Zappi charge points

TheChizler

jimmyging wrote: »

Originally Posted by Myenergi
The Zappi prefers to have an AC coupled battery due to the fact that you can apply a CT clamp directly to the feed of the battery so that in your case the Zappi will see what the AC battery present. The CT clamp will need to be set to "AC Battery" in the CT options.


The DC coupled batteries can be problematic. The issue they have is that they can discharge if they detect power from the grid, which means the Zappi will be using the stored power from the battery to charge, effectively discharging the battery. Within the Zappi you can configure export margins 100 W / 200 W / 300 W which means the the power will be ignored but this doesn't always work effectively.

Ah, gotcha. That's probably poor wording on myenergi's part. They're referring to where the battery, solar, and inverter are all the one system and the PV Direct Current is more or less directly used to charge the battery, or where the battery and PV are independent systems each with their own inverter, connected with your house AC wiring.

I think what they're saying is that with the AC coupled system the Zappi can monitor the current from the battery inverter and PV inverter independently and only charge the car when the battery isn't charging or providing power. This avoids the car being charged by the battery system (is this a bad thing? I suppose it won't last long).

Otherwise it doesn't know if power is coming from the solar or battery and the only way to know if excess PV power is being produced is to only kick in once a certain threshold of power being sent back to the grid is reached.

That's probably not quite what's going on as I've never thought about this before... Will happily be corrected! Can't speak about brands unfortunately.

unkel

jimmyging wrote: »

Originally Posted by Myenergi
The Zappi prefers to have an AC coupled battery due to the fact that you can apply a CT clamp directly to the feed of the battery so that in your case the Zappi will see what the AC battery present. The CT clamp will need to be set to "AC Battery" in the CT options.


The DC coupled batteries can be problematic. The issue they have is that they can discharge if they detect power from the grid, which means the Zappi will be using the stored power from the battery to charge, effectively discharging the battery. Within the Zappi you can configure export margins 100 W / 200 W / 300 W which means the the power will be ignored but this doesn't always work effectively.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

A lot of people will have a problem with that. Pretty much every Irish PV install that gets the battery grant is a setup with a hybrid inverter, so using the battery on the DC side

Charging the car from the battery is a very bad idea in terms of cycling and lifespan of the battery. Even with the full subsidy, cycling a battery costs a lot more per kwh than the night rate of 8c. The battery is there only to provide electricity that would otherwise have been bought from the grid at the full day rate of say 18c

The whole point of the Zappi is to only charge with excess solar (or charge at night rate)

n97 mini

unkel wrote: »

:eek: :eek: :eek:

A lot of people will have a problem with that. Pretty much every Irish PV install that gets the battery grant is a setup with a hybrid inverter, so using the battery on the DC side

Charging the car from the battery is a very bad idea in terms of cycling and lifespan of the battery. Even with the full subsidy, cycling a battery costs a lot more per kwh than the night rate of 8c. The battery is there only to provide electricity that would otherwise have been bought from the grid at the full day rate of say 18c

The whole point of the Zappi is to only charge with excess solar (or charge at night rate)

From what I can see, the Zappi is probably the most mis-sold piece of equipment in this country, along with solar diverters. Batteries are in second place.

unkel

Gotta agree if you pay the going rate for parts and for the install. Did you see my battery calculation here:

linky

KELTICKNIGHTT

Was looking at zappi but wont have solar setup and wont have night meter Electric rate so wasn't sure if worth getting. Still haven't made up which charger I'm getting

KCross

KELTICKNIGHTT wrote: »

Was looking at zappi but wont have night meter Electric rate. Still haven't made up which charger I'm getting

Why won’t you have night rate electric if you have an EV?

KELTICKNIGHTT

KCross wrote: »

Why won’t you have night rate electric if you have an EV?

Only have 24 he rural rate I can ask but was told that by provider before

DrPhilG

KELTICKNIGHTT wrote: »

Only have 24 he rural rate I can ask but was told that by provider before

I'm in rural Donegal and have night rate.

