Zappi?

[Alun26]

I have read that the Zappi charger changes the power that it gives the car depending on how much solar energy that is being produced by your house PV system.
I was just wondering is this okay for the car/battery to be constantly jumping around the power being applied to it, will this degrade/damage the battery quicker?

Should I not bother with the extra faff of the extra CT clamps for the few days/mins that it is sunny enough to charge the car with, or just stick to using an off peak tariff, thoughts/experiences will be greatly appropriated

 

[Jomarkh]

The Zappi can charge down to 1.4kwh before turning off completely.
If you think you array will generate not much over that plus your house use then maybe stick to over night tariff

 

[Gadget Geek]

Yesterday (Saturday 05/03/2022) was a nice sunny day here in the south west and I was off grid from 09:50 to 16:20 with solar, and then until 22:50 on the battery which had charged during the day. Along with that I put 3.84 kWh into my car from the solar. So yes, a charger which can divert the excess solar is worth it. Last year I got 3382 miles of free travel from sunlight.

 

[Mihir]

I have an Ohme charger which does not have solar integration yet but I also think the amount of power that goes into your car also depends on the size of your inverter. If your inverter is 3.6kW, it will only discharge around that capacity which will be good enough for granny charger plus a few electricals running at the same time. If you want to use 7kw, you would need a higher inverter to be able to charge the car at that rate using solar pv. @Lincs Robert : Correct me if my understanding is wrong.

 

[Alun26]

The Zappi can charge down to 1.4kwh before turning off completely.
If you think you array will generate not much over that plus your house use then maybe stick to over night tariff

I only have a 3kW system and I'm lucky to get that in July/Aug, they are 10 years old now so probably have become less efficient.

 

[Aussi55]

Hi Alun,

I don't think using a Zappi will cause any increased battery degradation as it changes the amount of power that goes into the car as the excess solar output varies. There will of course be times that it stops and starts completely, I believe the duration of this can be adjusted but I think when this happens the car electronics will trigger the charging start routine where you hear the clicking as it initiates. I presume this is a relay, wondering if this would lead to issues over time but I guess that's unlikely as Zappi has been around a while so it would be known if so.

Your solar output is limited by the rating of the inverter, commonly 3.68kw as this doesn't need extra DNO approval.

In my case I have a 4.75 Kw array with a 3.68 Kw inverter so the maximum output to the car would be 3.68kw from solar.

As to is it worthwhile to get a Zappi it all depends on the cost and how much you are likely to gain in return. For example I have another EV charger that isn't solar compatible, however I can still benefit from using solar to charge albeit manually.

If you already have solar an another charger it's a fair amount to change, however it will maximize your solar charging and if you have a hot water tank you can use the same system to divert excess solar to heat via the immersion.

With energy prices rising as they are, and quite low export payments that haven't risen accordingly it could be a wise investment.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mike Cornwall]

I've had my Zappi fitted the other week. Looking at what I'm getting off it I'm only going really getting much out my solar panels in the summer. Especially as we need to be getting 1.4Kw out of them before it charges.
May have to work out going to a tariff that gives cheaper electricity during the night perhaps. But that will mean having a meter fitted, have always been against a meter as I have an old disc type meter and on sunny days it goes backwards . (but if anybody should ask, I'm totally unaware of that ). Some bloke comes around and checks my system is all OK but never says anything about it.
By the way I have no car yet, ordered Nov latest I've heard is June.

 

[Fishettibean]

The only concern is the relays that connect and disconnect the batteries when the zappi is on eco++ mode at 100% green power fluxing between 1.2kw and 1.6kw, as those relays are being cycled every few minutes.
When I get to the 1.5kw, I flick it into eco mode until it gets to 1kw (and drawing 0.4kw from grid) and then flick it back to eco++ mode for overnight (or stop mode if I want no overnight charging, but got to remember to take it out of stop mode later on or it will never charge again ). However I'm not often at home during the day like I did in 2020, so its mostly overnight for me.

 

[Mike Cornwall]

The only concern is the relays that connect and disconnect the batteries when the zappi is on eco++ mode at 100% green power fluxing between 1.2kw and 1.6kw, as those relays are being cycled every few minutes.
When I get to the 1.5kw, I flick it into eco mode until it gets to 1kw (and drawing 0.4kw from grid) and then flick it back to eco++ mode for overnight (or stop mode if I want no overnight charging, but got to remember to take it out of stop mode later on or it will never charge again ). However I'm not often at home during the day like I did in 2020, so its mostly overnight for me.

Thanks for info.
I work 12 hour shifts, so the car is parked on the drive way a fair bit.

 

[GeoffJ]

I mostly charge my MG5 SR at the free Tesco PodPoints. I have solar panels with a max output of 4KW, so I only use the granny charger and then only to balance the batteries. After 2300 miles it has cost me an estimated £1 in total.

 

[Hot Red 5]

I have a Zappi charger but only have 1.6 Kw of panels.
I thought that it would only divert to the car when it was above 1.4 Kw but I was observing the charge on my phone the other day and point nine kw was diverting to the car whilst on fast charge.
Confused me.

 

[Tim Falkiner]

I live in Australia and we are advised to put as much solar on our roofs as we can. Minimum 6.6 kwh. I am getting a Zappi. One of the things you need to do with solar is to use as much of the solar as possible during the day and an electric car is ideal if it is at home during daylight. At least if you get a Zappi v2 you are, as far as I am aware, getting a really good unit and if you get more solar and/or a home battery in the future you do not as far as I can make out need to make any change to the Zappi. This is a really good video on solar in Australia and a lot of it would apply to the UK.

 

[MGJimmy]

Most has been said already but I'd just add that even with a Zappi you'd still want a night time tariff too, for most of the year you'll not get much solar and even in the summer we get 20-30 miles into the car on a clear day (3.6KwH system). We are about to add an Eddi too so that we can use that excess power to heat our water, didn't make financial sense when we got the car, but with gas prices as they are it will pay back much quicker.

 

[MGJimmy]

I have a Zappi charger but only have 1.6 Kw of panels.
I thought that it would only divert to the car when it was above 1.4 Kw but I was observing the charge on my phone the other day and point nine kw was diverting to the car whilst on fast charge.
Confused me.

While on Fast charge or Eco it will draw from the solar however much it's producing and top-up it up from the grid to the right kW rate, 7.4kW for Fast, 1.4kW for Eco. However the Zappi will only use solar or scheduled grid charging when in Eco+ mode, at which point the minimum will be 1.4kW. 1.4kWh is the minimum recommended charge rate for any EV.
So in your example it would have drawn the 900W from the solar and topped it up with 6.5kW from the grid for a fast charge at 7.4kW.

 

[Hot Red 5]

Yes that explains it. Thanks