage. The Electricity supplier app would show daily consumption from the 'grid', which should of course be consistently down now you have solar. Also, you have an In Home Display that shows live usage of both gas and electricity. Switch on a kettle and an oven and see the needle hit red, unless the battery offsets some of the demand. I'd say I hope that helps realising it is more complication, but at least you have a couple of more lots of measurement data.
Its now pretty much sorted, its took me throwing another few hundred quid at it though…and a kind chap who knows these systems inside and out to come down and do some work for me.
similar issue to me regarding HA. first off, don't do a wireless connection, try a ethernet over power cables system. once in there the Modbus thing is very effective and there is a very good video set on here that walks you through how to make that work. Good luck
Scrap the lot apart from the PV on the roof. Go to Rayleigh Instruments as their Inverters and batteries are Amazing, I have Trina pv at 2450w and a 5.2 battery and it pulls 3443w nearly every day from the pv on the roof. The inverter and battery work great together .
Have you got a battery CT clamp fitted and set up on you Zappi install? You need to have that set up as an AC(?) battery and then set Zappi to Do Not Drain on the battery settings. It looks like you haven’t from your MyEnergi screenshot. Otherwise Zappi will see battery power as available “green” power from your inverter. Your installers should have added this in for you. We’ve had no issues with the Eddi btw. I don’t really have to intervene with our system - solar, powerwall, Zappi & Eddi. It all just works.
Your MyEnergi screen doesn’t show a battery, so Zappi isn’t aware of it - it needs setting up by the looks of it. If you have a CT on the battery in/out, then that one needs correctly setting up and Zappi set to Avoid Drain.
Suggest you try a 50w export margin on the Zappi so when it charges in Eco++ it makes sure there’s a small amount of solar always going to the grid, so it won’t drain the battery. This needs to be set this way if your battery is DC coupled.
Where is the Green Lobby in all this? Surely they could be providing technical help & lists of reliable installers. Instead it's a consumer minefield & we're on our own
I assume your Fox system has one inverter for the battery and the solar? Because I had solar for ages before the battery, I have 2 different inverters, which is slightly less efficient, but means that monitoring is easy. I have GivEnergy batteries, and they seem much less bothered by temperature than your system.. I had runaway until I changed the iBoost level, but it does mean that the iBoost doesn't come on when solar is working but low and the battery is full. I suspect your Zappi has the same thing as the iBoost - it checks the import (
Hi, haven't been through all the replies to your vid, but has anyone just suggested you go old school and insert a production meter in line with the AC output lines if that is possible
So, what interests me is . . . . What did that whole lot cost (roughly !) ? It looks like it could be a great system if only you could get all the bits working together
I have had my Fox H1 inverter and solar panels installed for just over year now. Great no problems very satisfied. However last week I had to have a new modem installed as they have gone full fibre broadband in my area. Unfortunately I have now lost my internet connection to my inverter that was set up with my old modem. Can anyone tell me how to change the settings for my new modem?
Just had Fox ESS batteries installed but with a Solis inverter, so I’m hoping once my panels are connected, that I will know how much I’m generating. My batteries are indoors, so I won’t have the issue with them not charging in the cold, but I do now have to deal with the issue of them emitting a high pitched noise which my family don’t like. So I don’t have to insulate a garage, but I do have to build a cupboard around the inverter and batteries…
I’m just installing , I want in reality the whole house to be able to run if I go off grid . Teslas suggested but their limitation is you have to choose what you want to run in the event of off grid . Does the ESS allow complete function without having to choose , assuming I have enough cubes ?
On MyEnergi website its £446.95 delivered (2 month wait on one). But thats not fitted though. Day rate for electrician around £250? + Materials needed to wire it all in?
@@IanSampsonRLO plenty in stock at third parties such as DTR for 408.00. You have all the wiring in place for your existing unit. It should be quick for an electrician to swap over, maybe even a diy job if you are confident. Having more kit in one ecosystem in my opinion works better. However we do have PowerWalls also integrated in to the SolarEdge inverters (master and slave) and I would say overall it’s 90% integrated to monitor in any of the three apps, myenergi, SolarEdge or Tesla as each has CTs in place to enable this. Once you have it setup and stable, how ever you achieve it, it’s great.
@@in2branding the issue with the iboost+ is distance from the sender unit (to far). Sadly it has no option for a hardwire. So the hardwire of the eddi would need to be done from one side of the house to the other. If only life was simple. Cost would be quite high (around the £800 mark), hoping 1st4Solar will correct the issue as it would appear iboost+ is not fit for purpose in our situation.
@@IanSampsonRLO The Zappi and Eddi will share energy information over the network if you have them on the same vlan. Only one grid CT should be present between them. You can use a Harvi for additional CTs as well.
