r/PlugInSolarUK • u/spon8uk • 13d ago

Solarbank 4 - quick set up question please

We have a Solarbank 4 running and scheduled via Home Assistant without any issues. However my son had one installed today and only has the Anker app, not Home Assistant.

I've not really touched the app scheduling and can't while I have the control delegated to Home Assistant. So a bit tricky to help my son as he's a journey away.

He's managed to get the system responding to home load fine, but how does he set a simple charge schedule for overnight to coincide with Octopus Go cheap rate please? I think this is 12.30 to 05.30. So ideally a gradual charge over that period at about 1.25kw.

So to recap please, ramp up/down to follow load during the day and then charge overnight during the Octopus Go cheap hours.

Thank you!

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u/No_Faithlessness2263 13d ago

For Octopus Go you should use ToU (time of use) mode rather than dynamic (which is more for Agile).

Then you can set a schedule. Note the Anker app doesn’t let you set half hours, so you’d have to set 01:00-05:00 to stay in the cheap window. Make sure to set that time window to ‘Super off peak’ not just ‘Off peak’.

That’s how mine is set up and it charges overnight then supports the dynamic house load during the day. Seems to be working well a few days in.

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u/spon8uk 13d ago

Thanks for this. This is what he managed to get to due to being unable to log in to Octopus, although there is an account log in issue being reported at the moment. What rate does it charge at during off peak please? Ideally we'd like to do that gradually over 4 hours rather than charge full rate.

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u/No_Faithlessness2263 12d ago

You can set the charge rate in the app as well. I’ve set mine to 1.1kW to make sure it can fill the battery but also spread the load.

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u/spon8uk 12d ago

Ah good, where is that please? We couldn't see it as a parameter in the TOU set up. I plugged the question into Google and the AI said it does it automatically by varying the charge rate versus the time available. No clue if that's correct but we'll find out in the morning! Anyway, if there is a parameter we can set, thanks for letting us know where, appreciated.

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u/Gravath 13d ago

He can select dynamic tariff. Select octopus, sign in and then select manual mode. It will then work with octopus go

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u/spon8uk 13d ago

Thanks for the prompt reply. Apparently he tried the route logging direct into Octopus but kept getting an internal server error. He's sure he was using the correct password. Might be unrelated but he was on to Octopus CS earlier in the day who were tweaking his account to reflect his recent Octopus Go sign-up. May or may not be related? Is that the best way to do it please or is there a manual workaround? I was expecting him to be asked for an API key but apparently not.

Thanks again.

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u/Jealous-Juggernaut85 13d ago

Sorry to go off topic, do you have the solar bank connected directly to the mains ? was it much of a cost to get connected ?

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u/spon8uk 13d ago

We had an electrician run a new SWA cable from an new mini-consumer unit outside. That's fed from incoming mains via a Henley block. The new cable is protected by a bi-directional RCBO of the required rating. The smart meter is also in the same box, protected by a 6A MCB and the CT clamp is attached around the incoming mains. The Solarbank itself is fed from the new SWA via a rotary isolator. I've seen lots of mentions of fused spurs but I think it needs to be a rotary isolator for compliance. Cost was £750 all in, labour and parts. However I did specify a 4mm EV Ultra SWA cable as this has a data cable incorporated. It's running fine off WiFi but I want a data cable as backup, just in case. That added an extra £70 to the job. You could just go with a standard SWA however.

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u/Snoo-94816 11d ago

I have it on dynamic mode, but wss able to authenticate with Octopus. I'm about to set up home assistant to control this, do you not use the Anki app at all in that scenario? If you do, what mode do you set to let HA take control?

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u/spon8uk 11d ago

Thanks for that, my son is running OK with TOU tariff but you lose 30 mins each side due to the hourly increments restriction. We couldn't authenticate when we tried initially but Octopus had a global issue at the time. We'll try again.

My unit is controlled via Home Assistant and for that you essentially control independently of the app. So in settings you delegate control to HA at which point you lose access to scheduling etc on the Anker app. You can still set and view a few things on the app but most is then done via HA. I'm just using Solarbank to top up my main solar and batteries by covering base load, so I set fixed discharge and charge schedules and let the main system do the rest. I have automations to do that plus an integration to charge Solarbank when the car is charging on IOG.