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philipH
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February 3, 2022
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What's causing the consumption peak I've noticed on my Solarman smart app?

  • February 3, 2022
  • 13 replies
  • 1238 views

I have a SOLARMAN smart app. During the day when solar panels are producing energy it shows as a blue area on the graph. At roughly the same time it shows a similar size red area of energy usage at a time when almost no energy is being used in the house

we have a solar array, 1 battery, a hot water cylinder and a SOLARiBoost+
thank you

philip

    Best answer by PeterR1947

     

    That consumption peak (in red)is around the time of peak panel production (in blue) but not always and it often happens when there is no usage from the house. My only thought was that the SOLARiBoost which uses power from the panels/battery to heat water in the tank is kicking in and showing as consumption on the graph although it’s not consuming from the grid. 
    look forward to hearing some thoughts on this

     

     

    You could try turning off the Solariboost to see if the red bit goes away, that should confirm exactly what is causing it

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    JoeC
    Newcomer
    February 4, 2022

    we have battery storage so the production from the panels is not wasted ,I hope. 
    some days it doesn’t show any usage at all for the period we are talking about. Other days the consumption wave completely mirrors the blue production wave. 
    most hot water is used evening washing up there is usually plenty of hot water to do that. if there is not enough hot water in tank by the morning you can see from the red consumption our water heating kicks in at 5 am

     

    I wonder if the water is hot enough from the 5am boost that the solar isn’t needed until the afternoon. Predicting when you might get solar the next day will need some form of smart device to control that but I’m not sure there’s anything off the shelf.
    If you have a battery then the gains would be negligible so not one to worry about.

    3.2kWp Solar, Sonnen 5kWh Battery (OVO trial), Kia e-Niro, Evohome TRV's, Triple Glazing, Home Assistant
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      philipHAuthor
      Rank 3
      February 7, 2022

      Hi @JoeC 

      water heating comes on at 5am and tops up to heat level whatever hot water remains in tank. 
      we then use showers around 6.30am. If we don’t have water heating on during winter there is not enough hot water from solar heating alone for the morning showers. In summer we don’t need this additional boost from the grid/boiler. 
       

        Jess_OVO
        OVO Staff
        Jess_OVO
        OVO Staff
        February 16, 2022

        Any updates on this one, @philipH?

         

        Did turning the Solar iBoost off help to identify the consumption peak as @PeterR1947 suggested? :sunny:

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