ESS-System: Keine Einspeisung möglich und Last wird nicht aus PV genommen

Bit of an odd one with my garden office setup and wondering if anyone's seen similar.

Running a Multiplus II GX 48V with a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 250/60 and a bank of Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 batteries. ESS configured with a grid setpoint of around -200W (so slight export) and a minimum SOC of 20%.

Problem is, during decent solar days the loads aren't being pulled from PV at all — everything's coming off grid, and there's zero export happening despite the panels clearly generating. MPPT is showing good numbers in the VRM portal, so it's not a generation issue.

A few things I've already checked:

• ESS mode is set to DC-coupled (MPPT goes straight to the battery bus)
• Grid setpoint is definitely negative
• No active schedule overrides that I can see

My suspicion is it might be something daft in the ESS assistant config — maybe it's not seeing the grid meter properly? I've got a Cerbo GX handling comms but wondering if there's a VE.Bus or VRM setting I've overlooked.

Has anyone dealt with ESS basically ignoring its own setpoint and just... doing nothing useful with available solar? Is there a known quirk with DC-coupled setups specifically?

Would be good to hear from others running similar single-phase ESS setups in the UK, especially if you've got garden office or outbuilding loads rather than a whole-house system. Suspect the smaller load profile might be relevant somehow.

@CamperEwan — classic ESS grid-code issue, seen it with my own garden office setup.

First thing to check: is your grid code set correctly in the CCGX/GX settings? In the UK we need G98 or G99 depending on your inverter size. If it's defaulted to something generic or European, ESS will refuse to export and can also block PV-to-load pass-through in certain operating modes.

Second — check your ESS mode in VEConfigure. If it's set to "Keep batteries charged" rather than "Optimised (with BatteryLife)", the MPPT may be throttled unnecessarily.

Also worth pulling the VRM logs or even just the remote console — look at what the MPPT state shows. If it's reading "ESS #disabled" alongside the charger status, that's your confirmation it's a grid-code/AC-coupling configuration issue rather than a hardware fault.

Had this exact headache last winter when I was finalising my van build's emergency backup config before adapting a similar topology for the garden shed.

After @SuffolkCruiser's grid-code point is ruled out, look at your MPPT charge state. If the SmartSolar thinks the batteries are full (even erroneously), it'll throttle PV output rather than feed the loads — the Multiplus II GX won't pull from panels it considers "unnecessary."

Check your battery absorption/float voltage settings match across both the MPPT and the GX interface. Mismatched charge profiles between the two caused me three days of teeth-grinding before I spotted it in VictronConnect.

Also worth exporting your ESS Assistant settings and confirming "Optimise without BatteryLife" is selected if you're wanting direct PV consumption priority.

Good shout from @SuffolkCruiser on the grid code angle, but I'd add one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your ESS assistant's "Minimum SOC" setting in VE.Configure.

Had this exact symptom on my motorhome-to-static conversion last spring. The MPPT was producing beautifully, batteries sat at 60%, but the Multiplus flatly refused to feed loads from PV. Turned out ESS thought it was "recovering" the battery toward minimum SOC thresholds and was deliberately holding back.

Also worth checking: AC input current limit — if that's misconfigured, ESS gets confused about whether it's truly grid-connected and throttles accordingly.

Pull the VRM logs if you've got remote monitoring set up. The ESS reason codes in there are genuinely useful rather than the vague front-panel behaviour you're seeing now.

Good points from @SuffolkCruiser and @LiFePO4Nerd, but one thing I'd add from my own static caravan setup where I hit exactly this wall:

Check your minimum SOC setting in ESS. If the Fogstar BMS is reporting cell-level data that VenusOS is interpreting conservatively, it'll lock out grid feed-in and PV-to-load if it thinks you're hovering near the floor — even when you're clearly not.

In VRM, pull up the Advanced tab and watch Battery State vs ESS State in real time. If you're seeing ESS State: External control flickering, the BMS is basically telling the Multiplus to stand down.

Fogstar Drifts communicate over CAN — double-check your DVCC settings have SVS and SCS both enabled, otherwise the SmartSolar and Multiplus can end up in a bidding war over charge voltage. Complete mess.