GIVENERGY 9.5kWh Battery Review - WIN or BIN!?
Summary
TLDRIn this detailed review, the presenter shares their five-month experience with the Give Energy 9.5 kilowatt-hour battery and 5-kilowatt inverter system. They discuss the benefits of choosing the larger battery for future-proofing their home and maximizing returns through smart tariffs like Octopus Agile and Flux. The review covers the battery's technical specifications, including its 100% depth of discharge and non-flammable lithium-ion phosphate technology. The presenter also delves into the user-friendly Give Energy app and web portal, highlighting their real-time monitoring and control features. Despite noting areas for improvement such as automation and firmware updates, the presenter expresses overall satisfaction with the system's performance and recommends Give Energy to friends and family.
Takeaways
- đ The reviewer has been using their GIVE Energy 9.5 kilowatt hour battery system for about five months and shares their experience, focusing on the pros and cons of the system.
- ⥠The GIVE Energy system includes a 5 kilowatt inverter and a 9.5 kilowatt hour battery, which the reviewer uses to manage electricity consumption, especially during winter months.
- đ The reviewer chose the 9.5 kilowatt hour battery to future-proof their home and to maximize returns through tariffs like Octopus Agile, Octopus Flux, and potentially for additional electricity needs such as a heat pump or electric vehicle.
- đ The 9.5 kilowatt hour battery offers a 100% depth of discharge (DOD), meaning the full capacity of the battery can be utilized, unlike the 2.6 and 5.2 kilowatt hour batteries which offer 80% DOD.
- đĄïž The battery is designed to operate in a range of temperatures from -10 to 55 degrees Celsius, making indoor installation ideal to avoid issues during freezing temperatures.
- đĄïž The battery has an IP65 rating, providing high levels of protection against dust and water, but it should still be installed under some form of shelter to protect against harsh weather.
- đ GIVE Energy offers a warranty of unlimited cycles for 10 years when installed by an approved installer, with specific stipulations for energy throughput and usage with GIVE Energy inverters.
- đ± The GIVE Energy app is praised for its user-friendly interface, offering real-time visuals and information on electricity flow, consumption, and battery status.
- đ ïž The app allows for manual control of the battery's charging and discharging, but the reviewer notes a lack of automation for certain smart tariffs and a desire for more frequent updates.
- đ€ The reviewer mentions a known issue with the State of Charge (SOC) recalibration, where the battery's charge level might jump erratically. However, GIVE Energy has released a firmware fix as of May 4th, 2023.
- đ„ The GIVE Energy Facebook group is recommended for owners to get support, information, and assistance from GIVE Energy staff and other users.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is an in-depth review of the GIVE Energy 9.5 kilowatt-hour battery and 5 kilowatt inverter, including the functionality of the GIVE Energy app and web portal.
How long has the reviewer had the GIVE Energy battery?
-The reviewer has had the GIVE Energy battery for roughly five months, including throughout the winter months.
What are the different battery sizes offered by GIVE Energy as of May 2023?
-As of May 2023, GIVE Energy offers four different battery sizes: 2.6 kWh, 5.2 kWh, 8.2 kWh, and 9.5 kWh.
Why did the reviewer choose the 9.5 kWh battery?
-The reviewer chose the 9.5 kWh battery to future-proof their home and allow for flexibility to maximize returns by utilizing tariffs such as Octopus Agile and Octopus Flux.
What is the depth of discharge (DOD) for the 9.5 kWh GIVE Energy battery?
-The 9.5 kWh GIVE Energy battery offers a 100% depth of discharge, meaning the full capacity of the battery can be utilized.
What is the significance of the battery's IP65 rating?
-The IP65 rating indicates that the battery has a maximum level of protection against dust and solids and can withstand low-pressure water jets from all directions.
What is the warranty coverage for the GIVE Energy battery?
-The warranty coverage for the GIVE Energy battery is unlimited cycles or 10 years, depending on the installation and equipment used.
What are the main functionalities of the GIVE Energy app?
