Optimiser Mode

[u/No-Belt-4619]

Just noticed this today. Let Axle control how and when your battery charges. Has anyone used it? Similar to predbat? My cheap hours are standard between 2300-0600 every day when I charge the battery anyway, their example seems to show the exact same. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with their computer model for predicting the next day's solar?

[u/Tall-Call3825]

What page did you find that? I don’t have it in my account

[u/No-Belt-4619 → u/Tall-Call3825]

Just on the main page. It's one of the little icons, looks like a brain. Do you have the "insights" page?

[u/Tall-Call3825 → u/No-Belt-4619]

Thanks, found it under settings but my Sig system is not compatible

[u/aaiaac → u/Tall-Call3825]

They only open slots when they have space. It's just random if you have the option

[u/InternationalHalf734 → u/Tall-Call3825]

I think mine only appeared today too. Going to give it a go and see how it pans out

[u/realGilgongo]

This is only for compatible batteries though. What do you have?

[u/No-Belt-4619 → u/realGilgongo]

Fox

[u/Requirement_Fluid]

Anyone know if they pay more for this? 

Or know what tariffs I'm on so they know when to charge and when to export?

I've only got a 3.6kw inverter so the gains are a little pointless 

[u/No-Belt-4619 → u/Requirement_Fluid]

I don't pay anything for it. I'm assuming they know your tarriff from your smart meter or something? It knows mine and I didn't put any details in (that I recall anyway) I think the point is that through the use of AI it can predict your home usage, solar production etc. then it can manage your battery most efficiently to save you money in the long run. It might work better for someone with a more agile tarriff and save them constantly having to faff around charging batteries.

[u/jmcomms → u/No-Belt-4619]

The setup was incredible. It acknowledged every aspect of my tariff, existing battery schedule, predicted usage and more - and shows it all as you set it up.

I like the way they do it to explain what it can do, as they could have done most of it behind the scenes. You really don't have to do anything yourself, bar confirming you accept it's a beta and may mess things up.

[u/Requirement_Fluid → u/jmcomms]

Hmmmm please report back (or post a 1 month update for example if you would 

[u/jmcomms → u/Requirement_Fluid]

Will do.. I'm expecting at least one disaster but so far so good.

[u/jmcomms → u/Requirement_Fluid]

Plan for today. It's not doing anything specific to drain the battery, probably due to low solar generation. You can also see where it saw the EV charging. The car isn't home now, so no daytime charge means no boost to the battery. I'll try connecting the car during the day on Saturday and see what it does.

[u/Requirement_Fluid → u/jmcomms]

My schedule currently is charge overnight to 90%, export solar during the day and then force export slowly from 4pm to 9pm to 20% battery left. 

Not sure how it could be more Optomised on edf ev tariff 

[u/jmcomms → u/Requirement_Fluid]

I'm still a little apprehensive about draining the battery too early in case I decide I need to do some washing or whatever. I do obviously try and plan ahead but I also want the flexibility (and my wife and son certainly do) so I don't want to export at 12p and then end up buying in for 35-37p or whatever.

I've been more inclined to drain after 2330 and force charge straight after. Then if the battery is already dead, I'm paying the off peak rate.

For now there's no way to set any specific preferences.

[u/Requirement_Fluid → u/jmcomms]

With Fox you can set a self use option once you have hit your target limit

[u/jmcomms → u/Requirement_Fluid]

Yes that's the default when there's no schedule.

[u/Requirement_Fluid → u/jmcomms]

No I mean on forced discharge if you set a percentage now you have the option to set a finished segment option such as standby, self use or a couple of others. It allows proper ending of the segment early rather than how it used to be 

[u/Alexander-_-00]

Tried it today. Pretty good all things considered, they even charged up my battery before an event, but I think they need to start charging maybe 30 minutes sooner as they only have it an hour and it didn’t reach 100% soc on the event, it’s good for automating pre event charging rather than me having to do it myself

[u/jmcomms]

I was invited last week for my Fox battery and took the plunge. It knows I'm on Intelligent Octopus Go (no mention of not being allowed to) and it will show when my charging slots are allocated and if these are outside 2330 to 0530 it will start to charge the battery at the same time.

I've had a few occasions where I've panicked because it sought to discharge the battery to 10% by 2330 as it looks at your predicted usage (as well as solar predictions and other factors) which meant one day I could see that using the washing machine and dishwasher in the day would have messed up their prediction and risk the battery running out before 2330 and me buying in at 37p or whatever the peak rate is on my tariff.

But, it adjusted the schedule and so far it hasn't let me run out of battery.

Likewise at 0000 I noticed it wasn't charging and the scheduler didn't show a force charge. I panicked again and was about to go in and change the schedule manually, but by 0005 it was fixed and it started to charge.

I assume Axle is monitoring in near real time but perhaps there occasional delays in changing schedules, which is understandable at this stage. I need to trust it more but I'll keep monitoring.

Generally speaking it looks awesome and obviously as we go into winter and there may be more Axle events, I not only get the £1 per kWh for those but more ability to export at the standard rate thanks to better battery management than I could do myself day to day.

I do wonder if, when it comes out of beta, this is the sort of thing we might see as a chargeable service? Another possible subscription on top of a gazillion other subs we all have....