These devices are powerful but the user Interfaces are spalling and a normal person will struggle with a million options under a million sub menus. Need a nice GUI or app with toggle switches charge on/off solar only on/off etc
We have had the solar I boost for over a. Year and so far no problems. With regards to generation it seem sill you can’t see what your producing. We have the growatt system and it’s good gives you loads of data I know it doesn’t help you I would pus fox to sort a data read out. Good luck hoping you get it sorted
I have a Victron inverter (home storage), solar and a Zappi. The Victron is part of the main consumer unit, the Zappi is on its own consumer unit. The Zappi CT looks at the total main power coming in and out of the house, the Victron only looks at the main consumer unit, not the Zappi. That works for me. With the Victron looking at the total power coming into the house no matter how I tried once the Zappi started to charge from excess solar, the battery started to power it. Looking at the comments I might try the 50W idea
Hi Ian. Have you considered going to a First 4 Solar competitor and explaining your situation? If I was their competitor and knew you had a UA-cam following, I'd see a lot of value in sorting you out with a new system to review. Just an idea. I've followed you more many years from your Leaf days and am used to your enthusiasm. I can see this is really getting to you (understandably) and wish you all the best in getting it sorted.
I believe that you can get an rs485 (I believe RS485 is cabling and connection, ModBus is communication protocol) to wifi adapter that is hardwired to the fox inverter. My Fox system is getting installed today - roofer here, electrician on his way, so I will be having similar fun although no heat divert or EV charger. I have Home assistant set up on a RPi3 and once the Fox system is installed I will start playing!!! I will let you know how I get on.
I agree it's strange that FoxESS does not give you the Solar Yield and even in Home Assistant it's not easy but for the reason of return on investment it is totally academic as it more important to know how much you use and how much you import
I like a good gadget, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. There seems to be too much technology fighting each other! I've had an IBoost for several years with no problems.
No idea what amount of solar you were producing BUT the Zappi can only charge the car from solar at the minimum the car will take....ie it wont put 500w in. With my Zoe if you set it to solar excess it will fill the toughs left when the sun goes behind a cloud.... I have a feeling the minimum of about 1100w, its better to fill the gaps with battery than grid.....
Happy I’m with solar edge system There is Zigbee devices that can connect to your smart meter You can’t get a harvi or rainforest device? It’s weird that they don’t send stats data via wifi to the app portal and at least let you export to excel or offer an api to call
Is the Fox system a Hybrid Inverter? If so the Zappi won’t know the difference between solar/battery. It will see discharge from the battery as solar. You can set it to minimise draw but it’s not perfect. I recommend replacing the iboost with an Eddi that the whole myenergi system can utilise and control.
@@IanSampsonRLO which model of the zappi is it? have you looked at the harvi as Zappi2.1 has wifi master and harvey work's. I too having a nightmare with Givenergy, battery drained and now can't be seen. was like you with First still waiting of a deposit doing charge back. agree with you on the way too complicated to just work.
How would the zappi know where the power comes from? does Ian have a CT clamp from the grid and also the battery to the Zappi ? maybe an Eddie would work nicer with a zappi. 🤷♂
Definitely iboost works when transmitter on mains cable detects the solar going back to grid but are you using iboost transmitter or other make .maybe multiple devices transmitting .is this version one of iboost , the battery in the transmitter going only problem I have had but have no batteries just evs
This is a new feature, but of course the main issue with the fox cloud is its only polling every 5 minutes, so is not a 'live' readout, and it also relies on the cloud/fox servers being operational. The only way with this system to get reliable data is to modbus it and use third party software such as Home Assistant (which is what I ended up doing at additional cost)
My Zappi works similar to yours. On eco+ it waits until the battery is full then starts to charge the car at up to 7kW even though the solar is generating less than 4kW. After a while the charge rate drops but the battery is well depleted by then. On eco it starts to charge the car without waiting for the battery to be full.
Hi Ian on the zappi screen you don’t have any figures for solar gen or house consumption so the zappi has no idea when in eco ++ mode where the energy is coming from it would need ct clamps in place connected to the zappi or a harvi to get that info. The next thing I would think is you essentially have two solar diverters the iboast and zappi with no way to prioritise then I think an Eddie would have been better solution as u could prioritise in the app. Looks like who ever fitted it out cts on for the fox system so everything is managed in there so not sure if that can or will ever work with the zappi correctly. I am not an expert or anything but have had batteries solar and a zappi for a few years and some basic understanding has been gained over time hope you get it sorted.
Thanks for the info. It has the Harvi connected up so not sure if thats supposed to stop the issues I am having or not? I am hoping 1st4Solar come through and fit an eddi and maybe that will put part of the issue to bed. BUT - the Zappi DOES work...just not in the case I showed. Something happens every now and then where it drains the battery - but its not always.