-The GIVE Energy app provides real-time visuals of electricity flow, daily stats, and settings for different modes of the system. It also allows for manual control of the battery charging and discharging.
What issues has the reviewer experienced with the GIVE Energy system?
-The reviewer has experienced issues with automation options and bug fixing timelines, such as the state of charge (SOC) issue and the slow release of firmware fixes.
What advice does the reviewer have for those experiencing the SOC issue with their GIVE Energy system?
-The reviewer advises that as of May 4th, GIVE Energy has released a firmware fix that resolves the SOC issue. Those experiencing the issue should consider upgrading their system.
Would the reviewer recommend GIVE Energy to family and friends?
-Yes, the reviewer would recommend GIVE Energy to family and friends, despite some criticisms regarding bug fixing timelines and communication, as they are overall very happy with their system.
Outlines
đ In-Depth Review of Give Energy 9.5 kWh Battery System
The speaker introduces their five-month experience with the Give Energy 9.5 kWh battery system, equipped with a 5 kW inverter. They discuss their choice of the 9.5 kWh battery for future-proofing and flexibility, allowing for maximizing returns through tariffs like Octopus Agile and Flux. The speaker highlights the 100% depth of discharge feature, the use of lithium-ion phosphate technology, and the battery's physical and safety specifications. They also mention the importance of installing the battery indoors due to temperature limitations and provide a brief on the warranty, which offers unlimited cycles or 10 years, with a capped energy throughput.
đ± Give Energy App and Web Portal Features
This paragraph delves into the functionality of the Give Energy app and web portal. The app's user-friendly interface and real-time visuals are praised for their clarity in showing electricity flow. The speaker discusses the app's home and away options, which depend on Wi-Fi connectivity, and the daily stats that can be accessed by clicking on icons. They also mention the ability to configure system modes for different tariffs and the battery settings that provide detailed information on wattage, voltage, and temperature. However, they note a delay in the app's data refresh and a lack of automation for certain smart tariffs, suggesting areas for improvement.
đ Comprehensive Analysis of Battery Performance and Web App Insights
The speaker provides an in-depth look at the battery's performance metrics and the web app's capabilities. They appreciate the detailed graphs available for power usage, generation, consumption, and grid interaction, which can be filtered by various energy sources. The web app is highlighted for offering even more information, with graphics that illustrate the environmental impact of the energy system. Despite some downsides, such as limited automation and bug fixing challenges, the speaker finds the overall system to be impressive and a great addition to their battery setup.
đ ïž System Recommendations and Personal Experience
In the final paragraph, the speaker shares their personal experience and recommendations. Despite some criticisms regarding bug fixes and product release communication, they express overall satisfaction with the Give Energy system. They report flawless performance since installation, appreciation for the flexibility and capacity of the 9.5 kWh battery, and the ability to run mostly on solar and battery power. The speaker also encourages others to join the Give Energy Battery Owners Facebook group for support and information. They conclude by reiterating their recommendation of Give Energy products to family and friends and express optimism for future improvements through software and firmware upgrades.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄGive Energy Battery
đĄInverter
đĄDepth of Discharge (DOD)
đĄOctopus Energy Tariffs
đĄLithium-ion Phosphate
đĄIngress Protection (IP) Rating
đĄWarranty
đĄApp and Web Portal
đĄState of Charge (SOC) Issue
đĄFirmware Fix
đĄSmart Tariffs
Highlights
In-depth review of the 9.5 kilowatt hour Give Energy battery and 5 kilowatt inverter.
Five months of real-world experience with the Give Energy battery system.
Comparison of different battery sizes offered by Give Energy.
Choice of 9.5 kilowatt hour battery for future-proofing and flexibility.
Use of 100% depth of discharge in the 9.5 kilowatt hour battery.
Lithium-ion phosphate technology in the battery for better lifespan and safety.
Battery specifications including dimensions, weight, and IP rating.
Warranty details and the meaning of unlimited cycles for the battery.
Integration with Octopus Energy tariffs for maximizing returns.
User-friendly Give Energy app with real-time monitoring and controls.
