Charging from Solar PV panels: iSmart software repeatedly resets Charging Settings and stops charging prematurely

[North Wales Nick]

Thank you, that's very helpful. Great idea to try a different brand of car on our charger. I will try and arrange that (and will post the outcome). I might also ask the Zappi help desk if they have any advice / comments.

 

[Daggly]

My MG4 and Zappi always worked on the Eco+ mode moving to the waiting mode when clouds came over or if there was a rise in household demand.

It was trouble free until a coupleof weeks ago and I was blaming the myenergy app or MGiSMART app. I was frustrated by having to regularly type in the code to restart charging.

I finally hopped in the car and discovered that scheduled charging was on despite both the of the apps showing it as off. Once I turned it off on the car, the problem is sorted. The mystery is really what activated scheduling (a feature I have rarely used). At least I now know where to look first if it happens again.

 

[johnb80]

For the technically minded: perhaps try open circuiting the control pilot signal for a second or two. It may be that the car has a low power circuit to detect pulling out and in of the charging plug, via the low voltage control pilot, rather than the 240VAC. This could be done via a small relay with normally closed contacts. For extra points, detect the pilot changing state. Though it could well be that the EVSE (AC "charger") already does this, in which case it won't do any good. It depends if the EVSE signals "no charging" via +12V or by open circuiting the control pilot pin. Maybe open circuit the proximity pilot pin instead, or as well as the control pilot pin.

The other crazy thought is a solenoid to automatically "press" the close door button on a spare key fob when you need to wake the car. Or maybe use your main key fob, and make a habit of storing in the "electronic thumb" gadget when charging.

It's a shame we have to get so creative to work around these glitches.

You can reduce the occurrence of the problem by using the minimum green function in Zappi. When Zappi is set to a Min Green Level of 100% 1.4kW of surplus energy is needed to start charging. If the surplus falls below the 1.4kW threshold the charge will pause until the threshold is once again met. After an adjustable delay zappi will restart the charge. MG's seem to end the charging when this has happened a certain number of times, I have heard 7 is the unlucky number where the MG triggers Charge Complete.

You can set the Zappi to share power from the grid and a generation source to ensure a charge is always maintained. For example, the Min Green Level could be set to 70%. A charge will then start when there is a surplus of 980W, taking a further 420W from the grid. This is only needed to start a charge. If solar provides a higher amount of surplus it will be used by Zappi with being drawn from the grid. It also minimises the number of times the charge is interrupted due to cloud cover etc.

Not a perfect solution but it may help if youre struggling with the flaky MG firmware.

 

[MickeySw]

I finally hopped in the car and discovered that scheduled charging was on despite both the of the apps showing it as off. Once I turned it off on the car, the problem is sorted. The mystery is really what activated scheduling (a feature I have rarely used). At least I now know where to look first if it happens again.

Interesting, this issue was already identified by the OP but the problem he had was the schedule would activate every time a cloud passed over, there seem to be different variations of this (FW related?) but hopefully @johnb80 ‘s suggestion (post #83) will be a simple workaround.

 

[North Wales Nick]

And just to muddy the water some more - when we have been trying to tap into daytime surplus PV power we have been turning off the scheduling in the car.
We have not experienced the scheduling activating itself, as reported by Daggly.
BTW... we have so far resisted adding a battery to our PV system on the basis / hope that our EV would at least soak up some of the surplus generation. Hence being keen to get the system working properly.
Thanks to johnb80 for his suggested work around - but from our point of view, the aim is to AVOID using grid power during the day and ONLY use surplus PV. We have a cheap night time rate, so that's when we use grid power.

 

[johnb80]

And just to muddy the water some more - when we have been trying to tap into daytime surplus PV power we have been turning off the scheduling in the car.
We have not experienced the scheduling activating itself, as reported by Daggly.
BTW... we have so far resisted adding a battery to our PV system on the basis / hope that our EV would at least soak up some of the surplus generation. Hence being keen to get the system working properly.

If you are considering adding a battery it's worth factoring in that with the likes of Octopus you can export all of your generated energy and stored energy towards the end of the day at 15p/kWh. Then, during off peak buy it back at 7.5p/kWh. Only a small amount daily in my case but very worthwhile

Thanks to johnb80 for his suggested work around - but from our point of view, the aim is to AVOID using grid power during the day and ONLY use surplus PV.

I understand 100% BUT your aim and current modus operandi isnt problem free and will surely result in some import from the grid. The work around I suggest should hopefully reduce that import and give more reliable charging until MG sort out their firmware.

We have a cheap night time rate, so that's when we use grid power.

Maybe you should consider exporting all what you generate and only charge from the grid if your tariff is favourable?

 

[Daggly]

I am attaching an image from our inverter app. We have a 7.6kW solar array on our roof here in south east mainland Australia. We have had a lot of cloudcover and patchy rain with sun peeking through intermittently. We have no battery storage.

As mentioned previously, now that I have turned off the unexpected scheduling in the dashboard menus, I have not had problems since. I don't know about there being a limit to the number of restarts in the Zappi. I have been successfully leaving it plugged in over several days and it seems there has been no limit to the number of pauses in the charging.

Summertime with blue skies is a whole different story,

obviously.

 

[johnb80]

I don't know about there being a limit to the number of restarts in the Zappi. I have been successfully leaving it plugged in over several days and it seems there has been now limit to the number of pauses in the charging.

It's not a Zappi issue, the MG after a certain number of restarts in charging changes mode to charging complete. I think the programmers had in mind if there was a bad connection which caused the stop/start of charging, after a number of times from a safety perspective it should stop the charge, it can do that by changing the mode to charge complete which the EVSEs recognise and switch off the power.