Hi everyone, I have a question about Octopus Intelligent Go and solar exports. The issue: On sunny days when my panels are generating well, I’m exporting to the grid as expected. However, if my EV is plugged in during the day, Octopus Intelligent Go sometimes starts charging it using cheap daytime rates. While this is cheap, I actually don’t want it to charge during the day because I prefer exporting all my excess solar rather than using grid import, even at a reduced rate. I suspect Octopus triggers this because they also have excess solar on the grid during those hours, so it makes sense for them to offer cheap rates. But for me, it’s counterproductive as I’d rather maximise my export payments or offset my household use fully before charging. My questions: Does anyone else here find this an issue with Octopus Intelligent Go? Is the solution simply to toggle smart charging off during the day and back on at dusk to force it to charge only overnight? Has anyone set up an automated workaround for this to avoid manual switching each day? Keen to hear how others manage this. Thanks in advance for your advice.

@"PANface"#p8132 this is definitely a downside to solar and batteries on IOG whilst export rates are good. First world problems, although I suspect those days are numbered, duck curve, zonal pricing, blah, blah. Anyway, realistically, your options are: 1) don't plug in until the sun has mostly gone 2) switch off smart charging and set a timer in the appropriate device to only use the core hours (you only need to smart charge once a month to pay lip service to the T&Cs) Not really in the spirit of things but, here we are. 3) depending on how you're integrated to IOG, leave smart charging on, set a timer in the chargepoint/EV for say 21:00-05:30 and plug in anyway. The danger with this method is you get insufficient charge because half the slots Octopus generates are outside of your defined period.

@"PANface"#p8132 Before I had my Export Account I used to switch off Smart Charge in the Octopus App and plug the car in to soak up the excess solar. Now that I can get paid for export, just don’t plug the car in until early evening, when generation has gone below 1.4kW.

I have a 12kW solar system but can only export up to 3.68kW due to DNO limits. Because of this, I prefer to use as much solar as possible during the day to avoid wasting excess generation. At the moment, I plug in my EV during the day so it uses some of that solar. Currently, I have to switch IOG off every morning and remember to turn it back on in the evening to ensure it only charges overnight. If WW could automate this i could set and forget if i had a small wish: WW Toggle IOG switch off 9am toggle switch on dusk or 5pm

@"PANface"#p8146 but WW can't control IOG, only how your inverter reacts to it. Are you saying you want a timed version of this button, so WW doesn't react to IOG schedules during the day...? [URL=https://imgapi.wonderwatt.com/i/ArmzObt.png][IMG]https://imgapi.wonderwatt.com/i/ArmzObth.png[/IMG][/URL]

Mmmm, yeah… what was I thinking? Doh. I’m trying to stop Octopus from selling me electricity during the sunny times when I’m actually trying to sell it to them, while topping up my car using the free solar energy. The only way I’ve found so far is to toggle off “AM” and remember to toggle it back on later if I need more charge… but I have a memory issue.

> @"PANface"#p8160 I’m trying to stop Octopus from selling me electricity during the sunny times when I’m actually trying to sell it to them, while topping up my car using the free solar energy. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell it back to them at say 15p, and plug car in in the evening and top EV up at 7p?

@"admin"#p8161 i can only sell back 3.68kw but produce 12kw at peak

@"PANface"#p8162 I see, export limit. Is this a use case that other IOG users would find helpful too?

Daytime Smart EV Charging Undermining My Solar Export (Octopus Intelligent Go)

« Previous Page