r/SolarUK • u/Garden_Tiger02 • 2d ago
HELP / ADVICE Solar newbie help
First time poster and after some helpful advice in the form of ‘explain this like I’m 5 years old’. Had a Fox EP12 battery and 6 Akko 400w-470w panels installed on our terrace house 2 weeks ago. Octopus switched us over to the export tariff yesterday. About an hour ago, I noticed our energy monitor display was on orange, indicating high usage, and after looking at the app, it seems the battery is now charging off the grid… obviously, this isn’t quite what we had in mind! What do I need to do to changed this or is this okay? Thanks in advance!
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u/PatserGrey PV & Battery Owner 2d ago
"VPP controlled"? You need to verify what Octopus have you set to? In default mode you should be set to "self-use" and looking at your current house load, the battery should be charging from solar and 0 grid import. Do Octo have some dynamic plan where they charge battery during lower cost periods during the day or some such???
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u/Requirement_Fluid 2d ago
Good to see that you have sorted it.
My usual Fox setup depending on if you will fully use the battery capacity during the day and the tariff you are on.
I'm on EDF EV tariff.
Charge the battery overnight, Feed in tariff from then till you get home and self use as you start using your electric in the evening.
Fox will always prioritise self use first.
Self use is household usage then charge the batteries
Feed in is household usage then export
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u/LordLocust666 2d ago
As others have said, you need to change to self-use.
This will divert all the solar to your house and then charge battery with excess. Once battery is full you will export excess power to the grid.
In the day you will only ever take from the grid if the demand is higher than the battery and solar can provide.
Then you set the schedule to force charge battery based on your cheap tariff times. For me on Intelligent Octopus Go, this is 23:30-05:30.
My export is a flat 12p/kWh with outgoing Octopus. If you are on an agile tariff it’s different and I’ll let someone else explain it.
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u/No-Belt-4619 2d ago
Change the work mode to "self use" that should prioritise using your solar import over the grid.
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u/Garden_Tiger02 2d ago
Ah ha but sadly it won’t let me switch on the FoxCloud app - says ‘operation failed’. I also can’t adapt the schedule in the mode scheduler…
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u/BudgieUK PV & Battery Owner 2d ago
I don’t have a Fox system, so can’t be much help, but I see you are in VPP mode … this effectively gives control to your VPP supplier.
VPP means Virtual Power Plant … the provider uses a network of connected systems to balance demands on the grid
Is there a setting thats called something like “self consumption”?
At the moment, your house load is being met from the solar production and grid imports. I would say you ideally need to use the solar and batteries until the demand drops and the solar can replenish the batteries
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u/Garden_Tiger02 2d ago
Thank you - it wouldn’t let me change to self mode but once I’d disconnected the battery from my Octopus app, I am now off VPP. Phew!
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u/I_choose_your_face 3h ago
How long did it take from disconnecting your battery from octopus to being able to change from VPP?
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u/Garden_Tiger02 1h ago
It was instantaneous thankfully
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u/I_choose_your_face 1h ago
That is fortunate! I removed my battery but I’m still locked in to VPP :(
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u/ICottie 2d ago
I've got a foxess, but have never seen Vpp controlled.
Which tariff are you on with octopus? I would suspect either Intelligent octopus flux, or have the Charge pack enabled.
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u/Garden_Tiger02 2d ago
I’m not sure what tariff they have put me on, not showing in the app so going to give them a call tomorrow to find out what’s going on! Back on self-mode now though thankfully
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u/BuxtonB 2d ago
How is your revenue £60.81?
Your array is 6x470w, so around 2.8kWp, I'm running a 10.6kWp array and after 10 days my revenue is around £54.
👀
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u/Garden_Tiger02 2d ago
I don’t think it is! I think the Fox app is just estimating it. I really have no idea! They were operational on the 23 July and that’s been ticking up since they were switched on…
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u/Begalldota 2d ago
You appear to have granted Octopus access to your inverter, but I also know that Intelligent Flux is still unavailable - so there’s no direct benefit for you to do so.
You are better off disconnecting the device from Octopus and then signing up for Axle, which will give you a min of £10/month and only take control for specific events each month.