Zappi charge points

stimpson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120644584#Comment_120644584

There is an Ethernet board available:

https://www.myenergi.com/product/zappi-2-0-ethernet-board/

pron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120646698#Comment_120646698

The 2.1 has integrated Ethernet .. even better :)

Silent Running

After much faffing, I have the V2.1 up and running. I have an Eddi and Harvi as well and all were running through a hub. Getting them all to co-operate with the Zappi Vhub was a head melt for me, but all working after a couple of hours.

The Zappi is connected to the internet via wi-fi. I have a mesh point near the Zappi but it was happy to connect straight to the router, so I just let it.😁

wattcharger

Hi there, I have installed hundreds of EV chargers and I can tell you Zappi is the best charger on the market - in fact all manufacturers have copied the Zappi with its PV solar functionality. Currently my company only fits Zappi chargers - as they are also extremely robust and the MyEnergi office support is excellent.

With regards to PV solar and FiT - we always explain to our customers that the FiT is a bonus. Payback for the majority of homes will be less <5 years without FiT. What the FiT gives you is money back for surplus energy generated (I.e. during peak times) - meaning that you’re never “wasting” energy. With FiT, the Grid effectively becomes your battery.

If the FiT is removed, or becomes less attractive and you’re generating so much surplus electricity you cannot use it, then at that point you could consider a battery. Most homes do not require a battery at present, and it renders the payback period so much higher due to the high cost of the battery.

Advice: buy a Solar PV system with a hybrid inverter that can link to a battery down the line. And buy a Zappi charger with the connectivity ability to PV solar, or to an Eddi power diverter for your water.

Note: you do not need a Zappi to avail of FiT.

I hope that helps your decision making?! Let me know :)

stimpson

Feed in tariff is not a battery. The companies are buying power for a fraction of what they sell to you. I’d advise anyone to consider buying even a 2.5kWh battery as it will prevent you drawing from the grid on partially cloudy days.

SouthWesterly

Got a zappi recently. What's the story with plugging in the car on a wet night. Can water get into the car port?

stimpson

No. It’s designed for use in the wet. It’s perfectly safe.

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120680146#Comment_120680146

Thanks

stimpson

Just a warning for anyone who's taking advantage of the cheap upgrade to v2.1 - the installer helped himself to the spare CT clamp in the box. I only realised after he'd left. When I rang him he claimed that Myenergi allow therm to keep the spares. When I pointed out that I bought the new charger from Myenergi and he had taken it from me, he came back with it.

Anyway, there's a Zappi V1 going up on adverts this afternoon if anyone is looking for a second hand one.

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120686382#Comment_120686382

That's really cheeky!

Scottie99

Before I contact my installer, I wondering if anyone has any ideas. My Zappi on Eco Plus mode is drawing from the grid. For the record it's on 100% Minimum Generation Level.

Is there another setting I could be missing?

Thanks in advance.

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120701194#Comment_120701194

Did you download the v5 update in the last couple of weeks.

Scottie99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702065#Comment_120702065

Oops updated, now "grid CT LOST"

Edit- got the upgrade sorted. Now checking if it has fixed the issue

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702497#Comment_120702497

Check out the myenergi forum. There was an issue with the update. They are working on a fix

Scottie99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702521#Comment_120702521

Realised i had to update both boxes in the house to fix the ct issue.

Scottie99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702521#Comment_120702521

Update didn't fix the issue unfortunately.

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702588#Comment_120702588

V5 update was the cause of the issue.

Scottie99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702844#Comment_120702844

Was it an automatic update?

championc

Nothing is automatic

sergei80

Hi everyone.

Could someone please help?  

House 4.55KW Solar /2.6Pylontech battery/I-boost for hot water /Car: Niro plugin hybrid

(No hub and no Wi-fi in my Zappi type 2 Tethered)

I have -3 issues with Zappi since it was installed in April:

1 -doesn’t show production

2 -doesn’t show house consumption,

3-charges at full speed in Eco+ mode all the time

Installer said that Zappi doesn’t show production and consumption because Zappi doesn’t work with a DC battery. (is it true?)Point 3 they are investigating (?), but in 2 months, they couldn’t even send the electrician to re-check the installation🙄🤔🤐🤬

What is the issue with my Eco + mode? What do I need to tell my installer to check/fix because I am 90% sure it is an installation fault?

I know a similar issue was covered before, and I'm very sorry for bringing it back. I got confused with the answers and am wondering if they covered all -3 issues.

Thank you

stimpson

It works fine with a DC battery. You need a second CT clamp to monitor generation:

https://www.myenergi.com/wiki/zappi-v2/installation-3/

and you need to set an export margin:

https://support.myenergi.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4716922623633-Hybrid-PV-and-Battery-How-to-stop-your-myenergi-devices-draining-the-battery-in-ECO-

_dof_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711758#Comment_120711758

I'd guess that the Zappi's CT clamp on the mains live is on the wrong way around (or else it's clamped around the neutral) so it's showing any grid consumption as if it is an export. In that case, in Eco+ mode, the Zappi would ramp up the power since it would think that the grid consumption was export, so it increases the power until the "export" is 0, but since the export is really an import, it'll never be 0, it would just keep increasing as teh Zappi increases the power to the car.

