The Hive app: how does it work with solar?

What is the Hive app?

The Hive app allows you to remotely view and control a range of technology, including solar & battery systems, EV chargers, smart light bulbs, heat pumps, and smart thermostats.

For you to manage them on the app, some devices must be manufactured by Hive, others have to simply be installed by Hive, and some just need to be connected to a ‘Hive Bridge’ – like solar & battery systems.

The app gives you the power to set schedules, check your solar electricity generation, and turn off your devices – all of which can help you save money on your bills and cut your emissions.

How does the Hive app work with your solar & battery system?

The Hive app connects to your solar panels, battery, and inverter.

This gives you the ability to track your system’s output and exports, as well as your battery’s storage levels.

You can also set your battery’s charging and discharging schedule.

This is especially useful if you’re on a time-of-use tariff, as you can fill your battery with off-peak electricity overnight, then use it during the day while selling most of your solar-generated electricity to the grid.

And if something goes wrong, the app will notify you and put you through to Hive’s support team.

How does the Hive app connect to your system?

Our lovely engineers will take care of connecting your solar & battery system to your Hive app, so you don’t have to lift a finger.

They’ll install a Hive Bridge and Hive Hub (if you don’t already have one), and will show you how to use these devices and the app – all for no extra cost.

What are the benefits of the Hive app?

The Hive app allows you to get the best out of your solar & battery system, so you can maximise your savings.

You can keep an eye on your system’s output and wellbeing, change your battery’s schedule, and dive deep into the data.

Here’s some more detail about all the ways the Hive app can help you.

Home Dashboard

The app’s Home Dashboard gives you a live overview of your solar panels and battery.

You’ll be able to quickly check whether your panels are currently generating electricity, how full your battery is, and whether it’s charging or discharging.

And if anything has gone offline or is experiencing a fault, you’ll be able to see this and immediately contact Hive’s support team.

Solar screen

In the solar panel section of your app, you can see how much electricity your panels are generating.

If they’re producing power, you can tap on ‘Live Energy Flow’ to see a breakdown of how much is going into your house vs how much is being sold to the grid, as well as your battery’s level of charge.

If you tap on the settings icon, you can rename your panels to anything you like, providing it’s no more than 20 characters – so ‘Walking on Sunshine’ or ‘Here Comes the Sun’ are viable choices, but ‘House of the Rising Sun’ is just too long.

The solar screen will also tell you what weather your panels are dealing with (handy if you’re not at home).

Battery screen

In your app’s battery section, you can control a bunch of settings, including – crucially – scheduling.

This feature enables you to maximise your export earnings, and ensure you’re importing electricity when it’s cheapest (assuming you’re on a time-of-use tariff).

The charging schedule screen allows you to set your battery’s behaviour throughout the day, over the course of up to six different time slots.

For each slot, you can select the start time and whether you want it to charge from the grid (‘Charge’), discharge power to your home (‘Use’), or sell power to the grid (‘Sell’). A slot lasts until the next slot begins.

You can also set the minimum charge threshold, which stops your battery from discharging past a point you choose, to ensure there’s always some power left in there.

The app won’t let you set the threshold lower than 20%, because that’s the limit recommended by the battery manufacturer to protect its wellbeing.

Energy insights

The Insights section, which you can access via a button at the bottom of the Home Dashboard, is a data nerd’s dream (myself included).

It has all the statistics about your solar & battery system you could ever want, so it’s perfect for people who love mining information for nuggets of data gold.

You can see how much electricity your system has produced and exported, your home’s track record when it comes to using solar-generated electricity and importing grid electricity, and which of your panels are the top performers.

The app lets you see how these figures are faring each day, and will also show you what’s happened over the previous seven days, 30 days, and so far this year.

Tapping on any of these time periods will take you through to a chart that shows your results over that duration – plus some new data.

You’ll find out how much electricity went to your battery, how much of that your home used, and a pie chart will display how much of your electricity usage was supplied by your panels, your battery, and the grid.

You’ll then see your overall ‘Energy independence’ percentage rating, which shows how effectively you’ve reduced your reliance on the grid.

What else can the Hive app do?

The Hive app has a diverse set of impressive capabilities, covering a variety of smart home devices.

Here’s how it can help you control and learn more about your smart heating, lighting, plugs, and EV charging systems.

Heating

To use the heating feature, you’ll need a Hive Thermostat.

If you also get Hive radiator valves or a heat pump, you can change the temperature, set schedules, and turn your radiators or heat pump on and off, wherever in the world you are.

And if you’re home and you have a smart speaker, you can do this with just your voice.

You can also pair your app with your existing boiler and hot water tank, then control all their most important functions remotely.

The app allows you to track your usage in the Heating History section, and also find out how long it takes for your home to heat up and cool down – then make changes based on that information.

You can even set your radiator to turn off when you leave the room, if you also get Hive motion sensors.

Plugs and lights

If you get any of Hive’s smart plugs and light bulbs, you can control, schedule, and unpick your habits with the app.

This should help you to save on your electricity bills, since you can ensure that your lights and appliances switch off when you’re not using them.

You can even schedule your lights to come on at sunset, so your lighting will adjust to the changing seasons.

And if you have motion sensors, you can set lights and plug sockets to turn off when you leave a room.

EV charging

Customers who get an EV charger through Hive can get real-time updates on the app, meaning you can check exactly how much charge your car has, see when it’ll be done charging, and get a notification when it’s finished.

You can also remotely start or stop charging, which is handy if you don’t fancy popping outside.

And if you enter your tariff’s details into the app, it’ll calculate how much each charging session costs you.

As an added bonus, drivers who pair their Hive charger with a British Gas electricity tariff can get 100% of their charging costs covered for the first year, up to 8,000 miles.

Considering the average UK driver travels 7,000 miles per year, that’s an excellent deal.

Summary

The Hive app is a helpful tool for getting the most out of your solar & battery system.

You can easily track your system’s production and export levels, and arrange your battery’s schedule so that it maximises your savings.

Meanwhile in the Insights section, you can indulge your nerdy enjoyment of all things data and understand your system better.

And if you ever want to get more smart devices, like a thermostat, EV charger, or light bulbs, the app can offer you another load of features to help you cut your electricity bills.

FAQs

What is the Hive app used for?

The Hive app can be used to view, control, and schedule your smart devices.

These include solar & battery systems, thermostats, EV chargers, light bulbs, plugs, and motion sensors.

You can even control some machines that aren’t necessarily smart, including heat pumps and hot water cylinders.

This allows you to see how much electricity you use and when, set your devices to turn on when you need them, and use a variety of features to cut your consumption levels.

How does the Hive app work with solar?

The Hive app allows you to see how much electricity your panels generate, your battery’s storage levels, how much electricity you export to the grid, and whether everything’s running smoothly.

You can set the app to notify you if anything goes wrong or part of your system goes offline.

With the app, you can also set your battery’s charging and discharging schedule.

How does the Hive app connect to your solar & battery system?

The Hive app connects to your solar & battery system via the Hive Bridge, a white box that wirelessly links your solar panels, battery, and inverter to your Hive Hub.

You can connect your Hive Bridge to the app yourself, if you tap on ‘add new Hive devices’, but your installer should do it for you after they fit your system.