I had an issue when mine was first fitted that I went with social energy a battery grid trade scheme. The way it’s supposed to work is they control the battery and take when the energy is expensive for them and charge when it’s cheap. But I already had the zappi so with two solar diverters that don’t know about each other there’s a constant battle when there’s excess solar over which device gets it ie zappi or battery through the social energy management. This went on for about 2 months until I complained and got them to send someone who knew what is was talking about I shown him the data I had gathered and he said it would never work with the zappi and one would have to go so I had them refund me for the social energy stuff. I think you may have a similar issue with the zappi and iboast they don’t know about each other so can’t prioritise that’s why sometime it work as expected and other times it doesn’t it probably depends on which device reacts fastest to the excess from the solar
Could it be to do with tolerances? Maybe it needs an 'excess' to be above a certain limit (for a certain length of time) for the CT clamps to register it as an 'excess' not just a surge? Solar is constantly changing under cloudy conditions, hence maybe why it's not working as it should.
For the iboost you mean? If so yes - it allows between 100w and 500w in 50w increments. I have it set to 250w to try and stop the ramp up (rarely happens - but does happen). For it not working at all when there is excess - coms issue from what I have seen. Probably due to the distance between the iboost+ and sender unit. Shame it cannot be hard wired!
I have a very similar problem that you do with the iBoost. The only solution I've found is to set an export margin of 300w. With this, if the iBoost grabs the excess faster than the battery, it quickly ramps down as the margin for the battery is a lot lower (100w kick in). When the clouds frequently change from peak sun to cloud and back again, I end up just switching it off. Overall I think the Eddi is a lot better as you can better configure it to be aware of a battery and have a kick on delay as far as I've been told. I wish the iBoost could be controlled with Home Assistant.
I have an Eddi and you are correct, I have mine set to 300w threshold with a 15 second delay. This way the battery gets the chance to grab the surplus.
I have a fox ess system. Do you have the WiFi data logger. Fox ess is very much a plug in and forget deal. Unlike others that cost more. But with the WiFi data logger that allows you to connect to the info that you can see of the fox ess cloud. They sell there own one. Your app is very different from mine. Fox ess have there own app that shows all the info you need. Even in if it's a few clicks to get to it (poor UI)
I have the H1-5-0E with the HV2600 batteries system. With data logger Search for "fox ess WiFi data logger" it will come up. Never had issues with my batteries charging in off-peak. But then when they said "we can install these in the roof" I said no that's stupid we will put these under the stairs. As for the zappi did you get the 3 CT clamps it requires for the unit. As stored energy in the batteries is viewed as "excess solar" for everything to do with house. But zappi sell some clamps so when set to + it will only pull from panels not batteries and that only happens when the batteries are full.
@@IanSampsonRLO your installer should have completely separate digital meter you can take daily readings only from solar output needed for checking feed in tariff returns. Have you thought about rejecting the system. My brother has similar problems and his insurance co are paying for solicitors to get his money back so he can get a fit for purpose system from someone else.
@@IanSampsonRLO I agree with @Mark Osbourne. Your system is not fit for purpose, I'm sure you told them your plans on how you would use it and they haven't given you what you thought you were paying for. I would take advice before spending any more money buying bits to try and make it work. You are protected by consumer law and should be able to get your money back plus compensation. The rubbish left behind shows you what a bunch of cowboys you inadvertently employed. Take advice do not spend more money on anything other than that!!
@@IanSampsonRLO The generation meter fitted when your panels were installed will show you exactly what your panels have produced. It may not be the solution you want, but if you take the readings each day/week and subtract your previous readings it will tell you how many Kw your panels have produced. Whatever you have fitted in the way of batteries etc. will have no effect on these reading. They are the exact generation figures for your solar panels.
Doh! Bad news. But of course you can spend another ~£200-£300 and get those figures if you invest in home automation, then do the mod/modbus thingy. (And then of course learn about and invest time in the home automation software). *it does occasionally wipe out all settings by the sounds of it when there is an update/change.
@IanSampsonRLO we'll get there :) thanks for the videos anyways, it's been good for the background info and additionalthings to look out for. Unfortunately I am with first4solar as well so we'll see... I am due for install the 7th March (order was placed in July!) and I have been giving them a massive kicking over communication already.... they'll only get a few chances before they lose my business. But I've day I'll be free of the clutches of BP and Shell :)
these home appliances should be analog, do their job unless there's a major problem. 👎 PS: Tesla ecosystem is much better, but it also behaves weirdly if you lose the internet connection or something.
Hi Ian. Great vid...I can see the pain in your face. It'd horrible when our new toys don't do what they should!! Full disclosure I am an EV Charger installer. I fitted a Zappi for a client just over a year ago. He had a 2kW PV array at the time of Zappi install with no storage capacity. All worked well and the Zappi has been using the excess solar to charge the car.....then he got a battery install and it all went a bit sour. His installer ripped out his PV inverter and installed a Fox Ess H1 hybrid (arguably because of the losses in conversion with AC coupled, but possibly because he got himself a free solar inverter!!) anyhoo..obviously the zappi now empties the battery as soon as you fire it up. I have been to the house, added an export margin to the zappi, renamed the CT clamp and set the Zappi to "do not drain battery" mode...none of which work as its the Foxx Ess system that sees the Zappi as a "general house load" and as soon as the Zappi fires up to charge, the H1 fires up to feed it power from the batteries...After a bit of head scratching the only solution (apart from physically turning the battery off) seems to be to "hide" the zappi from the inverter. I did a bit of poking around and found that this has been done and that it's a pretty common problem. Not sure if it's what you're looking for, in terms of solution but it should certainly stop your battery from feeding your Zappi, whilst still allowing the zappi to take energy from teh PV array (as long as the battery is already full) I think theonly way to have full integration between all the elements of yor set up may have been to have had a Libbi battery as you can prioritise exactly what feeds what and when etc...anyhoo, heres a link with a few schematics in it...hope it's of some use / interest to you...
