When I Charge My Home Battery, I try to use the Most Wind Power
For my fellow North Texas neighbors with whole-home battery systems
I want to share what I learned: the best time to charge my home battery is when the grid is generating the most wind power. Since we're in Texas, our grid is managed by ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), and I spent some time digging through their data at:
ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards
Here is what I found: Wind power is strongest in the middle of the night and early morning hours; solar is producing nothing; most people are asleep; and demand is low.
My Month-by-Month Charging Schedule
Based on ERCOT's patterns, here is what I found:
| Month | Best hour Window | Why this window makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 00:00-04:00 | Night winds + low load; no solar. |
| Feb | 00:00-04:00 | Same pattern; winter fronts often boost wind. |
| Mar | 00:00-04:00 | Spring is windy; overnight shares peak. |
| Apr | 00:00-03:00 | Peak spring winds; strong overnight shares. |
| May | 00:00-03:00 | Shoulder-season winds stay strong at night. |
| Jun | 01:00-04:00 | Summer brings more afternoon coastal wind, but share still maxes over |
| Jul | 01:00-04:00 | Similar to June; night/pre-dawn maintains highest wind percent |
| Aug | 01:00-04:00 | Late-summer lull at times, but overnight still best for share. |
| Sep | 00:00-04:00 | Winds pick back up; night shares rise. |
| Oct | 00:00-04:00 | Stronger fall winds; overnight share peaks. |
| Nov | 01:00-04:00 | Consistently high night wind; pre-dawn best. |
| Dec | 00:00-04:00 | Winter systems; overnight share typically highest. |
My "Set It and Forget It" Solution
If you don't want to change settings every month, just set the battery to charge between 1:30 AM and 2:30 AM year-round. That one-hour window hits the sweet spot almost every night.
Or, if you want a wider safety margin, program it for 12:30 AM to 5:00 AM.
Of course, day-to-day, hour-to-hour weather will vary; some nights are windier than others, but I was looking for something simple that I could program once and not worry about. You can always double-check ERCOT's "Fuel Mix" dashboard if you're curious what actually happened the previous day.
Bottom line: I've set mine for 1:30-2:30 AM, and I'm calling it good enough.