KCross

KELTICKNIGHTT wrote: »

Only have 24 he rural rate I can ask but was told that by provider before

Anyone can get night rate. You just call your provider and ask for it. They are obliged to give it to you.

DrPhilG

I'm starting to think there's no point in getting the Zappi. I almost never charge on day rate anyway so it wouldn't be any benefit.

If I stick with my trusty Rolec I'll continue to charge on night rate anyway. Can the battery be set to not discharge overnight? That would prevent the battery charging the car.

My installer insists that there will be issue with the Zappi and the DC coupled battery but he isn't giving any explanation as to why he says it will be fine but Myenergi themselves say it could be an issue.

Fair enough the Zappi would be almost free if he does the install but if its going to cause more troubles than benefit then why bother?

KELTICKNIGHTT

KCross wrote: »

Anyone can get night rate. You just call your provider and ask for it. They are obliged to give it to you.

I give it a go and see.hopefully your right

TheChizler

KCross wrote: »

Why won’t you have night rate electric if you have an EV?

I was sure they'd be getting it in my mother's place but after monitoring usage for a while she uses less than 4 kWh/day charging at home so not worth getting night rate. The Kona's wasted on her! She has driven Cork-Dublin 3 times in the last 2 months so it's been needed from that perspective.

She's considering PV so that would be even less of a reason to get it too.

TheChizler

DrPhilG wrote: »

Fair enough the Zappi would be almost free if he does the install but if its going to cause more troubles than benefit then why bother?

At least the Zappi attempts to not use the battery storage to charge, other ones not aware of it at all would just deplete it completely, right?

unkel

DrPhilG wrote: »

Can the battery be set to not discharge overnight? That would prevent the battery charging the car.

I wouldn't be too worried about that. The battery is very likely empty before midnight - every day of the year

Something to think about alright in the future though when instead of a few kWh, you will have a few dozen kWh of storage

Goldmark

I have been using the delayed charging option on the Hyundai Kona with a Zappi Charger. Occasionally in the morning when I go out to the car it has not charged. It only happens less than 10% of the time but it can be a nuisance. Anyone with the same combination have any problems or better still the solution.

Mickeroo

Goldmark wrote: »

I have been using the delayed charging option on the Hyundai Kona with a Zappi Charger. Occasionally in the morning when I go out to the car it has not charged. It only happens less than 10% of the time but it can be a nuisance. Anyone with the same combination have any problems or better still the solution.

Happens with my ioniq occasionally, do you have the zappi set to lock itself? I'm not really sure what causes it but unlocking the zappi after plugging in the car seems to sort it. If I see the middle blue light in the car flash it means it will charge usually.

Goldmark

Mickeroo wrote: »

Happens with my ioniq occasionally, do you have the zappi set to lock itself? I'm not really sure what causes it but unlocking the zappi after plugging in the car seems to sort it. If I see the middle blue light in the car flash it means it will charge usually.

When you say lock I presume you mean set up with a PIN to unlock. No I do not have this set up.

TheChizler

I've seen people disable compatibility mode in advanced settings which makes it behave better with Hyundai cars in some circumstances. Can't remember what those circumstances were, maybe something to do with solar, but worth a try.

Mickeroo

MyEnergi app out on android now: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myenergi&hl=en

zg3409

Mickeroo wrote: »

MyEnergi app out on android now: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myenergi&hl=en

Note if you have a Zappi you need a hub and then connect the hub via a wired cable to the internet in order to use app.

Discussion on app and new zappis here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5YV2hXohEE

jimmyging

Hi all
I just got my Zappi installed and anticipate going solar pv soon but for the moment not . My problem is that I can’t seem to schedule night rate charging . I have set up the boost timer and plug in at eco but it either charges straight away ie at day rate or doesn’t charge at all . I don’t think the electrician put in the e sense loop on the circuit . I know there was a thread on this before but I can’t find it . Any advice appreciated.

gunnerfitzy

jimmyging wrote: »

Hi all
I just got my Zappi installed and anticipate going solar pv soon but for the moment not . My problem is that I can’t seem to schedule night rate charging . I have set up the boost timer and plug in at eco but it either charges straight away ie at day rate or doesn’t charge at all . I don’t think the electrician put in the e sense loop on the circuit . I know there was a thread on this before but I can’t find it . Any advice appreciated.

