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At Powston, many of our customers have invested in robust solar and battery systems—often far exceeding their home's actual energy needs. Why? Because they're smartly capitalizing on energy trading opportunities, turning excess energy into profits. Yet, despite these advanced setups, it's common—and understandably frustrating—to see small grid imports on your electricity bill, usually just a few kilowatt-hours a day.<h2>Why Does This Happen?</h2>Imagine you're driving on a freeway with strict speed limits designed to ensure safety for everyone. Sometimes, even if you're in a hurry and your car can easily handle higher speeds, you're still forced to stay within the limits. Similarly, Australia's inverter ramp-rate standards (the 16% per minute rule) act like those speed limits. These standards exist to ensure overall grid stability and reliability, preventing sudden surges or drops in solar production that could destabilize local networks.<h2>The Blunt Instrument</h2>However, just as freeway speed limits don't always account for individual driving skills or advanced safety technologies in modern cars, inverter ramp-rate limitations can feel unnecessarily restrictive—especially for customers with advanced solar and battery setups. Your system can easily respond quicker, matching solar production precisely with your household load and battery state, but it's held back by these universal rules.<h2>The Result: Unnecessary Imports</h2>When clouds roll by or your household's energy demand spikes briefly, your inverter can't respond instantly due to ramp-rate constraints. This short delay can force your system into drawing a small amount of energy from the grid, showing up as minor imports on your bill. They're typically minimal—just a few kWh—but can still feel irritating, especially given your investment and advanced energy setup.<h2>Negative Price Events: Missed Opportunities</h2>These standards are especially frustrating during negative price events, where ideally, your inverter should ramp up quickly to export maximum energy to capitalize financially. However, the same blunt regulation that protects the grid can restrict your financial benefit in these scenarios.<h2>What Can Be Done?</h2><figure id="figure-2uhwshod2om7sfz9e6"><img id="2uhwshod2om7sfz9e6" src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1197259234/photo/5g-and-ai-technology-global-communication-network-concept.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=DtZoApM8WhjRUptPLXiNoSFs4Po8gcpO3d7EKz-iExU=" alt="5G and AI technology, Global communication network concept." title="5G and AI technology, Global communication network concept." class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1197259234/photo/5g-and-ai-technology-global-communication-network-concept.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=DtZoApM8WhjRUptPLXiNoSFs4Po8gcpO3d7EKz-iExU=" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>At Powston, we believe there's room to evolve these regulations. While ensuring grid safety is crucial, modern inverter technologies and battery systems can manage faster ramp rates safely and efficiently. We advocate for smarter, more nuanced rules allowing advanced systems like yours to perform optimally, especially during times when the grid actively benefits from rapid solar and battery responsiveness.In the meantime, know that these small imports are not a sign of inefficiency or poor planning. They're simply a side-effect of rules built for broader grid stability—not incompetence from your network provider.Don't panic—you're ahead of the game. Having these minor issues actually indicates you're already positioned to take advantage of cutting-edge energy solutions. You're winning by investing in tomorrow's energy solutions today.We're committed to pushing for smarter standards, ensuring your system can fully realize its potential—maximizing both your savings and earnings.

