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--- drafts:dynamic_ess [2024-03-12 09:19] – [Can I use it? | Eligibility Criteria] dfaber
+++ drafts:dynamic_ess [2024-11-09 15:16] (current) – [Q: My providers changes price at the half hour instead of the full hour] aleximb
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Dynamic ESS - manual ======
-===== What is Dynamic ESS? =====
+===== Smarter energy, bigger savings with Dynamic ESS =====
-Dynamic ESS is an algorithm that aims to minimise the costs made on the grid and battery:
+With Dynamic ESS, your Victron system becomes even smarter. It optimizes your battery's charge and discharge cycles by leveraging electricity prices, solar production forecasts, and your unique consumption patterns. Dynamic ESS will help you save money on your energy bill.
-  * By scheduling charge/discharge cycles of the battery,
-  * While taking grid limitations, battery specifications and day ahead energy prices into account,
-  * When it can, it also considers the consumption and solar yield forecasts when scheduling.
-__NOTE: **Right now Dynamic ESS is still in beta and only available via the beta VRM.**__
+Whether you're managing a home or a larger installation, Dynamic ESS helps you optimize your solar and battery system for maximum efficiency, while actively contributing to a more sustainable future.
-Also check these community posts for remarks and further troubleshooting:
+If you have dynamic energy rates or off-peak energy prices, start configuring now to take full advantage of your setup!
-  - [[https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/232720/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm.html|Dynamic ESS on Beta VRM - part 1]]
-  - [[https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/236792/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm-part-2.html|Dynamic ESS on Beta VRM - part 2]]
-  - [[https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/245772/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm-part-3.html|Dynamic ESS on Beta VRM - part 3]]
-  - [[https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/256073/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm-part-4.html|Dynamic ESS on Beta VRM - part 4]]
-  - [[https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/266992/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm-part-5.html|Dynamic ESS on Beta VRM - part 5]]
-==== Can I use it? | Eligibility Criteria ====
+{{:drafts:phone_mocks.png?600|}}
+==== Two modes: green or trade ====
-Dynamic ESS is only eligible for the installations which fits the following criteria:
+We offer two operating modes to cater to different preferences for managing energy. Not everyone is comfortable with the risks of the energy market, so we have created modes to fit various needs:
-  * Be an ESS;
-  * Not use Generator connection outside of power outages;
-For best results:
+=== Green Mode ===
-  * Have a variable or dynamic energy contract.
-  * Use a supported energy meter (especially if your system setup has heavy loads (EV charger, heat pumps) in front of the Victron system). See [[drafts:dynamic_ess#qwhy_does_the_system_exceed_the_configured_power|here]] for more information on this.
-Note:
+Sell surplus solar power back to the grid after covering your consumption and charging the battery.
-  * Only the dynamic energy contracts of the following countries are supported for day ahead prices: //Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.//
+Reserve battery energy for your own use.
-  * If you have fixed prices (which may differ weekends/weekdays/daytime/nighttime), you can also use it outside these named countries.
+Charge your battery when prices are low to save more.
+=== Trade Mode ===
+Always sell surplus solar power back to the grid.
+Use the battery energy to take advantage of trading opportunities.
+Charge your battery when it’s most beneficial for trading.
-===== How can I get started? | Configuration =====
+Green Mode is ideal for those who prefer a safer, more predictable approach, while Trade Mode is perfect for those looking to maximize their gains through trading. You can always switch between modes to find what works best for you.
-{{:drafts:dynamic-ess-settings.png?direct&200 |}}
-To get started, you need to provide VRM with the necessary configuration Dynamic ESS requires. To do this, you can navigate to //Settings -> Dynamic ESS// and follow the instructions on the page. This should take 15 minutes of your time.
+====== Let’s get started ======
-From the page, you can configure the settings in 5 steps. All filled out values can always be adjusted later.
