Zappi EV charger discussion

_dof_

I'll create this thread to keep the discussion of the myenergi Zappi EV charger in the one place.

It can be ordered from the manufacturers, but electricautos.ie stock it and it can work our cheaper to buy from them because shipping costs are less.

I'm not sure who else stocks it in Ireland.

_dof_

I had a problem with the Zappi in fast mode, when using the charge timer on the Leaf.

I expected that the charger would wait for the car to request the charge once it was plugged in, but it immediately attempted to charge and failed and then attempted again 30 seconds later, and so on until the Leaf timer kicked in.

When plugging in the car, the Zappi display shows following:
"Waiting for EV..." with a countdown of 30 seconds
"Pilot Problem" with a countdown of 3 seconds
"Charging"
back to the "Waiting for EV..." state again

This continues every 30 seconds until the car finally accepts the charge, then it charges correctly, but when the car is full, it seems to return back to the same sequence again.

The Zappi and the car are clicking relays whenever the charge is attempted and the car issues a number of beeps each time, so that's not good.


The myenergi support sent me the following, which solved the issue:

The "Pilot Problem" message is not really an issue and should be considered as a "Restart.." sequence. You can remove this cycling event by setting the "End Delay" to 25s in the "Other Settings", "Advanced", '0000', "Compatibility mode"

They said that they would change to use that setting in the firmware of newer Zappis too.

Also, make sure that "Infinite PWM" is enabled in that same menu.

jasonb

Thanks for starting this thread.

So basically, with those two settings, that means I can plug in my car to the Zappi when I get home, and when the charger timer starts at midnight it’ll charge at ‘full rate’ (i.e. as fast as it can)? That’s basically the behavior I’m looking for. And then in the morning I might have a Climate Control timer set up, and I want the Zappi to respond to that so that it uses power from the Zappi, not from the batteries.

Finally, I might come home in the evening and be heading out again, so I want to plug in the Car and get it to charge at full rate immediately. I presume that would be done by disabling the charge timer on the car?

Is that all possible?

Thanks!

_dof_

Yep exactly

jasonb

Excellent, thanks! Just need to get it installed now! ��

jasonb

So, stupid question... If I have my Leaf attached to the Zappi and charging, how do I stop it? Do I just unplug it? Or should I be doing some sort of ‘Stop’ sequence first? Assuming it is still charging and hasn’t reached 100% etc....

Thanks...

KCross

jasonb wrote: »

So, stupid question... If I have my Leaf attached to the Zappi and charging, how do I stop it? Do I just unplug it? Or should I be doing some sort of ‘Stop’ sequence first?

Thanks...

Just unplug it.

Stop sequences are required on rapids where you press a Stop button on the charger first and it unlocks the cable, but for home charging you just unplug it.

jasonb

KCross wrote: »

Just unplug it.

Stop sequences are required on rapids where you press a Stop button on the charger first and it unlocks the cable, but for home charging you just unplug it.

Excellent, thanks! Didn’t want to break it on the first day!

KCross

jasonb wrote: »

Excellent, thanks! Didn’t want to break it on the first day!

One caveat... you need to ensure that the cable lock switch inside the car isnt turned on. In the Leaf its to the right of the steering wheel.

If the cable is locked you obviously cant unplug it then, so dont force it too much... check that switch first.

jasonb

KCross wrote: »

One caveat... you need to ensure that the cable lock switch inside the car isnt turned on. In the Leaf its to the right of the steering wheel.

If the cable is locked you obviously cant unplug it then, so dont force it too much... check that switch first.

Cool, thanks for that, I think it's off but I'll check it...

society4

I’m thinking of getting a zappi as I may wish to get solar panels later. I’m with electric ireland and don’t wish to switch so is it best to change to a night rate and use my washing machine and drier during the night instead of the day as it is cheaper then.

_dof_

I'm happy with my Zappi, but TBH I don't get that much benefit from the solar integration since my EV isn't at home during the days during the week. Also when I got mine, there was no feed in tariff, so any excess solar was exported for free, so it was much better to divert it to the car.

Nowadays though, I'm not so sure the Zappi is worth the premium price, we have a feed in tariff now, so it might make more sense to get night rate and then export the excess during the day and just charge the car at night on night rate electricity. If you have the car plugged in at home during the day, it might still make sense to have the Zappi though.

IMO if you have an EV and will be doing most if the charging at home, it's almost always going to be better to get night rate (or maybe eventually some smart meter plan will have cheaper night time rate), but I suppose you doule do the maths and figure out your particular case.

unkel

Good points @_dof_

That said, people with day / night meters are not getting a smart meter any time soon. It could be years. In the meantime, anything exported we are not paid for it (we are just getting a flat fee). I agree that you shouldn't pay much extra to get a Zappi over a simple dumb charge point though.