Understanding Those Annoying (but Small) Grid Imports

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At Powston, we’ve always believed that if you own a battery, you should be your own Virtual Power Plant (VPP) – fully in control of your energy assets and the profits they generate. Today, we’re excited to introduce a game-changing feature that takes this vision to the next level: No-Code Variable Editing. This new capability puts you in the driver’s seat of your battery trading strategy like never before, with simplicity and transparency that our competitors can’t match.<figure id="figure-80q6ihztjm7mru2z2"><img id="80q6ihztjm7mru2z2" src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1498050108023-c5249f4df085?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wyNjI5NjF8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw5fHxubyUyMGNvZGV8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzQwNjI2MTI1fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.0.3&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" alt="A MacBook with lines of code on its screen on a busy desk" title="A MacBook with lines of code on its screen on a busy desk" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1498050108023-c5249f4df085?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wyNjI5NjF8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw5fHxubyUyMGNvZGV8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzQwNjI2MTI1fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.0.3&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>Empowering You to Control and Profit from Your Battery</h2>When you invest in a home battery, you deserve to control it and reap the rewards. It’s your energy, your asset, and it should work for you, not for someone else’s bottom line. Powston’s core philosophy is that our users act as their own VPP, making decisions that maximise their benefits.Unfortunately, many traditional VPP programs and energy companies take the opposite approach – they trade your battery’s power behind the scenes with minimal transparency, often locking you out of key decisions. In some cases, providers even strike hidden deals with battery manufacturers or keep a hefty share of the earnings for themselves, essentially using your battery to profiteer without channelling a fair benefit back to the asset owner<a data-mce-href="https://arena.gov.au/assets/2021/09/vpp-power-plant-demonstrations-consumer-insights-report.pdf" href="https://arena.gov.au/assets/2021/09/vpp-power-plant-demonstrations-consumer-insights-report.pdf" title="Arena Analysis Paper 2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">*</a>. Powston was founded to change this status quo. We give control back to you, the battery owner, ensuring you decide when to charge, when to discharge, and when to cash in on market prices.Our new No-Code Variable Editing feature is a bold extension of that commitment to user empowerment. It ensures that any Powston user – not just software developers or energy geeks – can fine-tune their battery trading parameters easily and profitably.<h2>No-Code Simplicity: Customize Your Trading Strategy with Ease</h2>No more coding, no more guesswork – just straightforward control. Our No-Code Variable Editing tool lets you adjust critical trading variables through a simple interface. Anyone can now tweak the settings that govern how your “personal power plant” operates, without writing a single line of code or needing advanced technical skills.<h3>What kind of variables can you adjust?</h3><figure id="figure-wf5ntw6u2sm7msv16h"><img id="wf5ntw6u2sm7msv16h" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/17ciurSZm8s2WvnYyGfFcRtyjXBc5tC9CMfharMWwFEFdOPhQ81QJgehyvVaVsbO.png" alt="SOC, price, morning, solar and load preferences" title="SOC, price, morning, solar and load preferences" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: undefined undefined;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="Example variables" data-positionX="undefined" data-positionY="undefined" data-fullWidth="false"/><figcaption class="body-normal text-gray-500 mt-2">Example variables</figcaption></figure>All the crucial ones, including:Price Thresholds – Set your own cutoff prices for when the battery should sell energy to the grid or charge from the grid. For example, you might decide to only export when the market price exceeds a certain high value, or charge up when prices drop below your chosen threshold. State of Charge (SoC) Limits – Define how much of your battery’s capacity to use for trading versus keep in reserve. You remain in control of how full (or empty) your battery gets during market arbitrage, ensuring you always have energy when you need it. Time &amp; Schedules – Easily create or adjust the times of day your battery will respond to market signals. Want to avoid discharging during your family’s dinner time? Simply edit your settings – no coding required. Algorithm Preferences – Dial in preferences for our trading algorithm’s behaviour. Powston provides a smart default strategy, but with no-code editing you can customise the algorithm to suit you (just as we’ve always promised) in a few clicks. All of this is done through an intuitive dashboard. It’s as simple as moving a slider or updating a field. The result? You get a tailored trading strategy that reflects your goals and risk comfort, without needing to be a programmer.This ease-of-use is miles ahead of what most competitors offer. Some solutions force you into one-size-fits-all plans, while others might allow customisation but only via complex scripting or not at all. Powston’s no-code approach tears down those barriers, making advanced battery control accessible to every user.