myenergi.info/viewtopic.php?p=32919#p32919
Stressed me out just watching this video, hope you get it sorted.
Thanks! I hope so too!
There seems to be a requirement for a lot of user intervention with all this. No way “Joe Public” is gonna be able to babysit these systems to this extent.
Nope, totally agree. Mental.
Configure the zappi to export 50w to the grid. It will stop draining the battery.
Go to othersettings, advanced, password 0000,supplygrid...,Export Margin at least 50w.
I think you need the Eddi because you can set priorities between the zappi and eddi
Thanks for the info.
Yep, I can attest that. Every time the car comes on, the battery starts to give a bit more to meet the load, the zappi sees that and offers to the car, keeps doing til it hits the max inverter output. It’s cos the fox system is very fast reacting 👍🏻. Your iBoost probably has a sensitive export sense, with no export margin.
If you prefer the charge to go into the car first set the export margin on the zappi to 50w and 100w on the iBoost. Other way round to prefer the iBoost, should stop discharging the Fox.
Get yourself the myenergi EDDI! Works beautifully with the Zappi! There is also an option for the ZAPPI not to pull from the battery! Grid CT, Battery CT mandatory. Solar CT optional.
Is the option in the setting menu on the device? I had a hunt through the app and could not see an option?
You need the battery and grid CT sensors correctly fitted! And connected to the Zappi and/or Eddi or Harvi.
@@fje1948 the odd thing is - just like the iboost+ draining battery issue ~5% of the time, its the same with this - it doesnt simply do it each and every time indicating its a CT clamp issue....it cant be if it works fine often but odlly sometimes not.
@@IanSampsonRLO
Please re-read my previous comment!
I have no problem with my Solar iBoost,.worked for 7 years. I had have to change the batteries once. I highly recommned one and much cheaper that the myevergy products.
I had an I boost and always had problems locking up and had it changed twice , in the end I went down the Eddi route with extra c clamp, as someone else said configure the zappi for a slight export amount, don’t forget to add a rubber insulation to the bottom of the garage door , as for the solar not picking up the trash , get a solicitor to write a letter , especially regarding illegal dumping of toxic waste , with x days to collect , if not collected. Report to council, and have rubbish professionally collected and invoice them as instructed in solicitors letter . If they fail to communicate or pay it’s an easy win in small claims
To stop the battery draining you need an extra CT clamp from the zappi to the battery, and the Zappi set to battery to avoid drain setting
It’s on the inverter press the enter button under history then it’s there pv and change and discharge and consumed and feed in . I had to take photo between sunset and midnight every day for 20 months! Until got modbus home assistant and with home assistant you get 2-5 seconds old if not 3-5 mins with fox ! It worth it and you can use WiFi to the inverter . Also you can put the foil behind the battery and Underneath the batteries and helps by 2-3 c
You need to have the green margine to 100% if you want the Eco++ mode to only charge from solar. If your FoxESS system is a hybrid you also need to increase the export margin on the Zappi to stop it discharging your battery. I have a FoxESS H1 hybrid with a Zappi and have export merging set to 100Wats the default is 50, this can only be set from the Zappi (not in the app).
Hi Ian, I prefer to keep things as simple as possible. I have 2 pv strings to two separate inverters and a Fox ESS high voltage battery inverter. Both solar inverters are AC coupled and so is the battery inverter so the three elements are independent. Both pv inverters feed into separate MCBs in the consumer unit but the 2 line conductors pass through one CT clamp. The battery inverter controls the system on the “self use” work mode. For better control accuracy I use a meter on the grid tails instead of a CT clamp there to control the charge/discharge of my battery bank.
You are presumably on an EV tariff and get cheap hours in the night so I would suggest selling the iBoost and just heating your hot water on the cheap rate with a timer (eg Timeguard at £30 to £40). Doing this we have all the hot water we need for the day (210 litre well insulated tank) for about 20 pence per day.
If you have multiple CT clamps try to space them out also, they can sometimes get confused by being so close to another CT clamp.
You need an additional ct clamp on the battery, then configure the Zappi to exclude battery power. The Zappi starts charging the car with eco++ with greater than 1.4kw solar.
Correct!
So funny that the end user has to become the installer (well...not funny as in ha ha, but you know what I mean)
BUT - the Zappi DOES work...just not in the case I showed. Something happens every now and then where it drains the battery - but its not always.
