Hello,
I am trying to understand which option is better. Or are they essentially the same and using a Gridbox with a VX3 brings no benefits?
System: Viessmann E380CA meter connected via COM-bus to VX3 (10 kWh battery) , Vitocal 222-S (with Vitotronic 200 Type WO1C and Vitoconnect), Gridbox (but is the Gridbox adding any value here?)
When using either built in energy management system or Gridbox - heat pump seems to be instructed to increase temperatures via the magic of a SmartGrid "hack". As far as I can tell -- this is possible with undocumented settings: both 7E00 and 7E80 set to 3. Heat pump does not receive any E380CA meter information from either built in EMS or GridBox. Instead, a SmartGrid signal is 'simulated' and delivered to the heat pump via Optolink and it starts heating using remaining SmartGrid settings like cylinder temperature etc; Solar Panel Control Strategy is never used with either VX3 built in EMS or with Gridbox because neither setup provides E380CA meter information to the heat pump over EEBUS and Optolink.
Assuming all of the above is actually correct (E380CA meter information is not delivered to heat pump via EEBUS regardless of which energy management system I use Photo Voltaic Control Strategy is ignored and instead Smart Grig setting are used; (2 settings readily available in the menu, more Smart Grid settings inexplicably hidden inside Coding Level 1; but I digress) -- here are my questions:
1. Is there any benefit to using Gridbox with this setup or should I close my Gridbox account and sell the hardware?
2. Gridbox seems to provide ability prfioritize solar energy use, but the obvious strategy is to first charge battery to 100%, then increase heat pump temps -- which is default behaviour of VX3 any way, so not a real advantage of Gridbx?
2. Gridbox lets me specify the threshold for enabling self consumption. I did not see that setting in the VX3 built in configuration (done via ViCare app and ViGuide app -- to switch between Gridbox and VX3 EMS). Did I miss this inside VigGuide or ViCare? Only setting I see there is to 'enable self consumption' but not at what surplus level. What is the default threshold the built in VX3 EMS uses to start sending the Smart Grid signal to the heat pump? Is it 1kW? Can I control when it stops?
3. GridBox lets me input kWh cost of buying and exporting energy. And maybe more importantly - lets me specify if I have switched to ViShare. Then again - I am guessing ViCare app would know (from Viessmann...) that I switched to ViShare. But maybe I'm wrong here? Either way - is there an actual benefit telling Gridbox that I am a ViShare customer? For example, is electricity ever free on ViShare plan (say, very windy day in winter) and Gridbox sends a Smart Grid signal to heat pump to heat hot water to to max settings or tells battery to fully charge)? Can VX3 do the same, but the setting is hidden some place or simply always enabled because it is obvious it should be turned on? Or none of this matters and both systems do nothing special at all for ViShare subscribers?
4. Are there other advantages / disadvantages of built in VX3 EMS or the Gridbox that I am not considering making one better than the other? Or are both products basically the same thing but with 2 different apps (viCare vs myGridBox)?
Thank you,
Michael
