Last summer I had 5KW of solar panels installed along with a hybrid inverter and a 4.8KWh battery system.
Looking at the data I noticed sometimes the yield from my solar panels seem to be capped at around 3.8KW. Upon investigation I discovered that there was a 3.68KW limit on how much electricity I could export to the grid. So when battery is full and consumption plus 3.68KW is exceeded from the solar panels, the inverter effectively shuts of the excess supply.
After giving this some thought I was wondering whether I should change the priority in which the excess energy is used. In other words on a bright sunny day, I should set the priority to export first and only use the excess power to charge the batteries. This should extend the period in which the full capacity of my solar panels are used and increasingly it’s yield.
In all the inverters I have used, you cannot change the priority to export first. I’m confused as to why you would want to do this? The systems are designed to power the load and charge the battery first.
The yield would be higher if you were able to consume more power on site during the day such as heating hot water or charging an EV.
It isn’t a user option! I contacted the manufacturer and they dialled into my inverter and changed a setting. However I checked today and their change doesn’t appear to have made any difference.
Shortly after my install I noticed that my solar yield would drop once my batteries were fully charged. I spoke to the electrician who installed the system and he advised me that was because we could not export more than 3.68KW and the inverter would limit the output of the solar panels.
My solution of changing the priority would mean that it would take longer to charge the battery and therefore extending the period in which the yield from my solar panels is maximised.
I realise that due to variable use it might mean that I import more electricity than I otherwise would. However I’m on a combination of tariffs which means I generally get paid more for the electricity that I export than I pay to import.
You need to check couple of things if you are based in Australia
What is your grid export limit approved by your DNSP and what’s your export limit set on the inverter
Check if your LUX power hybrid inverter have work mode as selling first? What it does that it priorities the solar export first than supplying to your house load and charging the battery. If this function is not available then your system will work as normally by supplying to house load first and then charge your battery and if any extra generation is there it will start exporting.
You can check Noark Hybrid Inverter they have different working mode which is very suitable for Australia market as electricity selling and import prices varies.