Ideal or Cost Effective Home Charging

[Jamesbrisbane]

Having now had a zappi and a tesla hpwc (one on each car) I’ve found the zappi to be a dissapointment. It is far too conservative on the solar side, and when it is charging it seems to decrease the power to the car just to ensure that it wont use grid power, but with a safety factor near 100%. I’ve now selected the non smart option within the programming and have gon back to manual charging. The tesla option is far better, and hasnt required a monthly reset after locking up.

You may have just saved me a few dollars. I was looking a the zappi 3 phase as I have 15kw of solar but I may now just buy the Tesla charger.

 

[paulp]

You may have just saved me a few dollars. I was looking a the zappi 3 phase as I have 15kw of solar but I may now just buy the Tesla charger.

I have one of eah going, both 3 phase. The tesla connector is definately better, and it seems the V3 will have functionality that the zappi supposedly does (badly).

 

[BDB2088]

If you're installing a new outlet, you'll probably want a new circuit, too - in which case, you might as well get a 32A one run, because the electrician's time is costing you more than the wire.

On the end of that 32A wire you can either put: a 15A socket and use the UMC & tail that comes with the car; or a 32A industrial-type socket and use the UMC with a third-party matching tail (eg. Tesla Gen 2 UMC Adapter | 32 Amp | 7 kW | 3-Pin plug ); or a wall connector like the Tesla HPWC.

The 15A socket would easily handle your 50km/day - the 32A options (socket or wall connector) would let you fill overnight no matter how low you got.

Just wanted to thank you for this, i've been trying to find good info for weeks but it has just eluded me.

I mostly just wanted to find out if I would need to have a Tesla Wall Charger, but it seems your suggestions might be the way to go first.

Thanks again

 

[lazydesi]

If you have single phase go with cafz's second suggestion: the 32A 3phase industrial-type socket and wire it for single phase.
Get the Gen2 Adaptor 32A 5pin here, (evse are out of stock), or go with the 32A 3phase AU bundle, socket and adaptor in one package.
Bonus: take the adaptor and UMC with you on country trips to connect to 32A 3phase.

hi

go with the 32A 3phase AU bundle,

is this going to charge @ 7kw max?

 

[cafz]

is this going to charge @ 7kw max?

Yes.

 

[NoTimeToLose]

I'm not at all electrically literate, so could someone please explain why (if your home is wired single phase) you would want to go with a 32A socket and adapter rather than just getting a 15A circuit and socket installed. What if any advantage would there be?

 

[BDB2088]

I'm not at all electrically literate, so could someone please explain why (if your home is wired single phase) you would want to go with a 32A socket and adapter rather than just getting a 15A circuit and socket installed. What if any advantage would there be?

I second this, or if someone would be happy to point in the right direction for a read or video

 

[meloccom]

I'm not at all electrically literate, so could someone please explain why (if your home is wired single phase) you would want to go with a 32A socket and adapter rather than just getting a 15A circuit and socket installed. What if any advantage would there be?

Unless its changed the Tesla UMC that comes with your car has a 10A connector.
By installing a 32A 5 pin outlet you only need to have buy one connector for your home and 3 phase remote charging.
You then have 7Kw home charging versus 3.6Kw on 15A, assuming your home has the capacity.
If 3.6Kw is sufficient, then have a 15A power point installed. 15A plugs are popular at Caravan Park Powered sites, so it depends on your expected use.

 

[Nickdp]

What if any advantage would there be?

Not much, apart from a doubling of charging power, or look a it another way, a halving of charging time as your pumping in 7kW as opposed to 3.6kW,

Comparing costs of installing a 32A or 15A socket dedicated for charging arguably the only cost increases would be the cable cost increase per m. and socket cost increase.

Time taken to pull cable, installing dedicated breaker and associated meter box rectification work, terminating the cable to the socket and mounting to wall etc, wouldn't change greatly between 15A or 32A installs.

Caveat: I'm no sparky but have 'assisted' similar 15A and 32A installations for electrician-friends.

 

[Nobody Famous]

What if any advantage would there be?

Faster charging needs less time. Slower charging needs more time. Only you can say how much energy you need and the time you have to get it.