And I must admit that seeing your car charge purely from the sun a lot of the time is quite satisfying. Works best if you have a (very) large PV setup though. Forget it if you have only 2-3kwp. And if the car is at home most of the time during the day. I reckon since I got my Zappi 4 months ago, my cars have charged a lot more from the sun than from the grid.

handpref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119754152#Comment_119754152

Nice overview _dof_ , the issue with the Zappi was always the massive price tag- it’s been well argued here that really you’d need a +5/6/7 kwp array to get the solar benefit, and be at home all summer to use it - many bought one thinking they would be future proofing but it wasn’t that easy.

The Zappi’s had the advantage of the load balancing but now plenty of cheaper options have that to. The dumb chargers didn’t work out quite so dumb given they could be got for <€200 versus +€1000 for the zappi, think I’ve about 350,000km’s of charging on a Rolec and it’s only cost me €20 for an rcbo, everything inside being easily replaced.

unkel

Yes the Zappi really comes into its own when you have a large solar PV setup. I have 11kwp and I often see the car charging at the maximum 7.4kW, purely from the sun, even on a cold winters day (when the sun is shining)

eddhorse

They just added the Myenergi Libbi to the line up now, home battery solution.

https://myenergi.com/libbi

unkel

Let me predict: they will be ludicrously expensive but will work very well with the rest of their beautiful ecosystem 😁

Gumbo

Anyone into the electronics of the Zappi?

I picked up a Zappi that seemly had the factory defect of loose live connection.

It looks to have burnt out the terminal block 🤷‍♂️

Anyway to salvage this? Even if it means a new circuit board?

Thanks.

handpref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119761461#Comment_119761461

Would need to see the board removed to see the damage done to the tracks underneath etc - not an easy fix and the usual safety concerns - problem with these sealed units highly dependent on pcb’s-

New circuit board with right model and serial number matching the board and charger could be worth a punt- depending on the cost of the board 🙈

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119761788#Comment_119761788

I will strip out the board over the coming days. Thanks for the input.

cannco253

https://youtu.be/gwK0XI88pIs

Looks neat and tidy

cannco253

from the myenergi forum

 The batteries are manufactured by CATL - the largest supplier of batteries to the EV OEM's and the inverter is from KSTAR which is JV with CATL.

https://www.kstar.com/cn/upload/cms/www/20220302182752416.pdf

unkel

The fact that they can carry it, means it is probably an empty cabinet. Or with just 1 battery in it. And it will fit 4.

Let me speculate on the Irish retail prices. €1000 for the cabinet plus €2500 per 5kWh battery. So €11k for a 20kWh battery. I paid €2500 for my 20kWh battery incl BMS, my CALB cells are probably better than the CATL cells they used too 😁

slave1

They will do well, their App is quite slick and they make neat/attractive products, plenty of folk out there who host want a turnkey solution and willing to pay for the privilege

unkel

Agreed. Even I reluctantly forked out (actually very little money really) to get into their ecosystem. I have zappi, hub, harvi, and a total of 5 of their clamps. Cost me about €220 in total.

And as proof of how much I like it, I have an old iPad, with the Myenergi app permanently running, on the wall above my desk 😁

ash_kay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119763993#Comment_119763993

Looks like a cousin of the Ergocell inverter/battery combo that was mentioned on a thread on the Renewables forum.

mobyduck

Hi all, owner of a Zappi v2 (+Harvi) and bought a MyEnergi Hub (as Zappi not wifi enabled) to monitor/manage the Zappi from app and for firmware updates. Works well for this.

Wondering if this configuration, specifically the Harvi, should also allow me to see more general grid and consumption stats too?

The Harvi is paired with the Zappi, not the hub. Hoping I would not need to buy a 2nd Harvi to pair with the hub!? Have not found any specific documentation around this

mobyduck

UPDATE: to get this working, I had to configure Harvi CT to be “grid” via the Zappi to see the grid / consumption data.

JohnC.

A little question about the correct CT clamp setup. Maybe.

My meter was replaced during the week and I've only just noticed that the Zappi has registered power used as being from "green" rather than "grid" since. Is this a CT clamp issue? Nothing else would have been touched. I know next to nothing about electrics, but as far as I can see, the arrow on the clamp is pointing the right way (from meter to CU). Could they have put it back on the wrong wire, if that can affect it in this way? It's on a red wire, which I assume should be the live one.

Or maybe the issue is something completely different.

_dof_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119949618#Comment_119949618

If the arrow is pointing towards the consumer unit and it's showing as an export then they've probably clamped it around the neutral instead of the live, so you could move to the other cable or turn it around on the existing cable