You could add a CT clamp to detect the solar generation. The myenergy app can give more statistics info.
I always thought it would only pull a min of 1,4kw but this year ive seen it still charging lower .like 600Watts
your iboost will overheat as it doesn't have the recommended air gap around it for cooling, this could be the cause of it stopping. I got my iboost for 453.00 euro including delivery and fitted myself very easy to fit. never had any problems with it. I did have to increase the wattage to 300w before activating as it was coming on when usage would putting back to the grid on ramp down.
Get the efergy elite classic, has a small battery powered CT clamp, pop that on the output of your inverter, it wirelessly sends a ping every few seconds, to a hub that you get with it, you also get a meter so you can see in real time like a smart meter what's coming off the panels, it will also show you by the day what's been produced, if you connect the hub to the internet you can check it on your phone via the app, this is how I have been checking mine for 10 years, they still sell the kit on Amazon, totally wireless and very reliable.
Just finished watching feel your pain I would be be ripping first 4 solar to pieces until they sort your issues hope you get sorted because having a solar and battery system in your house is a wonderful thing
Someone once described I.T. in the 1990's as being 'As User-Friendly as a Cornered Rat', - and it sounds like your home Renewables 'I.T.' is in a similar situation ! Good Luck !
The myenergy zappi can also do solar and battery monitoring. You need CT clamps on the solar output and the battery output. If your cable runs are going to be too long with it then a havi can make them wireless CT clamps. Give us a shout if you want a hand.
My SunSynk battery charges fine from 7 degrees in my loft. It got to 90% today (trickle charging above 90%) but no warmer than 16 degrees C. Seems perverse that Fox inverter and battery don’t “just work” together. I generated 9.8kw solar today. I’m stunned how much Solar I’m generating so early in the year. Around 10kw each day this week, taking me effectively off-grid. But I’m not going to say it’s easy to administer. The software seems designed for electricians. Watching you reminds me I need to call my installer to fix 2 defective Tigos. Apparently today the Tigos reclaimed 380wh off a 6KW east west array. Unsure it’s worth it.
Only 5 mins in, but I feel like you'd save a mazzive headache by swapping the iBoost for the myenergi hot water diverter. Too many brains trying to use the excess (and don't talk to each other) is bound to cause problems.
Fresh batteries in the Iboost controller/ct clamp sender. installed mine and then it had the 'red light'. New AA battery (rather than the crap in the box) and seems to be working happier. Also got to a water heating 'hot' i.e maxed out on the immersion tank too, the other day.
I feel your pain. Hopefully, you'll eventually get it sorted.
Hopefully! One day it will happen ha ha
So amongst all this complication you have a couple more reference points on energy usage. The Electricity supplier app would show daily consumption from the 'grid', which should of course be consistently down now you have solar. Also, you have an In Home Display that shows live usage of both gas and electricity. Switch on a kettle and an oven and see the needle hit red, unless the battery offsets some of the demand. I'd say I hope that helps realising it is more complication, but at least you have a couple of more lots of measurement data.
Its now pretty much sorted, its took me throwing another few hundred quid at it though…and a kind chap who knows these systems inside and out to come down and do some work for me.
similar issue to me regarding HA. first off, don't do a wireless connection, try a ethernet over power cables system. once in there the Modbus thing is very effective and there is a very good video set on here that walks you through how to make that work.
Good luck
Scrap the lot apart from the PV on the roof. Go to Rayleigh Instruments as their Inverters and batteries are Amazing, I have Trina pv at 2450w and a 5.2 battery and it pulls 3443w nearly every day from the pv on the roof. The inverter and battery work great together .
Scary stuff. Given the choice I would get everything through myenegi in the hope that the components would play nicely together.
Eddi might be the answer to replace the iboost+ as the eddi can be hard wired.
Have you got a battery CT clamp fitted and set up on you Zappi install? You need to have that set up as an AC(?) battery and then set Zappi to Do Not Drain on the battery settings. It looks like you haven’t from your MyEnergi screenshot. Otherwise Zappi will see battery power as available “green” power from your inverter. Your installers should have added this in for you. We’ve had no issues with the Eddi btw. I don’t really have to intervene with our system - solar, powerwall, Zappi & Eddi. It all just works.
It has the harvi installed (which has a CT clamp) so should be good....from my understanding...which is end user.
Your MyEnergi screen doesn’t show a battery, so Zappi isn’t aware of it - it needs setting up by the looks of it. If you have a CT on the battery in/out, then that one needs correctly setting up and Zappi set to Avoid Drain.
Suggest you try a 50w export margin on the Zappi so when it charges in Eco++ it makes sure there’s a small amount of solar always going to the grid, so it won’t drain the battery. This needs to be set this way if your battery is DC coupled.
Where is the Green Lobby in all this? Surely they could be providing technical help & lists of reliable installers. Instead it's a consumer minefield & we're on our own
Agree! Nowhere to be seen. Big capital outlay and loads of dodgy outfits going bust…
I assume your Fox system has one inverter for the battery and the solar?