+Setting up Dynamic ESS happens in 5 steps. All of these settings can be adjusted later, so no worries if you make a mistake. Head over to settings → Dynamic ESS in VRM to get started!
-Also make sure that you have set the location of your device (so we can do the correct solar forecast) and have "Two-way communication enabled" on VRM. This is needed for injecting the Target SOC schedules on to the device.
 ==== Step 1: System ====
-First thing we need to know is whether or not you can sell back to the grid or not. If you can, you get additional questions on the power limits when selling back. This is the lowest one of either your grid connection or what your system is capable of. So if your grid connection can do 4 kWh and your system 2.5 kWh, fill out 2.5 kWh.
+First, confirm whether you can sell excess electricity back to the grid. If so, you'll be asked to provide details on the power limits for selling. The limit will be the lower value between your grid connection capacity and what your system can handle. For example, if your grid connection supports 17 kWh but your system can only handle 10 kWh, enter 10 kWh.
-Note that this is part is setting the capabilities, not actually setting limits for the system to use. See [[#qwhy_does_the_system_exceed_the_configured_power|here]] for info on setting limits for the system.
+Note: This step defines the system’s potential capabilities, not the actual operational limits you'll set later.
-==== Step 2: Battery ====
-Then we need to know information on your battery:
+{{:drafts:step_1_config.png?400|}}
-  * //Battery Energy Capacity// - In order to calculate how much 1% of SOC of the battery is, we need to know how much capacity the battery has.
-  * //Maximum charge and discharge power// - This is used for determining the maximum amount we can (dis)charge the battery in an hour
-  * //Battery costs// - Battery costs indicate how expensive it is to use it for charging and discharging, expressed in €/kWh. A typical calculation for this is:
-    costs for buying the battery in € / (charging cycles * battery capacity in kWh)
+==== Step 2: Battery information ====
-One battery charge cycle equals full battery charged to 100% and fully used to 0%. If you only use half of the battery power, then recharge it and repeat it the following day — it will also count as one charge cycle instead of two. The number of charging cycles is a number that differs per brand. The battery costs is usually somewhere between € 0.02 and € 0.06 /kWh.
-Some feedback of users is that they don’t care about the battery costs, as they already paid for it, so technically there’s no additional costs to charge it. In that case we still advise to put a small amount in as battery costs. E.g. 0.01 €/kWh.
-In order to make the calculation for you, you can also fill out the invoiced battery cost and the estimated amount of cycles the battery can do. Together with the filled out battery capacity this will calculate the price for you.
+Next, provide key details about your battery:
-  * //Configure Dynamic ESS SoC// - The Minimum Dynamic ESS SOC determines when Dynamic ESS will stop selling to the grid to leave enough energy for self-consumption. By not setting the Minimum Dynamic ESS SOC separately, Dynamic ESS will use the Minimum SOC instead.
+  * Battery Capacity – To calculate what 1% of the battery's State of Charge (SOC) represents, we need to know the battery’s total capacity.
+  * Maximum Charge and Discharge Power – This determines how much energy the battery can handle for charging or discharging in an hour.
+  * Battery Costs – These reflect the cost of charging and discharging the battery, usually expressed in €/kWh.
-If you set the min soc using the slider, then save the form, it will not have been logged to lastLogData yet. Thus the old value will be used in the schedule. Installation will handle this, and the next hour the correct value will be used.
+To calculate battery costs, you can input the purchase cost of the battery, the estimated number of charge cycles, and the battery’s capacity. Use the formula:
-==== Step 3 and 4: Buy and sell prices ====
+Battery cost (€) / (Number of charge cycles * Battery capacity in kWh)
-For buying and selling you can either have dynamic (day ahead) prices or fixed prices (which can differ at different times / weekend vs weekdays). So first you need to fill out if you have fixed or dynamic pricing.
