Another Solar car charging question

Curiousness99

So we got an EV about 3 weeks ago, Zappi charger and a solis hybrid inverter already installed, was looking forward to charging the EV for free with the eco++ mode

Unfortunately car isn’t charging and I’m exporting excess power , it’s pretty annoying

the Zappi displays that it’s waiting for surplus but it never arrives and then eventually it draws down max charge taking power from the grid🙈 (if I leave it plugged in long enough)

my solis app isn’t showing an EV charger either, should it be?

anyone more knowledgeable know what I need to do?

thanks in advance

graememk

It needs 1.4kw of excess to start (6amps)

The solis app does not know about the zappi.

Do you have the myenergi app? It may shed some light on it. Eg does it agree with the amount of export vs the solis app

Curiousness99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120614605#Comment_120614605

Thanks I don’t think I’ve the myenerhy hub, will check tomorrow, assume I need that for the app to work

im aware that the the exceed needed is about 1.4 but the power being exported has exceeded that and sti nothing

graememk

Wait you said it started charging away at full rate later on.. when the sun went down?

The grid CT could be backwards, it sees import as export and vica versa.

The screen should show the export anyway.

slave1

Take a photo of the front screen of the Zappi when it's nice and bright so we can see what the Zappi sees.

You say "waiting for surplus" so that rules out the car being in timed charging mode

DC999

Good idea what Slave1 suggests above of the photo. Do the same and take pics for some other charging modes.

When it shows on the Zappi as ‘waiting for surplus’ can you change the charge mode to ‘fast’ and it charges immediately?

And same on eco+ (instead of eco++) - check it starts to charge immediately. Eco+ will take what is free from solar and the rest from the grid, so it will always charge – won’t wait on excess. Unlike eco++ that will wait until it’s 100% solar excess available (or the % you’ve set on the Zappi if it’s lower)

Then it seems it’s working but there’s some issue of course with it waiting on excess. 

The newer Zappis have the hub built into them, so the app connects to the Zappi direct. Hub not needed then. It's tricky to get the app working as it needs to connect to the Zappi which you need to connect to your home WIFI. But worth doing as you'll be using it forever. Their site has good setup info: zappi support | myenergi UK. Scroll to the bottom and you'll see 'zappi hub and wifi setup' PDF.

Curiousness99

Thanks for the responses, still haven’t sorted eco++ mode and I haven’t been at home much when the car is here (oh mostly drives) did manage to stop my battery (with the solar setup) charging overnight 😁 so exporting less electricity

will have another go the next sunny day and report back

car is being charged using eco plus mode which does draw down some electricity from grid, makes it cheaper than charging at night rate but still makes no sense to draw power down assuming I can get eco ++ working