Because I had solar for ages before the battery, I have 2 different inverters, which is slightly less efficient, but means that monitoring is easy. I have GivEnergy batteries, and they seem much less bothered by temperature than your system..
I had runaway until I changed the iBoost level, but it does mean that the iBoost doesn't come on when solar is working but low and the battery is full.
I suspect your Zappi has the same thing as the iBoost - it checks the import (
Hi, haven't been through all the replies to your vid, but has anyone just suggested you go old school and insert a production meter in line with the AC output lines if that is possible
So, what interests me is . . . . What did that whole lot cost (roughly !) ? It looks like it could be a great system if only you could get all the bits working together
I have had my Fox H1 inverter and solar panels installed for just over year now. Great no problems very satisfied. However last week I had to have a new modem installed as they have gone full fibre broadband in my area. Unfortunately I have now lost my internet connection to my inverter that was set up with my old modem. Can anyone tell me how to change the settings for my new modem?
Just had Fox ESS batteries installed but with a Solis inverter, so I’m hoping once my panels are connected, that I will know how much I’m generating. My batteries are indoors, so I won’t have the issue with them not charging in the cold, but I do now have to deal with the issue of them emitting a high pitched noise which my family don’t like. So I don’t have to insulate a garage, but I do have to build a cupboard around the inverter and batteries…
I’m just installing , I want in reality the whole house to be able to run if I go off grid . Teslas suggested but their limitation is you have to choose what you want to run in the event of off grid .
Does the ESS allow complete function without having to choose , assuming I have enough cubes ?
Having continued on in video , unless something dramatic changed , fox is a no no.
Eddi is only around £408, no where near £800 you indicated. Never had an issue with mine, easy integration with zappi etc
On MyEnergi website its £446.95 delivered (2 month wait on one). But thats not fitted though. Day rate for electrician around £250? + Materials needed to wire it all in?
@@IanSampsonRLO plenty in stock at third parties such as DTR for 408.00. You have all the wiring in place for your existing unit. It should be quick for an electrician to swap over, maybe even a diy job if you are confident. Having more kit in one ecosystem in my opinion works better. However we do have PowerWalls also integrated in to the SolarEdge inverters (master and slave) and I would say overall it’s 90% integrated to monitor in any of the three apps, myenergi, SolarEdge or Tesla as each has CTs in place to enable this. Once you have it setup and stable, how ever you achieve it, it’s great.
@@in2branding the issue with the iboost+ is distance from the sender unit (to far). Sadly it has no option for a hardwire. So the hardwire of the eddi would need to be done from one side of the house to the other. If only life was simple. Cost would be quite high (around the £800 mark), hoping 1st4Solar will correct the issue as it would appear iboost+ is not fit for purpose in our situation.
@@IanSampsonRLO The Zappi and Eddi will share energy information over the network if you have them on the same vlan. Only one grid CT should be present between them. You can use a Harvi for additional CTs as well.
@@IanSampsonRLO an electrician should be able to install an eddi in around an hour. DIY, should you be so minded, is easy.
These devices are powerful but the user Interfaces are spalling and a normal person will struggle with a million options under a million sub menus. Need a nice GUI or app with toggle switches charge on/off solar only on/off etc
We have had the solar I boost for over a. Year and so far no problems. With regards to generation it seem sill you can’t see what your producing. We have the growatt system and it’s good gives you loads of data I know it doesn’t help you I would pus fox to sort a data read out. Good luck hoping you get it sorted
I have a Victron inverter (home storage), solar and a Zappi. The Victron is part of the main consumer unit, the Zappi is on its own consumer unit. The Zappi CT looks at the total main power coming in and out of the house, the Victron only looks at the main consumer unit, not the Zappi. That works for me. With the Victron looking at the total power coming into the house no matter how I tried once the Zappi started to charge from excess solar, the battery started to power it. Looking at the comments I might try the 50W idea
Hi Ian. Have you considered going to a First 4 Solar competitor and explaining your situation? If I was their competitor and knew you had a UA-cam following, I'd see a lot of value in sorting you out with a new system to review. Just an idea. I've followed you more many years from your Leaf days and am used to your enthusiasm. I can see this is really getting to you (understandably) and wish you all the best in getting it sorted.
I believe that you can get an rs485 (I believe RS485 is cabling and connection, ModBus is communication protocol) to wifi adapter that is hardwired to the fox inverter. My Fox system is getting installed today - roofer here, electrician on his way, so I will be having similar fun although no heat divert or EV charger. I have Home assistant set up on a RPi3 and once the Fox system is installed I will start playing!!! I will let you know how I get on.
I agree it's strange that FoxESS does not give you the Solar Yield and even in Home Assistant it's not easy but for the reason of return on investment it is totally academic as it more important to know how much you use and how much you import
Having live figures helps behaviour, so when home can manage usage more effectively
Does the inverter not have figures and a dongle point to connect to
I like a good gadget, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. There seems to be too much technology fighting each other! I've had an IBoost for several years with no problems.