In the picture you're showing it looks like your Solar system is generating so much that it's able to send 3.6kW to the car and still export .8kW which doesn't seem likely, since even if the solar was generating the max 4.55kW it wouldn't be able to export .8kW unless the house load was 0.

If you can see the CT clamp, look at the arrow on it. It should be pointing towards the consumer unit if it's clamped around the live.

Could be worth turning off the solar inverter isolator to see what the Zappi shows then, it should be showing grid consumption at all times.

_dof_

Also, the installer is right in a way that the Zappi can't see the DC battery at all, so the solar will first off try to meet the house load, if there's any surplus then that surplus will go to charge the battery but the Zappi doesn't know anything about that, it can only see surplus which would be exported to the grid.

When the battery is full (or the solar is generating more power than the battery can use to charge) the the surplus would be exported to the grid unless you have some other equipment diverting the surplus). That's where the I-Boost and the Zappi should be using as much surplus as they can.

The Zappi by default needs around 1.4kW of surplus before it would start charging the car in eco+ mode, so the I-Boost should kick in first and divert any surplus to heat the water. When 0the water is fully heated, and the I-Boost stops taking the surplus, then the Zappi should take the surplus and send it to the car.

It can only do that if it can detect a surplus being exported to the grid, so if the CT is installed incorrectly, it won't see correct surplus, so eco+ won't work properly.

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711758#Comment_120711758

Get a CT for the inverter. That tiny battery is likely filled by 10:00 most mornings, which means that generation will be there or thereabouts.

But you'll never really see true generation from a Hybrid inverter

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120706006#Comment_120706006

With the latest Zappi, it reaches a point after an update is available a while where you are forced to download it to use the Zappi, not automatic but as good as, hopefully they have removed that with v5/fix

sergei80

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120712057#Comment_120712057

Thank you for the explanation; I will send the link to my supplier, not touching anything myself; I paid them, and they f***ed it up; they need to fix it.

sergei80

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120712105#Comment_120712105

The users above mentioned that it is possible to marry the DC Hybrid system with Zappi; Installer says it’s not, but your comment is kind of somewhere in between.

Am I correct to think that as long as Zappi Eco+ mode works It is irrelevant what Zappi shows as solar production and house consumption.

Or do I need it in case I go for Harvi because the Solis app doesn’t show Zappi at all

stimpson

It is 100% possible to get your zappi working with a hybrid system. It doesn’t work quite as well as an AC coupled system, but it will happily soak up 99% of your excess solar production. See the screenshot from my app. Notice the array and battery on the bottom right are a single icon? To get it to work you need a second clamp on the feed from the inverter and to set an export margin

_dof_

Yep, it works with the hybrid inverter with the DC coupled battery, that's the most common setup. The only thing is the Zappi has no easy way of knowing if the electricity coming from that inverter is from the solar panels or the battery, so it's not easy to prevent draining of that battery by the Zappi.

That's what the export margin setting is for, I think the idea is that if you configure to have e.g. 50W export, then when charging the car in ECO+ mode it would only send enough power to the car which will still keep exporting 50W. That export has to come from the solar panels, since the battery would never export to the grid. So if it can't maintain 50W of export, then there's no surplus from the solar panels, so it should stop charging on ECO+ mode. I think that is the theory anyway, I never found it particularly effective at preventing discharge of my DC coupled battery with my Zappi V1, I assume they improved it with V2.

You don't need a second CT clamp to make the Zappi work in a system that has a hybrid inverter. The CT clamp on the grid will detect any solar surplus that the DC coupled battery or IBoost hasn't used since it will measure that as a surplus export and it can send that surplus to the car.

I have a hybrid inverter with DC coupled battery and only have a CT clamp on the grid and the Zappi's able to send any surplus to the car in eco or eco+ mode.

If you have only one CT clamp though you won't get to see all the energy flow in the app or on the Zappi display since with only a clamp on the grid it has no idea how much is being sent to the house load from the solar inverter. It would only show flow from the solar when it sees an export, or if you're charging the car, since when it's charging the car, it knows how much is being sent to the car and how much is coming from the grid and would know if more is going to that car than is coming from the grid then it must be coming from the solar.

Adding another CT for the hybrid inverter can show the energy supplied from hybrid inverter (i.e. the panels and pylontech battery, since it can't distunguish where the power is coming from between them), that would also show the house consumption properly since the Zappi would be measuring all sources of electricity.

Adding another CT for the IBoost could show the energy going to the IBoost, and should allow the Zappi to take priority for using any surplus if desired.

_dof_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120715426#Comment_120715426

Interested to know if it was the CT clamp the wrong way around. If they haven't fixed it yet, you could try looking at he display on your hybrid interter and see if it's showing the same import or export as the Zappi, they should both be showing the same export or import. You might need to do that after dark when the solar isn't generating, and when the battery is depleted.