1st day of free solar charge

[DaevM]

Trying out my first day of free solar charge on the mg4. ( se lr) - i.e , the suns out for the first time since i bought the car
My Wallbox Pulsar Max has the ability to do it but I've got a meter not installed that it needs to work ( one day) so my Heath Robinson solution ( Bodgit+Scarper) is wait for domestic battery to hit 100% on a sunny day then instead of exporting surplus, use granny charger to whack it in the car. Give it a couple of hours worth, then disconnect and let the solar power the domestic battery back up to 100%(ish) for evening use.
Worked well enough last year with my Kia Soul EV and one day I will get the EM112 installed.
In the meantime, granny charger fairy dust

 

[Bam Bam]

Trying out my first day of free solar charge on the mg4. ( se lr) - i.e , the suns out for the first time since i bought the car
My Wallbox Pulsar Max has the ability to do it but I've got a meter not installed that it needs to work ( one day) so my Heath Robinson solution ( Bodgit+Scarper) is wait for domestic battery to hit 100% on a sunny day then instead of exporting surplus, use granny charger to whack it in the car. Give it a couple of hours worth, then disconnect and let the solar power the domestic battery back up to 100%(ish) for evening use.
Worked well enough last year with my Kia Soul EV and one day I will get the EM112 installed.
In the meantime, granny charger fairy dust

Home batteries are great - nice little sponge.

 

[Gadget Geek]

I did consider changing out my Pod-Point for a Zappi or equivalent, but when you only have 4kW solar panels, on the sunniest of days I would only be getting 3 to 3.5 kW excess, which is about the same as the granny. So I bought a variable current granny and rigged a light sensitive switch on to the pilot lead. Now I have a solar charger which safely switches on when the sun comes out, and goes off when the clouds drift by, all for a fraction of the price of a Zappi etc.

Edit: Forgot to mention; variable current means I can share the amount of excess between the car and the Powervault.

 

[DaevM]

Do you get 3/3.5 kW from the granny ? I thought that was the case too but yesterday when I was getting the first charge I was able to observe ( Kia Soul didn't have that facility) I noticed it wasn't going much above 2kW. Did a bit of digging around and apparently grannys max at 2.2 ( I think it was). I'll see if I can track it down again..

Do you get 3/3.5 kw from the granny ? I thought that was the case too but yesterday when I was getting the first charge I was able to observe ( Kia Soul didn't have that facility) I noticed it wasn't going much above 2kw. Did a bit of digging around and apparently grannys max at 2.2 ( I think it was). I'll see if I can track it down again..

Not the same info I saw yesterday but interesting post from SpeakEV forum turned up on my search today.

What's the actual charging rate of a granny?

www.speakev.com

 

[Gadget Geek]

Do you get 3/3.5 kw from the granny ? I thought that was the case too but yesterday when I was getting the first charge I was able to observe ( Kia Soul didn't have that facility) I noticed it wasn't going much above 2kw. Did a bit of digging around and apparently grannys max at 2.2 ( I think it was). I'll see if I can track it down again..

Yeah, most are restricted to 10 Amps rather than 13 Amps. 10 Amps at 240 Volts is 2.4kW. So on a sunny day I would get 2.4 into the car, the house draws around 0.5 to 1.0 (with peaks for kettle toaster etc) and the rest can trickle into the Powervault. I can drop the granny down to 6 Amps for 1.4kW if I need more going into the Powervault.

 

[DaevM]

...aaaand today, 2nd day of free solar fairy dust - almost like Summer"s finally on the way...

 

[GaryMG4]

Not quite free but 12kWh through the granny charger at a total cost of 30p according to the smart meter, happy with that and looking forward to more sunny days.

 

[Rolfe]

The best I can do is having got back from a regular trip to Edinburgh at better than 3 miles/kWh for the first time since autumn.

 

[GaryMG4]

The best I can do is having got back from a regular trip to Edinburgh at better than 3 miles/kwh for the first time since autumn.

Wow must be cold up north, I'm seeing 4.6 mi/kWh on local (slow) and 4.1 on longer (faster) trips.

 

[Ruislip Resident]

Its not strictly free as the marginal cost is what you could have sold it at to the grid. But defo cheaper.

 

[DaevM]

Its not strictly free as the marginal cost is what you could have sold it at to the grid. But defo cheaper.

I was a late adopter so get &£!? rates. Still get paid 50% of what I generate, whether or not I use it or they get it, effectively being paid twice if I can use it as well.
I tried moving to Octopus rather than British Gas but it was 'complicated'
....and of course there's the initial investment, which, when including every element ( solar/battery/car) will obviously never cover itself ( remind me why I did it again?? )

**** it!! It's free fairy dust and it's mine!!

 

[Rolfe]

The guy I just got a quote from reckons it will cover itself in 7-8 years.

 

[DaevM]

The guy I just got a quote from reckons it will cover itself in 7-8 years.

Yeah, they do that
To be fair I do tell everyone ( and it feels like) they are all paying for themselves, which is nice

 

[Gadget Geek]

Mine paid for themselves in 4.5 years with the feed in tariff.

 

[DaevM]

I haven't tracked mine BUT if you think about it, the amount it cost for the installation of the infrastructure and the generation to get electricity to your front door, this really is a cheaper solution ( overall) AND it comes all the way from the Sun !! Amazing really

 

[siteguru]

Solar panels can't be popular in Liverpool, as they don't like The Sun there.

 

[GaryMG4]

Its not strictly free as the marginal cost is what you could have sold it at to the grid. But defo cheaper.

Mines on FIT and were installed by the previous owners.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Just thought I'd share this for those in two minds about getting solar and a battery; I last drew electricity from the grid at 06:45 on Saturday, 13th April. I've been off grid for 3 days, 3 hours.

Oh, and my son charged his LEAF in that time.

Four days off grid now. Powervault at 41% at the moment with some more sun to come. I'm hoping to get enough today to see me through the night and tomorrow looks sunny for most of the day. I wonder if I can make it a week off grid?

 

[DaevM]

Four days off grid now. Powervault at 41% at the moment with some more sun to come. I'm hoping to get enough today to see me through the night and tomorrow looks sunny for most of the day. I wonder if I can make it a week off grid?

What size is your Powervault ?

 

[Gadget Geek]

What size is your Powervault ?

16kWh.