Wait unit sub 20% to charge?

[Jomarkh]

Once you know how much you use on your commute then work out how much charge you need to add. Mine needs 3 hours a night, which is about 30% or 60 miles.

 

[Ozzie1989]

@East Coast Cruiser

You can't 'cap' the MG5 at any particular State of Charge. You might be able to 'cap' your charger.

I can tell my zappi to start charging at 00:30 and charge for 4 hrs (4 x 7.4 = 29.6kWh's) . Which you will find will add about 45%.

Sincerely
Martin

FYI the maximum charging rate in an MG5 is 6.6kw, because this is what the on board AC charger is rated at.

Your Zappi is just a smart switch / power supply.

 

[MartinReid]

FYI the maximum charging rate in an MG5 is 6.6kw, because this is what the on board AC charger is rated at.

Your Zappi is just a smart switch / power supply.

Sincerely and in good faith
Martin Reid

 

[BugEyed]

Martin
I wouldn't believe the figures from your Zappi - they are usually high. It is certainly the case that AC charging isn't a fixed rate and is dependent on the input voltage. However like all decent units the Zappi will cut out at 253 volts (very accurately in my experience), limiting charge rates to around 7.6kW at the 30 Amps that I normally see. Out of interest what values are shown?

 

[MartinReid]

Martin
I wouldn't believe the figures from your Zappi - they are usually high. It is certainly the case that AC charging isn't a fixed rate and is dependent on the input voltage. However like all decent units the Zappi will cut out at 253 volts (very accurately in my experience), limiting charge rates to around 7.6kW at the 30 Amps that I normally see. Out of interest what values are shown?

Dear BugEyed..

I agree with your sentiment about not taking the values for granted... But when I compare the zappi to my smart meter (which is what's being used to calculate my bills after all) they are consistent. As for the values... If we take the 17th June (00:30 to 03:30) charge as the example..

Car showed SoC 40%-73%
after the event zappi showed 22.44kW sent to the car
and the myenergi event log shows
00:29 - 0.13kW
00:30 - 4.86
00:31 - 7.57
00:32 - 7.58
00:33 to
03:28 - Min 7.60 Max 7.80
00:29 - 7.60
00:30 - 1.17
00:31 - 0.07kW

The smart meter and the zappi agree that the house 'runs' on 70 to 80 watts 'on standby'. The 00:29 130 watt reading, the only thing in the house at that time of night that can cause that reading is the fridge!

Sincerely and in good faith
Martin

 

[BugEyed]

Do you know what the voltage is at your property?

 

[MartinReid]

Do you know what the voltage is at your property?

BugEye

240 volt single phase - 100 Amp main fuse - zappi is on a dedicated consumer unit with a B40 (30amp?) breaker. No solar etc..

Sincerely
Martin

PS... why, what are you thinking?!!

 

[Ozzie1989]

There are some losses but I'd be genuinely surprised if you're actually putting more than 6.6kw into the battery as that's what the charger is limited to.

Your smart meter itself (not the In Home Display) should tell you the voltage if you flick through the menus.

 

[BugEyed]

PS... why, what are you thinking?!!

The UK voltage is supposed to be 230volts +10% or -5%, so 253 max and 217 min. For a given current the greater the voltage the greater the energy.

 

[Flat top]

You need to fully charge every now and then to balance the cells so just charge the car when you get an opportunity and don’t overthink or listen to the online nonsense. I’ve had a BMW i3 for 3 years and charge it as often as I can either from solar or free public charging. So far, by accessing the service menu, it has only lost about 0.5% of its efficiency. There is a blog from a US owner who has lost less than 2% over 80,000 miles and he too regularly fully charged the car.

Thank you you've answered a question I was going to ask. Just over a month in to owning a Long Range Trophy, I was wondering whether to put any excess solar into the ZS, rather then exporting it to the grid. If I set it to only charge to 80% it should be ok then? Just concerned that overtime it may cause damage.

 

[5teep]

I do a lot of miles in my car and charge to 100% every night.
Don't overthink the charging, when you get your car you'll quickly work out what is best for your needs.

 

[5teep]

Thank you you've answered a question I was going to ask. Just over a month in to owning a Long Range Trophy, I was wondering whether to put any excess solar into the ZS, rather then exporting it to the grid. If I set it to only charge to 80% it should be ok then? Just concerned that overtime it may cause damage.

Over a very very long time it might cause some small degradation but you'll not notice. Unless you get a very good return on feeding into the grid it might be better to charge your car on solar as much as possible.