Do more smaller solar-based charges hurt the battery life at all?

[Mojomarm]

I’m new to EVs and the world of charging/batteries but want to make sure I’m looking after the battery in my Trophy as best I can.
I’ve got a Zappi so can charge from the excess solar, as well as an Octopus Go tariff to charge from the grid if the weather’s a bit unreliable/not working at home on sunnier days. I understand the theory behind the recommendation to only charge to 80% and letting the battery drop to between 10-20% to get the most from it, but if I do lots of smaller charges from the solar while it’s good weather and just hang around the 30-60% charge after commuting etc., would that cause it to not be as efficient longer term?
Do I basically just need to stop being such a tight-wad and actually pay for an overnight charge to get it up to 80% every now and then?

 

[aitch]

No it won’t so long as you do the occasional longer charge to 100% to balance the cells. This is best done with the overnight charge at home and may require it to sit at 100% for a time whilst it balances.

 

[Macadoodle]

No it won’t so long as you do the occasional longer charge to 100% to balance the cells. This is best done with the overnight charge at home and may require it to sit at 100% for a time whilst it balances.

Agree. 'micro cycles' in the middle of the pack's voltage range is the best way to use the battery TBH.
Occasionally stretching its legs with a full balance charge will ensure any slight imbalance between cells gets nipped in the bud.

 

[Mojomarm]

Thank you!

 

[Robf]

I’m new to EVs and the world of charging/batteries but want to make sure I’m looking after the battery in my Trophy as best I can.
I’ve got a Zappi so can charge from the excess solar, as well as an Octopus Go tariff to charge from the grid if the weather’s a bit unreliable/not working at home on sunnier days. I understand the theory behind the recommendation to only charge to 80% and letting the battery drop to between 10-20% to get the most from it, but if I do lots of smaller charges from the solar while it’s good weather and just hang around the 30-60% charge after commuting etc., would that cause it to not be as efficient longer term?
Do I basically just need to stop being such a tight-wad and actually pay for an overnight charge to get it up to 80% every now and then?

I think your issue will be whether to use eco or eco+. I did not like using eco+ as once input was below minimum (1.4kw I think) it would shut the charge down. This meant that on intermittent sunny days (most days in UK) the charge would continually start and stop, this I deemed not good for the battery. Eco on the other hand takes power from the grid to supplement charge during cloudy periods where charge was less than minimum. This supplement is of course at the much higher daytime rate (I was on octopus go).
Outcome for me (at the time in Surrey) was that on full sunny days (remarkably rare in the UK) I would use eco+ mode, otherwise I would charge the car between 12.30 to 4.30 am using octopus go cheaper rate. This worked out cheaper than eco which I felt was generally more expensive on intermittent cloudy days.

 

[aitch]

I think your issue will be whether to use eco or eco+. I did not like using eco+ as once input was below minimum (1.4kw I think) it would shut the charge down. This meant that on intermittent sunny days (most days in UK) the charge would continually start and stop, this I deemed not good for the battery. Eco on the other hand takes power from the grid to supplement charge during cloudy periods where charge was less than minimum. This supplement is of course at the much higher daytime rate (I was on octopus go).
Outcome for me (at the time in Surrey) was that on full sunny days (remarkably rare in the UK) I would use eco+ mode, otherwise I would charge the car between 12.30 to 4.30 am using octopus go cheaper rate. This worked out cheaper than eco which I felt was generally more expensive on intermittent cloudy days.

I understand your concern and would point out that if this was an issue regenerative breaking would therefore be of equal if not greater concern especially around town when there would be far greater number of intermittent charges.
Due to the level of solar charge being relatively low, around 6 to 20 amps normally, I don’t see this as having any real detrimental effect especially as the Zappi pauses for a fixed period when the power drops below 1.4kW which will also reduce the Frequency of stop start charges.
But each to their own.