+For example, if your battery cost €2,000, has a capacity of 10 kWh, and supports 6,000 charge cycles, the calculation is:
-=== Dynamic prices ===
+/ (6000 * 10) = € 0.03/kWh
-Each country and provider uses their own formula for pricing. As the system grows, we will have more and more pre-filled out formula's to select from, but you may need to fill out your own formula.
+  * Charge/Discharge Restrictions – You can also configure settings to control when your battery can charge or discharge to the grid. For instance, you may want to restrict discharging to the grid during specific times or days due to national laws.
-The buy price formula and sell price formula (if you are allowed to sell back to the grid) looks typically something like: //(p+0.02+0.13)*1.21//. It this example it breaks down to:
+{{:drafts:step_2_battery.png?400|}}
-  * p - the dynamic price / kWh
+==== Steps 3 & 4: Buying and Selling Prices ====
-  * € 0.02 - energy provider profit share
-  * € 0.13 - DSO working price + contributions/levy/taxes
-  * 21% - tax
-The sell price formula looks often identical and in common cases looks something like (//p-0.02+0.13)*1.21//. So the energy provider profit share works the other way around.
+For energy transactions, you can use either **dynamic** (day-ahead) prices or **fixed** prices that may vary by time of day or between weekdays and weekends. Indicate whether you're using fixed or dynamic pricing. You can find these rates in your energy contract.
-With different providers, the formula will likely be different. So this does require some research on how your pricing is build up. You can also get some ideas from [[https://github.com/victronenergy/dynamic-ess/issues/72|this issue]].
+For the UK, Spain and France, Dynamic ESS provides an out of the box connection with your energy provider. Refer to the list below to see if that applies to you.
-=== Fixed prices ===
+=== Your Dynamic Price Formula Made Easy ===
-If you have a fixed prices contract, you can still have different prices at different moments of the day. In some cases you can have different prices between weekdays and weekends. So that is the first question to answer.
+Getting your dynamic pricing formula is important, but it might not be easy to find in your energy contract. Let’s break it down with an example:
-Then, you can fill out the price per hour (more granularity is currently not possible).
+When you sell energy back to the grid, you get the base rate from your energy provider. But when you buy energy, you also pay VAT and an extra charge of 11 cents per kWh.
-==== Step 5: Confirmation ====
-In the final step you see the filled out values summarised. If you need to make adjustments, you can do so. Otherwise you can //submit// the form.
+**Selling Energy**: Your selling formula is just: P
-Now navigate to the installation’s Dashboard and click the button shown below to open the Controls menu. Under the ESS section, you will find Dynamic ESS controls.
+**Buying Energy**: Your buying formula is: P * 1.21 + 0.11
-{{:drafts:controls-screen.png?nolink&600 |}}
+If you’re not sure about your rates, start with a simple P for the price. You can compare the numbers in VRM with those in your energy provider's app to check if they match.
-==== What's next? | After configuration ====
+{{:drafts:step_3_buy_prices.png?400|}}
-As the configuration flow points out, you need to go to the //Installation Controls// -> //ESS settings// to turn Dynamic ESS on (Auto). After turning it on, you can set the Dynamic ESS SOC which determines the minimum SOC Dynamic ESS is allowed to each when it is operational.
-{{ :drafts:dynamic-ess-controls.png?nolink&200 |}}
+==== Step 5: Confirmation ====
-The //Auto// mode is the usual mode in which Dynamic ESS should operate. The //Buy// and //Sell// modes are there you want to overrule the decision of the algorithm and fully charge or discharge the battery.
+In the final step, review a summary of all the settings you’ve entered. Make any necessary adjustments, then submit the form to activate Dynamic ESS.
-If you want to disable Dynamic ESS, set the mode to //Off//.
-Note that there will be shown an extra mode called //Node-RED// if you run the Node-RED implementation of Dynamic ESS instead.
+===== Tracking your daily energy schedule =====
-====== Operational ======
-==== Data Visualisations ====
-Note that there are still some issues with having the graphs show the data correctly.
