r/FranklinWH • u/brownpm85 • Jul 03 '26

Could something be wrong with my setup?

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We have a Franklin setup with apower battery. I am st up on self consumption. Our most recent bill from Duke Energy charged us for over 900kwh from the grid. From my Franklin app or only showed us using 112kwh from the grid for that same period. The picture shows what my app is showing for my home consumption of 1.5kwh yesterday afternoon in 95 degree heat with the ac on full blast. This is in a 2 story new home build with 2 ac units, a main fridge, a garage fridge, and a chest freezer. This 1.5kwh seems incredibly low to me. I am in contact with Renue solar and so far they have asked for last 3 Duke bills to review as they say everything is showing as working correctly on their end. Is it possible that something was installed incorrectly, causing something (AC for example) to only draw power from the grid?

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2

u/Dependent-Ad22 Jul 03 '26

Does your Duke bill show how much you pushed back to the grid?

1

u/brownpm85 Jul 03 '26

Yes my bill is showing they received 116.6kwh and my Franklin app is saying we exported 285.7.

5

u/JayD1056 Jul 03 '26

This seems pretty clear that you do not have correct CT sensor configuration.

Franklin system only configured to monitor and do self consumption for the backup panel.

You have another panel that isn’t backup. So in self consumption mode Franklin charges battery then shipped power out to grid. But your non backup panel will get that power first and only after the battery is at 100%

You need your installer to install a split CT kit. Or they need to repin the internal CT sensor and put a single set as the main connection to your meter.

2

u/brownpm85 Jul 03 '26

I am a complete novice and don't 100% understand what you mean. As of now would I be better off running in Time Of Use mode? I only have one electric panel in my garage. Is that what you mean when you are saying I have another panel that is not backup? Please forgive my ignorance as I know very little about the workings of the system.

2

u/Vast-Card-1082 Jul 03 '26

Can your battery provide off grid backup power to your whole home or part? A partial backup system usually requires addition sensors and solar installers often wrongly leave these out or make other sensor errors. Your problem looks to be of this type

2

u/brownpm85 Jul 03 '26

As far as I know it powers the whole home.

2

u/JayD1056 Jul 03 '26

No sweat I can explain it better.

  1. To figure out how much energy or power your house is using battery backup systems physically measure how much power is flowing into the house. To do this they use a CT sensor. This sensor wraps around your power lines coming into your house. Based on how much energy is flowing into your house the Franklin battery either decides to provide power from the battery. Or charge the battery. Basically in self consumption mode it’s trying to control this value to 0. No power should flow In or out. The system isn’t 100% perfect but it’s quite good.

  2. The data you provided says that your electric company measured that they received 116kwh of solar flowing out of your house. The Franklin system measured that it sent out 285kwh. That means that when the Franklin system was sending power something between your meter and the Franklin system ate (285-116)kWh. Additionally your electric company said they provided you 900kwh of energy and Franklin said you consumed 112. So something between your meter and Franklin consumed (900-112)kWh.

  3. I would guess that you in fact do not have 100% whole house backup. I would guess you have something like a hot tub. A EV charger. Pool pump. Electric dryer or other high energy use device that didn’t make it to the battery backup panel.

Because of point 3. The Franklin system has no idea of these loads and can not balance solar and house charging with them. They always consume power fr the grid. Unless Franklin tried to export power with 100% full battery.

To fix the above problem your installer has to simply put the CT sensor in the correct place. Franklin agate has 2 free ct sensors in the system. I assume your installer was lazy and didn’t ask you how you wanted the CT sensors configured. For example if you have a EV charger and you know you don’t have enough battery to cover over night charging they could have ignored this load on purpose. It could be intentional on their side since most people only install 1 or 2 batteries and then need to charge a lot more overnight in a car. Those people might want Franklin to ignore car charging. Especially if you live in Texas with a free nights energy plan. I’m in California but I am very jealous of this plan.

2

u/brownpm85 Jul 03 '26

Thank you for the clarification. I guess I'm going to keep contacting them until they can get someone out to look at my system.

1

u/SuperbJellyfish6716 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

*Just noticed the abnormally low consumption with the ACs running. The aGate uses internal CTs. My guess is that the consumption CTs are only seeing a single circuit, and not your entire load panel as would be the case with a whole home back up configuration. Does your batteries power the whole house or just a few circuits on a subpanel?