MG4 solar charging

[Tertim]

I purchased my mg4 in August this year and was assured by the dealer that everything was checked and latest software was installed! However the HVAC temperature was under reading, no voice recognition and software not updated. The dealer has undertaken to rectify these issues, apart from these issues I'm delighted with my car and just love the peace and quiet whilst driving.
I have solar panels at my property and for 8 months of the year I have excess solar power which I intend to charge the car with the granny lead.
I would be interested to here from other members who charge with solar.

 

[Jomarkh]

I purchased my mg4 in August this year and was assured by the dealer that everything was checked and latest software was installed! However the HVAC temperature was under reading, no voice recognition and software not updated. The dealer has undertaken to rectify these issues, apart from these issues I'm delighted with my car and just love the peace and quiet whilst driving.
I have solar panels at my property and for 8 months of the year I have excess solar power which I intend to charge the car with the granny lead.
I would be interested to here from other members who charge with solar.

I would use solar to charge my car via a Zappi but I get paid 15p/kWh export and charge overnight at 7p/kWh.
Can you change the current on your granny EVSE otherwise it will use 10A about 2.2kW

 

[Bam Bam]

I would be interested to here from other members who charge with solar.

Yeah, for the last 18 months or so in the UK it has been better to charge on cheap overnight tariff and export the solar during the day.

That will probably end in a few years and we will go back to self-consumption.

If you don't have the generous export tariff then I guess you will be trying to plug in during the times when you've got surplus solar.

Does your granny charger have any kind of smart control or timer setting (I wasn't aware that they did). If not, I guess you could set the car so it only charges during daylight hours but you'd have to remember to turn that off if you ever wanted to charge outside those times.

 

[Tertim]

I would use solar to charge my car via a Zappi but I get paid 15p/kWh export and charge overnight at 7p/kWh.
Can you change the current on your granny EVSE otherwise it will use 10A about 2.2kW

I installed the solar system myself, it's not tied to the grid and I have a hybrid controller with a 16kw battery, I only take power from the grid in the winter. The plan is to plug in the granny charger during the day on a timer to disconnect when the sun goes down.
I normally charge from a 7kw charger installed in my barn which is on a night tariff.

 

[Tertim]

Yeah, for the last 18 months or so in the UK it has been better to charge on cheap overnight tariff and export the solar during the day.

That will probably end in a few years and we will go back to self-consumption.

If you don't have the generous export tariff then I guess you will be trying to plug in during the times when you've got surplus solar.

Does your granny charger have any kind of smart control or timer setting (I wasn't aware that they did). If not, I guess you could set the car so it only charges during daylight hours but you'd have to remember to turn that off if you ever wanted to charge outside those times.

Yes that's my plan hopefully I'll have free power for at least 8 months of the year

 

[decrep]

We have a big advantage here in aus, plenty of sunshine.
We can charge our car purely on sunshine, even in the Winter.
I'll shortly be able to automatically only charge when there's excess solar, once the EVSE people get the software working.
We have 9.6kW panels and a 5kW inverter, so I can charge at 4.5kW and still have a bit left over for running the house.

 

[Kenno]

We have a big advantage here in aus, plenty of sunshine.
We can charge our car purely on sunshine, even in the Winter.
I'll shortly be able to automatically only charge when there's excess solar, once the EVSE people get the software working.
We have 9.6kW panels and a 5kW inverter, so I can charge at 4.5kW and still have a bit left over for running the house.

And we get b* all for exporting power, so we want to use it or store it, and only if we can't do that we export it. Currently in Sydney I get 8c per kWh exported (around 4p). Where as conversely in the UK, you can probably make more money exporting and then charging on a cheap rate

 

[Pete G]

I have an MG ZS EV, and live totally off grid. We charge our car from our solar system with a zappi EVSE.
The Zappi has settings to allow you to just use excess solar or to use some grid and some solar power.
I have a battery inverter that pretends to be the grid and two second hand grid inverters that are connected to banks of solar panels. So when charging the car most of the charge comes via the grid interactive inverters and some comes from the battery inverter.
The Grid inverters are connected to around 6kw of panels and the Battery inverter is connected to 5 kilowatts of panels.
It is a slightly complicated system called AC coupling if you want to look up how it works.
When there is full sun our car can charge at up to 5.5 kilowatts. Theoretically the Zappi can charge at 7kw but we would need more panels for that.
When the batteries are fully charge the Grid interactive inverters are disconnected by relays, so the batteries are not overcharged.
Pete

ps, in your situation using a granny 10 amp charger will only give you about 10 kilometres of range per hour of charging. So it will depend on how far you drive whether this is enough for your needs.

 

[Tertim]

I have an MG ZS EV, and live totally off grid. We charge our car from our solar system with a zappi EVSE.
The Zappi has settings to allow you to just use excess solar or to use some grid and some solar power.
I have a battery inverter that pretends to be the grid and two second hand grid inverters that are connected to banks of solar panels. So when charging the car most of the charge comes via the grid interactive inverters and some comes from the battery inverter.
The Grid inverters are connected to around 6kw of panels and the Battery inverter is connected to 5 kilowatts of panels.
It is a slightly complicated system called AC coupling if you want to look up how it works.
When there is full sun our car can charge at up to 5.5 kilowatts. Theoretically the Zappi can charge at 7kw but we would need more panels for that.
When the batteries are fully charge the Grid interactive inverters are disconnected by relays, so the batteries are not overcharged.
Pete

ps, in your situation using a granny 10 amp charger will only give you about 10 kilometres of range per hour of charging. So it will depend on how far you drive whether this is enough for your needs.

I'm retired so don't have a daily commute, probably drive about 6000kl/year mostly local.
I'm hoping to charge most afternoons which should be sufficient for my needs, I'll post my results next summer.

 

[Everest]

I would be interested to here from other members who charge with solar.

we do. Has been completely free for 9 months of the year and odd top-ups for the rest of the year.

I installed the solar system myself, it's not tied to the grid and I have a hybrid controller with a 16kw battery, I only take power from the grid in the winter. The plan is to plug in the granny charger during the day on a timer to disconnect when the sun goes down.

Great. How many panels do you have and what power will your inverters generate? We put our surplus into the EV's in the summer, usually charging at around 16A from solar, sometimes at 24A, occasionally at 10A.

Should work well for you as you have batteries to keep things going when the clouds pass over.