<h2>Transparency &amp; Control: No More Hidden Agendas</h2>With Powston, what you see is what you get. We’re committed to full transparency in how your battery is used and how profits are made. Our users can monitor every charge or discharge event and know it’s happening because they set it that way.Competitors often keep customers in the dark. In many VPP programs today, once you sign up, the provider can direct your battery’s behaviour without consulting you on each decision. You might only find out after the fact how much (or how little) you earned from an event. Even worse, some programs have clawback clauses or special agreements where a third party (like the battery manufacturer or the retailer) takes a cut of the revenue or imposes its own limits. This lack of transparency is exactly what has made some battery owners sceptical of VPP schemes in general.Powston is turning that model on its head. We don’t lock you out of any trading decisions – in fact, we invite you in. The new variable editing feature is a prime example: it shines a light on all the key parameters that drive your battery’s actions and lets you adjust them. Nothing is hidden. If a price spike hits, you’ll know why your battery is selling power (because it hit the threshold you set). If your battery holds back a reserve, it’s because you decided to keep, say, 20% always charged for backup. You remain the ultimate decision-maker.This level of user control isn’t just philosophy – it translates into real financial gains for our customers, as we’ll show below. But it’s also about peace of mind. With Powston, you’ll never have to wonder whose interests your battery is serving. The answer is simple: it serves yours.<h2>Real-World Impact: A Powston User’s $4500 vs. The Competition’s $800</h2>Talk is cheap in the energy game, so we love backing up our claims with real data. One Powston user’s experience recently delivered a powerful reality check about the difference user-control makes:$800 in 2 Months – That’s how much money (yes, paid to his bank account) this Powston customer pocketed on their energy bill in just a two-month period by actively trading their battery with our system. For context, this is roughly the same amount they earned in an entire year with a competitor’s “wholesale VPP” solution before switching to Powston. In other words, Powston delivered 6× the returns in a fraction of the time. $4,500 (and Counting) in Under a Year – Fast forward: that same user has now earned a total of $4,500 in credits in under 12 months using Powston’s platform. This isn’t theoretical or a one-off fluke – it’s sustained, month-after-month income generated by smart, user-driven battery trading. It dwarfs what the old solution managed to achieve.<h2>How did we make such a leap in performance? Two big reasons:</h2>Trading on 5-Minute Price Spikes (Not 30-Minute Averages) – Powston’s technology takes full advantage of Australia’s shift to 5-minute wholesale pricing. We capture every five-minute interval where prices skyrocket, whereas many competitors only react on 30-minute averaged prices. By the time they respond, the peak has often passed. We don’t miss those brief but lucrative spikes. In fact, fast and flexible assets like home batteries are the big winners from five-minute settlement, precisely because they can respond rapidly to short-lived price highs (Five-minute settlement explained – Amber Electric). Powston’s system was built around this agility from day one. Every five-minute window is an opportunity to maximise your profit, and our user’s $800 in 2 months is proof of how valuable those windows can be. Lightning-Fast, Local Control (20% More Trading Time) – When prices surge, timing is everything. Powston deploys a local controller in your home that talks directly to your battery inverter via Modbus, a super-responsive industrial communication protocol. This means when a trade signal is triggered, your battery starts acting on it in seconds, not minutes. There’s no waiting for a cloud server in China or America to relay commands or for some distant aggregator to wake up. By eliminating cloud latency, our users squeeze in up to 20% more valuable seconds per trade during price spikes. Those extra seconds add up – giving you more energy dispatched at high price points and more money in your pocket. It’s a speed advantage and a control advantage that typical VPP setups (which often rely on slower, centralised systems) just can’t match.The combination of high-frequency trading and ultra-fast switching is a game-changer. Our featured user’s success is a direct result of these advantages. And with the new no-code editing, any Powston user can fine-tune these tactics to fit their own situation. You’re not only riding the wave of our technology – you’re shaping the strategy on your terms and seeing the payoff in real dollars.<h2>Join the Movement: Take Charge and Maximize Your Earnings</h2>Powston is more than a platform – it’s a movement toward user-empowered energy. We’re proving that battery owners don’t have to accept the old model of “sit back and hope for the best.” Instead, you can take charge of your battery’s destiny (literally and figuratively) and optimise your earnings in ways that no traditional power company or remote-controlled VPP will ever do for you.Our new No-Code Variable Editing feature embodies this disruptive spirit. It’s confidence in your hands – the confidence that you can tweak and tailor your battery’s behaviour and immediately see the impact, all with full transparency. Want to push the envelope for higher returns? Go ahead and raise that export price threshold a bit. Prefer a more conservative approach for a while? Dial it back and preserve more charge for home use. Powston makes it simple, and we’ve got your back with smart defaults and guidance built-in, so you’re never flying blind.Now is the time to join the revolution in home energy control. Our community of users is growing, and they’re not just saving on bills – they’re earning and learning every day. They’re collaboratively improving results, sharing tips, and helping shape the future of the Powston platform (we built this latest feature with direct feedback from users like you in mind!). Every new member strengthens the movement and proves that individuals can be power players in the energy market.Don’t let someone else call the shots with your battery. With Powston, you are the VPP. Try out the no-code variable editing today, and experience the freedom, transparency, and rewards that come with true control of your energy assets. It’s time to take the power back – and profit on your terms.<figure id="figure-33v970v34m7ms7nxk"><img id="33v970v34m7ms7nxk" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2axEylxlYu5ZkBMpCd7pJo2P3yEtyaIRBttBentTWubjND9TO20tV2fFfWkJPnPJ.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2axEylxlYu5ZkBMpCd7pJo2P3yEtyaIRBttBentTWubjND9TO20tV2fFfWkJPnPJ.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><a data-mce-href="https://www.powston.com.au" href="https://www.powston.com.au" title="Join us">Join us</a>, and let’s change the landscape of VPPs for battery owners, one empowered user at a time.