Automation limitations and the need for improvement in smart tariff management.
Firmware fix released for the State of Charge (SOC) issue.
Communication and transparency issues regarding product releases.
Recommendation of the Give Energy Facebook group for support and information.
Overall satisfaction with the Give Energy system despite some criticisms.
Potential for future improvements through software and firmware upgrades.
Invitation for viewers to share their experiences with Give Energy products.
Transcripts
hi everyone in this video I'm going to
give an in-depth review of my give
energy 9.5 kilowatt hour battery and
five kilowatt inverter and also take a
look at the functionality that is within
the give energy app and web portal now
I've lived with my give energy battery
for roughly five months particularly
throughout the winter months as well I
thought it was a good time to discuss
the pros and cons of the system that I
found and I'll also discuss whether I
would recommend to give energy equipment
to family and friends as well now if you
want some more information on my solo
install and please click the video that
is shown on the screen now and also
linked in the description as well which
talks more about the components of the
install but today we're going to be
talking about my inverter which is a
five kilowatt hybrid inverter gen 1 and
Gen 2 9.5 kilowatt hour give energy
battery as well so stay tuned
[Music]
let's move back into Memphis where it's
a little bit more comfortable now
unfortunately I don't have any
experience of any other batteries or
Battery Systems to compare this to I
feel like after living with the give
energy equipment for about five months
now and a good place to give an honest
review of a real world experience and
talk about what's worked and what
personally I think can be improved upon
so these views which my opinions only
and I'm by no means an expert but
hopefully you find this useful if you
are looking to purchase a battery system
from home or if you already have one
hopefully this can provide some new tips
that you didn't know before so the time
of making this video in May 2023 give
energy offer four different sizes of
batteries that's the 2.6 kilowatt hour
5.2 kilowatt hour 8.2 kilowatt hour and
9.5 kilowatt hour which is what I have
so why did I choose a 9.5 originally I
was quoted for just the 5.2 kilowatt
hour battery for my system because I'm a
relatively low user of electricity but I
decided to go for the 9.5 kilowatt hour
battery instead because I wanted to
Future proof the home and also allow for
a bit of flexibility to really help
maximize The Return by utilizing tariffs
such as octopus agile and more recently
octopus flux and the thinking behind
that was if I had the 9.5 it gives me a
little bit extra storage that I could
potentially used to discharge to the
Grid at peak times when they're paying
good export rates but then it would also
allow for some additional capacity if I
decided to purchase a heat pump electric
vehicle or even potentially get my hot
tub back out again when the Sun's
shining overall I have an expectation
that over time my electricity usage will
continue to increase so this was really
future proof on that for that reason
speaking of octopus tariffs if you would
like to know more about octopus energy
and some of their tariffs check out my
other videos which are linked in the
description and if you'd like to make
the switch to octopus energy there's a
referral link on the screen and in the
description now if you use that then you
get 50 pound credit added to your
account when you join and I also get 50
pounds as well thank you so much to
everyone let's use this link so fan
joined octopus energy so back to the
batteries I also like the fact that the
9.5 kilowatt hour offered 100 depth of
discharge or DOD and this means you can
essentially use the full capacity of the
battery for the advertised size the 2.6
kilowatt hour battery in the 5.2
kilowatt hour battery only offer 80
depth of disc charge so you're not
actually getting the full capacity of
the advertised battery size although I
believe this can be extended to 90 if
you speak to give energy but I think
this might affect your warranty as well
the 8.2 kilowatt hour battery also has
100 depth of discharge as well if we
look at the data sheet for the 9.5
kilowatt hour battery we can see the
specs in Greater detail quite a big
battery at 800 millimeters High by 242
millimeters deep and 480 millimeters
wide and weighing in at 110 kilograms so
quite heavy battery as well but I also
think it looks really smart and the
install looks quite neat on the wall
just like it is here in my garage the
battery uses lithium-ion phosphate
technology and this technology is
generally considered to offer a better
lifespan and also be safe for the normal
Lithium-ion batteries and the data she
also states that it does not contain any
Cobalt and that makes it non-flammable
and also a 99 recyclable which is good
and the battery has an IP grid of ip65
so it has a maximum level of protection
possible for dust and solids and is able
to withstand low pressure wire Jets from
all directions so for those that don't
know what IP stands for ingress