+Once you've configured Dynamic ESS, a new section will appear at the bottom of your VRM dashboard. This section displays a graph showing today's energy prices alongside the Dynamic ESS plan. Starting from around 3 PM each day, you'll also be able to view the prices and the plan for the following day. Dynamic ESS will be on by default. In the controls panel, you’ll be able to enable and disable Dynamic ESS. Note that Dynamic ESS saves most money when left on for extended periods of time.
-Once operational, you can find Dynamic ESS visualisations that appear below the installation data charts on the //Dashboard// page. There you can find a graph showing the current forecast:
-{{ :drafts:dess-forecast.png?nolink&800 |}}
+===== Want to know more? =====
-On the left side of the vertical line, you see the recorded values. On the right side of the line it shows the solar forecast, the consumption forecast and also the target SOC that will be followed (as scheduled during the last calculation for the site).
+For more information on Dynamic ESS, check out our frequently asked questions. For some countries, Dynamic ESS provides an out of the box connection with your energy provider. Refer to the list below to see if that applies to you.
-By clicking on the legend, you can enable or disable shown data sets in the graph.
-Below you first find a summary on the totals for the day and then there are three tabs which visualise:
+===== For Victron installers =====
-  * Costs and earnings made as a result of Dynamic ESS usage;
-  * Schedule of battery and grid usage;
-  * All energy factors which are taken into account when scheduling
-=== Costs and earnings ===
+As a Victron device installer, Dynamic ESS allows you to offer enhanced value to your clients while unlocking new sales opportunities. By intelligently optimizing battery charging and discharging based on dynamic electricity prices, Dynamic ESS helps users achieve significant cost savings.
-This tab begins with a summary that compares the system using Dynamic ESS with the system using regular ESS.
+These savings can be further amplified with larger battery capacities. As customers see the financial benefits of increased battery storage, they are more likely to invest in expanding their energy systems. For you, this presents a straightforward path to upgrading your service with advanced, seamlessly integrated features, positioning you as a provider of efficient, cost-effective solutions that can drive additional device sales and strengthen customer satisfaction.
-=== Schedule ===
-{{ :drafts:energy-prices.png?nolink&800 |}}
-The prices graph is available on both this tab and the //Energy// tab. It shows the buy and sell prices per hour.
-{{ :drafts:energy-usage.png?nolink&800 |}}
-The usage graph shows the energy usage of the grid and of the battery in kWh.
-=== Energy ===
-The prices and graph is the same one as on the //Schedule// tab. It shows the buy and sell prices per hour.
-{{ :drafts:dess-energy.png?nolink&800 |}}
-Then there is the energy graph, which summaries everything the system has done and is planning for.
-==== Warm-up period ====
-Dynamic ESS uses consumption and solar yield forecasts to schedule ahead, when the forecasts are available. Depending on the historical data available prior, the accuracy of these forecasts can vary. As it stands now, optimal consumption forecasts need 28 days of past consumption data and optimal solar yield forecasts need 28 days of past solar data. Thus, if there is not enough data the forecasts might be suboptimal which makes the performance of Dynamic ESS suboptimal. However, despite lower accuracy in forecasts, turning Dynamic ESS on in this period is still more cost-efficient and it gets better every day until it reaches its optimal state after 28 days of warm-up period.
-==== Unexpected behaviour? ====
-It is possible that you deem the behavior of Dynamic ESS to be unexpected or suboptimal. Depending on when it happens, there are two possible causes:
-  * If the suboptimal scheduling is in the future plan, it is probably due to the configurations set by the user. For instance, battery costs being high leads to limited usage of the battery.
-  * If the suboptimal scheduling is in the past, then it is mostly due to the inaccuracies that come from consumption or solar yield forecasts. It is important to note forecasting will always come with its inaccuracies and even with these inaccuracies at distinct hours, Dynamic ESS minimizes costs compared to Default ESS mode in the longer run.