There is no e-sense in Ireland. UK only. e-sense should be turned off in the settings.

Did the electrician put the CT clamp on to monitor the grid?

Have you tried a factory reset?

If you are still having an issue a firmware update may be a good move. You will need a hub from myenergi. Give them a call, their tech support is very good.

Mickeroo

I think Eco+ is the setting you need it at no? Eco will still charge outside of boost times just slower.

Nedved85

Mickeroo wrote: »

MyEnergi app out on android now: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myenergi&hl=en

Will probably get a chance to set this up at the weekend. No solar at the moment, but I still would like to see what the house & car are consuming. Knowledge is power

denismc

I have the app running for the last few days but it seems to be a work in progress.
So I can see all data live from my phone i.e generation, import export etc.

All the functions are availbable for both the Zappi, Eddi such as timers, boost, charge modes.
The only thing that doesn't work yet is the historical data, the numbers are all over the place at the moment, if they can get this sorted out then this will become a great energy monitor.

_ned_

@Goldmark, @Mickeroo: I've had this problem all year with an Outlander. It's an issue with firmware version 1.47. Myenergi sent me a hub to update to version 2.207, which I've done. I hope this will fix the issue.
@gunnerfitzy: Mickeroo is right. You need to put it in Eco+ mode, and you need to set the Boost Timer to turn on Boost Mode automatically during night-rate hours.

BTW, the hub and app are really nice, and I assume they can only get better since now there's a continuous update path. Nice being able to turn on a boost from your phone or monitor usage over the day. It uses an 868MHz link to connect hub to zappi, and an ethernet cable to connect hub to router. So you do have to ensure that the hub will be able to reliably talk to the zappi from where your router is located. Or else you need a long ethernet cable. You could run Cat5 from your router if the distance was too large. I'll have more data over the next few days about how solid the radio link is. Generally 868MHz is reliable band compared to 434MHz where all the cheap gadgets live.

Mickeroo

_ned_ wrote: »

@Goldmark, @Mickeroo: I've had this problem all year with an Outlander. It's an issue with firmware version 1.47. Myenergi sent me a hub to update to version 2.207, which I've done. I hope this will fix the issue.

I think my "issue" was just me being an idiot, I hadn't realised I need to wake the charger every night when you have a lock code enabled. I was just plugging in and walking away. Ever since I started unlocking it when I plug in it's been working flawlessly so I likely already have that firmware.

_ned_

Good to know, Mickeroo! Thanks for that info.

JohnC.

While researching charge points, mainly through this forum (thanks guys!), one of the points is seeing if the main fuse is 63A. Mine is, except there's actually 2 63A main fuses on the board. I take it this isn't normal as people always seem to mention it in singular, not plural? There's also another board out in the garage with another 63A main fuse.

zg3409

JohnC. wrote: »

While researching charge points, mainly through this forum (thanks guys!), one of the points is seeing if the main fuse is 63A. Mine is, except there's actually 2 63A main fuses on the board. I take it this isn't normal as people always seem to mention it in singular, not plural? There's also another board out in the garage with another 63A main fuse.

The esb put a fuse next to the esb meter which the homeowner should not touch. Often fuseboards have a red switch, which is not a fuse but an on/off switch. It may say 63 on it. Then there may be a round fuse and or a 63 amp trip switch. The rules and fashion changed over the years. Generally it is best to get a qualified electrician, and if possibke someone who knows the name and model of the chargers. Electrician s also check the size of the wires between the esb Meter and the fuseboard, and check the wiring inside the fuseboard between different loads . In my case the electrician fitted a 25amp fuse (not 32amp or 40 amp as would be typical) and set the Zappi to never draw more than 25 amps as my fuseboard set up would not safely allow more, so it is not exactly straight forward, although the general maximum is 32 amps for car chargers on a typical single phase house with 63amp esb fuse. Post a photo and some armchair electricians might help. The main question is do you have an instant shower or high load such as a heat pump.