MEDA Grid Gate
smart grid backup.
Your home runs on solar and battery. The grid only steps in when it is needed, and your battery fills itself before the storm hits.
The grid, on your terms.
Grid Gate is MEDA's own software. It runs on the Victron GX device in your system and makes the call, day and night. When the battery falls to 20% the grid connects and carries the house. When the sun can carry the house again (or the battery is back to 40%), the grid disconnects. Clouds cannot make it flick on and off.
It is built for systems that use the grid as a backup rather than running Victron's grid tied ESS mode, for example where the inverter cannot be connected under the AS/NZS 4777 rules. On those systems the grid is normally either on or off by hand. Grid Gate makes it automatic, reliable and storm ready.
And when MetService warns of severe weather for your area, it fills the battery and holds it full, so a storm power cut never finds you with a flat battery.
Set and forget.
Battery first
Your home runs on solar and battery. When the battery runs low, the grid connects and carries the house, so the battery rests and the sun refills it for free the next day. Once the sun can carry the house again, the grid steps back out.
Storm watch
Every 30 minutes it checks the official MetService severe weather warnings against your property. If an Orange or Red warning or a Severe Thunderstorm Watch covers you, it fills the battery from the grid and keeps it full until the warning is over.
Seamless, like a UPS
The Victron inverter does the switching, so lights, computers and appliances do not notice when the grid comes and goes. If the grid drops out, the battery takes over in a split second. Nothing is ever sent back to the grid.
Your dashboard
A clear dashboard on your phone through the Victron VRM app: what it is doing and why, battery level, live power, usage and cost, and a log of every decision. Buttons let you take over whenever you like.
Alerts and self checks
Get an email when storm mode starts, if there is a power cut, or if the battery gets very low. MEDA is told about faults too. Every time it starts, it tests its own connections and tells you if anything needs attention.
Works with your power plan
On a normal plan it uses the grid only when it has to. On a time of use plan it uses the cheap hours and saves your battery for the expensive ones, and it keeps the battery healthy with a full charge every couple of weeks.
Good to know.
What does it cost?
Grid Gate comes with every new MEDA grid connected Victron system. Already have a Victron system with a grid connection? We can add it to yours, usually remotely. Get in touch for a price.
Will it work on my system?
It needs a Victron inverter with a GX device (such as a Cerbo GX or Ekrano GX) and a grid connection to the inverter's AC input. Send us your VRM details or a photo of your system and we will confirm.
Why not just use Victron's ESS mode?
ESS lets a Victron system work alongside the grid and export to it, but the inverter has to be connected under AS/NZS 4777 and approved by your lines company. Where that is not possible or not wanted, the grid can only be used as a backup input to the inverter. Grid Gate is what makes that backup smart, so you get most of the benefit without the grid tied connection.
What if the internet goes down?
Grid Gate runs on the GX at your place, so the grid backup keeps working with no internet. Only storm watch, the emails and remote access need the internet, and they pick up again when it is back.
Can I still control it myself?
Yes. Grid on now, Grid off now and a Storm button are on the dashboard. A manual choice lasts 4 hours, then it goes back to automatic. All the settings (when the grid comes on and goes off) can be changed on the Settings page.
Does it charge my battery from the grid every night?
No, and that is on purpose. On a normal power plan, charging a battery from the grid costs the same as using that power directly, plus about 10 to 15% lost in charging. So the grid simply carries the house when the battery is low, and the free sunshine does the charging. It only fills the battery from the grid before a storm, or on cheap off peak hours if you have them.
Add Grid Gate to your system.
New system or existing Victron setup, tell us a bit about it and we will come back to you.