Solar charging

[jonginn]

Got my Zappi installed yesterday by Octopus and super impressed. Worked perfectly to slow charge the car for £0 during sunlight hours purely off the solar, then ran at 7kw from 00:30 - 04:30 on my night rate to finish charging.

I'm on Octopus Go but hopefully Zappi will support Intelligent Octopus soon.

 

[Jomarkh]

If you have a large solar export check out octopus Flux.

 

[Ian Key]

Got my Zappi installed yesterday by Octopus and super impressed. Worked perfectly to slow charge the car for £0 during sunlight hours purely off the solar, then ran at 7kw from 00:30 - 04:30 on my night rate to finish charging.

I'm on Octopus Go but hopefully Zappi will support Intelligent Octopus soon.

Quick tip. I too have a Zappi although I'm not with Octopus but every now and again either the charging unit or the app will stop talking to each other. The solution is to turn off the Zappi at the mains, count 10, switch it back on again. If that doesn't work then repeat but also turn your router on and off.

 

[jonginn]

If you have a large solar export check out octopus Flux.

I'll have a look, thanks! My solar install is an old Feed in Tariff so I still get great rates from exporting.

(Arguably I'm better off exporting my kW and not putting it into the car, and charging only at night because I'd earn more money that way...)

 

[Alex1985]

Two months on, my proposed and installed method of charging the car from the solar panels is working extremely well and proving reliable. I have just been away for a week and have come back to a fully charged car (20 to 90%). I do already have a surge protective device in the consumer unit to protect the electronics in the house and using the MG granny lead I have not had any “handshake” problems. I appreciate that Zappie’s et al can start to charge at a lower solar output, but at £800+ !!!
My car and hot water tank is fully charged and I am getting paid 64p per kw.

Happy days

 

[GaryMG4]

Ours too came free with the house, cost the owners £6k in 2015, in the 7 years we've been here they have generated £4900 in feed in Tarif for us, which pre the massive hike in prices covered our electricity costs, this year it will be closer to 80%. currently I'm content to use the granny charger and just add a few miles as and when. I love the idea of the Zappi but I'm not sure what the payback time would be, I'm over 60 too.

 

[Alex1985]

Ours too came free with the house, cost the owners £6k in 2015, in the 7 years we've been here they have generated £4900 in feed in Tarif for us, which pre the massive hike in prices covered our electricity costs, this year it will be closer to 80%. currently I'm content to use the granny charger and just add a few miles as and when. I love the idea of the Zappi but I'm not sure what the payback time would be, I'm over 60 too.

MI had my solar in(4kw)

MI had my solar in(4kw)

Ooops! I had 4kw solar installed in 2011 and it paid for itself in 5.5 years I am also well over 60 and still have 13 years of Index Linked Feed in Tariff, charging the car, hot water and getting FIT payments .

Happy days

I'll have a look, thanks! My solar install is an old Feed in Tariff so I still get great rates from exporting.

(Arguably I'm better off exporting my kW and not putting it into the car, and charging only at night because I'd earn more money that way...)

If your solar was installed prior to 2011 you can use the power and still get paid.

 

[jonginn]

MI had my solar in(4kw)


Ooops! I had 4kw solar installed in 2011 and it paid for itself in 5.5 years I am also well over 60 and still have 13 years of Index Linked Feed in Tariff, charging the car, hot water and getting FIT payments .

Happy days


If your solar was installed prior to 2011 you can use the power and still get paid.

Ah that's very true, I get a generation payment as well as export.

how are you getting 64p per kw?!

 

[Alex1985]

I made a mistake I get 68.4p per kw FIT + 4.8p generation payment for 50% of what I generate.

This FIT payment was for people who installed solar before mid 2011 when the first round of incentives was announced.

Just received over £700 for the previous 3 months

Happy sunny days

 

[jonginn]

I made a mistake I get 68.4p per kw FIT + 4.8p generation payment for 50% of what I generate.

This FIT payment was for people who installed solar before mid 2011 when the first round of incentives was announced.

Just received over £700 for the previous 3 months

Happy sunny days

That's wild, I get 18.72 p/kWh for generation at best. Crazy!

I'm definitely on a FIT tariff. Maybe I need to swap from EON and see if someone else would give me a better deal.

 

[Alex1985]

I am with EON but the deal is specified by the government so there is not any difference between providers.

 

[PristDean]

These are the rates I get with my FIT via Octopus, last years readings. There seems to be differences strangely with others

 

[GaryMG4]

These are the rates I get with my FIT via Octopus, last years readings. There seems to be differences strangely with others

View attachment 18313
View attachment 18314

Those are my rates too, through EDF, at least EDF pay within a couple of days of getting the reading, a friend waits 3-9 months to get his.

 

[PristDean]

Those are my rates too, through EDF, at least EDF pay within a couple of days of getting the reading, a friend waits 3-9 months to get his.

Ok, that's good to hear (but not your friend, that's unacceptable in my view), Octopus are pretty quick with payments too, usually within a week.

 

[Emgie 4]

I love the idea of the Zappi but I'm not sure what the payback time would be

I was going to suggest alternative to Zappi that's couple hundred less and is still solar compatible - the EOMini Pro.
Gots ours installed 2 years back and find it quite good, can't say if it has all the functionality of Zappi but app is ok and throttles up and down as excess fluctuates (keeping minimum of ~ 1.4kw to avoid damaging car charger - if chargers switch off for every cloud that passes I don't think electronics would last long)
Also if aesthetics are important for anyone, like needing to install near their front door, the EO mini is a very small tidy unit (at that time it was advertised as smallest charger in the world!) IMHO I think the Zappi size and styling could be improved.

BUT when installed the EO price comp to Zappi was €600 v's €800 (excl install)
Now I see prices are similar, but perhaps still an option to consider as I believe there is still only a few that are solar compatible

 

[Alex1985]

No if you have a solar capable charger it should work, but the DIY system proposed by the author of the thread shouldn't due to EVSE charging safety interlocks in place, such as expecting the plug to be removed from the cars type2 socket and reinserted before recommencing a handshake.

It works! Happy days

 

[MG4London]

I don’t see why more of these are not built into the roof