protection and the first number of
details the product's ability to protect
against the likes of dust and this is
rated on a scale of not to six and the
second number details the water
resistance up to nine so in this case
we've got all the production level of
five for the water
so these batteries can be installed
outside but should definitely have some
sort of canopy over just to protect them
from the worst weathers as you can see
again from the data sheet and I've also
heard of a few issues to back this up
the charging operating temperature range
is not to 55 degrees Celsius and
discharges minus 10 to 55 degrees
Celsius so if the outdoor temperature
gets down to freezing in some cases the
battery may stop charging so somewhere
in doors is the ideal location of these
batteries if possible as you saw earlier
mine are located in the garage which I
think if you have the space is a perfect
location I've also seen others install
them in the Loft but it can get quite
Hot In Summer up there and it also feels
like quite a lot of weight to have up
there in my opinion as well so I think
the garage for me is the perfect
location warranty on the data sheet
States unlimited Cycles slash 10 years
and when I mentioned this in the first
video that I made about my install and
Equipment this caused a little bit of
controversy as to what that actually
meant so I tried to do a bit more
digging on the give Energy website and
look at the warranty information and
find out what this actually means so
what that states in the warranty
document is when installed and
commissioned by by an improved installer
the warranty will stand to the earliest
of these two stipulations either 1 10
years from the initial installation date
or two a capped energy throughput on the
usable capacity of 10 megawatt hours per
one kilowatt hour of stored energy then
it starts in Brackets as well at the 8.2
kilowatt hour and 9.5 kilowatt hour has
an unlimited throughput when used in
conjunction with a give energy inverter
so for me in my install my understanding
of that is because I have it installed
with a given a g hybrid inverter that
should be covered for unlimited cycles
for 10 years sounds like this could vary
per installation and the equipment you
have installed though so be sure to
check it out for yourself as well the
language does seem a little ambiguous so
if you think I've interpreted that right
let me know in the comments or if you
think means something else also please
let me know I'm unsure what the classes
in improved installer but I guess that
would be someone or a company that is
MCS accredited and there's also a host
of other warranty exclusions in the same
document as well so I'll link that in
the description feel free to take a look
and let me know your thoughts as well a
couple of other points relating to the
data as well it states that it can be
added to an existing solar PVE system
without it affecting any government
incentives which I take to mean if you
get paid fit payments you can actually
utilize a battery to potentially use
more of the power that you generate
yourself and it also states that the
battery can be used without solar panels
as a standalone system to allow you to
use cleaner electricity during off-peak
hours and then save the need to draw the
power from the grid during peak time to
start the day when generally the grid
uses dirtier electricity generated from
likes of gas and coal for example
if we move on to have a look at the app
and bear in mind I'm recording this in
May 2023 so this is liable to change
over time which I'm sure it will so some
of this information may end up out with
it I would say that the app was one of
the main reasons I went for the give
energy equipment yeah the visuals on the
app make it so easy to use and
understand and you get a clear visual of
exactly what's happening at almost real
time and the little electrons that fly
around the images on the screen tell you
where the electricity is Flowing to and
from and from how much very clear very
concise and a nice neat little graphic
in the middle you have the home and the
power that's being consumed and then
around the outside where that power is
coming from whether that's from the
battery Grid or solar panels and if you
have any give Energy Smart plugs or
compatible EV charges in your home as
well then they will also show up on this
visual so very clear on the power that
you're using at any one time you can see
that you have a home and away option and
this will depend on whether you are
connected to the same Wi-Fi network that
the inverter is on if you are then it
will connect to the home option and will
refresh the data every 10 to 15 seconds
if you're not on the same network it
will use the away option which draws the
data from the cloud and refreshes
roughly every five minutes I think this
could be a little better I think usage
every five minutes isn't particularly
useful I'm not really sure why this
couldn't be updated more frequently you
can then also click on any of the icons
and that will show you the daily stats
for each element again my experience of
this is it always seems to be about an
hour behind for some reason whether