No‑Code Variable Editing: Empower Your Own VPP

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WiFi’s Evolution from Past to Present – and Why Hardwired Ethernet Still Matters

<figure id="figure-sr6wytjiulm6uh14d9"><img id="sr6wytjiulm6uh14d9" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/9hnD3lzS8DPTCm1qNpEqaXQylA88iu3kiDDYjp6Q8Ss6hbM7IxCzWiGofqLLyEAz.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/9hnD3lzS8DPTCm1qNpEqaXQylA88iu3kiDDYjp6Q8Ss6hbM7IxCzWiGofqLLyEAz.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>When Sungrow dongles fail to carry out commands, there are two ways to address it. The first is physically unplugging and replugging the dongle at the inverter site. If that’s not feasible, you can use iSolar Cloud’s “Common Parameter” restart option (shown above). While Powston’s platform cannot yet initiate these commands, they have reported the issue, and Sungrow has acknowledged it. A firmware update is expected to resolve the problem, though it already appears less frequent on newer firmware versions. Regular updates are recommended to maintain the best possible performance.

How to restart our Sungrow Dongle

This guide is intended to be followed to setup your Powston controller on your Wi-Fi Network.Step 1 - Connect your USB Power SupplyPlug the USB cable into a 240v Power Supply.&nbsp; Note: It is not recommended to connect the USB Power Cord to a TV, Router or other device, as these may not supply sufficient power.<figure id="figure-xk0egakd4rm6raw3lj" class=""><img id="xk0egakd4rm6raw3lj" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/34inGIm8Q4h3TNTfeCpH3qChACFKFEBJe8xGN7A7WiJMaNyAyRd5l7jX8P7nXES0.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/34inGIm8Q4h3TNTfeCpH3qChACFKFEBJe8xGN7A7WiJMaNyAyRd5l7jX8P7nXES0.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;"></figure>Step 2 - Configure your Wifi Settings1. Wait 3-10 seconds for the Controller to start up after plugging into a power source.﻿ 2. On your phone go to Settings then to Wi-Fi 3. You should see a new Wi-Fi network show up with the name starting with "POWSTON" 4. Connect to the POWSTON Wi-Fi network. 5. Wait 3-10 seconds for the Captive Wi-Fi Page to appear. Note: If the page does not appear and you are connected to the POWSTON Wi-Fi network, go to <a href="http://192.168.4.1">http://192.168.4.1</a>&nbsp; in your browser. 6. Select Configure Wi-Fi 7. Select Your Wifi Network from the list. Note: If you can't see your Wi-Fi name in the list, you can type in the name in the SSID field manually, or move the Controller closer to your access point. 8. Enter your Password 9. Scoll Down and Press Save<figure id="figure-3dw4yl0445m6rb6nwv" class=""><img id="3dw4yl0445m6rb6nwv" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/304RjcmKoJxSB2kRvH5benAkMGRlBOE9NN7bXKbFOiIdQxIsfDE7i1fRrOOQAv7B.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/304RjcmKoJxSB2kRvH5benAkMGRlBOE9NN7bXKbFOiIdQxIsfDE7i1fRrOOQAv7B.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>Step 3 - Check if your controller is online by:1. Confirming the POWSTON Wi-Fi network is no longer showing. 2. Connecting to your router to see if the device has joined your network, and if you see the IP address, connect&nbsp; to the IP Address Locally. 3. Check if the Dongle is showing up under your site within Powston.If you need support reach out to service at powston dot com.

Configuring Wi-Fi on your Controller

Aerial solar photovoltaic panel after aerial sunset

<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: calc(16px * var(--body-fontSize, 1)); font-style: var(--body-fontStyle, normal); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;" data-mce-style="font-family: inherit; font-size: calc(16px * var(--body-fontSize, 1)); font-style: var(--body-fontStyle, normal); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Modern authentication systems favor enhanced security over sheer convenience. While an emailed token isn't as immediate as a static password, it offers significant advantages in protecting user data.<h3>Tokens and oAuth</h3>Our system employs OAuth or an email token-based approach. Instead of managing static passwords, we generate unique, time-sensitive tokens that are sent to the userâ€™s email. This minimizes risks like password reuse and reduces vulnerabilities related to credential storage. Similar to banking practices, this approach is designed to safeguard against the evolving landscape of cyber threats.<h3>We cannot confirm or deny</h3>A key security measure is our policy of offering generic responses during login attempts. We deliberately do not confirm if an email is registered in our system. By doing so, we prevent account enumerationâ€”where attackers might otherwise determine valid accounts by analyzing system feedback. This extra layer of protection significantly curbs the risk of phishing and other targeted attacks.<h3>Most advanced yet acceptable</h3>Though this method may introduce a small inconvenience compared to a simple password, it represents a practical balance between advanced security and user experience. The trade-off ensures robust protection while maintaining an acceptable level of usability, much like the security measures employed by financial institutions.

How we picked our login process

Powston

Energy management controlling solar, battery, AC, EV charging and other smart load shifting devices to respond to spot prices in the Australian Nation Energy Market.