Ideal or Cost Effective Home Charging

[BCTS]

Yep good point - I will try to find out. My inverter is on the list so I just need to decide on a wall charger. The Tesla one seems to be a lot cheaper than smart ones like Zappi and Smappee so worth the time to find out. Will update here if I get a definitive answer.

Joe-B: As long as you have a Tesla Car with the Tesla Wall Charger it works fine. You control the charging Start/Stop via the Car.

I've tested with my Tesla Model S and works fine.
However it won't work with the MG ZS EV I have running on a Gen1 Tesla Wall Charger (because as stated the control is with the Car... not the Charger).

 

[Leeroy]

If you’ve got the inverter, you can use the umc from a standard wall plug or one of the updated ones above without any wall charger in the interim.

 

[atj777]

My inverter is on the list so I just need to decide on a wall charger.

As discussed above, you may not even need a wall charger, depending on your driving distances and frequency. The UMC that comes with the car may be sufficient, either with the supplied tails, or with third party tails that g=can go up to 32A.

To go to 32A you'll need a dedicated 3 or 5 pin socket but it is likely to be cheaper to get that installed and connected than a Tesla HPWC.

 

[Joe__B]

As discussed above, you may not even need a wall charger, depending on your driving distances and frequency. The UMC that comes with the car may be sufficient, either with the supplied tails, or with third party tails that g=can go up to 32A.

To go to 32A you'll need a dedicated 3 or 5 pin socket but it is likely to be cheaper to get that installed and connected than a Tesla HPWC.

Thanks. I am thinking about sticking with the UMC to start with although it will likely be used outdoors only so I'm thinking the better weather protection on a dedicated charger may be better. Plus not having to unpack and repack the UMC a few times per day,

 

[OzVic]

Thanks. I am thinking about sticking with the UMC to start with although it will likely be used outdoors only so I'm thinking the better weather protection on a dedicated charger may be better. Plus not having to unpack and repack the UMC a few times per day,

I use Charge HQ with just the UMC and my Tesla. Works perfectly! I have it set to just charge on excess solar, but there are other options including scheduled charging.

You obviously need a supported inverter so Charge HQ knows how much solar is being generated (and consumption). Or if you can get the values some other way, there is an option to push the values up yourself, if you're that way inclined.

 

[Nobody Famous]

can go up to 32A

That need would depend on how much excess solar you likely had.

 

[GilR]

Just a quick note to those looking to install the Zappi 2 charger mine is working perfectly. My LR is fed free solar electricity every day without any problems.

 

[paulp]

Just a quick note to those looking to install the Zappi 2 charger mine is working perfectly. My LR is fed free solar electricity every day without any problems.

Not entirely free as you have lost the FIT income…but no payment for energy required.

 

[GilR]

Not entirely free as you have lost the FIT income…but no payment for energy required.

Yep understand what you are saying. Having a 10kw inverter and 14kw panels most times I can produce enough to cover electricity used and feed enough into the grid to offset any charges.

But as you say, there really is nothing for nothing!

 

[atj777]

That need would depend on how much excess solar you likely had.

In my case (up to 10kW solar), I can get more than 7.2kW of excess solar.

And even without that much excess solar, it is still worthwhile having the maximum charge rate available for single phase power in case you need to charge quickly.

 

[lazjen]

Just a quick note to those looking to install the Zappi 2 charger mine is working perfectly. My LR is fed free solar electricity every day without any problems.

How long does it take to charge via solar alone? What's the smallest battery % you've started from?

 

[Leeroy]

How long does it take to charge via solar alone? What's the smallest battery % you've started from?

Zappi comes in single ph or 3ph so the charge rate can be whatever the solar output is.

 

[lazjen]

I guess I'm going to have to sit down and do some math sometime to get an idea how the charging would go given our solar setup (and we're on 3 phase).

 

[paulp]

I guess I'm going to have to sit down and do some math sometime to get an idea how the charging would go given our solar setup (and we're on 3 phase).

I have 3 phase and in summer can easily charge the tesla at the full 24 amps (which I never need to do) which is the same as the street supply. If you are not currently exporting then you dont have spare energy for an ev, so you could add more panels if you have the roof space. Rood is normally the limiting factor.