you're on the home or away setting yeah
the cloud interface is generally pretty
much up to date I'll talk more about the
cloud interface in a few minutes but I
tend to use this more than the app for
checking up to date daily generation and
Export as a web updater it's just much
more real time if we look at the
navigation at the bottom of the app you
can see that this is dominated by a big
player button I really like this as it
makes carrying out some of the tasks
relating to some parts of the smart
tariffs that you may want to do very
accessible and very easy to kick off if
you press the play button you get four
options one is an information button
which gives a very useful guide showing
what each option does there's a battery
with a plus option on that will charge
the battery from the grid a battery with
a minus sign that discharges a battery
to the grade at full power a pause
button that stops the battery from
charging or discharging and the player
button which puts the battery back to
normal operation there are also a couple
of other setting buttons on this screen
on the right hand side towards the top
the top one is where you can configure
the different modes of the system if you
are on an off-peak tariff such as
octopus flux octopus core for example
you can set the times for the off-peak
rate and then get the battery to charge
to what percentage you would like to
charge it to overnight you can also set
this to charge from just solid or both
the grid and solar there's also a
discharge mode which suggests you can do
the same and set a time period for
discharge as well this would be
particularly useful for tariffs such as
flux if you wanted to discharge your
battery during the 4 to 7 PM peak times
however my experience is when I set this
to a time period it doesn't discharge
the battery to run the house at all
outside of those peak hours instead
draws from the grid I've looked up the
settings and the web app to do this as
well and I cannot find a way to automate
this other than using something like
home assistant alongside it if you know
of anywhere to do this without using
home assistant please let me know in the
comments lastly on the home page is an
option to click on the battery settings
and this shows the current percentage
and if you click on that it takes you to
a graph that shows some more detailed
information including the current
wattage voltage and Battery temperature
the graph at the bottom shows the power
usage throughout the day and also the
battery percentage as well and then on
the other options on the navigation
there's a number of different graphs to
view as standard all data is shown for
the selected time period but can be
colored by selecting or deselecting what
you want to see one shows the peak usage
for Generation home consumption battery
power and grid importer or Xbox and I
really like this as you can quickly see
what the system has been doing
throughout the day there are also some
other graphs as well where you can see
your daily weekly monthly yearly and
all-time consumption for your system
again this can be filtered on home
consumption solar generation battery
charge battery discharge grid power in
and also grid power out all very useful
statistics very easy to understand and
to determine how you want to use a
system overall very impressive from give
energy and a great complement to their
Battery Systems the web app is also very
useful and provides even more
information on the app I like the
graphics that you get on the home page
including how your system has helped to
save the world for example the
equivalent number of trees you would
have planted based on how much energy
you've generated and saved from being
from being grid usage again it's very
clear to see how the electricity flows
and all its important metrics are either
and easy to see as well I won't go into
too much detail about this or I'll be in
an even longer video but any of the
widgets can be maximized to view the
items in further detail and you might
recognize some of these graphs from my
monthly stats videos as well so I've
already discussed some of the pros of
the systems now let's move on to some of
the downsides that I've found I've
already touched on the automations but
mostly automation options are really
good with them they give energy
interface and do just work but to do
very little with them I think this is
one area that could be improved
especially with some of the smart
tariffs that are now coming along and
all of those more options in the cloud
web app I still could not find anything
to make it do the discharge during the
peak times for octopus flux for example
and schedule on a daily basis number two
is bug fixing it's been a number of
people have had issues with the battery
charge random jumping up or down as it
recalibrates you may have heard this
referred to as an SOC or state of charge
issue this issue feels like it's existed
for a long time now I cannot imagine how
frustrating it must be for those users
that are seeing this they spent a lot of
money on the home battery system only to
find it cannot reliably tell them how
full their battery actually is
thankfully I've never seen this happen
to my system but if this is something