-You might also want to read the chapter on [[#determining_the_target_soc|determining the target SOC]], to get some more idea on how the algorithm determines the optimal (dis)charging path.
-If you feel like the behavior that you are observing is not explained by above points and you cannot find the answer in the [[#faq|FAQ]] below, you are encouraged to visit the [[https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/232720/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm.html|community thread]] dedicated to this. If needed, please also report your issue [[https://github.com/victronenergy/dynamic-ess/issues|here]], containing the VRM tag.
-====== Implementation ======
-This part of the documentation is about how the system works on a technical level, as it might help troubleshooting for the more advanced users. The system works by taking all of the available data (day ahead pricing/fixed prices, solar forecast, consumption forecast, current SOC and minimum SOC) into account and calculating the optimal planning for the next hours. It looks as far ahead as it has information on the pricing. In case of day ahead prices until the end of the known prices (midnight when the prices are not in yet, tomorrow midnight once the prices get available). In case of fixed prices, the system always plans 48 hours ahead.
-The planning is being converted into a target state of charge for the batteries per hour and whether or not the system can feed in to the grid during that hour. If the target SOC is lower than the current SOC, the batteries discharge (either to consumption or the grid; if feed-in is allowed), if the target SOC is higher than the current SOC the batteries get charged (either from solar or from grid). The upcoming four hours schedules are put into the GX device via the two-way VRM communication channel. On the dbus these schedules can be found under `com.victronenergy.settings`, path `/Settings/DynamicEss/Schedule/[0-3]`. Each schedule has a unix timestamp as starting time, a duration (typically 1 hour, 3600 seconds), a target SOC and a boolean value for if feed-in is possible.
-Every few seconds the GX device will compare the target SOC with the current SOC and determine the power to use to reach that target before reaching the timestamp + duration. So it takes the full hour to reach the target SOC.
-In all cases, when the target SOC changes, it will calculate the charge current required to get there, and then distribute that over all the chargers, with the solar chargers getting priority.
-If it needs more current to get there than solar provides, it will charge from the grid for the rest, but only if the price of the grid is not too high.
-===== Determining the target SOC =====
-Several people want to know how the algorithm determines the target SOC. This is done by taking 4 steps for each site running Dynamic ESS on each re-calculation of the schedule. This is typically done each hour.
-  - Obtain data;
-  - Set boundary conditions (battery, grid and the consumption/pv yield boundaries);
-  - Find the most optimal charging cycle according to the data at hand and the battery/grid costs;
-  - Attempt to reach the target SOC for the current hour by the end of this hour
-We've ran a lot of simulations to check if we needed to increase the frequency of re-calculation, but that does not help much. In hindsight it is easy to conclude when the algorithm was off in its prediction. But usually it matches it quite well.
-We keep the battery stable and not the grid: in our internal testing keeping the battery usage stable (basically the same as the plan) has been a lot more cost-effective than otherwise, because of the battery costs that pile up.
-Also keep in mind that, when doing a consumption forecast, the system does not known when during the hour that consumption will be done. If the forecast does not match the reality, Dynamic ESS does keep the planned battery usage stable while punishing the forecast inaccuracies on the grid (selling the excess to grid, buy the additional need from the grid). This can be less ideal, but it is an issue of the forecasts being inaccurate, nothing that the Dynamic ESS decided.
-===== The Node-RED implementation =====
-There exists also a [[https://github.com/victronenergy/dynamic-ess|Node-RED implementation]] of Dynamic ESS.
-The Node-RED flow uses the VRM API to get the calculation for the site and inserts the hourly schedules into the GX device. If you have specific needs, the Node-RED implementation gives you a lot more options than the current VRM implementation.
-You should only be running one implementation at the same time. If you want to run the VRM version, disable the Node-RED flow. You can read on how to do that [[https://github.com/victronenergy/dynamic-ess/blob/main/VRM-BETA.md|here]].
-====== Country / provider specific ======
-It turns out that some countries have specific pricing rules and regulations. Most of these quirks that affect dynamic ESS have been added below.