Volts (V) x Current (A) = Power (W)

e.g. 240V x 10A = 2400W (2.4kW)

Power (kW) x hours (h) = Energy (kW.h)

If you can get away with 10A (2.4kW), great. If you already have 15A (3.6kW) even better. If you need to install something, as suggested maxxing it out to 32A (7.2kW) shouldn't be a great leap in cost.

 

[atj777]

I have a 32A socket and tail for the UMC. When I charge from excess solar, I regularly get the full 32A.

 

[NoTimeToLose]

So single phase 32A is a thing? I thought you needed three-phase for 32A (I said I was electrically illiterate)!

 

[Vostok]

So single phase 32A is a thing? I thought you needed three-phase for 32A (I said I was electrically illiterate)!

For a single phase connection, the maximum current for the Tesla Wall Connector or UMC is 32A. 32A x 240V = 7.7 kW

For a three phase connection, the maximum current per phase is 16A. 16A x 240V x 3 = 11.5 kW

 

[NoTimeToLose]

Fantastic, thanks for explaining.

 

[paulp]

For a single phase connection, the maximum current for the Tesla Wall Connector or UMC is 32A. 32A x 240V = 7.7 kW

For a three phase connection, the maximum current per phase is 16A. 16A x 240V x 3 = 11.5 kW

My 3 phase wall connector does 24A per phase

 

[Leeroy]

Having now had a zappi and a tesla hpwc (one on each car) I’ve found the zappi to be a dissapointment. It is far too conservative on the solar side, and when it is charging it seems to decrease the power to the car just to ensure that it wont use grid power, but with a safety factor near 100%. I’ve now selected the non smart option within the programming and have gon back to manual charging. The tesla option is far better, and hasnt required a monthly reset after locking up.

Paul, I was very shortly to go down the zappi route. Just to make I understand your post, you’re saying the zappi has a buffer of 100% so it’s only giving half the solar output to the car??

 

[atj777]

Paul, I was very shortly to go down the zappi route. Just to make I understand your post, you’re saying the zappi has a buffer of 100% so it’s only giving half the solar output to the car??

Have a look at the Autarkie Manager app. It will send any excess solar to the car using HPWC or UMC. The Virtual Wallbox feature it costs $0.99/month, $7.99/year or $13.99 for Lifetime. i.e. you can test it out for a month for $0.99.

 

[Leeroy]

Have a look at the Autarkie Manager app. It will send any excess solar to the car using HPWC or UMC. The Virtual Wallbox feature it costs $0.99/month, $7.99/year or $13.99 for Lifetime. i.e. you can test it out for a month for $0.99.

Not the most user friendly website, but by the looks of it I need a power wall or some other electrickery in which I don’t have
I am happy to add on consumption monitoring, but can’t even deduce if that’s what they need or not.

 

[atj777]

Not the most user friendly website, but by the looks of it I need a power wall or some other electrickery in which I don’t have
I am happy to add on consumption monitoring, but can’t even deduce if that’s what they need or not.

Yeah. It works with a Powerwall. It talks to the Powerwall (well the Tesla servers) to determine how much extra solar is available and then sends that to the car (adjusting the charging current as required).

 

[paulp]

Paul, I was very shortly to go down the zappi route. Just to make I understand your post, you’re saying the zappi has a buffer of 100% so it’s only giving half the solar output to the car??

Its hard to put a hard number on it, bit it doesnt click in until excess solar is around 5kw more than it needs, and it also cuts out at around the same time. If solar reduces or increases quickly it doesnt respond quickly.
unfortunatley its not like powerwall which seamlessly ramps up and down for the available solar.
The zappi does not perform to the level that they suggest, and it also regularly confuses itself and goes into fault, which requires a reset. The menu’s are also plentiful and somewhat poorly laid out.
but the wierd thing is that it keeps adjusting down the amperage available to the car so the only way I can increase the ampersge is wait for it to ramp up again. Eg if set at 12 amps, it goes down to 6 of 6 amps available, and I cannot increase until it works its way back up to 24 of 12 amps available.
Its just a clunky piece of under-resolved hardware.
Zappi also relies on CT’s and does not interact with your invertor or powerwall if you have it, so that makes options for sharing solar power beween battery and cars impossible.