I am working through a way to program my Multiplus to only enable AC Input based on time-of-day. I have a PV system, Cerbo GX, Multiplus 3000 and LiFePo batteries
We, in Canada, and I think more and more places in the world vary the price of electricity based on the time of day it is used. Morning and evening rush hours are most expensive, followed by mid-day, and nights & weekends are the cheapest. In Ottawa where I live, the costs at peak times are 21.7¢/KWH peak, 15.0¢/KWH mid-peak and 10.5¢/KWH nights and weekends. This is significant and very costly to run appliances during peak and mid peak times, 7 am to 7 pm, over twice the costs of running appliances at night.
I have my Multiplus connected to my AC mains through a high current wifi switch (iDevices product) that can be programmed to turn on and off per conditions. I have mine set to turn on at midnight, and off at 6 am, the lowest cost time of day for energy, and enough time to charge up my batteries. The rest of the time, 6 am to midnight the batteries and Multiplus Inverter are running my appliances. Thus saving 6 hours of peak time, and 6 hours of mid-peak time, and 7 hours of off-peak time. And, depending on the amount of sun during the day, the batteries may or may not need a full 5 hours of charging from the Multiplus AC Charger.
I would suggest, and like to see, an additional option added to the AC Conditional controls for time of day/day of week. Being able to turn on or off the AC Charger and Power switching based on what day and time it is. I think this would be an extremely valuable tool for most home owners, and expand your potential market greatly, when people see how a small solar powered system can save significant dollars by selective use of the AC power system.
I found this in the community forums that I 'think' will allow me to program the Multiplus to turn on and off based on the time from the Cerbo...I am still working to get it actually working though
https://www.victronenergy.com/live/drafts:acin_ignore_timer_using_ccgx_gen_start_stop_example