you are seeing with your game Energy
System then stay tuned because there
might be a resolution coming for this
I've seen it mentioned on some forms
that this happens when the install is
done collaborate the battery properly so
what's essentially meant to happen
during the commission of the battery is
that it's completely drained to zero
percent and it's in recharge fully up to
100 I'm also seen some others say that
it's when the battery is not discharged
to four percent and increased to 100 on
a weekly basis this can sometimes occur
as well apparently determining the state
of charge in home batteries and also an
electric cars as well apparently is
quite common the difference is that
electric cars sit still for a long time
so they have time time to Auto
recalibrate during that time whereas on
batteries are in use constantly which
makes it a lot more difficult to fix
thankfully at long last as of the fourth
of May give energy now appear to have
released a firmware fix that resolves
this issue I believe this has been it's
tested extensively with a large user
base but I've also heard of some users
still having issues with it so my advice
currently would be if you don't see any
issues with this give it a few weeks for
people to get upgraded and iron on
problems if you do sit with SRC issue
then I would upgrade now and hopefully
that resolves the issue for you the
third point is related to the previous
issue as well it does seem to take give
energy a long time to release both their
book fixes for issues such as the soc
charge and also for the new products as
well the EV charges being advertised on
the website for a long long time now but
there's still no sign of any stock
anywhere and no updates from give energy
as far as I've seen to suggest that it's
coming anytime soon as well I think give
energy could do a bit better job with
the communications here being a bit more
trans apparent about the dates for
product releases instead of over
promising and then under delivering I
have no evidence to back this up but
this is just my theory I think that the
expansion of the industry as a whole has
quite a lot of problems for give energy
including the supply chain issues that
they've seen as well throughout covered
and demand for the products must have
increased exponentially all that time as
well I think it's difficult as a growing
business to expand that quickly and to
keep up with everything and in general
new product development is very very
hard so I do have some sympathy with
them here hopefully they can improve
this as the team grows going forward if
you want to know more about any of the
give energy equipment I would highly
recommend joining the Facebook group
give energy battery owners they have
some great information and resources on
there and they also have a team of give
energy staff that are very very helpful
on there we'll answer all your questions
they're very proactive and have been
very quick to help people with the SRC
issues giving them direct access so
definitely get yourself on there if
you've got a giveaway energy battery at
home so in summary taking everything
into consideration would I recommend
give energy to family and friends
absolutely I know I've beaten up on the
bug fixing timelines a little bit there
but overall I'm very very happy with my
system it was installed on December the
19th 2022 and has performed absolutely
flawlessly since it was installed I
haven't had to do any maintenance or any
bug fixing online whatsoever it's just
worked and it's done everything that I
expected of it in terms of reducing my
grid usage and offers all the
flexibility that I wanted from the extra
capacity for the 9.5 kilowatt hour
battery I love the fact that from
roughly about February now I've been
able to run mostly on solar and the
battery power and I think for my usage
the 9.5 kilowatt hour battery capacity
is absolutely perfect it's just slightly
above my daily usage and I very rarely
run out of power during the day
hopefully it continues it also gives you
enough options to be as Hands-On or as
hands off as you want with this if you
want to plug it in and leave it you can
if you want to have a mess around with
the settings and try and optimize it for
your usage then there's enough options
in there to do that as well all in all I
would say it was a great product well
made great design and like most of these
things these days with software upgrades
and firmware upgrades in future it
shouldn't continue to get better as well
if you have any experience of any of the
give Energy Products yourself let me
know in the comments how you get on with
yours I'd be very interested to hear
hopefully this video was useful if so
please consider clicking the like button
and subscribing to my channel there's
lots of useful content coming up around
this sort of subject my solar panels
electric vehicles and I'm also attending
the fully charged show in Harrogate in a
couple of weeks as well I'll try and get
some content for a video or two for that
as well thank you as always for all of
your comments support and questions and
that's it for now and I'll see you on
the next one
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