 

[Leeroy]

I guess I'm going to have to sit down and do some math sometime to get an idea how the charging would go given our solar setup (and we're on 3 phase).

Something to consider with excess solar charging, model 3 needs 5amp to start charging (not sure about the other models sorry.)
This is 1.2kw on single phase, but remains at 5amp if 3 ph charging, so 1.2 each phase or 3.6kw. This is the minimum just to get started. Everyone’s solar is different, but this may be a consideration if you want solar excess charging only.

My house will be 3ph but I will probably go with single phase zappi route, as the winter excess won’t be any more than 7kw continually.

 

[lazjen]

I've got 16kW of panels, plus a powerwall. Today, with some cloudy weather generated 57.5kWh and dumped 43.6kWh to the grid. I am fairly certain I have enough excess solar. It's more trying to understand how it will charge in reality as the solar generation is a curve, not a constant figure across the day (weak to strong to weak). And, of course, the powerwall recharges too from the solar generation.

 

[Leeroy]

Yep, you won’t have a problem with those figures!

 

[paulp]

I've got 16kW of panels, plus a powerwall. Today, with some cloudy weather generated 57.5kWh and dumped 43.6kWh to the grid. I am fairly certain I have enough excess solar. It's more trying to understand how it will charge in reality as the solar generation is a curve, not a constant figure across the day (weak to strong to weak). And, of course, the powerwall recharges too from the solar generation.

agree with Leeroy. You’ll maybe struggle slightly in winter, but overall if you can day charge you’re system will easily provide you with very cheap motoring

 

[lazjen]

I work from home (mostly), so weekday driving won't be an issue. It's the occasional longer trips that might be done on back to back days that might be an issue. But really, the issue part of this is whether I may need to schedule a grid draw or perhaps a charge somewhere else. Not the end of the world.

The next thing to work out is whether I should go Zappi 3ph, or use the Tesla Wall Charger + Charge HQ - I think the latter should work fine to soak up the excess solar correctly, but I'm not sure yet. I want to leave the UMC in the car all the time and not use it at home (as in take it in/out all the time). We own our home, so setting up a permanent charging setup is not a big deal (right next to the powerwall ).

 

[louco73]

I have a 15 kW inverter, 3 phase and a Tesla Wall Charger. I charged the car yesterday, but I left it a bit late to start and then forgot to bring the charge rate down from 9 kW as I went for a snooze (COVID at the moment). I charge at different rates depending on the state of charge and weather. E.g. if it's just a top up from 70% to 90% then I'll start at 9 am and use the slowest charge rate to hopefully avoid cloud issues. If it looks like a clear day and I'm below 50% then I will set it at 9-10 kW after 9 am. For urgent charges I do use the full 12 kW every now and then, so I appreciate having that available.

Charge HQ would be great to avoid using the grid when charging, but I have Google account problems (tied to USA), so I can't install that at the moment. I'll brush off the very rusty coding skills and do that myself over the next month or so.

For those wondering about what's going on in the graph. I have my hot water heat pump configured to be active between 7 am and 4 pm, so that's the first jump in the morning. The next hump is the pool pump coming on while the hot water is still heating. Cooking and lights kick in after 5 pm. We watched 2 movies last night, so the projector, processor and amps were on, thus the higher usage than what you see early in the morning.

Total generated yesterday was 97 kWh. Best days in June are above 60 kWh with an average of 30 kWh to the grid, while in summer a good day is above 115 kWh with an average of 60 kWh to the grid.

My wife still drives and old ICE, but we will replace that with a BYD Dolphin once they are available in Australia next year. Then we will soak up more of that excess.

With the ability to use Charge HQ, or code the basic functionality myself, I've lost interest in considering a Zappi as a second charger. My wife just does the school, shopping and casual work trips, which are all city driving for less than 45 mins each, so she can charge using the standard plug when parked at home during the day. I do have another 3 phase cable on the other side of the garage, so depending on the Dolphin charging options I could set up a higher rate of charge than a standard plug if needed.

As always, this is my circumstances on the Gold Coast and may not be applicable to you .