No idea what amount of solar you were producing BUT the Zappi can only charge the car from solar at the minimum the car will take....ie it wont put 500w in. With my Zoe if you set it to solar excess it will fill the toughs left when the sun goes behind a cloud.... I have a feeling the minimum of about 1100w, its better to fill the gaps with battery than grid.....
Happy I’m with solar edge system
There is Zigbee devices that can connect to your smart meter
You can’t get a harvi or rainforest device?
It’s weird that they don’t send stats data via wifi to the app portal and at least let you export to excel or offer an api to call
Have you consider for the network to use "powerline network adapters" ? You cause use one with multiple network connection instead of a switch.
Is the Fox system a Hybrid Inverter? If so the Zappi won’t know the difference between solar/battery. It will see discharge from the battery as solar. You can set it to minimise draw but it’s not perfect.
I recommend replacing the iboost with an Eddi that the whole myenergi system can utilise and control.
Yeah I think thats the only way.
@@IanSampsonRLO which model of the zappi is it? have you looked at the harvi as Zappi2.1 has wifi master and harvey work's. I too having a nightmare with Givenergy, battery drained and now can't be seen.
was like you with First still waiting of a deposit doing charge back.
agree with you on the way too complicated to just work.
How would the zappi know where the power comes from? does Ian have a CT clamp from the grid and also the battery to the Zappi ? maybe an Eddie would work nicer with a zappi.
🤷♂
Set the Zappi minimum green level to 100% and an export margin and it won't start charging the car until you have 1.4 kW export + export margin.
Definitely iboost works when transmitter on mains cable detects the solar going back to grid but are you using iboost transmitter or other make .maybe multiple devices transmitting .is this version one of iboost , the battery in the transmitter going only problem I have had but have no batteries just evs
Fox Ess web browser offers all the detail you need. The ios software will be updated before the end of 2023.
This is a new feature, but of course the main issue with the fox cloud is its only polling every 5 minutes, so is not a 'live' readout, and it also relies on the cloud/fox servers being operational.
The only way with this system to get reliable data is to modbus it and use third party software such as Home Assistant (which is what I ended up doing at additional cost)
My Zappi works similar to yours. On eco+ it waits until the battery is full then starts to charge the car at up to 7kW even though the solar is generating less than 4kW. After a while the charge rate drops but the battery is well depleted by then. On eco it starts to charge the car without waiting for the battery to be full.
Hmmm, not great!
Hi Ian on the zappi screen you don’t have any figures for solar gen or house consumption so the zappi has no idea when in eco ++ mode where the energy is coming from it would need ct clamps in place connected to the zappi or a harvi to get that info. The next thing I would think is you essentially have two solar diverters the iboast and zappi with no way to prioritise then I think an Eddie would have been better solution as u could prioritise in the app. Looks like who ever fitted it out cts on for the fox system so everything is managed in there so not sure if that can or will ever work with the zappi correctly. I am not an expert or anything but have had batteries solar and a zappi for a few years and some basic understanding has been gained over time hope you get it sorted.
Thanks for the info. It has the Harvi connected up so not sure if thats supposed to stop the issues I am having or not?
I am hoping 1st4Solar come through and fit an eddi and maybe that will put part of the issue to bed.
BUT - the Zappi DOES work...just not in the case I showed. Something happens every now and then where it drains the battery - but its not always.
I had an issue when mine was first fitted that I went with social energy a battery grid trade scheme. The way it’s supposed to work is they control the battery and take when the energy is expensive for them and charge when it’s cheap. But I already had the zappi so with two solar diverters that don’t know about each other there’s a constant battle when there’s excess solar over which device gets it ie zappi or battery through the social energy management. This went on for about 2 months until I complained and got them to send someone who knew what is was talking about I shown him the data I had gathered and he said it would never work with the zappi and one would have to go so I had them refund me for the social energy stuff. I think you may have a similar issue with the zappi and iboast they don’t know about each other so can’t prioritise that’s why sometime it work as expected and other times it doesn’t it probably depends on which device reacts fastest to the excess from the solar
@@MyHarbinger I think that makes a lot of sense!
I got my solar inverter going with modbus over wifi with home assistant but not sure your inverter can do this sorry
Could it be to do with tolerances? Maybe it needs an 'excess' to be above a certain limit (for a certain length of time) for the CT clamps to register it as an 'excess' not just a surge? Solar is constantly changing under cloudy conditions, hence maybe why it's not working as it should.
For the iboost you mean? If so yes - it allows between 100w and 500w in 50w increments. I have it set to 250w to try and stop the ramp up (rarely happens - but does happen).
For it not working at all when there is excess - coms issue from what I have seen. Probably due to the distance between the iboost+ and sender unit. Shame it cannot be hard wired!
I think CT clamps are wrong I have battery and iboost works fine
CT Clamps all good.
