Recent content by GaryMG4

It is marginal if you would pay more. I added 60.2 kWh to go from 6-100% and balance, 36 were at off peak (5.2p), 6 at peak rate, 18 from solar with 1-2 top up from the grid. Last time I did a calibration charge I just plugged in around 21:30 and told the Zappi to boost 80kWh so it just ran flat...

Funny how you just know when someone isn't paying attention and about to do something stupid. We have a roundabout that is properly signed, of the three lanes entering, the left is 1st exit only, the second is 1st and 2nd exit, the third is 2nd and the rest. The number of times people on the...

All I did was select ECO on the Zappi and plug in, then I added an 8 hour slot from 23:30 as I am charging from 6% to 100%. That 3.5p is really cheap though!

Yes but for around 10 minutes, normally I'd use ECO+ and let it pause but I want a calibration charge today. So far today I have used 2.1 kWh from the grid in total but consumed 14.7, the rest coming from solar.

Here's it in action, was charging at 2.8kW then the dishwasher kicked in to start drying.

I must admit last year I just left it to smart charge, sometimes it would add 3+kW to my solar excess to give me 7kW, or just charge overnight but I've found that since last autumn the choppy nature of smart charges sometimes cause the car to abort the charge. Not a problem if it happens during...

Almost, we do not have an export meter so we are on the deemed export rate. Which for us is around 19p for everything generated plus just over 7p for 50% of what we have generated, that is our deemed export, this works out to around 23p per kWh generated even if we use all of it ourselves. I...

On ECO+ it will maintain a minimum of 1.4kW by adding grid power to the solar. You can set the maximum amount of grid as a percentage. So if the CT clamp detects you are sending 1.9kW to the grid it will divert that to the car, if a cloud comes over and your excess drops to 900W then it will add...

Yes, I think of it as a car showroom trick, makes you think tyres are new. mind you I still tend to use it once, after the first contact wash of the year, when you finally get rid of the last of the winter grime.

We had this conversation with a friend recently as our Kia does make a 1950s scifi spaceship noise at low speed plus a reversing beep. She was concerned about riding her horse along the roads, but cycles don't make much noise either. As a driver we should assume any pedestrian may not be aware...

I've not had any for a while, I usually do a reverse security check on them, ask for last amount or 'challenge phrase'. About 3 weeks after the last one I got a text from an unknown number that started 'Oper something, stating we believe you may have been scammed please contact this number', I...

And iPhones.

My 'needs' are the opposite, being on FiT I'm happy to max out my solar use. My quandary was that I could end up using so much peak rate that it would cost more than just using the overnight.

It's easy to get stuck in that rabbit hole. I was really unsure about the ECO+ mode on the Zappi, convinced I'd spend more on full price electricity than I'd save by using solar but last month proved me wrong.

That's why I turned off smart charge, that way I can program the Zappi to give 8 hours and with ECO it will force a maximum of 1.4 kW plus the solar excess for the rest of the time. So I'm hoping that most of the charging will be over by 5:30 am.