-==== Czech Republic ====
-In the Czech Republic there are dynamic transport charges work the same as Denmark, working with peak-tariff and off-peak tariff transport fees.
-==== Denmark ====
-In Denmark there are dynamic transport charges, depending on the time of day. At the moment there is no support for this in our system, but we will plan to add it later on.
-==== Germany ====
-German regulation does not allow feeding in from the battery into the grid (even if the power came from solar). From Venus OS version 3.20~17 it is possible to set certain [[https://github.com/victronenergy/dynamic-ess#restrictions|restrictions]].
-==== Portugal ====
-At least one provider in Portugal only allows feeding in solar to the grid during daytime. This looks a lot like the German regulation. For the near future, won't link the battery to grid feed-in to specific times, but disabling battery-to-grid completely will be the first alternative (which is the function that will be implemented soon).
-==== UK ====
-We are aware that the provider Octopus offers day ahead pricing, but as these are not offered via the ENTSO-E API, we are unable to process those. Eventually we will probably support these prices, but will take some time.
-Also in the UK, (fixed) prices are known to change at the half hour instead of the whole hour (where our system works with). The work-a-round is to add the average price of in the overlapping hour. So if the price changes from 40 cents to 20 cents at 16.30, fill out a price of 30 cents from 16.00 - 17.00.
-Adding better support for this will eventually be done, but as this also affects graphs and the scheduling, it might take a while.
 ====== FAQ ======
-Missing a question? Please ask them in [[https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/232720/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm.html|the community forum]] with a remark that it should be added to the documentation and/or FAQ.
+Missing a question? Please ask them in [[https://victron.discourse.group/c/products/dess/21|the community forum]] with a remark that it should be added to the documentation and/or FAQ.
 ==== Q: Why can't I find dynamic ESS on VRM? ====
-Right now (early December) Dynamic ESS is still in beta and only available via the beta VRM site. We expect to have Dynamic ESS ready for the officially launch in first weeks of 2024, after which it will no longer be needed to use VRM beta.
+There are some pre-conditions a site must fulfill in order to get the “Dynamic ESS” menu option. Make sure that the site's system type is set to ESS or Hub-4. If it is not set to this, you need a different ESS assistant, which can be configured through VE.Configure. When in doubt on how to do that, please ask your installer for help.
-For those of you who aren’t familiar with beta VRM, you can log in through [[http://betavrm.victronenergy.com/|this link]] with your normal credentials.
-==== Q: Why can't I find dynamic ESS on Beta VRM? ====
-There are some pre-conditions a site must fulfill in order to get the "Dynamic ESS" menu option. Make sure that the sites system type is set to //ESS// or //Hub-4//. If it is not set to this, you need a different ESS assistant, which can be configured through VE.Configure. When in doubt on how to do that, please ask your installer for help.
 ==== Q: Which energy meters are supported? ====
@@ Line 232: / Line 115: @@
 [[https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-Energy-Meters-Selection-Guide-EN.pdf|energy selection guide]] for supported meters.
-Things like the Dutch P1 meter are not sampling fast enough and not supported right now.
+==== Q: What is the default behaviour if the VRM connection is lost longer than 12 hours? ====
-==== Q: What is the default behaviour if the VRM connection is lost longer then 12 hours? ====
 The system will run out of its schedule after 12 hours and revert to standard ESS operation. Once the connection is reestablished, new schedules will get added again and the Dynamic ESS will commence its operation.
 As the system is partly depending on third-party services (e.g. for retrieving the day ahead price information). If we are somehow unable to fetch new pricing information, the calculations can no longer be done and the system will run out of schedule too. We have monitoring in place to check for this.
 ==== Q: Can the system handle charging my EV or other heavy loads? ====
-The short answer is no. The longer answer is that we are working on this, but as it is not that straight forward to come up with a solution that is user friendly and works for everyone, it can take a while before support for this will appear.