You keep pressing the BOOST BUTTON !!! You need to press the display button !
I wish it was that simple.
I have a very similar problem that you do with the iBoost. The only solution I've found is to set an export margin of 300w. With this, if the iBoost grabs the excess faster than the battery, it quickly ramps down as the margin for the battery is a lot lower (100w kick in). When the clouds frequently change from peak sun to cloud and back again, I end up just switching it off. Overall I think the Eddi is a lot better as you can better configure it to be aware of a battery and have a kick on delay as far as I've been told. I wish the iBoost could be controlled with Home Assistant.
Interesting! Yeah shame HA cannot control it. Iboost is fairly old tech from my understanding
I have an Eddi and you are correct, I have mine set to 300w threshold with a 15 second delay. This way the battery gets the chance to grab the surplus.
Why do keep pressing boost button and not display button ?
Button to turn screen on can be any of the 4, irrelevant which button it is (as per video)
I have a fox ess system. Do you have the WiFi data logger. Fox ess is very much a plug in and forget deal. Unlike others that cost more. But with the WiFi data logger that allows you to connect to the info that you can see of the fox ess cloud. They sell there own one. Your app is very different from mine. Fox ess have there own app that shows all the info you need. Even in if it's a few clicks to get to it (poor UI)
I have the H1-5-0E with the HV2600 batteries system. With data logger Search for "fox ess WiFi data logger" it will come up. Never had issues with my batteries charging in off-peak. But then when they said "we can install these in the roof" I said no that's stupid we will put these under the stairs.
As for the zappi did you get the 3 CT clamps it requires for the unit. As stored energy in the batteries is viewed as "excess solar" for everything to do with house. But zappi sell some clamps so when set to + it will only pull from panels not batteries and that only happens when the batteries are full.
Do fox have a business address , think it needs smashed solar panel left outside its entrance
1st4Solar did the install of the Fox equipment. I was thinking of shipping it over to them....trouble is that costs more money!
Just had a thought 🤪, do you have an export meter?
Or smart meter
Insulating the garage door… nice tip, thanks! Does it make a huge difference though?
In my case.....not really - marginal difference.
@@IanSampsonRLO New insulated garage door needed? And what is the garage roof insulation like?
@@RichardABW will be building a new garage soon to accommodate the fox batteries before to long 😂
If you have a MCS compliant solar installation you should have a separate physical meter on your solar output.
I had a look at that, but could not see where it gives daily figures? (and not sure if those figures include battery charge/discharge)
@@IanSampsonRLO your installer should have completely separate digital meter you can take daily readings only from solar output needed for checking feed in tariff returns. Have you thought about rejecting the system. My brother has similar problems and his insurance co are paying for solicitors to get his money back so he can get a fit for purpose system from someone else.
@@markosborne7311 I wonder if he then will get a fully operational system - or is it a pipe dream in reality!? (Which system did he have?)
@@IanSampsonRLO I agree with @Mark Osbourne. Your system is not fit for purpose, I'm sure you told them your plans on how you would use it and they haven't given you what you thought you were paying for.
I would take advice before spending any more money buying bits to try and make it work.
You are protected by consumer law and should be able to get your money back plus compensation.
The rubbish left behind shows you what a bunch of cowboys you inadvertently employed.
Take advice do not spend more money on anything other than that!!
@@IanSampsonRLO The generation meter fitted when your panels were installed will show you exactly what your panels have produced. It may not be the solution you want, but if you take the readings each day/week and subtract your previous readings it will tell you how many Kw your panels have produced. Whatever you have fitted in the way of batteries etc. will have no effect on these reading. They are the exact generation figures for your solar panels.
😊👍🌹
Check your iboost batteries
Getting this system with batteries and gutted I won't be able to see the actual generation 😢 I'm a Number nerd
Doh! Bad news. But of course you can spend another ~£200-£300 and get those figures if you invest in home automation, then do the mod/modbus thingy. (And then of course learn about and invest time in the home automation software). *it does occasionally wipe out all settings by the sounds of it when there is an update/change.
@IanSampsonRLO we'll get there :) thanks for the videos anyways, it's been good for the background info and additionalthings to look out for. Unfortunately I am with first4solar as well so we'll see... I am due for install the 7th March (order was placed in July!) and I have been giving them a massive kicking over communication already.... they'll only get a few chances before they lose my business. But I've day I'll be free of the clutches of BP and Shell :)
My eddi has saved me £300 in first year
Lol, too late just had a fox ess installed
Ha ha, oh well. Welcome aboard. Start looking at Home Assistant and modbus
You had zappi at 50%Green put it 100%
Stick that solar panel in the back of the ENV and dump it outside their office.
I would…a little far away!
So frustrating isn’t it. Your best smashing the iBoost with a hammer it will make you feel better. 🤣
Ha ha, it would!!
these home appliances should be analog, do their job unless there's a major problem. 👎
PS: Tesla ecosystem is much better, but it also behaves weirdly if you lose the internet connection or something.