EV home charger not compatible with Solar generate power ??

k123456

stalled About to bite the bullet on Activ8 solar system, no battery, but 10 panels and an inverter

Someone mentioned, I might need a Zappi charger , because older chargers not compatible

I have a ABL installed 7 years ago by Ecars and a 28kwh IOniq

Gumbo

Zappi.

wallbox pulsar.

ohme.

that’s but 3 that’s are PV compatible. I’m sure there are others.

k123456

I dont understand , why a charger will not take power from a solar system, if any other appliance, will take/use power

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058294421/ev-home-charger-not-compatible-with-solar-generate-power

I would highly recommend you get a quote from a different company. That company is renowned for being expensive

zg3409

All chargers are solar compatible as in if you time car to charge 10am -2pm some of the power to charge the car will come from the sun.

Myenergi, zappi, eddi pride themselves in being early to the market, being specifically designed with options and sensors to specifically charge ONLY from sun, or a smart mix of as much sun and a top up of non sun.

Often actual solar systems dont have excess of 7kW to charge an EV at full rate. As a result most chargers will only use say 10 to 50% sun.

Some tips if you have a non solar car charger.

Set timer in car to charge at peak solar time say 10am-2pm.

If you have other planned loads such as washing machine, hot water tank, dish washer, then stagger times so only one thing is on at once, or more cleverly many things only consume a lot of power in first 15 minutes heating the water such as washing machine, dish washer.

You may want to give priority to hot water, next priority to washing machine etc.

E.g. 10am-10:45 hot water

10:45 washing machine until done

11:00 Dishwasher until done

11:30-3pm Electric car

3pm-3:15 more hot water.

This way you maximise the excess solar when it's peak.

If you use a zappi you can set it to only charge when there is excess solar and ramp up and down to charge for 100% free.

The eddi will ensure hot water tank comes on when there is excess sun and it will vary to only use excess. It then detects tank is 100% full of hot water and other things can be switched on like car or heat pump.

Zappi is quite overpriced but if you are home weekdays at lunch time it will allow you to drive on free energy and over the years the savings could make it worth it.

I'm actually about to start a home automation project and as a part I'll see if I can figure out how to control one of those ABL chargers. It supports setting both fixed and temporary charge rate over the RS-485 port.

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058294421/ev-home-charger-not-compatible-with-solar-generate-power

Please get additional quotes from other companies. Activ8 is notorious for being one of the most expensive Solar PV installers in the country.

Your ABL charger will work just fine, but zappi can adjust power dynamically to match export. The ABL will just pull the maximum power from wherever it can.

graememk

Yeah there is a whole thread of quotes,

Although your quoted system will be about 4kw the current "quote guide" is about €1200/kwp after grant. Although the smaller systems tend to struggle to get to that mark.

The likes of the zappi can control the charge to match the solar excess

k123456

Thanks Folks, understand now 😊

k123456

Good advice above ,re Activ8 being expensive , thank you, I need to shop around, can I ask for recommendations on installers other Activ8

graememk

I'd say swing by the renewables forum and start with the stickies

This list is not exhaustive but is a list of companies boardsie have used and are happy with installs.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058243236/solar-pv-boards-members-installer-information

There is also a Quotes thread that you can get the feel of quotes now