+It will be able to in the future.
 See [[drafts:dynamic_ess#qwhy_does_the_system_exceed_the_configured_power|here]] for information on the options of limiting power.
 ==== Q: Is there an API available? ====
@@ Line 290: / Line 173: @@
 ==== Q: My country is not using the Euro, how do I switch currency? ====
-At the moment that is not possible yet, but we are working on adding it to the general settings per site.
+Under the //Settings -> General// part of your site, you can set your currency.
-==== Q: My providers changes price at the half hour instead of the full hour ====
-Some (UK) providers offer fixed prices that change on the half hour instead of at the full hour.
-Unfortunately the 30 minute interval has some more implications than just allowing it to be entered into the fields.
-The calculations and forecasts are currently done on the whole hour, so that needs to be accounted for as well. And the same goes for the graphs. All not impossible to solve, but not trivial either and needs a fair bit of testing.
-So the 30 minute interval will be added eventually, but it will take some more time.
 ==== Q: Why does (dis)charging slow down or speed up towards the end of the hour? ====
@@ Line 315: / Line 189: @@
 At the moment this is not possible. If we decide to add it, it will first be added to the [[https://flows.nodered.org/node/victron-dynamic-ess|Node-RED implementation]] first.
-==== Q: Can you give an example with calculations? ====
-{{:drafts:dess-example-energy-prices.png?nolink&800|}}
-Given a system at 15% SOC that has set the battery costs to 0.06 €/kWh, energy prices right now (11.00) set at € 0.29 and becoming € 0.40 this evening. Why would it feed into the grid already and not wait until the prices are higher?
-The battery cost is € 0.06 per kWh. This means that for a cycle of battery usage to be useful (financially beneficial) the price difference should be at least € 0.12 cents per kWh (€ 0.06 for charging, and € 0.06 for discharging). € 0.40 - € 0.29 is € 0.11 which is below that, hence Dynamic ESS does not want to use the battery for this task, instead it is offloading the excess to the grid.
+==== Q: I am getting the alarm "Dynamic ESS error code: No matching schedule available" ====
+The cases this alarm can be triggered are:
+  * the system does not have a valid schedule for the current time frame
+  * the system clock is off
-==== Q: I am getting the alarm "Dynamic ESS error code: No matching schedule available" ====
 In most cases your systems clock has drifted such that it cannot find a matching schedule. Usually the GX device will synchronize the time with a NTP server, but your network setup might refrain the GX device from reaching a time server. Please check your time setting / manually set it to the correct time.
+Users running Dynamic ESS on a Raspberry Pi will see this error more frequently because the Raspberry Pi does not have a realtime clock. Which means that it usually takes a while for these to get back on track with the correct time after a boot. The alarm should disappear once the time is correct again.
 This alarm can also occur when DESS automatically switches to ESS because the SOC is below the min SOC level.
 ==== Q: I am getting the alarm "Dynamic ESS error code: ESS functionality not available" ====
 This probably means that you once activated Dynamic ESS and are no longer using it. In order to fully disable it, you need to set the `com.victronenergy.settings`, path `/Settings/DynamicEss/Mode` to `0`.
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 This is quite an assumption but this is how DESS considers it internally, so that’s why the visuals reflect it that way. If we do not have that assumption, the energy graph would be even more complicated. If you want to know the exact source of the energy, you should look at the installation data graphs (grid, solar and consumption).
+==== Q: I can't find the controls button on the dashboard ====
+You probably have //Realtime updates// switched off. You can switch it on via //Settings -> General -> Realtime updates//.
+Note that the dashboard should show: //Last updated:// **Realtime**
+==== Q: I get the error message "Dynamic ESS error code: Battery capacity unset" ====
+This error can happen when the Dynamic ESS system starts before we were able to communicate the battery capacity from VRM to the GX device. It will go away as soon as you restart Dynamic ESS or the GX device.