How to getthe best out of Octopus Flux

Welshman said:
Mine was taking off my bill….so my account was credit £38, my bill was £178, so i owe them £140 via direct debit
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Sorted thank you! Now live from today so hoping to be quids in over the summer with West facing pannels. Although Mrs has hammered the elec this afternoon so nothing in battery doh!!
 
@Ron-ski you got any electric data yet for yesterday, its past 1pm and i still dont have any at all. Export was updated before 9am

my bright app has electric data for yesterday, but not the octopus app or octo aid as yet.
 
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@Welshman Octopus app shows import and export for yesterday, Bright has yesterdays imports, Octopus Watch has imports for yesterday, but no exports, Octopus Website shows no exports for yesterday, but has the imports.

Amazes me how the Octopus App shows one thing, whilst the website is different, I changed my DD on the website as the app wouldn't let me, but the app took about a week to catch up. Its almost like they have two different data sets, and they are not in sync.
 
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Ron-ski said:
@Welshman Octopus app shows import and export for yesterday, Bright has yesterdays imports, Octopus Watch has imports for yesterday, but no exports, Octopus Website shows no exports for yesterday, but has the imports.

Amazes me how the Octopus App shows one thing, whilst the website is different, I changed my DD on the website as the app wouldn't let me, but the app took about a week to catch up. Its almost like they have two different data sets, and they are not in sync.
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My ocopus app still only showing export for yesterday…..no import, no gas.

Bright App showing import and gas…..ive asked bright to start showing export as the data is available to them via DCC and they are trying to get that sorted.

what irks me is we all get our data at different times from the same company, its crazy
 
I may well buy the IHD from Bright/Hilderbrand, that communicates directly with the smart meters, it means you can see exactly what is happening without relying on cloud sources, but it probably needs Home Assistant or similar to get the best out of it.

Only downside is that then the Bright data comes directly from your IHD, so you don't know if the DCC is actually receiving it via the network, but I think you can switch the source in the app.

I have gas showing in all of them for yesterday.

I think its just one of them things we need to accept being unreliable, as long as it appears in the end.
 
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Ron-ski said:
I may well buy the IHD from Bright/Hilderbrand, that communicates directly with the smart meters, it means you can see exactly what is happening without relying on cloud sources, but it probably needs Home Assistant or similar to get the best out of it.

Only downside is that then the Bright data comes directly from your IHD, so you don't know if the DCC is actually receiving it via the network, but I think you can switch the source in the app.

I have gas showing in all of them for yesterday.

I think its just one of them things we need to accept being unreliable, as long as it appears in the end.
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The bright ihd doesnt show export though. You only get that of you use the api or local mppq is it with your own HA or other monitoring set-up…. Thats the issue with them all, none of them show or record real time export data. Its flaming annoying.

Even the monitoring system i bought from Bright/Hildebrand didnt work, ending up sending it back as it was a waste of 100 bucks….and it wouldnt even connect to pvoutput as it was APP only and the android app was too old to work on my new phone ( app last updated in 2019 )
 
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SoliD said:
yeah conveniently my export is with Octopus! :D Just my smart meter was not smart with Sainsburys but it's one of the Secure Liberty ones so hopefully it should be a quick switch in that regard!
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Hi
My go faster runs out on the 23rd of this month. Octopus said i have to wait to go onto the variable before requested to go to flux - which is a shame would be nice to get it all ready now and go straight to flux on the 23rd.

also .... i am already exporting with octopus (whoping 4.1p kwh) but octopus said i still need top supply my mpan etc which is a pain....as i cant find the details. i know they are somewhere, but i already gave this over 2 years ago.

did you guys have to supply anything if already exporting with octopus or did they just flick a switch?
thanks
 
Welshman said:
The bright ihd doesnt show export though. You only get that of you use the api or local mppq is it with your own HA or other monitoring set-up…. Thats the issue with them all, none of them show or record real time export data. Its flaming annoying.
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Thats what I will do, I'll probably have another go at setting up home assistant at some point, and use that to record my data, it can log from the IHD and the Victron system. Last time I setup HA I kept having login issues, but my password would work if I used a different browser or a private session - it doesn;t inspire much confidence if the login doesn't even work properly :mad:

bigmike20vt said:
did you guys have to supply anything if already exporting with octopus or did they just flick a switch?
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I did read on another forum that someone had the same problem, they phoned up and in the end Octopus emailed the T&C which they had to accept, others have said they still had to supply the info.
 
I found all my details so applied for flux today. got the generic will take 2 weeks to connect message but given i am already with Octopus on Go faster (ending on the 23rd) and exporting with them (SEG) hopefully will go fairly quickly.
I have also contacted Solis about them remotely updating my inverter bios to the newest version which should hopefully allow me to get the best out of Flux, however i decided even in the worst case scenario and i can only use the limited features on the inverter right now, its probably still the best package for me - at least until we are in need of a new car and can afford an EV.

I was not sure whether or not to wait till my Go Faster expired - that is without doubt a better deal than anything i can get today (14p peak 5.5p between 8:30pm and 1:30am) but i figure it is unlikely to change over immediately so chances are it will roll over to the SVR before i get moved to Flux anyway... and if not well its only a week.

as it stands unless my bios gets updated on my inverter i will have a fairly simple set up on flux which will have me using some non discounted mains most of the year (more than i do now) but should keep me off grid over the expensive period all year around - something i did not need to make 100% sure of on Octopus Go Faster.

1) charge batteries and run off mains 2am - 5am
2) hold battery charge at 100% run house on solar if available or mains if not 5am-4pm
3) run house off solar if available or battery if not 4pm - 2am, only falling to mains if battery gets depleted (I have a usable 6kwh to play with off a 7.2kwh battery)


IF i can get the bios updated on my inverter i think that will allow me to change step 2 to run house off solar and fall back to battery IF battery charge >75%, if not then fall to mains.. but i dont think i can do that on the current bios. This will allow me to keep off not discounted mains for i reckon 8 months of the year which is about where i am now with Go Faster but this isnt a deal breaker either way..
 
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HungryHippos said:
This is probably less efficient than trying to hold the charge at say 75-80%, which allows the battery to provide some to home if the clouds appear.

Eats more battery cycles though.
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if definitely is..... and is what i would like to do to smooth my energy use when the sun goes behind a cloud..... but for that i think my inverter needs a bios upgrade, which i have asked solis to do. (see my last paragraph in the post you quoted ;) )

within reason i am not that bothered about battery cycles. i see my house battery as a short term necessity. 10 years from now - which my battery should manage - i hope both our cars by then will be EVs and support car battery to home through the charger, as such even if the house battery has dropped to only 3kwh usable by then, we should be ok.

edit (so as not bumping with more OTish) Solis just got back to me, the bios on my inverter has been remotely updated.... i only mailed them yesterday - a sunday - so that is pretty amazing. i will pop into the attic and have a fiddle when i get the chance.
 
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It should switch over pretty quick as you're already being paid for export by Octopus.

  1. I set my battery to charge between 2 and 5am, which takes me to about 85% SOC
  2. After 5am house runs off the battery until solar kicks
  3. At around 98% battery charging slows and export starts
  4. Between 16:00 and 19:00 I discharge the battery to no less than 65%
  5. Battery will then see me through to the 2am charging slot.

Once the second battery is on-line which will give me 29kWh of storage, I'll double the charge rate from the grid, and decrease the minimum SOC probably to about 50% as I'd like to keep some in reserve just in case of a power cut.

At the moment I draw 15kWh from the grid every day, and need to export 12 at the day rate to have zero electric bill for the day, so far I've done much better than that.
 
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